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Here is my answer to Sheldon: In Germany, model railroading is a much more socially accepted hobby than in the US. We even have TV shows about trains and model trains! How large the market really is, is quite difficult to determine, however, about 3 million Germans are members of a model railroading club. A rough estimate says there are about 5 million in the hobby - the majority modeling in HO scale, followed by N scale and TT. TT scale was really popular in former communist East Germany and is growing its market share nicely in recent years - due to some innovative and active small manufacturers. Marklin 3-rail AC still has the highest market share, but not among what we would call the serious model railroader. Marklin is still capitalizing on its glorious past, when they were the market leader in terms of quality. That´s history by now, others are equally good or even better now. Like in the US, the typical layout is about 4 by 8 feet, make that 1.20 by 2.40m. Space is much rarer in this country, so basement-filling empires are the exception and not the rule. Even a spare room is an exception. Houses and apartments are much smaller than in your country, but still bigger than in the UK, where model railroaders display artistic talents in building tiny layouts. In gerneral, the cost of the hobby is much higher, although with the recent price increases of Bachmann, BLI, MTH and all others, the difference is getting smaller. Like in the US, attracting younger folks to the hobby is difficult, although places like Miniatur Wunderland and many others do a wonderful job in supporting the recruitment of the next generation. I failed to pass on this virus - my son is into painting war hammer figures and building dioramas, but no trains - [sigh] Basically, the hobby is for old pharts like us [(-D] How many locos will an average model railroader have? I can only give an educated guess - like maybe 20 - 40, acquired over a length of time. A lot of folks buy secondhand these days, although Ebay prices are outrageously high. I failed to give an answer about having a layout at home vs. club layouts. Most members in a model railroading club also have home layouts. And a few more items. Germany is much more a RTR market as there is an (over-) abundance of accessories. The drawback of this is that layouts tend to look all the same. Most of the brands will sound familiar to you - Busch, Faller, Preiser, Noch, Herpa, Vollmer, Kibri, Merten, Sommerfeldt - just to name a few. The above is only my own perception of model railroading in Germany - grown over 52 years.
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