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YES.  You said it correctly.  It is a false business assumption to think that because thomas is popular model railroading is doing well but you hear it over and over again Excellent writing below     [quote user="CNJ831"][quote user="UNIONPACIFIC4018"] [quote user="CurtMc"]What does Thomas mean about the model train hobby .............nothing![/quote] Hmmm all these kids who like Thomas get exposed to the other end of model railroading... I know there is usually a pile of kids near the garden railroad set up and they had MU's of diesels pulling large freight and a big boy. neither of which are Thomas the tank engine. I know my son likes his Thomas the tank engine but he also likes my ho scale layout that doesn't have any Thomas stuff on it... he wanted to see all the other layouts at the show. He also enjoys going on railfan trips and watching my train videos. But hey if you want to start your kids out with 400.00 locos and 20 car drags at the age of 4 and 5 go ahead [/quote] While it in some ways pains me to acknowledge it, I'm afraid CurtMc is quite correct in his statement. It is highly unlikely that there will be any tie-in between the Thomas shows and future model railroad hobbyists. The illusion here is that anything, no matter how vaguely associated with trains, somehow leads to a future in our hobby. What is lacking among proponents of Thomas as a hobby stimulus is an understanding of what drew kids to real trains and toy trains (i.e. Lionel/Flyer) in the days of yore and why these folks came to be the major part of the hobby as adults. As kids, in most cases the appeal of real and model trains was a fascination of having control over and the operation of huge and powerful machines, especially decades ago when trains were highly visible in everyday life. There was a time when boys dreamed, even if briefly, of being engineers...not rock stars or NASCAR drivers. Powerless children in control of an imaginary world of huge, powerful machines! It was the very premise of much of Lionel's advertising. As adults, the association with toy/model trains brings back fond memories of carefree youth; of joyous Christmastimes; days of dreaming over holiday "wishbooks"  and the fantasy of having the best Lionel layout even built ...and now, as an adult, being able to afford it, to actually have it, or a more refined and acceptible HO or N scale version (Freud would probably have a ball with this subject!). In live action cartoons like Thomas, it is not the humans that are ultimately in control of the action, it is the machines that have taken on a life and personality of there own. The humans are simply along for the ride, taking little or no controlling part in the adventure. These stories, while admittedly highly entertaining to kids, are in no way representative of any reality or even a fantasy that might draw one back as an adult to model such a world. If considered logically, Thomas fans should be no more likely to someday become model railroaders than kids who watch Jimmy the Jet Plane on TV are likely to become aviation hobbyists. It is only the skewed view of those of us inside the hobby that tend to see all manner of fictional relationships or influences in Thomas that could create future adult interest in model trains. Without question, a far more fruitful avenue for extending the future of the hobby is to expose kids (your own and others) to real trains (railfanning) and model trains (home layouts/train shows/holiday displays) to create fond memories they might wish to relive in some fashion later in life. But even in these situations, don't expect more than a few percent of them to return to model railroading as adults. Not every kid that played with a Lionel train on Christmas morning is a model railroader today! CNJ831     [/quote]
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