Advances in the hobby in the last 15 years

[Anonymous]

It's been about 15 years since I've been in the hobby, and I'm hoping to get back into it again soon (a recent house purchase and new job has slowed me down some, however - life - it gets in the way of our hobbies, doesn't it?)

I've been buying MR for a few months now, but recently pulled out my 15yr old magazines.

Wow, the hobby has changed! Nothing against the layouts from MR 15 years ago, but the standard has really risen in the past 15 years! Gone are the days of brown bare plaster representing dirt, messy layout room shots, etc.

I ran accross an article last night in which MR said a standard would likely never be established for command control, due to so many different versions in existence. Heh heh.... (this was referring to analog command control, I believe).

This hobby is getting cooler and cooler all the time. I just have to figure out how to enter it again without spending much money. There's so much fun stuff to buy, I'm really going to have to figure out how to be a do-it-yourselfer in my hobby life now too! (figuring out how to make my own ground foam, rock molds, etc...)

[Anonymous]

Just in the last eight, WOW!

[jwmurrayjr]

Kev,

This certainly seems to be a good time to get into MRR. You can keep the cost down if you really try. I think that you will find that most of your MRR dollars will go toward locos, rolling stock and your control system. Scenery items like ground foam, plaster and rock molds really don't cost much "per square foot".

Of course lumber and foam haven't gotten any cheaper. But you can spend a bunch on RTR rolling stock and various "control" gizmos.

Have fun![:)]

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by kevlar9296

Gone are the days of brown bare plaster representing dirt, messy layout room shots, etc.

Welcome back to the hobby! I returned myself about 20 years ago after being away for 20 or more years! [:D]

You state no more messy layout room shots, which can be good and bad - many of the small scenes shown in current layout tours are great, but don't give an overall feel of the layout. I applaud recent tours in both MR and RMC in which portions of the overall scene, the facias, skirting, etc., was shown. I feel this shows the scenes are not stand alone dioramas, but rather a part of the whole layout. Its also nice to see the overall treatment of the layout in the home rather than a bunch of perfectly staged and photographed scenes.

Bob Boudreau
Canada