Sir Madog Andre - here is an excerpt of what is available on the German market Eisenbahnmagazin Miniaturbahnen (Miba) Modelleisenbahner N-Bahnmagazin Eisenbahnkurier Eisenbahnjournal Marklin Magazin Modellbahn-Illustrierte Not all, but most of them are available at the newspaper stand at your gas station! Those are just the leading ones, there are smaller mags catering for specific interests, like LGB-Depesche, Bemo Post et. al. Difficult to say in which country you can encounter more MR activity, but I am quite positive that either UK or Germany are top ranking countries.
Andre - here is an excerpt of what is available on the German market
Not all, but most of them are available at the newspaper stand at your gas station!
Those are just the leading ones, there are smaller mags catering for specific interests, like LGB-Depesche, Bemo Post et. al.
Difficult to say in which country you can encounter more MR activity, but I am quite positive that either UK or Germany are top ranking countries.
Except for N-Bahnmagazin, I seem to recall all those magazines from the 1980's. Somewhere in my collection, I have a booklet (published by MIBA, if I remember correctly) by Rolf Ertmer describing his layout based on Altenbeken. Oh yeah, "Damals In Altenbeken". It's all coming back.
One of my brothers lived in Germany for 10 years in Gauting. He married a German woman and came back to the States in the early 90's with his wife and two sons. We visited them right after the Berlin Wall came down. I remember having to dodge Trabants and Wartburgs on the Autobahn since they topped out at about 100 km/hr. There was some incredible hoar frost on the ground and in the trees. It was beautiful. Cold as all get out, but beautiful.
Andre
M636C Sir Madog BigDaddy China rail has 2.3 billion passenger trips a year. That's where most of the model trains are made and WeHonest is a local train store. I vote China. I don´t think that model railroading is a wide-spread hobby in the People´s Republic of China. They make model trains to sell them! If you check the Bachmann China website, you'll find a lot of Chinese prototype models which are not intended for export but for the Chinese market. Most of them are as accurate as the best USA or European models. This doesn't mean that a lot of the population are modellers, but there is a big enough market to justify production. Railways seem to be a relatively popular hobby in Hong Kong, although I don't know how seriously model railways are taken up. Many of the people from Hong Kong I meet here in Australia are railfans, at least four of them driving trains as a career. So China may never have a big proportion of railfans and modellers but there will always be a big number there because of the huge population and the size of the country. M636C
Sir Madog BigDaddy China rail has 2.3 billion passenger trips a year. That's where most of the model trains are made and WeHonest is a local train store. I vote China. I don´t think that model railroading is a wide-spread hobby in the People´s Republic of China. They make model trains to sell them!
BigDaddy China rail has 2.3 billion passenger trips a year. That's where most of the model trains are made and WeHonest is a local train store. I vote China.
China rail has 2.3 billion passenger trips a year. That's where most of the model trains are made and WeHonest is a local train store.
I vote China.
If you check the Bachmann China website, you'll find a lot of Chinese prototype models which are not intended for export but for the Chinese market. Most of them are as accurate as the best USA or European models. This doesn't mean that a lot of the population are modellers, but there is a big enough market to justify production.
Railways seem to be a relatively popular hobby in Hong Kong, although I don't know how seriously model railways are taken up. Many of the people from Hong Kong I meet here in Australia are railfans, at least four of them driving trains as a career.
So China may never have a big proportion of railfans and modellers but there will always be a big number there because of the huge population and the size of the country.
M636C
A better measure would be the number and variety of models available compared to the population. The UK has a population of around 63 million and there are an astounding number and variety of available models even compared to to the US with nearly 5 times the population. Not only that, there are at least 5 hard copy model magazines, including a magazine aimed at modelers of non-British prototypes. The number of prototype publications is downright phenomenal.
andrechapelon ATLANTIC CENTRAL So I looked up the cost and schedule to take the train from Baltimore to Detroit. Worse than flying, you cannot get there from here, you have to go somewhere else first. Leave my house drive 25 minutes to nearest Northeast Corridor station - Aberdeen, MD. Ride the Northeast regional for 1.5 hours to Union Station in DC, get on the Capital Limited and ride 13 hours to Toledo, OH, then take an Amtrak bus ride or rent a car to Detroit - twice as long as the car ride - cost, 2 adults, $286 coach. Even at $4 a gallon, the Flex gets over 20 MPG on the highway, no more than $100 in gas. At current prices - $67 16 hours on a train - my wife would go nuts.......... Sheldon That's what you get when a viable transportation system gets abandoned in favor of something that only seems to be better. From the standpoint of commuter transport, SoCal used to have the biggest interurban system in the U.S. and it was gone by about 1960 or so. As a result, passenger rail transport (light and heavy) has had to be rebuilt from scratch at great cost. With respect to viable high speed inter city corridors outside of the NEC and California, there are more than most people think: Portland, OR to Vancouver, BC (with Canadian involvement) DFW to Galveston via Houston, Houston to San Antonio and east to NOLA. Chicago to MSP via Milwaukee. Chicago to Omaha via Quad Cities and Des Moines. Chicago to OKC via St Louis, Joplin and Tulsa. Chicago to NYC via Toledo, Cleveland, Buffalo, .... you get the picture. Obviously built in stages. There are more, but I'm a fumble finger on an iPhone. BTW, I don't cost out car trips based solely on gas, but on the IRS business allowance for car operations, which allows for acquisition , maintenance, fuel, depreciation, and insurance costs. Any other way doesn't reflect the actual pro-rated cost of using a private vehicle for any given trip. Just to make this even vaguely on topic, I discovered today that a hobby shop in Barcelona I visited 30 years ago is still in business. Andre
ATLANTIC CENTRAL So I looked up the cost and schedule to take the train from Baltimore to Detroit. Worse than flying, you cannot get there from here, you have to go somewhere else first. Leave my house drive 25 minutes to nearest Northeast Corridor station - Aberdeen, MD. Ride the Northeast regional for 1.5 hours to Union Station in DC, get on the Capital Limited and ride 13 hours to Toledo, OH, then take an Amtrak bus ride or rent a car to Detroit - twice as long as the car ride - cost, 2 adults, $286 coach. Even at $4 a gallon, the Flex gets over 20 MPG on the highway, no more than $100 in gas. At current prices - $67 16 hours on a train - my wife would go nuts.......... Sheldon
So I looked up the cost and schedule to take the train from Baltimore to Detroit.
Worse than flying, you cannot get there from here, you have to go somewhere else first.
Leave my house drive 25 minutes to nearest Northeast Corridor station - Aberdeen, MD.
Ride the Northeast regional for 1.5 hours to Union Station in DC, get on the Capital Limited and ride 13 hours to Toledo, OH, then take an Amtrak bus ride or rent a car to Detroit - twice as long as the car ride - cost, 2 adults, $286 coach. Even at $4 a gallon, the Flex gets over 20 MPG on the highway, no more than $100 in gas. At current prices - $67
16 hours on a train - my wife would go nuts..........
Sheldon
That's what you get when a viable transportation system gets abandoned in favor of something that only seems to be better.
From the standpoint of commuter transport, SoCal used to have the biggest interurban system in the U.S. and it was gone by about 1960 or so. As a result, passenger rail transport (light and heavy) has had to be rebuilt from scratch at great cost.
With respect to viable high speed inter city corridors outside of the NEC and California, there are more than most people think:
Portland, OR to Vancouver, BC (with Canadian involvement)
DFW to Galveston via Houston, Houston to San Antonio and east to NOLA.
Chicago to MSP via Milwaukee. Chicago to Omaha via Quad Cities and Des Moines. Chicago to OKC via St Louis, Joplin and Tulsa. Chicago to NYC via Toledo, Cleveland, Buffalo, .... you get the picture. Obviously built in stages.
There are more, but I'm a fumble finger on an iPhone. BTW, I don't cost out car trips based solely on gas, but on the IRS business allowance for car operations, which allows for acquisition , maintenance, fuel, depreciation, and insurance costs. Any other way doesn't reflect the actual pro-rated cost of using a private vehicle for any given trip.
Just to make this even vaguely on topic, I discovered today that a hobby shop in Barcelona I visited 30 years ago is still in business.
Andre,
I don't live in place where I could do without a car, so I have to have it anyway. For my wife and I, long distsance travel is very small percentage, like less than 10%, of our travel miles, so the "impact" of such trips on our "cost to own/operate" are also very small.
I'm not against public transit where it makes sense, and I agree we should have never abandoned the systems in the late 50's and early 60's. But those systems were not built with public money.
Central Maryland once had one of the fastest Interurban lines in the country, the WB&A, connecting Washington DC, Baltimore and Annapolis in a triangle. The Severna Park Model Railroad Club, where I was once a long time member, is in one of the stations from that line. The right of way is now a bike path.........
I have no interest in living the way people live in Europe, I have no interest in living the way some people live in major metro areas of the US. I have no desire or reason to change how I live. I like my big house, land, big car, pickup truck and rural life style - and I can afford them.
Others are welcome to do whatever suits them.........
I think there are a lot of stealth modelers in this country. I base that on the number of folks who used to come into my hobby shop for supplies, information, etc., but had no interest in clubs, NMRA, or social activities. Many had layouts, but were not willing to show them or share them.
I would agree that there are more modelers per capita in Germany or England, but there are lots and lots of folks in the USA who are in the closet, so to speak.
IMHO, the Japanese are the world´s champions when it comes to making best use of very little space.
One of the ways is to build mini-modular layouts, which are simple to construct, yet very efficient.
If you are interest, take a glimpse here
Da Stumerguess I could have worded that a bit better. I meant that since Japanese seem to be able to deal with a lack of space, it really shouldn't be a big is for Koreans, either.
Indeed they favor N Scale and Kato Unitrack. There's several interesting Japanse layouts on you tube.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
MalcyMalc Da Stumer A bit late here, but I can put in a few words about places not mentioned yet. Japan has a pretty huge model railroad industry, from what I understand. Mostly n scale, with a bit of ho. Koreans have about the same amount of space that Japanese have, so space must not be an issue. So it leaves me stumped. Actually, I'd suggest space is an issue for most Japanese (which is probably why N is more popular than HO) - so I'm not sure where they fit all their layouts. Here in the UK space is an issue for most home builders - small spare bedroom or loft space is the most we can hope for. I live in the suburbs of london and our little flat is 645 sq ft - the only place I could put up a permanent layout would be in the loft, once I'd insulated it properly. Which is why so many British modelers tend to build small shelf layouts. As for European railways - I have relatives in Scotland (420 miles as the crow flies) and I wouldn't dream of taking the train - way too expensive v flying - and I don't own a car as I have no need of one living in London (5 minute walk to the Tube station then 40 minutes to Central London). I used to use Eurostar for work once a month or so (London - Paris then Paris to Reims by TGV) and that was fine. I very much like the Spanish railways though - very cheap, good quality fast trains. British railways are rather a victim of their own success - because they are so busy they are very unpleasant to use in my opinion. I've always been rather confused at how you Americans have failed to build proper railways on the East Coast between your major conurbations. As for "queueing at your model shop on a Saturday morning" that would be nice if there were such a thing in London. I think high rents and business taxes have put paid to them. There is one in Tooting but that is about 20 miles away on the opposite side of the city (probably an hour and a half away by public transport and more by car). I suspect part of the reason for the UK having so many model railway shows is that they allow traders to sell direct and modellers to get hands on with the toys.
Da Stumer A bit late here, but I can put in a few words about places not mentioned yet. Japan has a pretty huge model railroad industry, from what I understand. Mostly n scale, with a bit of ho. Koreans have about the same amount of space that Japanese have, so space must not be an issue. So it leaves me stumped.
A bit late here, but I can put in a few words about places not mentioned yet. Japan has a pretty huge model railroad industry, from what I understand. Mostly n scale, with a bit of ho.
Koreans have about the same amount of space that Japanese have, so space must not be an issue. So it leaves me stumped.
I guess I could have worded that a bit better. I meant that since Japanese seem to be able to deal with a lack of space, it really shouldn't be a big is for Koreans, either.
-Peter. Mantua collector, 3D printing enthusiast, Korail modeler.
Hi all
Well with absalutely no caroberating evidence what so ever to base anything on.
I would think the highest % per head of population model railway figures.
Would come from the cradle of railways it's self the UK, followed very closely by Germany.
A coment has been made on hiding railway's in the urban enviroment I don't think this is only happening in the USA, us modern humans want an urban enviroment pleasing to the eye clean, green and quiet which is what the railway hiding is all about.
In Europe the UK and to a certain extent in Austrailia this railway hiding is also going on.
But it's not denting the usage of trains or interest in trains in general.
I think there are still enough people in these countries that remember the almost Astronaut status given to the steam express drivers
In the USA that got taken over by the real deal I would think.
regards John
A bit late here, but I can put in a few words about places not mentioned yet. Japan has a pretty huge model railroad industry, from what I understand. Mostly n scale, with a bit of ho. Like Europe, trains are very much a part of everyday life, so a lot of people are interested in them. Kato has a lot of neat models for that market. Interestingly, Korea barely has a market at all for these things, despite the large amount of rail traffic there. Even though there are several Korean brass train companies, none of them make Korean prototype models. Most moodelers there have to deal with foreign models, so you see a good mix of american, Japanese, and European models there. I was lucky to find a reasonably priced korean model, which was leftover stock from a company that closed down a while back. Koreans have about the same amount of space that Japanese have, so space must not be an issue. So it leaves me stumped.
andrechapelon Sheldon, quoting your reply would take too much space, I'm on an iPhone and have fat fingers. High speed rail service isn't designed to serve "everybody", but to make travel between large urban areas fast and efficient. At distances of about 500 miles, high speed rail is competitive with air travel and much faster than car between city centers. As far as being able to beat or at least match air travel with a car at distances of 800 - 1000 miles, no. From our house in Monterey to downtown Los Angeles is 320 miles and projected driving time is just under 5 hours. Given airport constraints, this is right about the ragged edge of competitive point to point timing (using Monterey Airport). Any longer distance and the plane wins unless planes have to be changed. Just as an aside, when we drove from Bilbao to Segovia, we parallelled rail lines in several locations and I was hoping to see at least one train. Well, just north of Burgos, we finally did see one. My granddaughter said the train looked like it hauled garbage and I had to agree with her. Oh well, better to haul garbage than be hauled away AS garbage. Andre
Sheldon, quoting your reply would take too much space, I'm on an iPhone and have fat fingers.
High speed rail service isn't designed to serve "everybody", but to make travel between large urban areas fast and efficient. At distances of about 500 miles, high speed rail is competitive with air travel and much faster than car between city centers.
As far as being able to beat or at least match air travel with a car at distances of 800 - 1000 miles, no. From our house in Monterey to downtown Los Angeles is 320 miles and projected driving time is just under 5 hours. Given airport constraints, this is right about the ragged edge of competitive point to point timing (using Monterey Airport). Any longer distance and the plane wins unless planes have to be changed.
Just as an aside, when we drove from Bilbao to Segovia, we parallelled rail lines in several locations and I was hoping to see at least one train. Well, just north of Burgos, we finally did see one. My granddaughter said the train looked like it hauled garbage and I had to agree with her. Oh well, better to haul garbage than be hauled away AS garbage.
Here in the east nobody lives in the "city center" anymore - so getting to and from airports and train stations is typically a 45 minute trip in itself.
The city center is office space, government buildings, tourist destinations, sports and entertainment arenas, historic structures and boarded up row houses.
Sure, there is a "niche" of yupy residents that live among all that - good for them.
Point is the costs for more mass transit just don't ad up - not with my tax dollars - and the current Governor here in Maryland agrees...........
Car vs plane - maybe not well worded originally, but for me, 800 miles is when I would start thinking about a plane - if I was in a hurry. 300 miles, 550 miles like to Detriot - I'm driving. We are 45 minutes from the nearest airport - on a good day.
Once we did Disney Work to Forest Hill, MD in 14 hours.......
Andre,I seen garbage hauled in two and three bay covered hoppers-word of advice..Don't stand downwind when these trains pass. Phew!
PRR8259Mail order does not offer the sense of comaradarie of hanging out on a Saturday with a group of the "usual suspects" as the local train store does.
Hi John.
I fully agree and if I had a good shop I would spend the majority of my monthly hobby budget there since I'm not overly fond of buying on line but,nearest shop is a 52 mile round trip with dusty stock at full price and no Saturday morning gatherings..
I'm also getting to the point where I need less and less but,still like would like to eyeball the newest rolling stock and maybe buy it if it catches my fanacy. A Aberdeen & Rockfish 50' waffle side boxcar would be such a car..There are several others on my wish list as well.
Hi Larry--
Yes, that can all be true.
However, I think I still get the best overall "experience" or "value" from buying in person when I can. The local train stores I patronize know that I buy a few items mail order, yet at the same time, they know that if I can I will often buy from them. Mail order does not offer the sense of comaradarie of hanging out on a Saturday with a group of the "usual suspects" as the local train store does.
This year I have purchased two new steamers from the local train store, and only one from M.B. Klein. It is also true that the one purchase from MBK saved me $100 cash, but being able to inspect a new steamer in person before buying can sometimes be worth the extra $100, so I figure the savings "balance out" if I do both.
I know I am fortunate to be able to shop at a real, living local train store (actually 2 of them) and that others may not have one within a few hundred miles. Also, as my son is getting pitching lessons from a former pro pitcher, that conveniently is getting me to a store in Montoursville, PA, just about every other Saturday...
John Mock
Howard Zane I'm always amazed how topics change...no problem as modern train travel is interesting and still is the inspiration for many of us modelers. For those who forgot or wandered off message, I was trying to see if anyone had any knowledge of where model railroading is most popular.....here of off shore? And which country has the most model railroad actvity. HZ
I'm always amazed how topics change...no problem as modern train travel is interesting and still is the inspiration for many of us modelers. For those who forgot or wandered off message, I was trying to see if anyone had any knowledge of where model railroading is most popular.....here of off shore? And which country has the most model railroad actvity.
HZ
You will need hard figures that is used by the industry and we will never see those as outsiders.
All evidence points at a steady hobby since we have seen new companies in the past 10 years plus the latest-Scale Trains. The number of monthly releases is staggering if one cares to study the monthly data.
While local model train shops has decline there is still hobby shops that is willing to order model trains,the latest slot car or military model.
But,the sales tend to be on line since the discount is better which is important to the budget minded modeler and its convenient-shop from your home instead of driving to the nearest LHS which may not have the item in stock or has dusty full price stock dating back to the 90s.
Oh, and one post above said Americans won't wait in line at a train store anymore?
I still do, at the store where I grew up since they first saw me when I was 5.
On Saturday mornings, the regular crowd still shuffles in and many of them know each other quite well...
However, I have little knowledge of model trains in other countries as I have only visited a few of the warmer, tropical ones and Ireland.
Sir Madog wjstix Also, the "car culture" may be a baby-boomer thing. Many people in their 20's don't own cars now. Often this is a conscious choice because they prefer the "green" alternatives of mass transit. Stix - that´s a development which is quite strong in Europe. Young folks don´t want to waste precious time stuck in a car on a congested motorway. They prefer to live a lot closer to their work place, if not within walking distance, then to be easily reached by public transport. My son lives a 5 minute walk away from his office, has a streetcar halt within a2 minutes´ walk and a car rental station, where you can rent a car for an hour or so, right across the street. needless to say he does not own a car. Business trips are done by train or company pool car.
wjstix Also, the "car culture" may be a baby-boomer thing. Many people in their 20's don't own cars now. Often this is a conscious choice because they prefer the "green" alternatives of mass transit.
Stix - that´s a development which is quite strong in Europe. Young folks don´t want to waste precious time stuck in a car on a congested motorway. They prefer to live a lot closer to their work place, if not within walking distance, then to be easily reached by public transport.
My son lives a 5 minute walk away from his office, has a streetcar halt within a2 minutes´ walk and a car rental station, where you can rent a car for an hour or so, right across the street. needless to say he does not own a car. Business trips are done by train or company pool car.
I know I'm a trouble maker, but I must make one more comment.
Sir MadogYoung folks don´t want to waste precious time stuck in a car on a congested motorway.
This comment maybe true where you live, it is surely true in some major American ubran areas.
But generally speaking we get in the car and drive around the 30 mile radius from our home that is our normal activity area without hardly ever "sitting in a traffic jam".
Sure, at "rush hour" roads can be a little busy, but not jammed up by any means. Major roads have speed limits of 40-50 MPH and you can travel at 40-50 MPH - or faster........., most of the time.
So again, the "problems" that may cause others to make different choices do not effect us.
So I have to ask, your son lives in some sort of townhouse, apartment building or other multi family structure? That is great for many people, even here in the US, but personally I would rather not.
I could not imagine building a model railroad living in an apartment.
I like the idea of living close to work - my office is in my home and sometimes I don't have to drive anywhere.
But not being able to just get in my car and go, especially in an emergency, is a level of independence I am not willing to give up.
We travel distances of 10, 20 or 30 miles just to shop, eat out, go to movie, or run basic errands - we have no choice, that is how spread out things are here.
Model railroading seems pretty popular in this region of the US, and I do tnink it varies a lot in different parts of the US. As I have talked about before, basement filling layouts ae fairly common in this region.
But agreed, trains are no longer important to most Americans.
As I type this, I am sitting in my truck, in Havre de Grace, MD, under a bridge carring the Northeast Corridor tracks, watching the AMTRAK trains go by as I wait to pickup my grand daughter after school.
Take care,
Howard, thanks for putting us back on track!
Judging by the number of model train shows - if that is an indicator - my best bet is UK.
Judging by the amount of model railroading clubs and people being a member in a club, my vote goes to Germany.
Judging by the craftsmanship - my vote goes to The Netherlands, followed by UK, France, Switzerland (!) and the US/Canada. Germany is too much of an RTR market for that criteria.
Stix--
Perhaps we're talking about two different things here:
I'm referring more to densely crowded commuter rail trains, than long distance, relatively high priced (as compared to airlines or driving one's own car) passenger rail.
I just drove my family from Harrisburg, PA to Port Canaveral, FL, for a Disney cruise. It cost me less than $120 in gasoline, round trip, more than 2000 miles in a Honda Civic, and we got there in about the same amount of time as if we had taken Amtrak, but were able to stop where and when we wanted to. You also cannot ride Amtrak, as a family of 4, from even just Philadelphia to Orlando, for anywhere near that $120 price one-way. With Amtrak, on the same route, you still need taxis and/or rental cars in Florida, to transfer from the train station to Disney's shuttle (we did do that train trip before, and it cost serious cash for just the wife and myself). This is on one of the heaviest tourist passenger traffic corridors in the U.S.
Yes--Americans would ride high speed rail--if it existed outside the NE corridor (which is relatively high speed now). However, from a purely engineering standpoint there are numerous issues primarily relating to funding, earth moving, right-of-way, and construction costs. Excepting a few high value corridors (my college buddy did the actual alignment study for high speed rail between LA and Las Vegas), the cost of building high speed rail is so prohibitive it would require a major shift in attitude for both the American people and the government.
You could never sell enough tickets, at any price, to the occasional American long distance tourist passengers to even begin to fund a new high speed rail line in most areas of the U.S. The government would have to get rid of any illusions/delusions of passenger trains covering their costs.
Now, between LA and Las Vegas, that one line and a few others might have merit due to the potential traffic volumes, but...
Sincere apology to Howard for hijacking topic.
wjstixAlso, the "car culture" may be a baby-boomer thing. Many people in their 20's don't own cars now. Often this is a conscious choice because they prefer the "green" alternatives of mass transit.
Just a quick reply to Sheldon's earlier reply - I think you're correct in that a limited expansion of existing passenger trains isn't going to change anything...although in many long-distance trains, you now have only one train covering a route where 75 years ago you had several, giving you various times. Years back if the Empire Builder came through your hometown in North Dakota at 2 a.m., another train on the same route like the Western Star maybe came through at 1 p.m. - a much more convenient time.
However, I disagree that people wouldn't take say high-speed trains if they become available. It always works out for example that ridership of new light-rail lines is always more than anticipated - people who didn't think they'd ever ride the light rail end up using it. I think similarly, if you could get say from my home in the Twin Cities to Chicago in 4 hours instead 10 or 11 (remembering in the 1930's steam trains made the trip in 6-7 hours!) many people who currently drive or fly would take the train.
Also, the "car culture" may be a baby-boomer thing. Many people in their 20's don't own cars now. Often this is a conscious choice because they prefer the "green" alternatives of mass transit.
DigitalGriffinI hate to sound like a cynic, but if it were true, would there not be a European equivalent of Walthers?
Don´t think of Europe being one country. Despite the EU, Europe is not at all united, especially when it comes to model railroading
If I were to list the businesses you find in my country, it´ll take my quite a few hours. There must be well over 200 of them! The same goes for the UK!
Talking of figures - Marklin´s sales amounted to an average of $ 120 million in the past years, which is about 10% above the next largest, the Kader Holding, owner of Bachmann. Maybe that´s an indication. Marklin´s main brands Marklin, Trix and LGB are mainly sold in Germany . Roco/Fleischmann sales reach half of Marklin´s turnover.
I doubt that Walthers reaches that level.
Sir Madog Just an attempt to bring this discussion back to the OP´s topic ... Train travel in the US is certainly not as convenient as it is in Europe. Longer distances, travel time, train stations not (always) in the heart of the cities (not to say the boondocks), freight trains having priority, slow average speeds, noise and maybe even dirt have made taking a train not really attractive. Trains in the US are more connecting with being held up at a grade crossing by a mile (and more) long train than a method of transport you take for business or leisure. No wonder that model railroading enjoys a lesser degree of spread and social acceptance!
Just an attempt to bring this discussion back to the OP´s topic ...
Train travel in the US is certainly not as convenient as it is in Europe. Longer distances, travel time, train stations not (always) in the heart of the cities (not to say the boondocks), freight trains having priority, slow average speeds, noise and maybe even dirt have made taking a train not really attractive. Trains in the US are more connecting with being held up at a grade crossing by a mile (and more) long train than a method of transport you take for business or leisure. No wonder that model railroading enjoys a lesser degree of spread and social acceptance!
Actually, most train stations are in the cities, but most people do not live in the cities - they live in the suburbs.......