Worldwide model railroading

[wairoa]

I was born in Australia, grew up in the US and now serve in the US army when it comes to trains I am a bit of a whore. I have models from New Zealand, Germany, Italy, the UK and of course the United States. Each of these nations has a special spot in my soul of course railroad realism has been thrown right out the door. As for my US models well when I lived out west I was a fan on BN, UP, Sante Fe and the SP now that I live in the east I am a groupie of the CSX and NS. Recently I have been considering everything and restarting in HO, modeling NS and CSX. But here the thought of getting rid of more than 60 engines from the UP Big Boy to the German ICE leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Oh what to do? Guess I will just go back to e-bay and continue didding on that GP 60B (BNSF) and SNCF electric and wait for my British Railways Interctiy 225 to arrive in the mail.

[jkeaton]

Model railroading can exist in the most unlikely of places - I found some behind the Iron Curtain in 1990 (in Czechoslovakia - OK, 1990 was post-Iron Curtain, but the model railway club had been in existence for a long time. It was, bizarrely, sponsored by a branch of the local army reserve! They had resin kits for sale, their own national magazine, and a number of small but excellent layouts.). But people who post here will have to be reasonably comfortable in English and interested in North American railroading - and that will be a distinct minority of model railroaders outside North America. After all, not many hobby shops or retailers in the USA carry non-USA models - even Mexican and Canadian cars, that freely circulate across the borders, can be hard to find in model form in the USA.

Jim

[Anonymous]

Isn't Texas a whole other country?

[lupo]

QUOTE: Originally posted by FundyNorthern

QUOTE: Originally posted by lupo

Language might be a problem as well, not everyone masters the english language well enough to contribute to this forum.

Hey Lupo - many of us in North America have a language problem - we can't spell worth a darn! [:D] Just check out many of the message subjects in this forum for examples!!

Bob Boudreau

I noticed that when lurking before joining, in the past, [:p] so I thought " I can type like that too ! "[}:)][:D][%-)][(-D]

[Anonymous]

One of the UK members here - I agree with the comments about most modellers building layouts depicting their home country. It is fairly difficult to obtain US-outline models over here - not impossible but difficult, there are a few stores that stock them. Add to this that finding magazines can also be tricky - can only get MR in a couple of places near me and usually have to search for it, and Continental Modeller (Peco magazine devoted to non-UK modelling) can also be tricky to find in smaller newsagents - I've taken to placing an order so each month's is delivered with the morning papers.

Like previous responses, I suspect cost may well have something to do with the lack of modellers in some countries. We in the western world have the necessary free time and resources to build models and spend our money on non-essential items (though there's a strong argument that trains are essential...). Just my thoughts!

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by lupo

Language might be a problem as well, not everyone masters the english language well enough to contribute to this forum.

Hey Lupo - many of us in North America have a language problem - we can't spell worth a darn! [:D] Just check out many of the message subjects in this forum for examples!!

Bob Boudreau

[egmurphy]

Mexico reporting in here. I agree with Lupo and Elliot (as usual).

Model railroaders from other countries tend to frequent forum sites that are more focused on their interests. I frequent several small forums that target model railroading south of the border, or Mexico specifically. One of those operates totally in Spanish. A couple of the others have a mix of English/Spanish posts.

While model railroading is huge in some other aparts of the world, including Europe, Australia and Japan, people in developing nations generally don't have the luxury of spare time, or money that isn't earmarked for family needs.

There's a small but active model railroading community in Mexico. Nothing like what you have north of the border, but it does exist. Only a handful of hobby shops country wide. Shops and modelers tend to be found only in the major cities. Equipment is considerably more expensive to purchase (think import duties).

Hasta luego,

Ed

[Big_Boy_4005]

The odd one from Holland, we know well and love. Eh, Lupo?[swg]

Seriously though, I have seen at least one member from almost every Western European country. We have some Americans living outside the US, including at least one from Mexico, and one from Japan. I've seen one from Hong Kong, South Africa, Columbia, Brazil. There are a bunch from Australia and New Zealand, and Canada goes without saying.

The language barrier has to be a major factor, but that also figures into who reads the magazine and the fact that it is primarily North American in content.

Look at the places around the world where model trains are made, or used to be made. Look at the prototypes. Not too many models of African, Indian, or South American trains being made, are there?

Developing nations of the world don't know from our "western" hobby. Those people are far too busy trying to survive, and have no grasp of the concept of of such luxuries. Sure it is possible to find rare examples, like that of the silver train, but hobbies require wealth not typically found in many parts of the world.

Many parts of the world still don't have regular electrical service. That makes it kind of difficult to run trains or get on the internet for that matter.

[lupo]

one reason for not so many foreigners posting this forum could be because the interest of foreign model railroaders lies in their home country.
This forum is very North American Railroad orientated, and not so many people model "Overseas " railroads. as some polls on this forum pointed out in the past.

Language might be a problem as well, not everyone masters the english language well enough to contribute to this forum.

There are European orientated sites, I came across a Spanish forum, and an Italian , and French one .

[tatans]

Just noticed a few posts from Australia & N.Z., the odd one from Great Britain, Germany, Holland. Seeing as this is the worldwide web internet, does it not seem strange that there are not more posts from every country in the world, or is model railroading particular to North America, does no one in Mexico or Finland or Nigeria or Viet Nam partake of this hobby?? Could it be each country has it's own website?? it seems strange to me we don't hear from more countries. Maybe MR can answer this by relating to where they send the magazine around the world, or maybe they don't. I remember seeing a photo of a sterling silver passenger train (O-scale) that was made for a prince in India---anyone know where this is??? Just curious.