I walked into a hobby shop. I forget how I learned of this one LHS, but I knew I wanted to visit it after an errand driving my dad to the ferry in Nanaimo, where the hobby shop is/was. I left with a BLI Hudson and some tracks.
I hadn't visited hobby forums before that, but soon learned that they exist and that they're great resources.
This is probably the one great deficit left behind by closing hobby stores that sell trains and train sets. Apart from that wonderful experience of browsing in them, and of finding some hidden gems and bargains, you learn where train shows are happening, or you're given a phone number of a guy who knows a guy whose friend installs decoders...if you want one installed.
SeeYou190Ed: When I clicked on that last week it took me to an outside online retailer selling tools. Today I just got an ad for tools and some links.
I wonder if that may be somehow related to some browser (mal)function or odd cookie redirect?
Anytime I click on those topic headers I get redirected to MR's site and delve into a great deal of information contained therein. I also like to visit the user videos and photo contributions. The "HOW TO" menu will also offer some great layout building information.
I've heard some forum responders say "Gee, I didn't even notice those tabs were there". Ya' gotta' dig to get to the ore
You should get to a page that looks like this:
MR-2 by Edmund, on Flickr
Try using another browser and see if your results are better?
Good Luck, Ed
Ed: When I clicked on that last week it took me to an outside online retailer selling tools. Today I just got an ad for tools and some links.
I suppose if a candidate was introduced to the hobby through an eye-grabbing article in Model Railroader it would make sense for them to go to the Model Railroader website. This seems like a great pathway.
I am going to read throught the information contained there.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
MR by Edmund, on Flickr
I have pointed this menu bar out to several inquisitive newcomers to the forums in the past. Generally they were thankful and appreciative. Hopefully the information provided was helpful.
Sometimes the internet is like an onion where you have to peel back some layers to get to the core.
Cheers, Ed
Today, everything is online. The first reaction to any person living in this day and age of the internet would type "getting started with model trains" into Google, start reading websites and watching YouTube.I just did, and this is what popped up:http://wgh.trains.com/get-started
http://www.lionel.com/getstarted/
https://nmra.org/beginners-guide
https://www.building-your-model-railroad.com/model-railroading.html
https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/model-railroading-101-2382324
https://www.walthers.com/getting-started
And the links go on and on and on.
I thought it was best to start a new thread to address this point:
ATLANTIC CENTRALBe it online or in a store, the fact that a beginner cannot easily buy a locomotive and a matching set of passenger cars all at the same time in the same place, is a discouragement to new people.
I completely agree with this.
How does a newcomer get started in model railroading? Does Kalmbach still publish the HO Primer? Is there a local hobby shop where they can browse and get a complete set up of what they need?
I posted recently how I could not find a "getting started with model railroading" tab on the home page of any of the major model railroading websites. Well, the NMRA comes through. There is a "getting started" tab on their home page. How many new model railroaders will find this?
I would enjoy a discussion on what it must be like for a newcomer who has just seen something thatr inspired him. Maybe a Model Railroader in a Doctor's Office or a model train featured on a TV show.
Please don't respond with what you would tell him to do, he does not know you. Put yourself in their shoes... where do you go, and how do you get brought into the fold?