Whats the average age of O gauge train buffs?

[palallin]

I am three days shy of 44.  My first set was delivered by Santa Grandpa on my first Christmas; I was all of 7 months old.  It was HO and DOA.  The next day, Grandpa went to Sears and replaced it with a Marx O gauge set.  A few years later, he delivered an early MPC Sears special and then a Remco monorail (I still have all three).  A few years later came the second HO set, a dubious and tangled path that I finally escaped from (although I have some of the trains yet) in grad school when I returned to my 3-rail roots.  Now, the family has a communal 0 scale, 3-rail and On30 layout--the boys and I do 3-rail, and my wife runs the NG--while I also collect (and run at CHRISTmas time) Lionel and IVES Standard Gauge.

The salient points:  I am younger than this theoretical average and have never been completely "out" of trains.  I suffer a strong streak of nostalgia for the trains of my youth, their contemporaries, and their derivatives.  Nevertheless, I appreciate, collect, and run trains far older than those, old enough to have been my dad's in his youth (though he owned none) and even my grandfather's (sadly, I don't know whether he ever owned any).  My family is involved, and my sons own their own trains--in fact, they have bought trains with their own money.  My seven-year-old's latest purchase was a Lionel Lines 0-6-0 docksider steam engine, and my ten-year-old's was an Athearn HO Frisco diesel with a variety of rolling stock and a caboose--all Frisco.   (Sorry to pop the bubbles of those who say today's kids ONLY want today's trains in today's liveries:  these choices were made by the boys without my prompting.)  I foresee a healthy hobby well into the current century at least.

[runtime]

My first train was a Lionel 675 Pacific with the brown tin passenger cars, probabably purchased in '51. This was set up at Christmas time and run with the No.4 Build-a-Loco and freights ('27-'29) from my dad's youth.  I still think of these, plus a NYC F3 ABA which came along soon thereafter, as the cornerstones of my collection.

'I got' train stuff for Christmas every year I remember 'till I was 11 or 12.  Dabbled in HO when my kids were small because dad still had all my Christmas presents at his house for safe keeping. I got the O-guage when he moved to a retirement village. It sat in boxes for some additional years and I finally put up a layout about 10 years ago.

Give or take a few years and events, swap out the sets, and my train collecting history is probably typical of a sizeable segment of the cohort.

As for the future, I haven't seen that drop in prewar demand that's mentioned above. At the auctions I've attended the prices for prewar are at or above the guidebooks.

runtime

[Pennvalley]

Turned 66 last week    to me.
1st train was (umm) a 2026 Pacific & some freight cars in late 40's.

[Wes Whitmore]

I'm 31.  Dad set up a 4x8 HO layout when I was 8 or so, and I got my first Lionel starter steamer when I was 10.  Never put it on a layout, just ran it in circles around the tree.  Took a bunch of years off, and got back into it a little over 2 years ago.  It's been great ever since.
Wes

[zeames1]

I'm 49 and wondered the same about the future. I think that the collector market will dry up somewhat. I seen a lot of Tinplate on the tables at York and not much of it moving. I believe the nostalgic collectors who were born in the 1920's,30's, and early 40's are disappearing at a rate which is less than the rate of new younger collectors entering Tinplate collecting. The same will probably happen to postwar in 20 -25 years.

To help promote the hobby I joined a club, FCTT out of Rochester NY,  which sets up a large three rail layout at ten to fifteen Western NY shows. We were at Spring 2007 York and combined with Liberty Hi-Railers this past York. In addition, I do an Engineering Merit Badge event for 50 - 60 Boy Scouts once or twice a year. I bring an operating display and let them get some hands on experience with TMCC while I explain how it all works. I also compare a postwar GP-7 and a modern GP-9 and explain the technology enhancements. They are interested so you may see the high tech aspect of the hobby survive. However, very few, maybe one or two have trains.

[dsmith]

Age: 58

First Train: Christmas 1957 I received a Lionel trainset powered by a 205 Missouri Pacific diesel.

[asch]

I am 31 and have been in this hobby my entire life. Started win HO with my Dad, switched to N scale after my divorce and then about three years ago to Lionel/027 with the encouragement of my wife. Still going strong!

[jefelectric]

Don't want to get off topic, but it would be interesting if everyone replied to their own post here, listing their very first train, if that's OK with the author of this thread, Reading T-1.

Jack 

I think it was 1947 when I was 9.  Don't remember the exact set, but it was Lionel.  I had it a few years, but at that age I had the nasty habit of taking everything apart to see what made it tick and didn't always get things back together again.  I know the set still had the electromagnetic couplers on it. 

[jmkk]

  Iam 34. The first train I watched and or opperated was a  2037. The first train that was bought for me was the Disney set from 1978 when I was 5. I still run the 2037.

[HighPlains]

I'll never tell my age but I got my first Lionel set in 1950 and I was 5 years old. Uh oh, looks like I let the cat outa the bag. Back to enjoying trains after lots of years of having a family and making a living.

[sir james I]

That train set Donna Pass discribes sounds like one I remember from the 1948 catalog. Since she won't tell us thats my best guess.

My first set was at christmas, Marx 999 with lots of track my first Lionel was 1949,2025 with the green/gray roof passenger cars. Things went on from there.

[Reading T-1]

Don't want to get off topic, but it would be interesting if everyone replied to their own post here, listing their very first train, if that's OK with the author of this thread, Reading T-1.

Jack 

 

My first train was at age 9. It was an Ho set. My mother had a few loinel o guage trains in the attic that were passed down to here. Most were in pieces. I became interested in o guage about 5 years ago after my mom gave those trains to me. I spent time researching them and had them put back together. It cost me more then there worth but it was for the sentimental value. The trains were a 623 switcher 2025 steam engine and a scout engine . I hope this answers your question Jack

[Boxcar Bill]

 I would like to say that Iam 6 years old with fiffty one years of O-Gauge experience

[tex702]

Well Im 58 here but have always loved trains.  Being a military retiree, I just now have the time to get involve in it.  I was involved with it as a boy but that was a long time ago.  Just really got goin with it three years ago and my layout consists of 5 4x8 sheets and slowly trying to build a realsistic as possible layout.  Feels like this is gonna go on for a long long time.  Scenery is so hard to do

 

[Anonymous]

Shocking! grown-ups still playing with toys! 

I'll give up my age...when you pry my driver's license from my cold, dead hands!

I guess it goes back to having received my first train set, at age 6, a Lionel 027 outfit, but I've never been interested in any other scale (excepting 1:1). And also, having been raised as an only child, a daughter, yet, I kinda got pulled into dad's hobbies--fishing, archery, shooting, and o-gauge trains (and I still kept my femininity).

My first set had a black steam engine and tender, plus several cars (do you think I'd let you age me by describing the exact set? Silly boys, I'm no .

[RockIsland52]

I'm 57 and "officially" got into the electric train hobby Christmas 1954.  I say "officially" because my father started buying trains before I was born, hence two engines I have that predate my birth.  Unless, of course, it was my mother who started buying them as a closet train fanatic.  My folks started giving them to me when Dad's thumb and forefinger wore out winding up the engine on some wind up train he had previously given to me.....he told me that later in life.

The first "permanent" layout lasted about 20 years along with a loop around the tree at each Christmas.  Then it all got packed away, the layout long since dormant, as some have said, replaced by girls, cars, and then families. 

As others have noted, this type of thread is very popular.  On this Forum there was one survey within the past 5 months (45 average age I think).  And the link Bob Nelson provided was from a 1/05 survey, no averages provided.

Either some of you guys are aging slower or stopped counting .  Just kidding.

Don't want to get off topic, but it would be interesting if everyone replied to their own post here, listing their very first train, if that's OK with the author of this thread, Reading T-1.

Jack 

 

[jefelectric]

Well I guess I am older than the average.  Coming up on 70 in November and have been involved in trains off and on for about 60 years.  At one of Mike Wolf's presentations at TCA, Think it might have been last October, he stated that their market research shows the average age to be 52 and that it never changes.  Judging from what I see, that sounds about right.  I do see younger guys in the shops, but don't believe they go to York, there is this thing called work that a lot of them are invoved in. And I never go on Saturday.  The thing I like about the York crowd, is that it makes me feel young. 

[rogruth]

74 in two months.

Railroad fan as long as I can remember.

First Marx when five.First Lionel when twelve.

Went to college.Grandmother,with whom I lived,gave away all that "train stuff".

A friend gave me a Lionel starter set six years ago. Now have a layout again[without much scenery].

 

 

 

[Northwoods Flyer]

I'm 53, and some of the trains that I own were in my family before I was born.  We had a train around our Christmas tree every year when I was living at home.  There was a flirtation with HO when I was in high school and college.  After my wife and I got married I wanted a train for around our tree. I pulled out the S gauge American Flyer and that started the first phase of collecting.  Over the years I added pieces of Wide Gauge Flyer and in the last 2 years the focus has been on expanding the O gauge Flyer collection.  My 20 year old son has been aquiring materials and trains for an HO layout and we have a garden railroad as well.  I'd say the hobby is alive and well in many facets in our family.

Northwoods Flyer

[rtraincollector]

The real scoop on model rail roading (any of the major companies will tell you this) about 50 - 60 is when dad is done with the kids being in the house and can start looking into other intrest. So his child hood favorite comes back to haunt him and its Trains. And with the new gagets it makes it even more interesting to him. He has spending money again as no kids to suport or put thru collage anymore. Yes he has the grandkids but there not normally living there everyday .

So your answer really is as I've nbeen told is it just gets redeveloped when you get to be in your 50's now yes there are a few that manage to keep into trains thru there whole life but most can't because of expenses. Also the intrest of being with the kids and doing things with them is some of the reason some fall away from trains also again not all but some .

[RRCharlie]

I'll be 67 in 1 month less a day. Have had trains since a Marx set in 1947 followed by my first Lionel in 1948.

 

[aurora351]

I'm almost 36. I've been involved one way or another through my dad, who is 70, since I was 6 years old.

[Blueberryhill RR]

The Chief is 105 and I am 4 1/2, see photo on the left of this post.  Kinda look old for my age.

Right........and I'm 19.

[Buckeye Riveter]

The Chief is 105 and I am 4 1/2, see photo on the left of this post.  Kinda look old for my age.

[zwbob]

I'll be 51 in two months

[lionelsoni]

http://cs.trains.com/forums/368761/ShowPost.aspx

 

[3railguy]

...breathe into this paper bag....

NAILED IT.

 

[Warburton]

Bob -- not according to Dennis Hopper in those investment commercials!

 Anyway, uh, uh, what was the question????

 Oh yeah, I'm 60 (I think).

[Bob Keller]

50 is the new 40 ...

[traindaddy1]

If you really want to know....2 x 33 + .....