Edit post

Edit your reply below.

Post Body
Enter your post below.
Here I am at the bottom end of the world in Port Elizabeth. About the best thing I can say about Port Elizabeth is that if the planet Earth ever needed an enema, this is where they would insert the pipe. Due to my location I am isolated from the mainstream but I crawl all over the Internet and I subscribe to GR and previously MR. I therefore consider myself to be fairly clued up on the model railroad scene and my perspective of where it is going is as follows: People build models of what appeals to them. This appeal is nostalgic, emotional, and personal. We want to reproduce our childhood memories and experiences. We want to surround ourselves with models or scenes that reinforce those memories. My childhood memories are of steam engines, and being from a railway family, I had unlimited access to them. I could go down to my father's office on the station and sit there for hours watching the locos come past. I was always hanging over the balcony of the first coach behind the tender, getting covered in soot and ash. The smell of coal smoke was sweeter than any perfume. I loved it. In later years when steam has disappeared from South African Railways, I became interested in the 2 foot narrow gauge railway that runs from Port Elizabeth to Avontuur. This has a steam hauled tourist train known as the "Apple Express". I became fascinated with everything that had the "narrow gauge" imprint on it - tight curves, little locos, short trains, quaint equipment. The merger of my childhood experiences of the main line and my adult experiences of the narrow gauge have ensured that my model railway is strictly narrow gauge steam. I do not want and will not build anything else. I am living my memories. My step-daughter's fiance is a young man who is fascinated by what I am doing and loves watching the trains run. One day he asked me if I knew where he could go to see an actual steam engine. He has never seen a real one in his life. This was a sad revelation to me who grew up with them and knew them so well. How do I even begin to explain to this lad what they sound like, what they smell like? It got me thinking on what the next generation of model railroader would be like, and what would they want. Where did I think the hobby was heading? I used my perception of the youth of today to try and imagine the model railway of the future. These are my thoughts: Steam will die with my generation and the next generation will be diesel oriented. Narrow gauge short lines will also die with my age group because that era is over. High-speed main line intermodals or inter-city express runs with a train that looks to me more like an wingless airplane than a "real" train. Their introduction to technology from birth will ensure that today's kids will want model trains that are computerised, have digital control, sound effects and be virtually Playstations on wheels. If it isn't programmable, forget it. Therefore (finally) I have finished the background reasoning for my vote, which is - Standard gauge will be more popular than narrow gauge. (with long, modern trains being run) Garden railways will become more like indoor model railroads. (with high technology control and operation) And sadly (sniff snlff) [:(] not on your poll, but steam will die.
Tags (Optional)
Tags are keywords that get attached to your post. They are used to categorize your submission and make it easier to search for. To add tags to your post type a tag into the box below and click the "Add Tag" button.
Add Tag