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[quote]QUOTE: Originally posted by CubanRailways Sod computers - what they useful for?.......chatting with people about railways on the otherside of the Atlantic -well they have some uses.....! Regards, Stephen. [/quote] I used the internet the other day to enjoy some of very hard charging british steam as taken on a camcorder thanks to a forum user. I will be putting those on disk and sharing the images with family who may not have the fast connections. The hobby will endure. There are people that play with trains. They are fun to play with. I am close to 40 and feel that there is another 30 years left in the hobby. Maybe I live long enough to see the MR's 100th anniversary? Who knows. Hopefully still in a magazine form but I advocated a electronic form of sharing data instead of costly paper and ink. There is money in the Hobby. Many people are dying off and the estates are being sold to a good penny to those who might be reaching for thier child hoods. Trainshows are doing ok, they sometimes get snotty and overprices 30 year old engines to try and stay with the newer higher quality engines. Bastions such as Clubs, Model Train Shows and other gatherings will occur as long as the people care about the trains. Families generally enjoy trains but Life with it's breakneck speed and lack of time for anything except RTR threatens some aspects of the hobby. 50 years ago you were handed a box with wood parts in it. From that raw material you wanted to build a passenger car. You had to use many skills and time to get it done right. Now you can buy said passenger car already built at prices that seems to be quite profitable for the manufactor. 20 years ago you went into a store to look at the latest. The MR, Trains etc magazines were the "Herald Men" calling the new products coming into the market. We eagerly gathered about the news racks and maiboxes monthly. Now in the age of the internet, we can literally be aware of new products even before the design is approved by the Factory. Case in point... the announcement of Precision Scale Craft Models the other day in MR on the forums. My LHS and HIS distrubitors knew NOTHING about this news.. I imagine only now they are hearing about it. We can sit and research prices and buy/sell models at will. No longer do we have to pack it into the car and take it to the trainshow. However there are always folks that do this for a living and they will carry on the shows. The hobby has enjoyed a burst of new steam starting with Bachmann's 2-8-0 spectrum line and the recent BLI offerings. The first time I laid eyes on the MYC 4-6-4 showing off with shouts of steam chuffs and whistle that could be heard thru the entire store. I thought this is a pretty thing that wont get much market share because it is too expensive. Almost like brass. Well. I own 4 Steamers that are based on the QSi techology and plan to purchase more steam whenever they feel that it is worth to make a profit producing them. I am going to take one paragraph and rant about today's products and how they are offered. I recently pre ordered some products to the factory by a deadline because they might not be availible after a deadline. Or worse not produced at all due to too few orders. This is not fair to the majority of modelers. Take the walthers barge situation for example.. They made these for a few years then "Retired" recent MR issues related to sea based railroading cause much interest in these kits that are no longer being produced. I sold my barge set on ebay as I dont have the room for twice.. no.. more than twice the orginal retail MSRP of both Barge and Float. Nice profit to me but Walthers can see this post and take note that they need to start making these kits again. The bidding wars on Ebay goes to the one with the most dollars.. not the average hobby person who just needs a barge. Whatever floats I guess. The hobby will be around for a while. Walmart is pushing RFID technology onto individual boxes so they can be scanned into the computer by radio instead of picked up, numbers read and matched to a stack of paper invoices. Think about a signal that commands a engine to stop at a red. Senses a approach and passage of the other train during a meet and then commands the engine to proceed. All without operator attention. I think the future might hold AI (Artifical intellegence) products that will help us run trains better. 50 years ago Cell phones as we know them today is science fiction. I imagine those who create new and useful products for the hobby years from now will carry on the tradition of running trains for our children long after we are dead and gone.
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