Hi!
Lots of good thoughts here, and I think my personal favorite is DCC coupling/uncoupling.
Having played with trains since the mid-50s, I've seen a lot of change and in some ways, some things have stayed the same. Frankly, the hobby has more to offer now than ever before.
One thing does concern me...... Many of us "war babies" and "baby boomers" grew up on Lionel & American Flyer and we are a good portion of the MRs today that spend the money and keep the suppliers in business. But sad to say, we are not going to be around forever, and the younger generation(s) were raised on computer games and other like interests - and not model trains (or planes) or model building. Hopefully some of these proposed changes will come about, and will create more interest in the Hobby. But, only time will tell......
Hey, in the meantime, lets ENJOY !!!!
Mobilman44
ENJOY !
Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central
Another thing which will affect many areas has to do with the availability of books, both paper and online versions. The Library of Congress has been scanning all the books in it's collection, eventually I guess they will all be available online. At some point in the future, there probably won't be such a thing as "out of print", any book ever made will be available online, or reproduced as a printed version. Research of railroading and model railroading will be easier because the info will always be available.
BTW on a related note, if National Geographic can offer a CD-ROM collection for sale including all the National Geographic issues back to the first one, I don't see why Model Railroader couldn't also....
What won't change is the complaining. For every 2 layouts built, 38 people will complain that the high cost of the hobby keeps them from participating.
Enjoy
Paul
No, no, no. You're off by one order of magnitude. For every 2 layouts built, 380 people will complain that the high cost of the hobby keeps them from participating.
What those 380 won't tell you is that 25% of them own a $30k bass boat, 30% a $50k pickup truck and 55% a 3,000 sq ft McMansion that they used like an ATM until the real estate bubble burst.
However, there will be good news. There will still be only one individual who will complain that everything was better in 1955.
Andre
HO will be eclipsed by N as the scale of choice, as tens of thousands of modelers are forced to move into mobile homes with no basements and unemployment skyrockets to 32%.
Micro Trains will stop producing "pizza cutter" wheels, just in time for Atlas to announce their full line of code 40 track in N (in response to the increase in demand noted above), so MT wheels still rumble on the spike heads!
DCC is finally accepted as the standard operating system, just in time for the invention of totally hands free telekenesis operating systems. Piles of decoders are put to new uses operating hand soap dispensers at the New Yankee Stadium, built to replace that old one built in 2009.
Lee
Route of the Alpha Jets www.wmrywesternlines.net
Power and commands will be transmitted through the air instead of the track.
Computer software will control all trains, dispatching, etc. for which no live person is available. So you can run a complete operations session with zero to however many people your layout supports.
Rolling stock and structures including bridges, signalling and track will be completely built, detailed and finished by on demand machinery making any prototype for any era - model building will be dead.
Scenery will be done in layers with grass, water, tree, shrub, etc spray machines.
Benchwork will be oozed out of a foam machine.
A 1000 sq ft layout can be built to museum standards in an afternoon.
Think of the possibilities for RC. Battery charging tracks could be located only at places where a locomotive would stop to refuel. Engine terminals, water towers (for steam), etc. The rest of the layout could be unpowered. Sounds like the next evolution in train control to me.
Good stuff so far. Any thpoughts about cell phone operation?
More scratchbuilding as more and more ready to run stuff comes out and prices continue to climb. Could also make for more smaller layouts too.
Jack
rekleinWas looking through a 1984 ,Fifty anniversary issue of MR, and there was a forum discussion on the future of Model Railroading. Some pretty interesting stuff such as electronic books,with a cartoon showing a guy in a space suit reading something like a Kindle, Bruce Chubbs Computer Model Railroad Interface (CMR/I) Was discussed. Malcom Furlow talked about the use of foam for scenery, Also Computer simulators of Train operation was discussed. The future is here guys. Anyone have any thoughts about the things to come?
Was looking through a 1984 ,Fifty anniversary issue of MR, and there was a forum discussion on the future of Model Railroading. Some pretty interesting stuff such as electronic books,with a cartoon showing a guy in a space suit reading something like a Kindle, Bruce Chubbs Computer Model Railroad Interface (CMR/I) Was discussed. Malcom Furlow talked about the use of foam for scenery, Also Computer simulators of Train operation was discussed. The future is here guys. Anyone have any thoughts about the things to come?
One thing that is coming is that the person with average modeling skills and resources will be able to build a layout representing a somewhat unusual prototype, because the necessary items will be available in a somewhat "shake the box" way. This will be a boon to interurban enthusiasts and to those who model "brief interval" prototypes like the C&NW commuter service in the C&NW to Metra transition era (c. 1985).
I know a lot of DCC people are not going to like this, but I think RC self propelled trains (HO, too) are the way of the future. It would greatly simplify the electrical aspects of a layout, especially large complex ones. Battery and energy storage technology will advance to the point where a rechargeable will be small enough and have enough delivery to use in an HO shell or car. The first step toward this future would be RC powered from the rails. That alone would be more reliable due to less equipment and simplicity in rail power. Then comes a rechargeable battery as a backup for getting through short drop outs due to dirty track. Eventually an energy cell of some kind allowing hours of operation on un-powered rails. There is no reason why RC can't be multi-channeled with programmable functions like DCC.
I can only dream right now.
DC
http://uphonation.com
I think as videocams get smaller, eventually we won't be standing beside the layout watching the train on the layout, we'll be using a TV monitor and controlling the train perhaps in something similar to the simulators used to train engineers, using prototypical control stands etc. You could have a camera in the cab of the engine, in the cupola of a caboose, or on the rear platform of a caboose or observation car.
You could also have "railfan" remote cameras mounted alongside the tracks...with those you would use a virtual reality helmet, so the camera's servos would move the camera as you moved your head to look around the layout. Similar set-ups could allow you to look out the windows of an interlocking tower.
Because of the reliance on minicams, layouts would be built more like a 'trough', perhaps 2' wide with scenery and backdrops on both sides, high enough that you couldn't see out the top of the trough from track level. Benchwork would be minimal, the layout base could be pretty close to floor level.
I think pretty much all of that could be done using today's technology.
Layouts become increasingly more animated. It will not just be trains moving on the layout: cars, trucks etc I am thinking of significant improvements of the Faller Car System. perhaps even animated Preiser figures (memory wire perhaps?).
Slowly building a layout since 2007!
Yeah, I'll start w/ the usual suspects:
OLED (or equivalent) wide flexible (affordable) panels for animated backdrop displays.
Affordable milling machines (or equivalent like home 3-D printers) for in-home replication.
Full wireless control of locomotives (well, already here for a while), but with some sort of track-based recharging system (locomotive normally runs off battery, but recharges via live rail sections - this means you don't need to clean track every minute).
Finally, a good home laser saw (or equivalent) for perfectly straight, non-melt or burnt edged cuts.
I'll leave the nano-machines, the holograhic projections of people and vehicles, and the living, generic engineered micro-flora for others to describe.
I notice a few indicators:
1. DCC is getting better and better and I can imagine it reaching the point that every car will carry a decoder to actuate couplers and maybe brakes. Coupling/uncoupling seems to be the greatest point of "unrealism" in operations, so I can see operations oriented modelers creating a market for eectronically/remotely actuated couplers.
2. I can imagine a switch to radio control, so that the power in the track is only used to replenish on-board batteries. All control signals would be delivered "over the airwaves."
3. There seems to be a trend toward less toxic paints and materials - I expect that acrylic paints will improve and plastic adhesives will continue to becom "safer."
4. I can imagine a PC interface to control trains using a computer. I think there has been some experimentation and a few products like this - it won't be long until these become the "new" DCC.
5. Old timers like me will keep doing things our old-fasioned way until we croak. However, we are smart enough to incorporate new technology when it seems right to do so.
Here's to the future - it will be along any minute now.
Phil, I'm not a rocket scientist; they are my students.
Was looking through a 1984 ,Fifty anniversary issue of MR, and there was a forum discussion on the future of Model Railroading. Some pretty interesting stuff such as electronic books,with a cartoon showing a guy in a space suit reading something like a Kindle, Bruce Chubbs Computer Model Railroad Interface (CMR/I) Was discussed. Malcom Furlow talked about the use of foam for scenery, Also Computer simulators of Train operation was discussed. The future is here guys. Anyone have any thoughts about the things to come? BILL