33 with a wife and son. The son restarted the interest in trains.
Old enough to know better, young enough to remember how.
I have not quite hit the half-century mark, but I have 3 boys who make me feel much older. I am 7.5 times the age of the youngest railroader in the house.
As a wise man once said, "We don't stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing." (George Bernard Shaw).
Connecticut Valley Railroad A Branch of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford
"If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right." -- Henry Ford
...graduated from Penn State 35 pounds ago.
...considering placing "HSG" on my business card = "High School Graduate."
Conemaugh Road & Traction circa 1956
TMarsh Shoot some of us adults act more like kids than they do.LOL. I'm forty seven and feeling like a teenager. Ow! My back.
Shoot some of us adults act more like kids than they do.LOL.
I'm forty seven and feeling like a teenager. Ow! My back.
I'm pretty sure that's the meaning of 'crazy old coot'. I'm a young 41yo. Too young for medicare but old enough to remember life before the techno age, and it was much more simple. Believe it or not, there was a time with no DCC, no cell phones, a 27" tv was huge, cassette tapes and vinyl were in, my home computer was a commodore vic 20, atari 2600 was a top toy for Christmas, there were only 2 different ketchups on the store shelves, McDonalds was not a bad name, and they were trying a new product called chicken McNuggets. Golly have the times changed.
I'm 19, gonna be 20 in a couple months. I have to agree with most of the other young people on the forum that there are relatively few people that are into trains (though I am surprised at the number of guys in their early 20s). I was the only one as far as I knew in high school and am the only one I have discovered so far in college. Being in college I dont really have time for trains 8 months out of the year anyway. When I am home and I have free time I have friends competing with trains for my time. Meh, no real plans on building a layout beyond my test track until I figure out what my post college plans are.
DrilineMan are you old. I can't imagine being 48. So, do you remember watching the vietnam war on TV? or the first man to walk on the moon in 1969 on a black and white TV? Or playing with matchbox cars (the good ones made from BEFORE 1969)?
Dr. Frankendiesel aka Scott Running BearSpace Mouse for president!15 year veteran fire fighterCollector of Apple //e'sRunning Bear EnterprisesHistory Channel Club life member.beatus homo qui invenit sapientiam
Well, I kinda know why you want to find people your own age or at least close. Until they get to know you some of the folks and the people at the LHS think of you as young and only worth a glance quite often. Not everywhere, but it's out there. I've seen it. Good thing about the forums is age don't mean doodly squat. Shoot some of us adults act more like kids than they do.LOL. Anyway, hang in there. Pretty soon people your age will grow up and admit they like trains too.
Todd
Central Illinoyz
In order to keep my position as Master and Supreme Ruler of the House, I don't argue with my wife.
I'm a small town boy. A product of two people from even smaller towns. I don’t talk on topic….. I just talk.
I'm 54 and proud to say I still play with trains. Some of my fondest memories as a child were going to the basement with Grandpa, where he had a Lionel O-27 set up on a table or desk. I built my first layout , a 4 x 8, around age 10 or 11 with Lionel HO, which was probably a disaster and we won't get into that here. I've taken a couple of breaks from the hobby (teens - girls, cars, suds) and later in my 30's, when I worked and went to SIU full time. As soon as I finished graduate school however, I was back at work on a 10 x 12' layout in the back room of an old farm house we rented. We've since bought our own property, and I am in the process of trying to plan a layout, possibly part of it a double deck, around the basement walls.
alocoI'm 48. I'm too young to model the steam era and too old to appreciate low nose diesels.
I'm 48. I'm too young to model the steam era and too old to appreciate low nose diesels.
Man are you old. I can't imagine being 48. So, do you remember watching the vietnam war on TV? or the first man to walk on the moon in 1969 on a black and white TV? Or playing with matchbox cars (the good ones made from BEFORE 1969)? yea, well if I was 48 I'd probably remember that stuff too.
Im 20 and have been in the hobby since I was 12. I've came a long way from a Life-Like oval of track in the floor to a 4X8 and now to a 20X20 layout room. I was the only Modeler in high school and I have yet to meet one in college either.
37 for me. Our club : a few HS members. A few members in their late 30s. 1 or 2 in thier 40s. Most 60+ with a few in the 70s and 2 in their mid 80s. "younger" folks bring in DCC/computer/electronics expertise. "Older" folks tend to use club time to chat with the guys.....
I'm 15 and about the only person at my school into model railroading as far as I can tell, lol.
Sawyer Berry
Clemson University c/o 2018
Building a protolanced industrial park layout
Well I'm 16 and I have to agree, that it is very hard to find MRR's in my age group. However I don't think age matters very much in our hobby. Wether your 10 or 100 we all treat each other in the same way (for the most part).
Also, I'm Not "Growing Up" anytime soon
Jamie
Cape Vincent Southern Railroad
HO scale Horseshoe Curve in 5’x10’
My YouTube
I was born at night but it wasn't last night. Being just shy of a half century. I am the fourth youngest in our club. The youngest is 15.
Pete
I pray every day I break even, Cause I can really use the money!
I started with nothing and still have most of it left!
I'm 50 years old this year but I refuse to grow up.
i'm 55, i been in model railroading since my older sister let me have her trains when she went to college (1959)
I prefer not disclosing my age.
How do you like my recent portrait?
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
I'm 59-and-holding for several years now. I've been doing model trains since I was 13 and was once a twenty-year-old, which, by the way, was when (1967) I constructed a double-decked layout. That's why Hediger says his (early 1970s-built) was one of the earliest/first double-decked layouts.
Mark
I've been into trains and anything related to them since I was 4...I just turned 54 last December.
Bob Berger, C.O.O. N-ovation & Northwestern R.R. My patio layout....SEE IT HERE
There's no place like ~/ ;)
Well Ryan, I'm 24. I am in college and only have 2 semesters left. People my age say I need to hang out in bars and casinos more. I always say, "Why, it just leads us into trouble." While I have friends who have other interests, they always are interested in my hobby and periodically ask about it.
Will
I'm old enough to know better, but young enough to do it anyway! Seriously though, age does not really matter in this hobby. I have model rr friends that are just graduated from high school, up to a friend at 80 years of age and everywhere in between. Its all about our love of trains that binds us together. I just turned 40 by the way.
Chuck
Modeling the Motor City
I'm almost 20 ("almost" meaning 4 months. I'd better get started on my B-day list!!). My age and the lack of others my age who are interested have never stopped me! MRRing sort of ends up as my time alone, and time with friends is usually something like a church event or linking their X-BOXs to play Halo.
_________________________________________________________________
My question about your question - are you looking for help, or for companionship?
I started model railroading at the age of five - months! That was when I got my first Lionel tinplate train set, hook-and-loop couplers, lithographed tin cars and all. I learned to handle the throttle before I could walk.
Ever since then, I have been fascinated by anything that runs on rails - and for almost all of that time I have been a lone wolf. I never actively sought the approval of others, nor did I look to model railroading as a source of new acquaintances. Most of the people I dealt with throughout my working life never knew I was a modeler and railfan. Now that I'm old enough to supplement my military pension with Social Security I 'socialize' here, on the MR forums, and I have no idea how old most of the posters are.
Age is mostly a matter of chronology. As Lazarus Long put it, "This monkey intends to keep climbing, and keep looking around, as long as the tree holds out."
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - from my own photos and notes)
I'm also 20 and I have the problem here, no one in my age group that is into model railroading.
As Robby and IRVW said, most people my age are into cars, girls, clubs, and other things. College isn't very friendly for free time either.
Vincent
Wants: 1. high-quality, sound equipped, SD40-2s, C636s, C30-7s, and F-units in BN. As for ones that don't cost an arm and a leg, that's out of the question....
2. An end to the limited-production and other crap that makes models harder to get and more expensive.
Hi!
I'm 65 and have been playing with trains since the mid '50s.
"When I was your age", trains were well in the background of my life. I had cars, school, full time job, and a steady girlfriend to deal with first. I suspect that's still the case today for those in their 20s-30s. And, I also believe it may pick up when folks have kids of their own, and want to introduce them to something they enjoyed in their childhood.Many (most?) of us "older folks" that are train nuts are often reliving our childhood facsination with trains - be it real or toy. And now we are at the age where we tend to have the time/money to really enjoy what we wanted when we were kids - or adults with higher priority responsibilities.
That fact that you are a "train nut" at 20 makes me glad. I've got 3 boys and 1 girl in their early '40s that never came close to getting serious about trains.
I wish you luck - and stay with the old guys, for they have lots of wisdom and enthusiasm to share!
Mobilman44
ENJOY !
Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central
I'm 63 going on 13...... Does that count? As the song says, Age is Only a Number! Growing old is mandatory, growing up is optional....
73
Ray Seneca Lake, Ontario, and Western R.R. (S.L.O.&W.) in HO
We'll get there sooner or later!
I have to agree with cowman. I'm 70 but started way back in highschool with an informal model railroad club. My best friend was in the club then and we are still model railroad buddies today! In-between, I met some fine folks of every age, all who had something to offer - friendship, skills, a wide range of knowledge of the hobby and also specific areas of interest. It's nice to pal around with someone you one age but don't get hung up on it. Enjoy the hobby regardless of the age of the folks around you. And, there ar folks your age out there - just keep looking.
Have fun!
Grand River & Monongah Railroad and subsidiary Monongah Railway
RT, I agree with your credo. I have a similar one hanging above my computer-"Young at heart. Slightly older in other places". I returned to MRR after a fifty year abscence and having a good time trying to catch up, tho it is too cold in the shed now to do anything. BTW, I'll be 79 in about 7 weeks. Tempus fugit!!
Bill