Age: 55
Years in hobby: nearly 15 all told..
Scale: HO and N--running between 2 layouts
Era: 1960's to late 1980's
Layout type: Protolance, northern plains/western prairies
Power: DCC
Any argument carried far enough will end up in Semantics--Hartz's law of rhetoric Emerald. Leemer and Southern The route of the Sceptre Express Barry
I just started my blog site...more stuff to come...
http://modeltrainswithmusic.blogspot.ca/
Just turned 24, started with HO when I was 6, went to N scale at 18, DCC at 22, then made jump to HOn3 in April this year. So I've been in the hobby for 18 years already. Currently protolancing a branchline of the D&RGW narrow gauge in 1928.
The Location: Forests of the Pacific Northwest, OregonThe Year: 1948The Scale: On30The Blog: http://bvlcorr.tumblr.com
Age 15; 10 years; G, O, HO, N; DC (want DCC); prototype; freelance
Modeling the Bellefonte Central Railroad
Fan of the PRR
Garden Railway Enthusiast
Check out my Youtube Channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/PennsyModeler
Age: 47
Into MR: 39 yrs (although with a long stretch of armchairing in the middle)
HO Scale,
Mid-50's
DCC (for 3 yrs now)
Protolance.
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
Cheers,
Jamie
Cape Vincent Southern Railroad
HO scale Horseshoe Curve in 5’x10’
My YouTube
Maybe the doom and gloom is warranted, not too many young folks resonding!
Me:
44 yrs old
30 yrs in the hobby, first 20 in N, last 10 in HO. Starting to think about O 2 Rail...
Age: 28
Years in hobby: 24
Since first interested in trains: 25 years (when my father assembled his Life-Like HO train set when I was 3 years old... Seeing the real thing but now in miniature was a thrilling affair! The impact was so strong they had to buy me a train set for my 4 year anniversary. )
Since first electric train set: 24 years (A CP Rail HO Bachmann train set that I still cherish as a treasure!)
Since first reading hobby publications: 20 years ago at a flea market, old MR issues. The realistic pictures on the cover where a big discovery. I bough a set of used MR and RMC back in 1997 and read them over and over...
Active in hobby: Probably 24 years. (from 10 to 12, I took a break. Then a teacher in High School found out about this hobby, for the first time an adult was understanding my interest in trains. He gave me a shop address and from then the bug never went away.)
Scale: HO.
Power control: DC, and modified crappy trainset controllers. Maybe DCC if I find a system I really like.
Subject: Proto-freelance, Canadian National (the fifties and the eighties).
Proudly modelling the Quebec Railway Light & Power Co since 1997.
http://www.hedley-junction.blogspot.com
http://www.harlem-station.blogspot.com
59, HO, 20 yrs, DC, I'm HOOKED. Fifth layout and still going strong!
Jimmy
ROUTE ROCK!
65, 55, HO,DC only.
Modeling HO Freelance Logging Railroad.
Age: 48
Hobby Time: 40 years
Scale: HO (dabbled in N years ago)
DCC
Protolance (loose)
Sean
HO Scale CSX Modeler
Age: 63 and retired
Started: This summer
Scale: HO
Freelance all the way. I stare at the roughed-in layout until I get an inspiration and just do it. That's why this project will keep me busy and happy till I croak! Best decision I ever made!!!
Age 65
Got my first used pre-war Lionel before I can remember - It still runs. Modest attempt during HS. Dreamer and Christmas layouts for years. Started collecting HO in 98, mostly armchairing until about 2 yrs ago. Now semi-retired, more time, little room.
DC
Freelance/Transition era/Vermont/Rutland, Central VT and B&M
Having fun despite slow progress.
Age 66, approx. 55 years modeling (non-consecutive), N, DC, proto trains, protolance scene.
Age: 71, first train a Lionel in 1947, serious HO since 1965, 3rd layout 85% complete, DCC, freelance, transition era.
Gale
Age 71. First set a Marx. Serious in HO since 1970. Have the same expanding layout since 1981.
Roger Hensley= ECI Railroad - http://madisonrails.railfan.net/eci/eci_new.html == Railroads of Madison County - http://madisonrails.railfan.net/ =
Age 66, started hobby seven years ago with grandson, HO scale, DCC power, modeling US and France transition eras.
Dave
USAF (Retired)
AGE: 44
SCALE: HO
YEARS: Train set as a kid, Got the disease three years ago when my son got a train set for christmas. Now building a second layout.
Proto/Lance: D&h, CP, B&M, Rutland, Green Island Terminal RR
CNJ831 I'm not at all sure just what this "informal survey" is supposed to demonstrate, if anything at all. The only information it might produce is simply a listing of a tiny fraction of this forum's members vitals and the fact that there is a wide diversity in the members' ages and time in the hobby. Considering that it is unlikely this thread will generate much more than perhaps 100 responses, this is minute compare with the actual number of hobbyists, or even the number of forum members. As such, any numbers derive would not have any statistical significance regarding any hobby demographic. Further, even if the response was much larger than 100 individuals, the results could not illustrate anything meaningful for the simple reason that the group being polled is younger than the average of all hobbyists to begin with. This is a problem common with just about any poll conducted via the Internet. In fact, in this case it would likely insert an even greater bias, since the bulk of newcomers to the hobby over the past two decades apparently have been well beyond middle age, with many of the older ones probably not even Internet participants! CNJ831
I'm not at all sure just what this "informal survey" is supposed to demonstrate, if anything at all. The only information it might produce is simply a listing of a tiny fraction of this forum's members vitals and the fact that there is a wide diversity in the members' ages and time in the hobby.
Considering that it is unlikely this thread will generate much more than perhaps 100 responses, this is minute compare with the actual number of hobbyists, or even the number of forum members. As such, any numbers derive would not have any statistical significance regarding any hobby demographic.
Further, even if the response was much larger than 100 individuals, the results could not illustrate anything meaningful for the simple reason that the group being polled is younger than the average of all hobbyists to begin with. This is a problem common with just about any poll conducted via the Internet. In fact, in this case it would likely insert an even greater bias, since the bulk of newcomers to the hobby over the past two decades apparently have been well beyond middle age, with many of the older ones probably not even Internet participants!
CNJ831
Lighten up. The rest of us are having fun with the "poll", I doubt many are taking it seriously. Don't know why you want to throw a wet blanket on it, no one is forcing you to provide your innermost secrets.
To quote another pastor brother of mine, "get over it".
Bob
CNJ831I'm not at all sure just what this "informal survey" is supposed to demonstrate, if anything at all. The only information it might produce is simply a listing of a tiny fraction of this forum's members vitals and the fact that there is a wide diversity in the members' ages and time in the hobby. Considering that it is unlikely this thread will generate much more than perhaps 100 responses, this is minute compare with the actual number of hobbyists, or even the number of forum members. As such, any numbers derive would not have any statistical significance regarding any hobby demographic.
I don't believe anyone would try to argue the point that this thread would provide anything approaching a valid representative sample of model railroad hobbyists, and pooh-poohing the survey on that basis seems unnecessarily eristic to me. I'm enjoying this thread just because I think it's nice to meet the neighbors once in a while.
I'm 47 and have been more-or-less continuously active in the hobby for over 15 years, though the original equipment I received as a Christmas gift from my parents about 35 years ago is still in active service (even the old MRC Throttlepack in the gold metal casing is one of my two primary power sources).
I model HO scale, and they will need to pry the DC throttle from my cold dead fingers.
I'm a Monon protolancer.
Jim
"I am lapidary but not eristic when I use big words." - William F. Buckley
I haven't been sleeping. I'm afraid I'll dream I'm in a coma and then wake up unconscious. -Stephen Wright
It's always funny when a thread like this comes up. You get to see new members who haven't felt like contributing much and older members who don't chime in much anymore either.
I'm 32 years old. I've been in the hobby for 3-4 years. DC control for me and it's based on CNW and Milwaukee Road in and around Mankato MN.
age-48, 35 years in hobby, HO, DCC, BNSF proto freelance.
pastorbob CNJ831: I'm not at all sure just what this "informal survey" is supposed to demonstrate, if anything at all. The only information it might produce is simply a listing of a tiny fraction of this forum's members vitals and the fact that there is a wide diversity in the members' ages and time in the hobby. Considering that it is unlikely this thread will generate much more than perhaps 100 responses, this is minute compare with the actual number of hobbyists, or even the number of forum members. As such, any numbers derive would not have any statistical significance regarding any hobby demographic. Further, even if the response was much larger than 100 individuals, the results could not illustrate anything meaningful for the simple reason that the group being polled is younger than the average of all hobbyists to begin with. This is a problem common with just about any poll conducted via the Internet. In fact, in this case it would likely insert an even greater bias, since the bulk of newcomers to the hobby over the past two decades apparently have been well beyond middle age, with many of the older ones probably not even Internet participants! CNJ831 Lighten up. The rest of us are having fun with the "poll", I doubt many are taking it seriously. Don't know why you want to throw a wet blanket on it, no one is forcing you to provide your innermost secrets. To quote another pastor brother of mine, "get over it". Bob
CNJ831: I'm not at all sure just what this "informal survey" is supposed to demonstrate, if anything at all. The only information it might produce is simply a listing of a tiny fraction of this forum's members vitals and the fact that there is a wide diversity in the members' ages and time in the hobby. Considering that it is unlikely this thread will generate much more than perhaps 100 responses, this is minute compare with the actual number of hobbyists, or even the number of forum members. As such, any numbers derive would not have any statistical significance regarding any hobby demographic. Further, even if the response was much larger than 100 individuals, the results could not illustrate anything meaningful for the simple reason that the group being polled is younger than the average of all hobbyists to begin with. This is a problem common with just about any poll conducted via the Internet. In fact, in this case it would likely insert an even greater bias, since the bulk of newcomers to the hobby over the past two decades apparently have been well beyond middle age, with many of the older ones probably not even Internet participants! CNJ831
...and then, when someone posts circulation numbers people go out of their way to stomp on that...claiming publishers don't even know their own numbers...
That is why one does all sorts of polls and such...to get as close to the true numbers... as is physically possible
Age: 61
Years in hobby: 59 years since received first Lionel; In HO since received an Athearn Hustler set in 1959 (But still have that first Lionel and collect some Lionel), with varying levels of activity over the years, depending on circumstances.
DCC (Still in process of converting locos)
Freelance
MR subscriber since January 1963 issue, and have them all.
At 75, am I really the oldest? Where are you old guys? I counted two other ministers. There must be more. I see a lot of people in the middle ages. That seems right to me. There are a few teens, though I notice that many of you started as a teen as did I. I have enjoyed following this thread.
"At 75, am I really the oldest? Where are you old guys?"
The number of posters under 40 surprised me and that's a good thing.
Happy Railroading
Don't Ever Give Up
51, modeling for 33 years, modeling HO DCC - the SP Sunset Route in Texas 1960-97, Some proto, some freelance, building my 6th layout now for the past 7 years and hope i have another one in me when i retire and move away from this neck of the woods..... chuck
Art, if it makes you happy, I will be catching up in June. If in the meantime you jump another year, then no contest.
Years in hobby: 3 - not counting 0/27 Lionel when 12? (not serious)
Era: Late 1920's Southern Railway (more or less), layout under construction (finally)
Focus: Learning - I continue to be amazed by the level of skill and knowledge demonstrated on this and other forums!
If you want to encourage growth in this hobby, buy cheap trainsets for four year olds and play with them. At least some will get the bug.
pastorbob CNJ831: I'm not at all sure just what this "informal survey" is supposed to demonstrate, if anything at all. The only information it might produce is simply a listing of a tiny fraction of this forum's members vitals and the fact that there is a wide diversity in the members' ages and time in the hobby. CNJ831 Lighten up. The rest of us are having fun with the "poll", I doubt many are taking it seriously. Don't know why you want to throw a wet blanket on it, no one is forcing you to provide your innermost secrets. To quote another pastor brother of mine, "get over it". Bob
CNJ831: I'm not at all sure just what this "informal survey" is supposed to demonstrate, if anything at all. The only information it might produce is simply a listing of a tiny fraction of this forum's members vitals and the fact that there is a wide diversity in the members' ages and time in the hobby. CNJ831
Because, Bob, in the long run it's pointless and sure to mislead the many folks who believe anything they see posted on the Net must be true, regardless of its basis. I've addressed the particular question posed in this thread at length several times in the past and presented published numbers derived from broad surveys conducted by established organizations. If folks want an honest and accurate answer to the question they should consult that sort of information. All I see being accomplished here is that a small number of forum members are posting info of no particular relevance.
I guess that if that happens to be your form of juvenile amusement, so be it.