An informal survey

[wmshay06]

Ok..here goes..

Age: 59
Years in hobby: 47
Scale: HO
DCC
Prototype modeling past 5 years; freelance before

Charles

[IRONROOSTER]

Age 63

Been in the hobby as a hobby since December 1971 - 39 years.  Had trains as a kid, but I'm not sure crashing my trains into my brothers' trains is what THIS hobby is all about..

Current primary scale is S, but I still have all my HO, O-2 rail, O-3 rail, G, and my son's N.  Also have some Sn2.

S standard gauge is DCC, everything else is DC except the O-3 rail which is AC.

The S standard gauge is mostly prototype Ma&Pa RR circa 1953, but I allow some anachronisms and fantasy.  Everything else is all over the place.

Enjoy

Paul

[mountain]

Iam 68 yrs old started in model railroading when I was 8   yrs old until I was 18 yrs old  I just got back in to it this spring ho dcc with sound layout 8 x 10.

[NevinW]

age: 55, years in hobby: 30, HO (currently, have modeled in HOn3 and Sn3 in the past), DCC.  I currently model Nevada mining railroads pre-WW1.    -  Nevin

[E-L man tom]

I'm 59, got my first Lionel at age 5 or 6, and practically wore it out for about 8 years. (then came high school, college and girls, you know the drill). Started to collect HO stuff in 1993 and have been at it ever since, so have been in the hobby approximately 25 years now.

I proto/freelance (abandoned N&W/PRR/B&O rail line along an industrial corridor taken over by local industry-owned RR) in northern Ohio (see tag).

[CRmeatball]

I am 32 years old, model in HO (protolance) and have been involved in model railroading for as long as I can remember.  A favorite family story is about me taking one of my father's F-7 shells and scooping water out of the toilet when I was 2. 

But I think that is the key to how to bring new blood into the hobby.  We must engage our children early and involve them in our interests, as well as taking an interest in theirs.  My father started introducing me and my siblings to railroading from the beginning. Sure, it resulted in some trains being broken by little hands (or put int the toilet), but now, all four grandchildren (well one is only 3 weeks old, so I guess he doesn't count yet) are very interested in trains.  My two oldest, ages 4 and 2, love trains.  They love railfanning.  They love looking at train pictures on the computer, love watching train movies and love to go to grandpa's to see the trains on his layout.  They have gotten their mom to suggest (and enjoy) railfanning trips.  My nephew, now 14, has his own HO layout.  And all because a father involved his children in his interests.  And now that I am doing the same with my three boys, they are getting interested in the hobby as well.  Sure, who knows what will happen over the years, but they are on their way.  So if we want to introduce new blood to the hobby, lets take it to our kids.  Like the commercial says, the thing your kid wants most for (insert your event here), is you. 

[Seanthehack]

Age, 33

About 20 years on an off in the hobby.

N scale although I am really tempted to tinker with On30

DCC, converted and never looked back.

Protolance, CNW, in Madison WI transition era.

 

Sean

[Cannoli]

• 35 Years old
• Modeling for 29 years, counting from when my dad and I built my first 4x8 layout in HO at age 6. Did have several HO and an O-27 train sets prior to that but nothing beyond being setup on the floor.
• Have various freelanced and more recently protolanced railroads in HO until switching to N scale 2 years ago to allow more railroad in smaller space.
• Currently under construction N scale layout is setup for DC until I get my locos converted to DCC. Otherwise switched to DCC for HO 6 years ago.
• Modeling the B&M in the 1950's. In HO was modeling a freelanced PRR based spin off in the 1980's.

[Robby P.]

 Well for me................

 I'm 31 and I've been in model railroading since I was about 14 years old.   All of the modeling of course was HO Scale.   Took a break from it when girls and cars came into the scene (teenage years).  I got back into it about eight years ago. 

 I model the 80's - late 90's.   Some newer stuff but not much.    I am currently in DC and thought about changing over to DCC.  Maybe one day.

[last mountain & eastern hogger]

This was a great idea.

Well I'm 70 and been at it with an exception of about 20 years, since I was 8.

First off was 0-27 (Lionel)  My Dad and I about 1/3rd of our basement was done.

Then HO, alot of scratch built of which I still have the odd item. Now concentrate more on the Western Pacific, of the 60s and 70s. With other Northwestern roads included to some degree.

I am in DC and plan to stay there. I understand it much more than DCC, and don't need the hastle that I read about others having.

Layout is 17' by 13'  Tri-level, five loop helix to the lower level off the end of the center peninsula.

Did not have room for the Kedde Wye, so my feature is the Honeymoon Tunnels.

Johnboy out.........................for now.

[last mountain & eastern hogger]

This was a great idea.

Well I'm 70 and been at it with an exception of about 20 years, since I was 8.

First off was 0-27 (Lionel)  My Dad and I about 1/3rd of our basement was done.

Then HO, alot of scratch built of which I still have the odd item. Now concentrate more on the Western Pacific, of the 60s and 70s. With other Northwestern roads included to some degree.

I am in DC and plan to stay there. I understand it much more than DCC, and don't need the hastle that I read about others having.

Layout is 17' by 13'  Tri-level, five loop helix to the lower level off the end of the center peninsula.

Did not have room for the Kedde Wye, so my feature is the Honeymoon Tunnels.

Johnboy out.........................for now.

[rws1225]

Age: 60

59 years since Dad got me Lionel

HO proto lance to be DCC when I get more track laid

[TerryJ]

62

50+

N scale, rather recent convert from HO. Started with Lionel which I still have.

New layout will be DCC

Protolance - Northwest Pacific "fantasy" RR, "Jacoby Creek and South Quarry RR"

 

Terry

[selector]

Aged 58 years, six in the hobby, HO and DCC/sound (ooohh yeeahhh..), 1930-1957 time frame, freelance the Seneca Falls Sub.  Roads I enjoy collecting:  UP, AT&SF, NYC, N&W, PRR, C&O, TH&B, and CPR.

Crandell

[jaykay]

Age 75, Yrs in hobby - total 6 - 8, Scale was HO, now N, Freelance, was DC, now DCC.

Comment:

Was in HO/DC - spent lots of time building pulse throttles trying to get things running smoothly.  Switched to RC model airplanes for 10 yrs.  DCC and N scale has brought me back to trains.

[IVRW]

Here I go: Im 14, Ive been in the hobby since I was 10, so about 4 years, HO, DCC (as soon as I can get the decoder in the locomotive), and Prototype Freelancing (See my Model Railcast articles, prototyping a railroad that doesnt give you enough information to model prototypically, so you must freelance some things).

[Trynn_Allen2]

Age 38, approx 28 years modelling, first Marklin HO and then "American" HO, DC to DCC, protolance.

[AltonFan]

Age:  47

Years in hobby: 

Since first interested in trains: 46 years  (Received railroad oriented toys for first birthday; still have memories of watching trains from before age four.)

Since first electric train set: 42 years  (Lionel, of course.)

Since first reading hobby publications:  39 years  (RMC, discovered in children's room at local public library.  Reading MR for 30 years, but have issues going back to late 1940s.)

Active in hobby:  Probably 25 years.  (Periods of activity between occasional losses of interest.  Currently inactive.)

Scale:  HO until ca. 1990; N scale currently.

Power control:  DC (Too many small locomotives in which to install decoders.)

Subject:  Freelance.  (Based on a few favorite Midwestern prototypes in 1946-1954 period.)

 

[jalajoie]

Age 71, in the HO scale hobby non stop since mid 1950 approx 55 years, running DCC since 1999. I own both a Digitrax and an NCE system and modeling modern CSXT.  Member of a club for 30 + years and did  organised train show for a while.  I don't count my years playing with a O27 Marx train set.

[steinjr]

• Age: 45
• Years in hobby: abt 4 (this time), had Märklin trains for a couple of years as a adolescent
• Scale: HO
• Era: Late 1950s
• Layout type: Protolance - Minneapolis urban switching
• Power: DCC

Smile,
Stein

 

[Motley]

I'm 42 years old. Returning to the hobby from when I was a kid. Been back in the hobby for about 1 year now.

HO, DCC, Prototype layout D&RGW.

[galaxy]

Age:47, 12 years as kid/teen in O-O/27 and N, {then a big break} and now 4.5 years  renewed hobby recently. HO, DCC, proto-freelance. {I wish I could say I always had a train under the tree but that would be a lie} Though I do now!.

I think you will find it is like that old bit about the average age of Cadillac buyers being 57.

We will have some youngsters here, who may loose the hobby as they start college and life, then {hopefully} return as many of us did did to the hobby in later life, but the bulk of the current ages will be older.

 

[NorthCoast RR]

I am 34, just got back into the hobby from a long hiatus, and back when I was a kid, we had some on the carpet stuff...nothing serious.

So, I consider myself new blood.

I run DCC and I am protolance on this, my first layout...but I lay in bed at night thinking of the next one!

[ClinchValleySD40]

 

Age 63, approx 40 years in hobby, HO, DCC, Protofreelance.

Larry

[ARTHILL]

I am 75 years old and started my first layout in 1949. I have been off and on since then, with the current layout starting on my 70th birthday. I found DCC 4 years ago and its what I always thought ought to be. I model placs I've been and memories I have, thus the layout is sort of a series of dioramas of memory.

[rrinker]

44, I have film evidence of me runnign HO trains at 2 years old, so 42 years (with some breaks here and there), HO and some N in the past, DCC,  currently model the Reading Railroad in the mid-50's, generally 1956 is my cutoff date. I belong to the Readign COmpany Technical and Historical Society, and occasionally help out with the modular display layout, and I also have an informal round robin (is it really round robin if there's only 2 of you?) with a fellow modeler from a few blocks away who is doing a protolance Reading 1910 era layout in N scale - scratchbuild Camelbacks and the freelance part is having the commuter trains all electrified - so he's also buildign his own third rail electrified MU passenger cars.

                                  --Randy

 

[tstage]

• Age: 51
• Years in hobby: 6-1/2
• Scale: HO
• Era: Early 40s
• Layout type: Protolance - New York Central
• Power: DCC

[pastorbob]

Age: 74

years in hobby, since 6 months old when I received my first Lionel from dad at Christmas, he was a Santa Fe fireman/engineer

Model ATSF in Oklahoma 1989

DCC

current layout started in 1984.

[Blue Flamer]

Age 71+

Approx. 58 Years

Lionel '0' and then 'N' since the 70's

DCC

Freelance

Blue Flamer.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

50, 46, O, HO/OO, S, Z. N, G, Live steam. My current layout is HO, DCC, freelance with no strict regard to era (1965 to 1990 with additions from early 21st century).