What does this have to do with railroading? I would have thought discussing the potential disincentives for young people and indeed the costs as part of how we attract new people into the hobby. That seems worth discussing somehow.
I am old, my first layout 60 years ago was Lionel on a closet door table. My dad bought those trains. Five years later I was buying Athearn rubber band drive locomotives. (Ask your grandfather what those were) I could afford them on my allowance. Today I am retired and on very limited income. I look at a new E8 for my potential B&O railroad, and the $300 says, "sorry, not today."
Some time ago, my wife sought to pull me away from my computer, and particularly from Flight Simulator. She suggested that I pull my old trains out of the attic and set them up. Other than perhaps having our daughter, it was the best idea she ever had.
I loved the idea of doing something physical rather than virtual. I built things of wood, of wire and metal. And so, I for one am happy to look upon the kids who are choosing RC planes and cars. They are real. They are physical entities, not just video games and images stored on disk. They actually sit there, taking up space on your workbench and demanding to be played with. It's still not the World's Greatest Hobby, but it's not bad.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
4 of the 57 members of the Columbus HO Scale club was teenagers.We formed our own little group so we could talk about what improvements we would like to see in the hobby.
Oddly when I was young everybody was older..Now many years later I am older and everybody at train shows and some clubs seems younger.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
andrechapelonShhhh! You're ruining the meme. I grew up in the 50's/60's, too. You remember it pretty much the way I do.
No it can't be. I'm sure that we are hallucinating.
Others just seem to have seen swarms of kids builting layouts.
Or, and I am sure I am wrong, but maybe it is not us, but them.
In reality, it could just be where you lived back in the good old days.
Ken G Price My N-Scale Layout
Digitrax Super Empire Builder Radio System. South Valley Texas Railroad. SVTRR
N-Scale out west. 1996-1998 or so! UP, SP, Missouri Pacific, C&NW.
So I don't see any different between, the so called good old days of youngsters, (which many seem to believe) supported most of the growth of the hobby and the reality of it being by far mostly older adult men that did it then and do it now.
Shhhh! You're ruining the meme. I grew up in the 50's/60's, too. You remember it pretty much the way I do. I only met one guy my own age into trains and that was while I was in the Air Force. All but 1 of the guys in our operating group are over 50. Not surprising. There's a positive correlation between age and wealth and age and income. It may only be anecdotal, but I seem also to be seeing a highly positive correlation between age and large quantities of free time.
Andre
Growing up in the 50's and 60's, I never met any one that was not an adult being in to model trains. Not a single person close to my age.
While in high school I went to a meeting of a large club and I was by far the youngest. All were over 30. With most 50 and up.
Then like most every one else, I kept an interest in model trains, but not enough inerest to start as a hobby. Not until 2006 did I get enough time, space and interest to get it together.
I'm always fascinated by this fixation on what the youths are up to. I just turned 33 a few days ago. 33 year old me has a lot of different interests than 22 year old me and he had a lot of different interests than 11 year old me. 44 year old me will likely be a different person too. Who cares what some kids are up to? Their interests will change too.
riogrande5761 richhotrain Two thoughts: 1. What does this have to do with model railroading? 2. It's been discussed so often that it may now be worthy of a Sticky. Time to move on. Rich Bingo, thats a discussion for another forum. This is model railroading last time I checked.
richhotrain Two thoughts: 1. What does this have to do with model railroading? 2. It's been discussed so often that it may now be worthy of a Sticky. Time to move on. Rich
Two thoughts:
1. What does this have to do with model railroading?
2. It's been discussed so often that it may now be worthy of a Sticky.
Time to move on.
Rich
Bingo, thats a discussion for another forum. This is model railroading last time I checked.
I agree! I hereby nominate Riogrande5761 to be moderator. We know Rich doesn't want the job, we tried.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
gregc While a decent RC transmitter is $400+,
Are you shopping at Saks Fifth Avenue? I got my 5-channel, 2.4GHz Spektrum radio for $100. You can get a 6-channel for $140, and an 8-channel for $250.
I built my first plane out of $2 worth of foamboard from Dollar Tree, four $5 servos, about twenty cents worth of tissue paper to cover the wing, and a $12 motor. The battery and receiver can be used on other planes so I don't include the cost of those. So for less than the cost of a single locomotive, I can fly a plane.
Steve S
RT Trains For a hobby that has been "on its last legs" since slot cars 50 years ago, model railroading seems to be pretty vital. Except for the doom and gloom on forums, of course. RT
For a hobby that has been "on its last legs" since slot cars 50 years ago, model railroading seems to be pretty vital. Except for the doom and gloom on forums, of course.
RT
Frank,
I'm pretty sure with the state of my budget someone else will beat me to it. But I will take pics if I ever do, just to prove I did.
zstripe Mike Leman, Mike let us know when You install the mini-cam in one of those R/C helicopters and follow Your train around on Your layout.....now that would be interesting to see...just have to watch out for the power lines, (low hanging LED's). Take Care! Frank
Mike Leman,
Mike let us know when You install the mini-cam in one of those R/C helicopters and follow Your train around on Your layout.....now that would be interesting to see...just have to watch out for the power lines, (low hanging LED's).
Take Care!
Frank
You're right those LED light strips are a lot like powerlines. Then there's all those other aircraft hanging around the layout. It'll be a regular obstacle course.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
I think people who have hobbies can spread around the time and what they like to do. I have flown R/C airplanes and tinker with an R/C jeep and I love my trains and I also brew beer. I don't devote all my time to any one of the hobbies. R/C stuff is for some excitement, beer brewing is for drinking and being creative and trains are for relaxing.
ed_nOnce upon a time I flew control-line stunt,
I started with the Lil Wizard, then had a Stuntman, Lil Satan and a few others. I then moved on to a larger size that had a .19 engine and the lines were 150' cables. Did lots of Combat line control stuff. Still have a box full of Cox .049s
Moved on to R/C as soon as I got my drivers license. Scratch built a glider from plans of a real one and it flew great. Then on to power and R/C combat. Got my tail chewed off twice but never crashed. Lots of good old R/C stuff on You-tube if you need a fix from the old days.
I never crashed one of my planes, ever. But if I had that was the cost of doing business. I have broken bones pursuing activities that I love, I was right back at it when healed. Instant gratification is short lived gratification.
Once upon a time I flew control-line stunt, trying to learn the "pattern." I completely re-kitted 7 planes. I gave it up after the best finished & best flying plane I ever built was destroyed when I hit my own wake turbulence on a calm day. Plus I never really was able to overcome dizziness completely.
At least something you build in model railroading can last a lifetime.
Just like DCC is having an impact on the model railroad hobby; electric fly is changing RC.
IMO brushless motors & LiPo batteries are a complete revolution, along with 2.4 ghz spread spectrum radios.
Just like DCC is having an impact on the model railroad hobby; electric fly is changing RC. You can argue the merits of both, endlessly....
don7Looking at prices between what a model railroad layout would cost and assembling a roster of RC cars and planes I think the RC hobbiest spend far less in comparison to model railroad hobbiests.
On the foam toys maybe, however serious modelers put a lot in to the hobby. I still have all my R/C airplanes down in the crawlspace. When I flew (years ago) I would spend way more on driving to and from the flying club than I spend on trains. I just need to walk in to the train room when ever the spirit moves me to do some modeling.
I have a lot of balsa and bass wood in the crawlspace I need to go get for use on the layout. I use to design and build my own planes and flying combat was my favourite past time. You would tie a long streamer behind your plane and try and chew off the other guys with your propeller. I have flown one of these self piloting foam monsters that fly right out of the box. I got no satisfaction what so ever.
Having the satisfaction of being responsible for something you spent hours building is rewarding. There is reward from risk and fewer people are willing to take risk anymore. How dull.
I saw plenty of adults in the RC section of my (now recently closed) LHS, Greenfield News & Hobby. I did see a few kids there though, more than in the train section. I hardly saw anybody of any age in the plastic auto/boat/airplane/military section. When I was a boy that is where the action was (we also had plastic kit dinosauers and the "Rat Fink" models from Ed Roth - remember those?).
If some kid prefers RC cars, planes or copters over trains I don't feel sad about that at all. They have a hobby that has its own challenges and it gets them involved and doing things - those are all good things. And it is evident that it is a hobby that can carry over into adulthood. Maybe they'll discover trains later. The adult men I know who have no hobby whatever, not even gardening -- and then go nuts in retirement -- those are sad cases.
Dave Nelson
NP2626 The youth are not getting involved in R/C airplanes any more than they are doing model railroading! The situation with R/C Airplanes is exactly the same as it is for model railroading as these hobbies are filled with people over 50 year old. They certainly might be involved in R/C multi-copters (Drones) with cameras (First Person Video). But, they are not doing the traditional R/C airplanes. R/C is my other modeling hobby, that I am involved with and the national organization is aware of and attempting to do all it can to promote to the youth with very little interest being shown by them. I think all hobbies where something is built as the hobby, are in jeopardy! We, the modeling public, seem to be blissfully unaware of; or, simply don’t care that we are a dying fraternity.
We, the modeling public, seem to be blissfully unaware of; or, simply don’t care that we are a dying fraternity.
ed_n While spending less money on RC, I can enjoy it immediately. I could litterally take my entry-level plane/truck out of the box and use it right away... RC simply costs less, is easier to use, and can be enjoyed almost as soon as it is bought To use an analogy, if RC planes were like model railroading, you would have to model an entire airport, rather than just the planes.
While spending less money on RC, I can enjoy it immediately. I could litterally take my entry-level plane/truck out of the box and use it right away... RC simply costs less, is easier to use, and can be enjoyed almost as soon as it is bought
While spending less money on RC, I can enjoy it immediately. I could litterally take my entry-level plane/truck out of the box and use it right away...
RC simply costs less, is easier to use, and can be enjoyed almost as soon as it is bought
To use an analogy, if RC planes were like model railroading, you would have to model an entire airport, rather than just the planes.
Or Model a Aircraft carrier....with a couple of R/C WWII ''Hellcat'' dive bombers......I believe that has been done already.
ed_nRC helicopters are not a hobby, they are an addiction.
Most Hobby's are! And it is no wonder, kids of today sort of migrate away from Model Railroading.....there is so much more out there, for instant fun!
I started building a small N-scale layout 2 months ago, but got derailed by this. RC helicopters are not a hobby, they are an addiction.
In the 1950's and 1960's I was told model railroading, like the full-sized passenger train, was dying. Today things have changed, and today's kids have a lot more options. Very often, a serious interest in a hobby is awakened later in life. It's been said that model railroaders tend to be older guys. That's also true of flying RC planes. It's impossible to predict how many of today's youngsters will turn to model railroading in the future. For now, I'm content to enjoy my hobby, share it with those who are interested, and not worry too much about the hobby's future. If the people of the future fail to grasp the fun and challenge of building something and seeing it run, then that's their loss. I feel sorry for them. However, I suspect there will always be some who recognize the value of these active, creative hobbies, even if they are in the minority. Face it: We've always been a minority.
Tom
Love it! Two thumbs up on that cartoon.
Around here that might be the leading Senior Citizen hobby.
As far as R/C in model railroad form we have seen that--well in a sense-called wireless throttles.
mlehmanYou're right about people not being patient. The whole instant gratification thing mostly doesn't apply to model railroading
This is happening throughout American society. Part of our "fast food culture". If people cannot enjoy it right away, they move on. Even my wife who sees the immense enjoyment I get out of working on my layout made the comment to me the other day, "I get why somebody would have one to mess around with, but I just don't get why you would ever build one. Why not just buy one ready to go?" *Sigh*
Mike
I phones are the leading hobby with todays youth
Jim
S. ConnorTruth is, no one would want to model RRs if they couldn't run a real layout, as accuracy is the big attractor (At least for me) And building one of those takes time and skill. People don't have the patience to do that anymore.
S.
Not everyone builds layouts. Some people are mostly collectors and nothing wromng with that. Some folks just build models for a lot of reasons. Many who do may have an arrangement at a club or with friends. There has been a trend in the hobby over the last half-centruy in the US against the club type layout, but times are changing and who knows, maybe it'll make a comeback?
You're right about people not being patient. The whole instant gratification thing mostly doesn't apply to model railroading and much that seems to, like RTR, can be, err, controversial.
S. ConnorTo effect, the only thing keeping me in the hobby is seeing all of the wonderful layouts that users here have accomplished, and knowing that if I stick with it, and put in both the time and money, I could do it to.
And you will. You've got this pretty much figured out, but then the dullest knives in the drawer usually aren't model railroaders. Patience is a virtue and all that. It's a skill that also applies to the big things in life, which makes me always think it's a mark of character, whether you aspire to the personal layout or not.