Just curious,
How long have you been in this hobby?
When did you get into this hobby?
All comments welcomed!
I got into this hobby since I was 8, and I've been in it since! (been in this hobby for almost 7 years!) Yes I am quite young as a model railroader(and people treat me like I know nothing)
Thanks,
Charles
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Modeling the PRR & NYC in HO
Youtube Channel: www.youtube.com/@trainman440
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I got in when I was a lot younger than 8.
I, too, was treated condescendingly. Not always, but on occasion. I cannot imagine why they thought I was ignorant. And, yet, I survived.
Charles, it feels like you bring this up because you may not have been treated with respect by your fellow modelers. They were wrong.
It's not about being old. It's about being good. Step aside, old people.
Ed
Made my first small HO layout in 1959 at 14 and have had about 4 or 5 layouts on and off since then with lapses in between. I am currently working on an HOn3 shelf type point to point layout.
While an on and off model railroader, I never have lost the MR bug.
I do not consider myself to be a really accomplished modeler or model builder, just a model railroader. I build what I have to when I must, which in HOn3 modeled in the 1930-1950 time frame can be more daunting than in HO due to the expected ultra high level of realism. (Rustic wood structures often scratchbuilt with most rolling stock in a weathered and rather sad shape)
Richard
If I can't fix it, I can fix it so it can't be fixed
7j43k I got in when I was a lot younger than 8. Charles, it feels like you bring this up because you may not have been treated with respect by your fellow modelers. They were wrong. It's not about being old. It's about being good. Step aside, old people. Ed
Ed, I actually brought it up because of 2 reasons
1. I was curious and wanted to compare my age to when others started the hobby
2. I wanted to see if it's natural for someone like me to be superdetailing/adding DCC sound to locomotives and scratch-building buildings.
Gee whiz.. My dad was a model railroader so,I can't remember not being active in the hobby..
For our discussion I'm 67 so,I would say 60 years since I was 7 when I started making solo railfan trips to the Columbus Union Station on my Schwinn bike. My mother wasn't to happy about those trips even though we lived 7 or 8 blocks from the station- or was it because I usually rode there without telling mum?
Charles,Nothing changed over the years I see... I was treated the same way by older moders when I was your age back in the 60s.. I built my first Penn-Line steam engine kit when I was 10-under my dad's watchful eyes.
The only decoders I can install is the plug and play type..
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
I was born in 1940, in a house 100 yards from the Milwaukee Road main line on the outskirts of Pewaukee, WI, and while still a baby we moved into the village to a house a couple of hundred yards away from the double-track main. So naturally, my older brothers and I absorbed railroading, practically through our pores. Inherited my eldest brother's prewar Lionel when I was 10, when he went into the Air Force at the beginning of the Korean War. Mom sold it to my aunt a couple of years later, but when we moved to the Big City of Waukesha, WI, seven miles to the southeast, in '53, Mom and Dad gave me an American Flyer 2-rail S scale set for my 13th Christmas. I started reading every railroad novel in the school library and pored over the encyclopedias for information, making structures from cardboard cartons, so I guess you can say I was headed into model railroading at 14, when my brother came home with his wife and daughter--and a rather virulent infection of the HO strain of Model Railroad Fever.
He became my mentor and ferreted out every hobby shop in a 50 mile radius, so I really got my feet wet in the hobby. So I guess you could say I've been a model railroader since the spring of '54, nearly 62 years now.
Ask for any help you need and the guys (and gals?) of this Forum will be glad to answer them--and I hope you'll add to the lore, 'cuz most of us will freely admit that we don't know everything...
Deano
I am in the hobby since Christmas 1963 and, although there were times when life got in the way and my model railroading activities had to lie dormant, have been into it ever since!
I quite understand what it means not to be taken serious by the old farts in this hobby. As a teenager, I joined a model railroad club and the only thing the young ones were allowed to do was to clean up after a work meeting. I didn´t stay a member for long!
We all had to learn, one way or the other. Lucky those who had a mentor! Unfortunately, some of us old timers forget whe were young a few moons ago as well.
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
My folks wouldn't get me a train set when I was younger 'cuz they knew I would tear up the equipment in short order, one of those kids that had to take everything apart to see how it works. I got in at around 16-17. And still tore stuff apart! Boy, could I have used a source like this forum then!
You are at the best age to enjoy and learn this or any other hobby or vocation. Don't discount the advice of the aged members here, but do let the comments outside your circle of fellow RRers about "playing with toy trains" or other disparaging remarks just roll off your back. We older guys have to do that too. By now you already know this hobby has a lot to teach all of us. And you younger guys are growing up more tech savvy these days, a real plus. Dan
o
OT Dean I was born in 1940, in a house 100 yards from the Milwaukee Road main line on the outskirts of Pewaukee, WI, and while still a baby we moved into the village to a house a couple of hundred yards away from the double-track main. So naturally, my older brothers and I absorbed railroading, practically through our pores. Inherited my eldest brother's prewar Lionel when I was 10, when he went into the Air Force at the beginning of the Korean War. Mom sold it to my aunt a couple of years later, but when we moved to the Big City of Waukesha, WI, seven miles to the southeast, in '53, Mom and Dad gave me an American Flyer 2-rail S scale set for my 13th Christmas. I started reading every railroad novel in the school library and pored over the encyclopedias for information, making structures from cardboard cartons, so I guess you can say I was headed into model railroading at 14, when my brother came home with his wife and daughter--and a rather virulent infection of the HO strain of Model Railroad Fever. He became my mentor and ferreted out every hobby shop in a 50 mile radius, so I really got my feet wet in the hobby. So I guess you could say I've been a model railroader since the spring of '54, nearly 62 years now. Ask for any help you need and the guys (and gals?) of this Forum will be glad to answer them--and I hope you'll add to the lore, 'cuz most of us will freely admit that we don't know everything... Deano
Back then there were some (a lot) of really nice hobby shops in your area and Milwaukee. I'm trying to remember the one on Center street , I think it was Russ's, neat stuff.. I miss those days..
Randy
I have been in for all 16 years of my life, started out hirail, built an HO layout (sortof), and maintain a tinplate layout in the bargain. Done a lot of kitbashing since I started the HO layout, built a nice 2-8-0 (you'll see it on Jack Derby's post on cheap projects bout a month or two back) from an Airfix kit, a Flieschmann mechanism, and some odds and ends from the scrap box.
Trainman440How long have you been in this hobby? When did you get into this hobby? All comments welcomed!
Charles,
Well...long story,short...born in 42' first Trainset S-scale American Flyer...it was fun around the xmas tree!!! 1950 got My first HO scale trainset, (Varney) had a small oval above My bunkbed, bottom bunk, I slept in, top bunk, removed springs and kept frame to support a sheet of cut down plywood, with a cut out in the center, so the top part of Me could stick out and work on it. Just two kit switch tracks and the rest is history. My Dad did not have any knowledge of trains and such, I just learned how to use the tools He had and learned from other's, including the guy's at My LHS, which was only a half hour bike ride away, owned by two brothers, who were always building something in part of their store, spent a lot of time there. They were very helpful, friendly guy's, way older than I was. I will admit though...I am more into the building of everything that is associated with the layout, than the running of Trains. Not unusual for Me to have 4 or 5 projects going on at the same time, including Nitro fuel/batt RC Trucks/Cars, 1/8 to 1/14 scale. I have 8 Grandkids, 6 of which are Boys, so they love RC stuff in the summer. My 15 yr old Grandaughter is heavy into Trains, so She is My helper and good at it. The other Grandaughter is in Her second yr. of college, so I'm sure She has other things on Her mind. So I can safely say...I have been into the hobby 68 yrs. and hopefully My health and My body can continue for a lot more.
Have Fun!!!!
Take Care!
Frank
Roger Hensley= ECI Railroad - http://madisonrails.railfan.net/eci/eci_new.html == Railroads of Madison County - http://madisonrails.railfan.net/ =
Hi I was born in 52, and 1st Lionel was around 1959. I would say though the model railroading hit after I got over the slot cars phase. I was sick my junior yr of high school (1969) and one of the neighbors had MR magizines he gave me. I poured over everyone and have been a model railroader since. I don't model to super detail, its beautiful but beyond my patience level, good enough is good.
TomO
I was born in '47 (1947, not 1847) and when young we had a Lionel 027 set that got put on the floor at Christmas time. In Jr High I made a 4'x6' Atlas snap track layout in my bedroom (in an apartment in NYC) when my brother wen off to college. The layout was built with a miter box saw, screwdriver and hand drill. Expanded in high school to 4'x10'. In HS I joined a local model RR club as the only Jr member, which probably meant I paid little if any dues. All guys, they were very helpful and supportive. They even had me hand laying track.
I got away from the hobby, but when our 3rd daughter was born I declared I was buying her (me) a train. I built another, 2-level, 4'x10'layout with Atlas switches and flex track. Lots of derailments, which I now understand was not understanding how to carefully lay track. I never got much past the track stage.
In recent years I dabbled in getting back into the hobby by building a 4'x6' layout for my grandson, progressing to buildings and scenery. That gave me the serious bug and now (mid-60s) I am 4 years into my 5'x10' cookie cutter layout. I'm enjoying DCC a lot, converting like new locos acquired on Ebay. I'd imagine DCC makes the hobby tight on your budget.
Enjoy the hobby. I enjoy construction, buildings, car kits, DCC, lighting, and new things I need to learn about. This forum is a great help and interesting. Ask any question. If you have a local hobby shop with a train person that's great. And try a club if available; maybe they will let you attend part time if time is a factor. And hang out at train shows and interact with the folks there. Most love to talk about their favorite aspects.
Your interest in the hobby suggest you may want to explore technical fields (mechanics, engineering, medical, etc). I pursued chemical engineering, though another model railroader might be an artist, a carpenter, whatever. Just enjoy! Everyone has their interests, usually multiple things. Those interests, hobbies, etc can change over time or be a lifetime experience. No right answers except what's right (enjoyable) for you.
Paul
Modeling HO with a transition era UP bent
All my life - same story as every one else with a few variations.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
While I had electric trains when I was a kid, I didn't start model railroading as a hobby until I was 24 (68 now). But ever since December 1971 it's been my primary hobby. Activity level varied over the years as my wife and I had 3 boys and money was sometimes tight for hobbies, but I always at least kept up a few magazine subscriptions.
And yes when you're young "you don't get no respect". I remember wandering into a model train store (I didn't know what it was, but the trains in the window intrigued me) when I was about 16 and the owner/clerk was pretty annoyed that I even came in his shop. I never went back.
Ignore the jerks - you'll find them in every hobby and other places as well - life's too short to worry about them.
Good luck
Trainman4401. I was curious and wanted to compare my age to when others started the hobby
I started with Lionel on the floor at about 6 years old. My first "permanant" layout was started when I was about 12.
Trainman4402. I wanted to see if it's natural for someone like me to be superdetailing/adding DCC sound to locomotives and scratch-building buildings.
I scratch built a single stall engine house at about 14. It had a really cool roof made from toothpaste tubes (they were metal then) that took me months to collect.
Until seeing your post, I thought I was the youngest member on the forum having only turned 60 just last week.
I have the right to remain silent. By posting here I have given up that right and accept that anything I say can and will be used as evidence to critique me.
Hi,
My first trains were Marx, back in the early '50s. Bought into Lionel in 1956 when I was 12 (paper route $$$), stayed with it thru early '60s, and jumped into HO. Other than a short incursion into N during the mid '80s, its been HO ever since.
It's a great hobby and pasttime, can be enjoyed at any age, rain or shine, and most anywhere.
ENJOY !
Mobilman44
Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central
If you count the trainsets I got as a kid it would be sometime in the 1950s. In the early 1960s my brother and I bought a used 4X8 HO layout which was really my first exposure to model railroading as opposed to just running a train around and around. We had a lot of fun with it but eventually it fell into disrepair as we got older and was resold. Sometime in the early 1970s I came across an issue of Model Railroader and the bug bit me again. When I got out of school and entered the work force I got back in, building a small layout in a spare bedroom of my apartment. A few years later I bought my first home and began a layout in an 11X28 section of my basement. I learned a lot with that layout but the design was flawed and eventually I lost interest about the same time work was putting more demands on my time. I wasn't active in the hobby until I retired in 2001 and bought my present home. Since then I have been building my current layout, never dreaming I would not have it completed yet. I learned that even in retirement model railroading time is limited by other responsibilities and interests. Along the way I have learned a lot, been frustrated a lot, had some fund and achieved a level of satisfaction. I can finally see the finish line. I'm hoping to have the last section completed this winter and operating the layout as I envisioned it before I even had the house I am living in now.
I know a model railroad is never finished. When I complete the last section I am sure there are going to be many parts I will want to redo as well as adding things like an operating signalling system and grade crossings with flashers and gates. I might even take a crack at scratchbuilding structures if I get bored. One thing I have on the back burner is to build a model of my boyhood home and find a place for it on the layout.
I'm 54. I've been in it for over 45 years, since I was 9. Though I had a lot of exposure to trains prior to that, both the real thing and model railroading, I consider 9 the starting age because that was the point I became independent of parental help.
Mark H
Modeling in HO...Reading and Conrail together in an alternate history.
About 6 or 7 A neighbor was going in the Airforce and gave me his HO stuff I've been hooked ever since. Now 46yrs later I'm really trying to get back into the hobby hard.
Wow, thankyou everyone for contributing!
So a lot of people started this hobby when they're 8-9 years old.
It's interesting how many people started this hobby with the little train around the christmas tree!
I been in this hobby since the age of 2. My parents say I was born into loving trains and railroading. And they don't know where it came from.
Amtrak America, 1971-Present.
I was born in January, 1946. That's 69 years, nine months and two weeks ago. I don't know when I first became interested in trains, but it is certain that I was very upset when my mother and I took a trip in 1950 and went by bus instead of by train. I would have been four years old. Dad and I started out with Marx and Lionel, but by about 1960 I had decided that I was more interested in something that was closer to scale. Dad accepted that but wasn't too happy about it. Those of us who grew up in the 1950's learned about life because Christmas brought toys that had something to do with real life: Lincoln Logs; Erector Sets; chemistry sets; camping and scouting equipment; Balsa or Plastic scale models. These were things you had to tinker with and build, so they encouraged the development of problem solving skills. As a result, I was one of the many who loved to tinker. Still do.
I also loved to read, and railroad books and magazines held an importance equal to that of current events, history, and literature. Over the years my railroad interests have broadened. I've never thought of myself as a great modeler, but I try. My strength is in the history and practice of prototype railroading.
Possibly the most important issue mentioned above is the question of younger folks who enter the hobby with a willingness to learn, but limited experience. These young people need for us old fogeys to accept them for what they are: bright young people who like the same things we do, but who simply haven't had the time and opportunity to learn what we have learned. We can also fall into the trap of assuming they know less than they actually do know. They have strengths we don't have because they grew up in a different era. I'm lost in the high tech world; they seem to know that stuff intuitively, which is utterly amazing to me. We old guys can learn from them. They didn't grow up with the same experiences we grew up with, so they will invariably draw a few wrong conclusions and go up a few blind alleys on their pursuit of understanding. But thats OK. That's the learning/education process at work. Fairness dictates that we accord them the respect that they deserve, simply because they are trying to learn and develop in the same way that we did fifty or more years ago.
Back then, we learned from the older generation. Now I'm amazed to realize that WE are the older generation. We have a responsibility to pass the torch.
Tom
(edited)
1974, I was 8. Got the typical train set for Christmas. My dad built a room about 8'x20' in our garage and we built a Ho layout in there. It lasted until I moved out at 18 and was torn down. I next built a small N scale layont on a piece of scrap plywood, that I still have. Built another out of a 6"x4" piece of blue foam. Never liked it, so it is sitting in the basement in pieces. I then built benchwork and everything I would need for a New N layout. It is still sitting in the basement. 7 day weeks and 12 hour days got in the way and now I am disabled and can`t even get down there to start on it. So I guess you could say have I have been a model railroader for 41 years but that last few the fire has been dropped from my box..... I would really like to at least try and get something going for my grandsons with what I built but no one else in the family has the "bug".
Hi Charles:
My interest in model railroading started when I was very young. My older brothers were given a Marx O scale train set. I watched them play with it for hours but they forbid me from touching anything! By the time I was old enough to operate the train they had managed to burn out the motor so the whole thing went into storage. Thank goodness my parents who were raised during the Great Depression in the 1930s were taught to never throw anything out.
Years later, when I was in my late 40s, my mom asked me if I wanted the stuff. Of course I didn't say no. I found a replacement engine and set the track up on some plywood in the garage, and I was in heaven finally being able to run trains. However, the novelty soon wore off because the O scale tinplate was too toy like to satisfy me (absolutely no offense to the tin plate crowd - each to his own).
I expressed my frustration to my loving wife, and she went out and bought me an HO train set! It was Harry Potter's Hogwarts Express and I loved the finer detail and smoother operation.
That was about 15 years ago. Since then I have had a ball planning my layout, scratch building structures and even some small diesel switchers, as well as acquiring rolling stock, installing sound, bringing cars up to NMRA recommended standards, going nuts with LEDs, and much much more.
For family reasons I still don't have a layout but I'm getting closer to starting to build. Although that has been frustrating it has not really diminished my enjoyment of the hobby.
As far as your situation, seven years experience is more than a lot of people have in this hobby so don't let those who assume you don't know anything get you down. Let that be their problem.
Wishing you all the best in your future model railroading adventures!
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
I built my first layout when I was 8 as well, in HO, that was 32 years ago. I have not been without a layout of some kind since. I never did the large scale set or train under the tree thing. My grandfather retired from the Bangor & Aroostook and I worked for the Gettysburg & Northern and NS. No one else in my family is a model railroader, but no one ever said anything negative to me about it.
Trainman440 Just curious, How long have you been in this hobby? When did you get into this hobby? All comments welcomed! I got into this hobby since I was 8, and I've been in it since! (been in this hobby for almost 7 years!) Yes I am quite young as a model railroader(and people treat me like I know nothing) Thanks, Charles
Charles, don't worry, others have started at a young age and been through the same thing - just keep working and your modeling will speak for itself.
I grew up with model trains, my father built me a complete working layout when I was 10-11 and at age 13 I was building wood craftsman kits, die cast loco kits, hand laying track, wiring control systems, etc.
At age 14 I was working in a local hobby shop, doing the repairs, and building professional diorama models. I was also one of the youngest members ever at the Severna Park Model Railroad Club to not require a "sponsor".
As a young adult, around 20 years old, I was the train department manager of another local hobby shop for several years.
Now at 58 my modeling spans some 48 years.
Sheldon