06-22-2012, 08:04 AM
The "Hobby Is Dying" thing has been going on for as long as I can remember and yet it continues to survive, with more items available now than ever before. In spite of the increasing prices, it sure looks to me like there are far more young people involved in the hobby than most people seem to realize. You need only spend a little time looking on forum's such as Big Blue and many others or look around on YouTube at the hundreds of video's made by model railroader's of all ages, to see what I mean.
I'm often amazed at how many teenagers, who's only source of funds are from Mom and Dad, or young people just starting out working in the real world, that are purchasing $200-$300 DCC/Sound equipped loco's and $25-$50 cars; and more often than not, quite a few of each.
Yes, many LHS's have gone out of business over the past few years and for many different reasons, but that doesn't mean that the hobby is dying by any stretch of the imagination. No, they often can't compete with the on-line big hobby shops, but then many of them have gone belly-up too. Things change.
Bottom line - this fascinating hobby will be around for many, many years to come and it will only get better.
I'm often amazed at how many teenagers, who's only source of funds are from Mom and Dad, or young people just starting out working in the real world, that are purchasing $200-$300 DCC/Sound equipped loco's and $25-$50 cars; and more often than not, quite a few of each.
Yes, many LHS's have gone out of business over the past few years and for many different reasons, but that doesn't mean that the hobby is dying by any stretch of the imagination. No, they often can't compete with the on-line big hobby shops, but then many of them have gone belly-up too. Things change.
Bottom line - this fascinating hobby will be around for many, many years to come and it will only get better.
Ed
"Friends don't let friends build Timesavers"
"Friends don't let friends build Timesavers"