What dont you like about this hobby

[Ralph]

A couple others, in declining order of annoyance:

Nostalgia. I notice an unhealthy level of it among American and British modellers. German modellers are also nostalgic, but in a more sustainable way. Many more Germans than Americans model times before their own lifetimes, or indeed before most people alive today were born. That is, there isn't such a peak of 1950s modelling. Japanese mainly model the modern era.
Note that I have nothing against people modelling past times. It's a statistical thing.

Provincialism. Modellers focus on local railroads, and their interests are determined heavily by what they've personally experienced in rather simple ways. I don't hold this against anyone individually. It's just disappointing that many smaller prototypes with interesting characteristics are rarely considered by modellers far from those places.

I'm trying to reconcile your annoyance with nostalgia with your signature line that professes being a fan of the 40-50s PRR. Just kidding, but I am curious about the comment about an "unhealthy level" of nostalgia. Are you suggesting that the American tendency to model the transition from steam to diesel is overdone? Too cliche'?

I imagine a good percentage of modelers choose the era they grew up with (myself included) as early images and experiences with trains can have a profound impact on our interest in the hobby. Interest in earlier eras needs to be prompted by something else; perhaps a movie, a museum trip, memories of an older relative, awareness of history in one's region, etc. Although I lived in the Catskill Mountain area as a boy I did not have much knowledge about 19th and early 20th century railroading there. I later found a book about the Ulster and Delaware Railroad that inclued information about narrow gauge lines in the Catskills as well. Perhaps if I had been aware of this heritage earlier i may have developed an interest in modeling a railroad that ran decades before my time.

I guess my interest in Catskill Mountain railroads supports you comments regarding provincialism. Again, I suppose that an interest in railroading in locations other than one's own region would need to be prompted by exposure to it...vacation trips, reading, films, etc.

Ralph