The future of model railroading.

[Green_Elite_Cab]

Too Long; Didn't Read- Young people's lives are chaotic and they don't have enough monetary resources for much of anything, let alone expensive trains. Today's 40 year olds were the 16 yeards who couldn't afford it when they were young. The interest hasn't really went away.

In a time of global economic recessions, increasingly expensive models is not the profitable way to go. Traditionally, this will force many smaller manufactures of specialty and niche products out of business and leave only the major assembly line manufacturers, something that is not in the best interests of hobbyists.

Something I noticed long ago as a military modeler - as the prices of the kits increased, the young people looked but the older people were the buyers. In the two LHS's in my area that pattern is the norm, and that isn't the way to maintain a viable hobby.

While I Absolutely agree with the above quote, I get the feeling the that its not so much that the hobby is alienating young people, or that there is any lack of interest in the hobby. I think its more that the overwelming number of people who can afford the time and money investment in model trains are the 40 somethings.

This is not because the prices are alienating young people, but because it makes sense to cater to the demographic who is spending the most on your product.

I do think that eventually these hyper exoensive models are going to start alienating people from the hobby regardless of who they are. Unless you can drop a few hundred every month for every "limited run" announcement, it can get very frustrating.

I feel that the hobby must either expand and keep up with the changing times or it will eventually wither and die due to it's exponentially increasing expense and the changing areas of interest of the MTV and Computerized Gadgetry Generations, which are no longer even aware of much of past history and could care less. Their interests lie with such things as "fighting robots" and electronically controlled dinosaurs. The advent of the microchip and it's subsequent applications, coupled with their shortened attention spans, means that immediate action and gratification dominates their world, while our world is based on long attention spans and delayed gratification, such as required to build fine scale working models and completely scenic a layout. It's going to come down to evolve or die, as LHS's go out of business every year. It's increasingly rare to see younger people in model railroad hobby shops.

Again, I'm not sure that the lack of "young people" is implying the death of the hobby. There are plenty of practical problems involved. Lets just assume for instance, that "Jimmy" is interested in model trains. He remember's Grandpa's set, read a few books, and he is looking to get started.

If Jimmy is younger (13-16), he needs parental support and money. Parental support is a big one. Jimmy likely may not be content with an EZ track oval on the floor for long, and just displaying stuff on a shelf can get old just as quickly. Jimmy needs permission from parents to get the space to construct any sort of layout (being a module or 4x8). Even if Jimmy's parents have the necessary tools to construct a layout (and not every home has this equipment), he'll still need them to either show him how to use it, or build it themselves if they don't trust little Jimmy with power tools. Its entirely possible Jimmy's parents will say "No, you're not building a model railroad", and then thats the end of the line right there.

Jimmy then needs to contend with the money issue. the basic wood and track required for even a 4x8 can get very expensive VERY quickly, before its even built. Does Jimmy get an allowance? Is he working (not many kids under 16 appear to be able to get jobs, at least in my expirience)? If not, he's going to have convince his parents to give him some (i don't know how many parents pay for their childs every whim), or use up some reserve money perhaps from christmas or his birthday. Lets not forget there may be other things on Jimmy's plate. Suppose his girlfriend Jenny wants to go out (and her birthday is coming), or there is some sort of activity Jimmy wants to participate in? Jimmy already only gets a little bit of money, and if he uses it all on model trains, there won't be anything left for anything else.

I don't think its really fair to accuse Jimmy of a short attention span and desiring of instant gratification when limited time and money don't necessarily make it easy for a kid to walk into a hobby shop every month and pick something up. A young person also has little expirence, and not the benefit of our 20:20 hindsight.

Even when Jimmy gets older and graduates highschool, he is looking at car payments, insurance, college, and a job. He may be making more than he did, but he is paying more than he was before. College coursework is more intense than it was in highschool, and then he needs to work between in order to pay the bills. Jimmy is going to be tired after the day is done, and he still has to study for some midterm and write a report. Even if he has managed to move out, most people's inital homes and apartments are small. If he is in college dorm, there may be no space for Jimmy's hobby. Jimmy knows this isn't a permanent place, so why build something he can't take with him? Perhaps he is still with Jenny, who now likes to go out every week. Again, its becoming very unrealistic to maintain the hobby. There is to much going on, and not enough time, and still not enough money.

Jimmy may well be able to pull off buying some nice locomotive every once in a while without his girlfriend asking him "why aren't you spending that on a date with me?", but thats going to be a rare moment.

I'm sure there are plenty of other reasons that I cannot even think of. I know i'm in the latter situation, There is no time or money for anything anymore, its all school and work. I'm not complaining, I love my major and I enjoy where I work, but there is often no money left for the hobby budget, and not a whole lot of free time I can devote to the trains. While I don't expect to have projects done instantly, there are many projects i've started a year ago that have made little progress, simply because I just could not get to it.


Ultimately, when Jimmy is growing older and more stable, with a larger apartment or a home, and a steady job someplace with a higher income. He has more freedom in his environment, and can now safely invest the money into a model railroad, and likely can set aside the time to do it.