NEW POLL: when did you start?

[Summertrainz]

wow vry "cool" stories
i realize that most model train lovers are sort of... elderly..
whats gonna happen to model railroading in 30 years?
whats gonna happen when the "original railroader" go to the big train yard in the sky?

[conradin]

I don't know the answer.


My gf said that most modelers are either older people who grew up with trains with trains as part of their daily life, or younger people whom were introduced to model trains by their elder relatives (father, uncle, grandfather, etc.), plus a small portion of people whose have relatives who work or had worked in the train industry.

I'm in my 30s, but I grew up next to a train track and a train station.  I can determine which loco is running by merely listening to its sound miles away.  But that is probably common to most people who grew up and spent all their times on the track, or in the station..

A few days ago I asked a similar question to my gf's dad, who is an old time hot rodder and racer...what would happen to auto racing and motorcycle racing when petroleum is no longer available, or all engines will be run on electricity....he does not have an answer, either.

[Summertrainz]

me im in my preteen years
growing up in brooklyn new york
not the ghetto but
near the subways
i took the subway and i was facinated by it
and i can see that mannnyy years ago
that the older people were near the enthrawling steam engines.
i think that model railroading is getting more modern
but still less people are involved because they were'nt influenced when they were kids.


as you can see im not the best speller.  rock on cat guy

[Craig]

Summertrainz,

If you're concerned about your spelling, why not type your post in a word processing program and see what you're doing wrong? Then copy and paste your text and post it.

You're obviously a bright individual with a good head on your shoulders. You may as well type like one.

Craig

[JM]

12 yrs. old? building a ''layout'' in his room...and totally horrific spelling and punctuation?.........HMMMMM   does this M.O. ring a bell for anyone other than me?

[Jim Banner]

At the age of 4, I drove my mother nuts getting her to tie my little cars and trucks together with bits of string so that I could pull them along like a train.  I think that is why, at the age of five, I was given an Hafner wind up train set.  But it was 1950 at the age of 7 that I got started in electric model railroading when I received a Marx 3/16 set for Christmas.  That is what I run on my 4 x 8 Christmas railway.

I got into H0 in 1966 and that has grown to take up the entire basement of my 4 level split.  It 1987, I got bitten by the large scale bug and built a garden railway which takes up much of the backyard.  In 1992, I "went public" as part of a group which was formed to share the fun and pleasure of model railroading.  That now includes a 12 x 25 H0 railroad and a 8 x 12 0-scale plus G-scale layout on permanent display in our local museum, a 13 x 42 portable G-scale layout to take to shows, and a variety of small layouts built as demos in our classes on building model railroads.

If that were not enough, I took courses and got my steam licence so that I can run our province's only operational steam locomotive - a narrow gauge 0-4-0.  And to add to the insanity, I built a 1/2 size model of a 2-4-0T industrial switcher which I use in parades.  I guess it is safe to say that I like trains. 

[Atlantic Central]

At the age of 10, in 1967 my father gave me complete ownership/control of the layout he had built for me. It was a 9' x 14' "L" shape, 5' deep on both legs. It had two seperate loops of track, one of which was multi level, connected by a double crossover. Each loop also had a hidden passing/stagging track behind the mountain across the back. The lower loop also had a visable passing track in front of the freight station.

From that point on I began adding features and rolling stock on my own.

Never stopped model railroading since and still have some of the structures and details from that layout.

Sheldon

[conradin]

2/10/07

[LD303]

12 yrs. old? building a ''layout'' in his room...and totally horrific spelling and punctuation?.........HMMMMM   does this M.O. ring a bell for anyone other than me?

Mother Goose

[Les]

I am 77 years old and when growing up the was never enough money for an "electric train".  After retirng from the law practice I started in HO about 6 years ago.  I am not into prototype, but have tried to set up what I call a transition era layout -  the 40s - 50s.  My equipment includes 8 diesel and 8 steam locos and about 60 rolling stock cars and have the layout set up to replicate a small midwest rural town.  Living in a small town once served by the Rock Island all my locos are CRI&P.  My one recurring thought is that I wish I knew when I started what I have learned over the years - many mistakes would have been eliminated.  It is a great hobby and one I thoroughly enjoy - especiallhy in the winter when I cannot play golf.