Age of train folk

[richg]

Not a problem but thanks. It was a lot of fun when it lasted.
Don't forget Memo's across from the Big E for great breakfast.
Life has been good to me. Go out dancing three times a week, Rock, C.W. and ballroom.
Did 1,500 miles on the bicycle this year.
Easthampton still has the old train station, Tandem Bagel,  right along side the rail trail. I belong to the rail trail committee.
Now I am a train watcher as some of the rail trail in Northampton is right along the Pan American Railway tracks. Sometimes I have to carry my bike across the track to pickup another rail trail. A tunnel will be built next year.

Watching the new ribbon rail being installed in Holyoke, Northampton for new Amtrak service.

Rich

[jbrock27]

Thank you for the breakfast tip. 
Might get down that way for hockey skates before the Big E event.

[Woody Elmore]

Have you loooked at modern trains? Are there any young train watchers out there? Sure the locomotives might be colorful but the freight cars are dull and often loaded with graffiti.

My grandparents farmed in South Carolina. One end of town was the Southern and the other end the ACL (actually the C&WC). I remember reading the slogans on the box cars and was once very surprised to see a car with a maple leaf on it. CN cars were a rare sight in the south.  Of course, at the end of the train, was the caboose - always interesting - no two alike.

I grew up in Manhattan and with a friend would walk down to the big NYC yards on the west side. Again there were all sorts of interesting cars from all over the country. It was a learning experience.

Once on school trip to West Point I saw a NYC streamliner snaking its way along the Hudson. The Two tone grey with striping made for a very expensive looking train and made we wish I had the Lionel NYC F-3s!.

One day there appeared in the Manhattan yards new NYC diesels - but no lightening stripes! Instead they were black with the new cigar band herald - they were gp-20s and the simplified paint scheme was hinting at the money problems to come for the Central. The cabooses in Jade green were a sight to behold.

In college the science building overlooked Van Coirtland Park in the north Bronx. If I sat in a certain seat and row I could see the train - it broke up the monotony of learning statistics.

The now long abandoned Putnam line ran through the park.The train usually consisted of an RS-3 in black, two or three reefers (there were meat packing plants in Yonkers and the cars were loaded on the lower west side of manhattan.) The rear of the train was always a poorly maintained NYC 19000 class caboose - the kind with the little tiny cupola and with chicken wire over the windows; there were lots of idips who liked to throw rocks.  My point is that modern railroads, although keeping the nation moving, are just shadows of their predecessors.

As a person who trains techers I can tell you that today's students have to be taught in 10 minute blocks because of the influences of modern technology. Unless you can get your Bachmann K-4 to morph into a strange space vehicle or shoot lasers,  a lot of kids won't be interested.

[Woody Elmore]

By the way - in my last post my reference  to rock thowers should be "idiots." I usually proof read things twice - I did with that post but missed the typo. Oh well, looks like I need new, thicker glasses!

[ryeguyisme]

I'm 25, a brass collector and a steam only collector, the only thing I've seen so far is the decline of the older folks in the hobby, which to me means less steam will be made in the years to come  BUT on the flip side the brass market is borderline about to plummet because there's more brass than there are people buying it. For me that's a good thing because I casually sit here and watch prices slowly drop to affordability. Models that were once $2,000 are going for $750-800 and they aren't selling at that price either, models that were $500 aren't selling at $75-100 so for me eventually it'll mean I can buy a whole railroad roster for pennies on the dollar. The only thing that will retain value are the extremely limited recent runs of brass and that's it and eventually even they will fall prey to the times.

People just like diesels more and more now because that's what they've been accustomed to.

Now I run trains at my local park around christmas time for kids to watch and see things beyond a world on a TV or Computer screen and hope that inspires them to go out and explore the hobby. My local model railroad club I belong to has a few decent youngsters who are active in the hobby. So I think the demographic may be shrinking but the hobby will remain strong for years to come. Especially with the newer stuff coming out being affordable from companies such as Bachmann