I don't know, Roy. I am no expert, but my observations at local model railroad shows where the general audience attends is that there are lots and lots of little boys (and girls, too!) who are fascinated by trains. What I see is that the kids are really interested in the larger trains, S, O, and G. The audience around the Z and N layouts are mostly older people who are more interested in details. In the larger scales our club, Houston S Gaugers, is the only one that has a true scale (with scenery) layout. The O and G groups are just track, fast trains, and toy-like animations.
So, I think that even though today's kids are growing up with all sorts of electronic gadgets, there is still something to be said for being able to see a physical item move; something you can touch. I don't see the hobby dying; I think it is shifting from scratch/kit building to more R-T-R stuff, and there may be some ebb and flow, but in general, I still see lots of kids at shows. Those are seeds being planted for when they turn 30, 40, 50, etc. As long as we keep doing shows, and keep showing what is possible. I'm going to be helping Bob Werre at his open house tonight. Last year, at his open house, we met two brothers who grew up with A.F.. Now we consider them members of our club, and we are trying to convince them to move over to the scale side. They sure did like what they saw last year at Bob's place. I think they stayed for well over an hour, just soaking up all the details Bob has on his layout. For my "FNF" report, I submit the addition of scratchbuilt trees and the re-do of the creek (done last week): http://pmrr.org/Layouts/Chartiers/ShingissSceneryTrees.htm#nov15 http://pmrr.org/Layouts/Chartiers/ShingissSceneryCreek.htm#nov7 - Peter. On 11/18/2011 10:12 am, Roy wrote: > Back in 2001, I had a talk with Tony Koester. The "World's Greatest Hobby" > was just starting up. He said that they were going to aim at the boomers who > found those old trains in the attic and were thinking of getting the > grandchildren involved in trains. He said that S could take advantage of this > and show them that S was still a viable choice for them. Well we tried to get > folks involved in the WGH. There was the usual Z,N, HO,O,G stuff to fight, > but we were beginning to make headway. However, not too many folks got > involved and things have dwindled down over the years because of the > non-involvment. Lot's of talk and no action (sound familiar). Did everyone > notice the age breakdown of the last poll? I think it was Don Thompson who > once said that "Every year I see the same people, and they're a year older". > There were several obituaries in the last Dispatch. The hobby as a whole > risks dying and the WGH is an attempt to get new blood into the hobby. Losing > battle? Time will tell. > > Roy > -- Peter Vanvliet ([email protected], or [email protected]) Houston, Texas "It is easy to give up; anyone can do that..." http://pmrr.org/ (my model railroad - RSS feed <http://pmrr.org/rss.xml>) http://fourthray.com/ (my company) http://houstonsgaugers.org/ (model railroad club) -- [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
