Excellent points Doug. I dare say no one starts in Model Railroading spending thousands of dollars right off the bat especially a young person, unless they are wealthy do begin with. We all eased into it. A gift, from an aunt or uncle. Mom or Dad added a few more things as gifts as time went along. When we had our own income we started making our own purchasing decisions. We could buy everything we wanted then and we can't now either. If we started later in life, or returned after a couple of decades away like myself, the same holds true. None of use dived headlong with thousands, or even tens of thousands of dollars of purchases. We eased back into it. For me it has taken a good decade or more to accumulate what I would consider a healthy collection. And like John Moore above, I've been able to sell off some of the items I longer need or desire and that has funded most of the recent purchases in the last year or so. I've had several layouts started since 1999 when I started dipping my toe back into the hobby. Now that we are caring for my mother-in-law space is limited, but the interest has definitely not diminished. I've been able to whip out the Kato track every now and then and run trains on the dining room table.
This is such a great hobby and I would hate to see it fail to thrive in this millennium. Unfortunately... just like the slot-car racing hobby meet a sudden change in demand during the 1970's... I see some of the same problems infiltrating the model railroad hobby. The good thing we have is a long time history of model railroading in many scales with widespread appeal. Slot-car racing didn't seem to have the same support mechanism in place and interest waned rapidly. The cost of this hobby is much higher now than it was about 10 years ago. Salaries and cost of living are not in sync... with salaries lagging badly specially with respect to the cost of the hobby. So many other distractions are available now-a-days which are less expensive and are getting more 'press' time and advertising dollars which promotes those activities over the hobby of model railroading. We only get our message out in the form of Local Hobby Shops (LHS) and some local or regional shows which are somewhat promoted. It seems those LHS' are not faring well and many more close-up than new ones start-up. Shows are apparently doing okay... but... the merchants/vendors who attend those shows are not faring as well as they need to... and sometimes sell items at even higher prices than LHS or on-line shops. The hobby magazines are doing a good job of promoting the hobby... but... people are not buying those publications now with their prices approaching $7.00 per issue. We really need to get the word out about the hobby and it's many virtues... but... it's not as feasible due to the cost of advertising... it would only lead to even higher MSRP's if the advertising was to be ramped up. I wish I had a real solution... but in the end... it may be simple business 'evolution' that weeds out the weaker hobbies out eventually.
Take heart. Slot car racing had a huge disadvantage--it was cars that acted like trains. So, when the cost of radio control came way down, people naturally flocked to the hobby that gave them an actual steering wheel. Someone making a hobby of trains does not even want a steering wheel...
[QUOTE="Calzephyr, post: 980021, member: 1664"... The hobby magazines are doing a good job of promoting the hobby... but... people are not buying those publications now with their prices approaching $7.00 per issue. We really need to get the word out about the hobby and it's many virtues... but... it's not as feasible due to the cost of advertising... it would only lead to even higher MSRP's if the advertising was to be ramped up. I wish I had a real solution... but in the end... it may be simple business 'evolution' that weeds out the weaker hobbies out eventually.[/QUOTE] There is a way, the publications could go online with a small subscription fee and also have dynamic advertising like most sites do now. They can of course filter the advertisers to train shops, manufacturers and supporting vendors like MicroMart and Woodland Scenics. And of course the current line of advertisers too. The subscription model would be for advanced features like downloading track plans or How-To videos etc. In this manner folks can read online content and if they want advanced content they can sign up for that. If it is set up right, then many needs get handled. And since it is online, there are no storage requirements like printed matter. The newer generations are more browser inclined. Need to embrace that paradigm more aggressively to continue to promote the hobby. Model Railroader does that already to some extent, but it is not very seamless unless you a a subscriber. The model train industry needs to go where the customers are.
Model Railroad Hobbyist already does this with NO subscription fee. Any extra content is fee based. I actually like it as much or more than the hard copy magazines for a variety of reasons. Only thing is they have a hard time getting N Scalers to submit articles.
Yeah, if you aren't reading MRH, then your missing out on arguably the best model railroading magazine out there. It's a bit HO centric not surprisingly, but it has great content that isn't dumbed down the way more recent years of MR have been.
I agree. Furthermore while a lot of the content can be used in all scales the primary focus is HO to the point where, in some articles, they do not specify scale . Still, we have two N scale specific magazines that seem to be on an article restricted diet. So if we have trouble supporting mags devoted to our scale how can we support another? By the way, just in case anyone wants the URL for MRH it is: http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com They also have some videos at: https://www.youtube.com/user/MRhobbyist Again the majority is HO but some of it translates to other scales.
What's curious is that one of the two magazines has on its website a list of dealers where it can be purchased, while the other seems to keep that information secret.
I hate to say it but they need to evolve with the times and go digital. They are still stuck in the past. With digital editions I don't have to have piles of magazines laying around, I can easily search for an article with search functions and most importantly I can zoom into images details for a better view. This kind of relates to lack of interest in the hobby. Hate to say it but in my mid 40's I have embraced the digital revolution. All facets of the hobby should too. The younger generation is there and not looking back. To cater to them and serve their needs (and ours more efficiently) they must evolve. While I enjoy the two N scale specific mags they are going down the same road as Model Railroader. I will only buy an issue if there is something interesting or novel especially since I have to drive over an hour and a half to get it at a local train shop. Not a whole lot of worth in them for me.
I know know that I'm not alone, but I do like the hard copies. So maybe if they would do both hard copies and start digital and phase into just digital after several years. I also have to drive a hour to pick them up at the LHS, so I don't get them every month. I'll see Kirk (N Scale Railroading) later this month and see if or how soon he plans to go digital.
For me digital is great when I have something specific I'm looking for. When I'm perusing something out of curiosity or trying to get the lay of the land on something I'm not real familiar with I'll take the printed version every time. I see things I didn't even know I wanted to see until it happens. Sometimes I learn 'tings.
I have tried the subscription route and did not like it. Often times getting 3 or more issues in succession without getting one with any content that blew my dress up. Back when I had LHS in the area I could buy the one of two issues that had some content of interest to me. Now they are gone I don't purchase those anymore. I just don't see sinking my money into something I will rarely use. I used to get quite a few modeling projects out of Tall Timber Times and narrow gauge modeling publications even though they were often In O scale or HO scale. People have asked where my logging critters and cars came from in the past and they have been from there. A lot of bldg. plans drawn to scale with all the measurement nice and clear. Just a matter of using my N scale rule rather than an O or HO. But then I have always been a builder which dates back to the early days of N scale. I have never been shy about finding my inspiration from other scales and even some parts from other scales. So not only have I been able to save money by building my own structures, and sometimes cars and locos, I have also managed to acquire things that are not made in N scale and probably never will be. The last layout, which will hopefully get started after my move, will have very few structures that are shake the box and drop them on the layout probably 5 % of the total. The rest of them bashed or scratch built to fit specifically in the space available. Thirty percent of my motive power will be from a kit or scratch built with only the mechanisms commercial. That also applies to some of my freight cars. When I built the Hog Wallow Junction, which I covered in a post here, that was a test bed that incorporated those things, and specifically it was done on a affordable budget. It was also sized the fit in my current limited space and could have, if I wished to retain it, been loaded in my Wife's truck or my my Van for transport to the new digs. Unfortunately this has been become an instant gratification society rather than a patience and wait society. I am surprised that a complaint thread hasn't come up that the loco that was ordered that day wasn't in the mailbox that night. Or that it did not leap out of the box onto the rails and start running right away. And there are folks folks that want to model a whole 1o,000 mile rail system and do it in one year, rather than pick a scale mile, 33 or 34 feet of N scale track and do that well over several years. Modeling down to the last detail that scale mile can consume hundreds of hours can bring a lot of enjoyment and relaxation without have to file bankruptcy. So model railroading can be affordable if one practices moderation and has patience. For years now I have supported an art pursuit of painting, the supplies are not cheap, gardening and again the supplies are not cheap. fishing, and hunting where there are costs involved and not cheap and other things. Other pursuits have involved travel and cost and yet I am still able to partake of my model railroading. Everything in moderation. Even now in retirement and less income I can still follow my pursuits. A long time ago I gave up the idea of a model railroad empire as impractical and unaffordable. With my smaller modeling I have less frustration and probably more enjoyment than the empire builder.
Like I said, you might want to watch this one. It wasn't what I was looking for so the bidding process on my part went south for the summer. Besides, I don't bid on anything unless...........I can't live without it. Grin! I was just looking at coal hoppers when a $2.99 price jumped out at me. It was then I discovered this wasn't for the coal hopper but the load inside the hopper.
The hobby in my not so humble opinion is at a peak unlike anything we've seen in the past. It will survive into the future but I'm pretty sure many of the things we've taken for grant-it will be swept under the table. There are those who aren't happy with the latest versions of the assorted model railroad wig wags (magazines) out there. You can find my take on BarstowRick.com., A open letter to the editors. Then feel free to debate this issue anyway you'd like but let's start another thread here on TrainBoard.com., unless you don't want to. Grin!
