[Tomahawk & Western RR]

You surprised me in that I find it hard to believe that I started this topic a year ago today.

When I started in Large Scale (about 1997 I think) someone asked questions like these and the responses averaged out about 50 - 55 years old (about my age then).

About 10 years later someone else asked the questions again, and as I recall, the average age had moved up around 60 to 65.

Now the average age seems to have moved up around 70.

I think most of us had expected and hoped that the average age would go down and keep going down.

The downside is that over the years we have lost a lot of very talented people with a tremendous quantity and quality of knowledge and skills they freely shared with everyone.

Most of could readily put together a long list of those (from all over the world) who helped us individually grow in the hobby.

I for one miss those unsung heroes (and friends) a lot.

Jerry

jerry, sadly you are right. in 10-15 years, most of the "greats" of model railroading will be gone. and i know the future of model railroading is in my generations hands, but the future is not looking good, considering(after very basic math!) only about 1 in 250 kids has a slight interest in trains,(at most an old ho set put up at christmas) and ONLY about 1 in 600 has an interest like you and me(eat,sleep,breathe trains).

 

[Cataptrra]

I started either in 1996 at the ripe age of 40 or 1997 at the age of 41, either way I started in my 40's, I'll be 60 this year {2016}, so that would either be 19 or 20 years in the G sized trains. Although I've been in trains since the age of 2 when my dad brought home an Lionel O gauge set for my birthday, but I was too young to really know anything about it. My late mother had a photo of me with the front of one of the two diesel locomotives it came with in my mouth. So what do you expect at the age of 2 years? ROFL BTW: That loco was almost as big as I was too at that age!

Then I grew up with the real railroads, as I had relatives that worked for both the C&O and L&N lines. And why I was extremely disappointed that when I got into G these lines were extremely limited when it came to locomotives, especially STEAM era, since I had an uncle that worked on and repaired steam loco's for C&O, and another that did it on the L&N line, then he went into repairing diesels when they started coming into being.

My first outdoor layout didn't come until 2009{lived with my late mother-in-law at her home at the time, she was unable to take care of things being 79 and having a lot of medical issues, so wife and I moved in, wife to help with interior cleaning, cooking, all indoor stuff and me with the yard/outside home maintenance}, the next one not until 2012 when we bought and moved into our own place, where we are today.

Even though we don't own the property it sits on, I can at least landscape and have an outdoor layout and all the neighbors love it! And if I'm out and NOT running a train, they always ask, when are you going to bring a train out?

 

[ljmalan]

Hi

I am 84 years old and have been in large scale since 1994. I have been a model railroader since i was 3.
Lou Malandra

 

[Dunbar]

Ok, if I added everybodys ages correctly( factoring an extra year old for the early posts to this topic and eliminating the duplicate postings); our average age is presently 60.24 yrs old.

 

[Semper Vaporo]

WOW! For the 1st time in my life I am above average!

 

[Chris Scott]

Ok, if I added everybodys ages correctly( factoring an extra year old for the early posts to this topic and eliminating the duplicate postings); our average age is presently 60.24 yrs old.

The only thing that matters is total cumulative years. Because as we all know too well, the years do add up.

 

[Tomahawk & Western RR]

so i am 47 years difference from average age

 

[aceinspp]

Well I joined the party late as have not been here in a while and just saw this so I'll add my 2 cents. Started in HO age 10 and been into trains ever since. Got into G scale 1993 and then in 2005 made the jump into LS thanks to Aristo and now I'm more into that than sparkies. Oh ya a young 74 Later RJD

 

[wsakalaucks]

1) 33 going on 12. Jumping back into the hobby for the first time since high school now that I’m done with college, have a steady job with summers to myself, and a place to actually run!

2) Got into large scale when I got a battery powered rc Bachmann Big-Hauler (green 4-6-0) set when I was 4.

Prefer running American trains in late steam into modern era.

Started a model train club at my school and kids run both HO and G (it’s what I could get my mitts on quickly)!

 

[wsakalaucks]

You surprised me in that I find it hard to believe that I started this topic a year ago today.

When I started in Large Scale (about 1997 I think) someone asked questions like these and the responses averaged out about 50 - 55 years old (about my age then).

About 10 years later someone else asked the questions again, and as I recall, the average age had moved up around 60 to 65.

Now the average age seems to have moved up around 70.

I think most of us had expected and hoped that the average age would go down and keep going down.

The downside is that over the years we have lost a lot of very talented people with a tremendous quantity and quality of knowledge and skills they freely shared with everyone.

Most of could readily put together a long list of those (from all over the world) who helped us individually grow in the hobby.

I for one miss those unsung heroes (and friends) a lot.

Jerry

jerry, sadly you are right. in 10-15 years, most of the "greats" of model railroading will be gone. and i know the future of model railroading is in my generations hands, but the future is not looking good, considering(after very basic math!) only about 1 in 250 kids has a slight interest in trains,(at most an old ho set put up at christmas) and ONLY about 1 in 600 has an interest like you and me(eat,sleep,breathe trains)./images/smilies/sad.gif/images/smilies/eek.gif

Add in how expensive it is to get into the hobby now, and it excludes a large group of people from even thinking about it. I’m hoping with my elementary school club I started, I can help bring that average down

 

[Jerry Barnes]

I think a person can get it easily by buying used. With us dying off more of that is available. I think too many fail to buy their track right away. Get tied up in buying cars/engines before they have something to run it on. I got my track early on, then worked on making my buildings. Was years I only had one engine and one McKeen car that I made. I am selling off some stuff as time goes on. I'll be 75 in a couple of weeks.

 

[TrotFox]

42 years old, started buying large scale stuff in 1997... but before that I was running HO since I was 2. My parent's say it's the worst mistake they ever made. ;]

Trot, the aging, fox...

 

[Mike Flea]

Just turned 60 in December, been into model railroading ever since my eldest brother set up his Lionel in the basement with a good percentage of automated accessories, I think I was 4 at the time.


My first railroad was in N scale that I built on a 5' x 9' ping pong table at 13.


After my wife and I were married, we worked on an HO layout on the same ping pong table, and the N scale stuff that I had saved in boxes, I built several 2' x 4' mini layouts that some were sold, and 2 were auctioned off for Benefits.


After my wife and I moved into our own home in 1993, I started purchasing G scale stuff. First layout was 2 loops around a 5' x 7' pond. Now it's an elevated layout that runs around our raised garden boxes, approximate size is 20' x 48'.

 

[bmwr71]

A few years back, was at one of those "Greatest Hobbies" shows and spoke with a guy there that was supposedly a Piko designer and he spoke of needing cheap entry level G model railroad stuff so parents would buy it for their kids and that would get them into the hobby. He spoke of G people being older and maybe literally being a dying market. And like the locomotive he was running costs like $550. My parents must have hated we kids as even with adjusting for inflation, they would have never bought something like that for us.

I can see model railroading losing popularity due to computers and video games and smaller homes and the desire for immediate satisfaction. I might see that G model railroading could tend to be more for the older kids as it can be expensive, take up expensive space, be used as a garden decoration, be something one can relax and watch.

Putting your info out on the Net is not really a good idea. I will say I am very experienced at being a kid. And I got into G in the 80s, can't remember when. Was a fan of G for a while and was a poor boy but then found a Bachmann set at some now long gone Pace club store and that was the beginning of wasting a bunch of money, time, and space.

Doug

 

[Graff]

Well, I'm 48 (turning 49 in a few days).
I've been in model railroading since I was about 11.
Started in HO, then over to G.
Then I went back to HO. Nowadays I build in HOn3 and G.

 

[TDJR]

Currently 55. Started with model railroading when I was 5. O gauge then HO and added N scale in the mix. Got my own place Still building an N scale empire in the basement after 25+years but added a loop of LGB in a garden.

 

[smcgill]

62 years young ...

 

[Dan Pierce]

Like the song, another day older and deeper in debt



Tennessee Ernie Ford



You load sixteen tons, what do you get?

Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store

 

[ThinkerT]

I am 56. Be 57 in a few months.

Had a Lionel 0-27 layout in my room as a kid - which spent most of its life buried beneath piles of stuff.

Did other things for a long time, then built the house. A couple years later, I tacked on the garage - with a big loft above it. Saw the 'Polar Express' movie and started thinking model railroad again; almost went with 'O,' but didn't care for the three rail look. Saw adverts for 'G,' went that route in 2004 (or was it 2005?) with a Bachmann big hauler set. Built a lot of tables, rebuilt the layout a couple times, grew frustrated with issues pertaining to dirty wheels and track. Work and other things took over, and the layout vanished beneath towering piles of stuff.

Then, a few years ago, my daughter had her first baby, and shortly thereafter told me 'you are not allowed to die until your grandson see's the trains running.' Bought a couple el-cheapo battery sets and was impressed - not much power, but no fits and starts and stalls from dirty wheels and track. Sent three favorite loco's off for battery conversion, and set about rebuilding the layout.

 

[SophieB]

64. When I first met my (then) boyfriend he was into modeling trains so I joined him as a hobby we could enjoy together. Now he has neuropathy in his hands and can't deal with the small stuff real well so it mostly falls on me.


My (now) husband and I have a large garden that has trains running through it, not a lot of actual modelling going on.