Model Railways dying out?

[Bealman]

As several members know, I dabble a bit in Arduino and electronics generally. I have known since I was a teenager that electronics and model railways compliment each other as hobbies.

There are actually very few publications devoted to electronics these days - most info is, of course on the internet. Australia has however, a well-respected monthly magazine which has been around for thirty years, and is sold globally. The magazine is Silicon Chip, and has a minimum of three constructional projects per month, along with heaps of electronics-oriented articles.

I buy it every month without fail, and have built many of their projects. The latest issue arrived in the newsagent yesterday, so I naturally bought it. I was flipping through the pages when I came across a letter I wrote last month and then forgotten about.

I'll let the letter speak for itself, but bear in mind that the magazine has a large global readership, so I couldn't resist putting in a plug for the forum!

[The Q]

Dying out... no
Reducing as a percentage to other hobbies yes.. and probably will continue to do so..
Too many other competing interests these days..

[railsquid]

I'm pretty sure the death of model railways was occasionally predicted in various model railway magazines I read during the 1980s..

In fact I'm sure if you go back a few more decades you can probably find people bemoaning the introduction of things providing instant gratification such as the wireless and the yo-yo meaning the end of the hobby...

[Ali Smith]

It certainly goes back as far as the introduction of Scalextric, which I suppose was upwards of 60 years ago.

[N_GaugeModeller]

Is model railway dying out no not yet, are the customers who can actually afford model railways dying out yes absolutely.

Railway modelling is and always has been a mature persons hobby, mainly enjoyed by the better off and those lucky enough to retire on final salary pensions, FSP are being withdrawn and those lucky enough to be one them are also quite literally dying out.

So yes in time I can see model railways if not dying out but definitely returning to being a ritch man's hobby if prices continue to spiral upwards at the rates they are doing at the moment.

Just my opinion, whilst I am still allowed one on here

NGM

[Train Waiting]

Absolutely excellent letter, George @Bealman .  I hope our wonderful hobby will be with us for a long time yet!

I think our hobby is evolving, which is probably a good thing as that is likely to help its survival.

I think there are a lot fewer cheap-ish train sets about nowadays and the average age of a participant in the hobby is likely noticeably higher than it was in 1960.  For adult enthusiasts, there is probably a shift away from kit and scratchbuilding and more purchasing highly-detailed models.  I'm not sure, but I wonder if there is a swing to '00' from 'EM'/'P4'.

Interesting and positive current upward trends are:
DCC and control by computer and mobile telephone
Sound
Radio control
'0' gauge and other larger scales
On-line Forums (although I only have experience of this one!).

It's maybe me, but I think there are fewer 'continental' layouts around compared to the 1970s and 1980s and is 'traditional' club membership on the decline?

I think the Railway Modeller's circulation peaked in the early 1980s but it is still an impressive publication.  When I first got interested in US-outline in 1992 Model Railroader was a revelation.  It was also massive!  Have you seen it recently?

Finally, model railways are fun and it's up to us all to be like George and tell people - even better let them play with our trains!

All best wishes

John

[Bealman]

I think it's important to remember that my letter was published in an electronics magazine - the majority of readers will not be railway modellers (although the magazine does publish a respectable number of model railway-oriented projects).

I simply disagreed with someone's letter in the September issue, while at the same time getting in a plug for the NGF in an international magazine! 

[davidinyork]

Is model railway dying out no not yet, are the customers who can actually afford model railways dying out yes absolutely.

Railway modelling is and always has been a mature persons hobby, mainly enjoyed by the better off and those lucky enough to retire on final salary pensions, FSP are being withdrawn and those lucky enough to be one them are also quite literally dying out.

So yes in time I can see model railways if not dying out but definitely returning to being a ritch man's hobby if prices continue to spiral upwards at the rates they are doing at the moment.

Just my opinion, whilst I am still allowed one on here

NGM

Absolutely agree - look at OO gauge as that is the most popular: prices have vastly increased in a decade or so. For example, when Hornby produced their current HST power car model a pair could often be picked up new for £100-120-ish. Now (despite the tooling no doubt having paid for itself) the cost is upwards of £250 - and that sort of increase isn't unusual. Add a set of coaches at say £30 each and you are looking at around £460 for a 2+7 set - and that's just one train.

Yes, there are some cheaper models at the 'trainset' end of the market, but those are mostly old tooling models showing their age and limited in what is available.

[Graham]

It certainly goes back as far as the introduction of Scalextric, which I suppose was upwards of 60 years ago.

In the mid 60's I did swap over to Scalextric, but here we are almost 60ys later and no Saclextric to be seed and one or 2 trains, here are a few from Revolution.



cheers
Graham

[osborns]

exposure is the key. Look at the bounce created by the TV show 'Great Model Railway Challenge'.
Magazines (and forums) are directed, in the main, at existing participants in our great hobby. It is a wider audience that is needed if it is to grow or even stand still.
The demise of MR shops in places with footfall is not helping and the now heavy reliance on online purchases will probably keep it healthy for a while but will not attract new entrants. We are at a crossroads I fear.

[davidinyork]

exposure is the key. Look at the bounce created by the TV show 'Great Model Railway Challenge'.
Magazines (and forums) are directed, in the main, at existing participants in our great hobby. It is a wider audience that is needed if it is to grow or even stand still.
The demise of MR shops in places with footfall is not helping and the now heavy reliance on online purchases will probably keep it healthy for a while but will not attract new entrants. We are at a crossroads I fear.

Still going to be of limited effectiveness if it's out of the price range of many people, though.

[guest311]

my feeling is that, while not dying out, it is and will continue to contract.

many reasons, but mostly because of a reduction of youngsters coming into the hobby.
to a large extent they seem to want to download a game and play it, rather than do anything actual.
also, many seem to no longer learn the basic skills like carpentry, soldering, even metalwork. all skills that used to be learnt at school in my day.

now kids seem to just need to learn how to work a computer, and that is the only skill necessary for life and work.
there also seems to be the need for instant operation, buy - load - operate rather than the sense of achievement of building something from materials.

unfortunately cost also comes into it, as noted previously in this thread.

with regards to the reduction in continental / US layouts, from my experience, my decision to model french railways before joining up was based on the quality vs cost of the available British outline from Hornby and Triang, compared to Jouef.

in later years they same comparison led to my interest in HO US outline due to the cost / quality / detail on Bachmann.

I then transferred my allegiance to the proper scale, selling all my Ho to fund the change.

while the detail now is so much better than when I started in N, there doesn't seem to be any 'entry level / toy' quality which can bring starters in.

I was lucky in that when I came over from the dark side, locos were non DCC and carriages printed on clear bodies, though at least from China so no pizza cutter wheels.
with extra shifts available, I was as time went on able to upgrade / replace my initial stock, or some of it, with the newer, more detailed , more expensive versions.

but, would / could I consider starting from scratch today. I'm afraid not.

having complained as so many do about the cost of items, may I just note that if you consider not so much the actual cost of a new loco etc, but how long you need to work to earn the money to pay for it compared to how long you had to work to pay for the more basic version years ago, the increases do not seem quite so bad.

just my disjointed thoughts, I'm afraid

[Adam1701D]

There have always been predictions of doom for the hobby - in the 1980s, it was home computers, then games consoles and the internet.

Looking at the quantity of new releases we have seen, I would say they are somewhat premature.

I do worry about the casual hobbyist being priced out, as costs have risen so dramatically over the last few years but there are still some good value items out there and a good incentive to save up :-)

[Tank]

Thanks for the plug in the magazine George.   

[Newportnobby]

It was only months ago folks were saying model railway sales were booming while so many were in lockdown. Prices have not changed much since then so all the newcomers must be fairly used to what we now perceive as high price items.
I have a very poor opinion of much of the younger generation who seem only to have an interest in their mobile phones and would no doubt just curl up and die if it was taken off them.
For sure, those with more disposable income tend to be the older of the age groups as maybe the mortgage has been paid off, kids flown the nest and, in my case, state pension + small private pension being received (not, I hasten to add, final salaried by any stretch )
When I kick the bucket no one in the family will want my model railway stuff so my will decrees it be sold and the proceeds go to my chosen charity (in my case, Help 4 Heroes).
Going by the success of RevolutioN, Kato, Sonic, Accurascale and Rapido in the UK market with the models they are bringing to us, the only decline seems to be in BachFar/Dapol's choices.