Model Railways are DOOMED & How to Save Them!
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- Опубліковано 5 вер 2024
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Very true and applicable in many areas, music, arts, dance, etc. We need to pass on our talents and enthusiasm to younger generations to keep these wonderful passions alive.
i went down the second hand/triang trains route......sometimes i think,why am i bothering with this old steel track thats very often rusty.. it can easily be cleaned.....but its relatively cheap to get and hordes of stuff available on e bay....also there`s someting magical about seeing trains that are between 50 to 75 odd yrs old,still running...very good video Dan.....if i was new,i`d not be getting into it at all because of the points you raise...its the same in g scale in the garden..loads packing it up because of the costs involved....oh,and hassle of maintaining a garden railway....i have kept mine,just..lol
I think your idea for second hand starter packs is great. On top of a loco, some wagons and a loop of track, they should at least include some points for operating interest and maybe some scenic materials as well.
Hornby does/did a family fun project pack along these lines. Something like that could be great second hand.
I thought the idea of Companies have products being made Abroad was to make them Cheaper to purchase,
I wish i could properly Express my opinion and solutions
I know that feeling!
Ha I had that experience with a friend (non modeller) with her jaw wide open looking at the price of the locos in a shop. I said to her. "don't worry, you'll never get used to it."
One thing I want to add here. I have travelled to a fair few shows in the UK, North America and Europe and I have noticed that the age demographic in the UK was much higher than say Germany were you see loads of train modellers under the age of 25. Here in Ireland one company did a survey and the average age of their customers were in their mid 30s.
So the age issue is different from country to country.
Good idea for the major manufacturers to offer maybe refurbished or old stock starter kits. This may knock out the sticker shock and give new and younger people a better option. Hopefully there will be some change to recruit more new people. I was lucky, even though i started with Lionel then cheap Ho . I had a uncle that gave me his good small N scale stuff when i was still young.
I have been looking at getting myself a little set-up and the last time I was model railwaying was around '87. I remember getting a steam train that used oil to produce smoke (the smell was fantastic) and that was about £30 back then. Inflation wise about £87 today. After picking my jaw up off the floor at the current prices, I'm wondering wether to get back into it again.
We all have our perspective on the state of the hobby. If we could buy less expensive DC trains that could be upgraded to DCC later , then I think that may get a few more interested in the hobby. Naturally the companies and the magazines are promoting the latest high end DCC train gear, but that is the short term view. The other issue is 3d printing that also makes it easier , or at least less expensive to enter the hobby. Thank you, great job on the videos. We do not have a Metcalf or Superquik here in the states. But you can find structure kits for $300.00 and up. There are a few new download your own files for paper structures, but they far more complicated than a Metcalf kit. There are dozens of places to download a variety of 3d files to print at home, if I were tech savvy I would put all of the model train related 3d and laser files in one website.
I must say that, when I was young, model trains were also extremely expensive and my estimate is that prices over the past 40 years didn't go up by much more than inflation, while we now get better models for that price. Still, those high prices brought 12 yo me to tears back then. These days, I only buy second hand.
You raise some very good points in regard to the cost. At the end of the day, if people want something theyll fork out for it, which is what - in my mind - the big manufacters in our hobby capitalise on. If people have no choice but to pay top dollar for a particular model they will. Interestingly, Bachmanns class 31 that has been announced is around the same price as the Accurascale one (unless you want all the bells and whistles, in which case remortgage the house). In terms of the future, I think 3d printing basic rolling stock and selling it cheaply is the way to go, rather than compiling second hand stock into sets. It could be with the most basic detail, plastic wheels etc and if people want those details they can always add it themselves. We are modellers after all, we cant expect to not have to tinker all the time.
Yes, I did have thoughts on 3D printing but thought the video was long enough! You're 100% right about it though. I agree it will become a much bigger part of the wider hobby... the trouble for the big manufacturers is that it will be unpolicable, individuals and small groups will be able to react/clone/imporve on designs and start printing them at a pace no organisation could match and will likely take a significant chunk of revenue away from them.
I live really close to the Dapol factory at Chirk and have bought a lot from the factory shop on site over the years, they have literal walls full of rolling stock that I can't help but feel is all at risk from the rapid advancement and accessibility of 3D printing!
@@SortOfInterestingTrains Yes that is a potential problem. Personally, if such a thing existed I would probably bankrupt myself. However, I'd quite like to get into 3D printing myself, learn the skills by doing basic shapes (such as a boxy mineral wagon or a cylindrical tanker wagon) first before doing freelance coaches or locos before finally doing prototypical stuff. I spend half my time doodling designs and am FULL of ideas on how to do things on the cheap. Still, 3d printers cost like 120 quid
It's a very good video and quite an interesting time for the hobby. Personally. I do not feel that it is over for model trains. But most people like me are on a budget and we have to spend wisely these days. I for one hold out for a sale because I will get more for my money. For me, I run anything together so if I am to buy a very expensive model train. I have to justify it but other times I just buy model trains to cover on the channel in a review and if I like it. I will keep it. If I dislike it. I will sell it on. I do hope that the prices will be reasonable for model trains or our incomes increase so more people can come into the hobby without feeling locked out by the excessive high prices.
All the best
Peter.
Dan im only 15 year old i understand about the computers but i want a model railway and i think that every thing needs to restart
Not necessarily restart, just we as consumers have to get clever. Scour online sites such as Ebay, or retailers and look for bargains or projects. Look to youtube to get advice and build skills (if you need to repair locos 00Bill and Dan's Model Railways I can recommend). Budget Model Railways is an excellent source of how to build scenery cheaply. It is possible to do this hobby and keep cost down, we just have to be clever about it
You are a genius
I really dont think its dying. You can still buy cheaper trains that are decent. The high end stuff isnt for everyone anyway. 50 years ago, there was cheap trains and expensive ones too.
DCC isn’t a help regarding price. I had some DCC stuff for almost 20 years. It was costly back then (understandably) but now it is seemingly more costly. I thought DCC would’ve gotten cheaper over the years as innovation would help lower cost to produce.
same with 1/32 farm models
I would say 3d printing is the way to get the younger set involved. You can purchase the g code (I think that is correct?) designs of all kinds of things. 3d printers are getting to be very affordable, just like paper printers with ink the real money is in the filament for 3d printing. One thing to figure out is what happens to the millions of kids that love Thomas the Train? Where do they go for their train fix when they get older? It just ends? Not possible. There needs to be a transition zone where prices are doable for a teenager that earns a little money. Plenty of kids out there that are meh on computer stuff and want to hold a product in their hands. 3d printing is the way forward and all the other things associated can be sourced within a small budget, motors and electrical components, just need a youtube channel to get it all going ..... um hello sort of modelling : )
Whenever I hear someone complain about the price of an item, I always think, "Well, go and make your own, then." If you look at it thru that lens, then you find that motor cars, clothes ... and model trains ... are incredibly good value. Most of 'em couldn't make a bloody sandwich. I guess that the likes of Hornby are not really aiming at consumers who are skint. I suppose they're trying to market quality products to enthusiasts; and their prices will reflect that. Sometimes, 'selling cheap stuff' is not a rational approach.
Hattons must have spent thousands on advertising and went bust. Now Rails of Sheffield are doing the same thing with advertising. Oh dear
I usually just buy second hand from train fairs.
Compare the hobby with my own hobby of ham radio. Again a hobby full of old guys. But because of cheap handheld radios at prices we could only dream about in the 1980s what has happened is a massive interest from younger people. Radios that we paid hundreds for back then are now beaten in abilities by radios that cost less than £20 imported from China. And with that because of the internet, if they talk through a repeater that some other ham has provided they can talk to people all around the world. So we get a lot more ability for a lot less money, which is more or less the same as almost every other hobby... except it would seem model railways.
I’ve concluded now that model trains are now a rip off… I have left the gene pool now. My kids have been encouraged to take up other hobbies. And I’m a steam train nut!
good vid om chanel thanks lee
It's been a plan by the Chinese train firms for years. Big prices, then take over here. The firms here have been buying low and selling high to us all for year untill it's gotten ridiculous.Now the manufacturers want some of that gravy. I've been saying this would happen for years....was I right...mmmmm. Now watch this space. They'll creep in now and start selling lower. In china it's one of the biggest hobbies in the world...