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I think what drew people to model trains was the ability to create and automate your tracks. It's an interesting and fun thing to do, basically designing a system and going trough all the small things needed to make it work. I can see how today this itch can be scratched by many different videogames (Factorio, just to give one example), while decades ago it was either model train or nothing much else.

I think younger generations are drawn to cheaper and easier to access forms of entertainment that provide similar intellectual experience. It's a shame for the hobby, but I find it a very reasonable thing to happen.

Seems to gloss over the physical space required to have a model train. A video game can come in many sizes from phones to consoles and is much more accessible and even portable.

Growing up, we had a 4'x8' sheet of plywood covered in the fake grass and then decked out with structures, trees, people, cars, and all sorts of stuff. It was a lot of fun setting it up, building the models, and deciding on a track layout. Took weeks building it. It took days to get bored with it. For some reason, we thought it a good idea to tack down the tracks for better stability, but it made it a nightmare to rearrange the tracks. However, it stayed like that for years and from time to time as I got older would fire it up and quickly bore of it again.

> I think what drew people to model trains was the ability to create and automate your tracks.

The original home of many people who became hackers (old use of the word) was the TMRC at MIT. Tech Model Railroad Club - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tech_Model_Railroad_Club

As told in Steven Levy's Hackers book, there were two groups in the TMRC. There was the group that went on train rides and did meticulous models on top of the track... and there was the systems and powers group that worked with wires and automation (from the telephone company) under the track.

From the Wikipedia article...

> The club was composed of several groups, including those who were interested in building and painting replicas of certain trains with historical and emotional values, those that wanted to do scenery and buildings, those that wanted to run trains on schedules, and those composing the "Signals and Power Subcommittee" who created the circuits that made the trains run. This last group would be among the ones who popularized the term "hacker" among many other slang terms, and who eventually moved on to computers and programming.

> ...

> At the club itself, a semi-automatic control system based on telephone relays was installed by the mid-1950s. It was called the ARRC (Automatic Railroad Running Computer). It could run a train over the entire set of track, in both directions, without manual intervention, throwing switches and powering tracks ahead of the train. A mainframe program was used to compute the path, and all modifications to the layout had to be compatible with this ability.

My thoughts too.

When I was little my brothers and I played a lot together with Lego.

Now we’re all over 40 and occasionally play on a heavily modded Minecraft server to scratch that itch.

In many ways it’s so much more practical, essentially unlimited building materials with no real cost, no issue with physical space in the house, we can do it casually in the evenings while doing voice calls on Discord, no unpacking or packing up needed before or after.

There are even great rail cart mods for those interested in track switching type activities.

We make a point of doing in person LANs about every quarter, also for old times sake.

I think this is the best explanation. I myself spent enormous time on Factorio "model trains" and it was even better because my train decisions were always motivated by an external requirement in the game. Model trains by themselves feel a little more sterile in comparison because they're disconnected from the rest of the world.
Factorio has definite model-railroad vibes. Including actual functioning train layouts. But nothing beats looking at a running model on a tabletop.
Yes, and if you're really into the physical aspect, there are all kinds of robotics kits and lego and such that can give you that.
Honorable mention for OpenTTD
Funny to see this now. A couple days ago I was on vacation in San Diego and visited the San Diego Model Railroad Museum in Balboa Park and a lot of the traffic flowing through my head about it are all points addressed in the above article:

"Almost everyone working here is quite old"

"The amount of space this takes up is incredible, I wonder how people get into this hobby, I've never lived anywhere where I'd have enough space to set up a model railway long term"

It's kind of a shame too, it was the first time I think I've ever really appreciated the large scale model train installations. When I was younger I'd see them at random historical museums and mostly just think "yeah choo-choo sure does go in a circle haha". I think the San Diego museum did a good job of conveying that it isn't really just about the trains as much as it's about modeling the landscapes and towns the trains actually go through. Viewing it from the perspective of a massive scale diorama of some region really raised my overall appreciation for the whole endeavour.

My father was an enthusiast. When we moved into their current house (1988), the builder had the option of a three-car garage or enclosing the third-car section, and that was intended as a railway room. He favoured the large German "LGB" trains, in part bought because they were among the more durable products on the market, so it would be child-resistant for the kids to use. He built the framework and a track plan but never really had the time he wanted to work on it.

I, in turn, moved on to smaller American (HO scale) and British (OO) trains, using the same room, but now find that the tables designed for big 1:22.5 trains have irregularities enough to make 1:87 trackwork unreliable. Will probably need to rework them.

The hobby itself has definitely changed though: Yes, today's modern models are higher quality than a lot of the old "Blue Box" Athearn kits, but they're also $50 instead of $7, and come ready-to-run, so the hobby aspect of building and customizing it is gone. Many models don't even come as an undecorated version anymore, if you wanted the classic "paint it for your own custom railway" narrative. You don't get the same "hours of fun per dollar" out of that side of the hobby anymore.

What's interesting is that there's definitely an opportunity for synergy with the rise of hobby electronics-- the trains have moved from "variable DC on the rails" to "AC with a command bus" and sometimes even Bluetooth, so there's a lot of interesting stuff you could do with computer or microcontroller interfacing. I bought a project for an automatic traffic-signal design using some 555 timers and capacitors, and thought "this is 10 lines of code on a $3 Arduino, for this generation of hobbyists."

Shops are closing-- I make it a point to try to find a model-railway shop and pick up something exotic when I go on holiday, but even pretty big cities don't have one, or it's a billion miles from anywhere. I was sort of saddened to get a note from Hattons (an excellent UK retailer-- surprisingly cheap shipping to the US) that they have started to wind down operations in the last month.

So we have a family friend who owns a model train shop, a very popular and notable one. He took it over from the original owner, and this fellow also has a private museum attached, where he exhibits vintage vehicles, typewriters, and other stuff: https://www.jacooleymuseum.com/

So one of his daughters was my friend and classmate, and when we were growing up, of course, her father was already collecting model trains, and he had so many that every shelf of their home was occupied with model trains of various types.

My friend didn't visit many other homes when she was young, but once she finally went over to a friend's house, and she looked around, bewildered, and asked, "Where are all the trains?"

Model trains require a large amount of dedicated indoor space. With millennials and zoomers frozen out of the housing market I expect a large proportion of them simply don't have the room.
Even 40 years ago many opted for N scale because of space constraints. Clubs were almost always HO scale focused, since they had cheap or free accomodation often in semi abandoned rail hangars etc.

As for age, it is not just the cost, but also the alienation of the young from messy analog physical dexterity, long low stimulus attention and slow progress in favor of high stimulus instant digital gratification.

As a younger person who in theory is interested in model railways, the sad truth is that the drawbacks simply outweigh the benefits.

Model trains are physically large, so building a layout in my apartment is pretty much impossible. They are extremely expensive, and if you want to get something which can do more than literally run around in a circle you're looking at a $X000 setup cost. The "sexy" part (digitally controlling the trains) seems to be pretty much stuck with poorly-designed protocols from the 80s.

I like trains. I like DIY electronics. I like 3D printing. But given the barrier to entry, I'll just stick with OpenTTD or some kind of Euro Train Simulator game.

My friends are into Warhammer and DIY racing drones. If those hobbies have no trouble attracting younger people, the problem here really isn't young people's interest.

Keeping track and wheels clean enough to transmit power to rolling stock sucks. what we need is "self powered":

https://hackaday.com/2022/09/21/3d-print-yourself-a-tiny-ste...

Now we've got plenty of battery to make that viable; and the radio technology to control the engines remotely cheap. once the industry works that change out and grovelling over you contact path is eliminated; they'll have a boom.

People will want to buy bare chassis units and 3d print their own model shells to put on them. A couple of industry standards about sizes and battery connectors and they could get somewhere, kick off a hobbyist reseller market, like people painting figurines for tabletop games.

More likely "private equity" will buy up the existing market it; milk it til it dies; then sell the shell to some litigious patent shark vulture outfit. "The community" will have to invent new standards on its own; which i believe may be underway.

I'm 41, just recently got back into the hobby. Have rejoined the local club I was a member of as a teen.

Membership average age is like 50-60ish. We do have about 10-15% of members like me under 50. Some even in their 20s. Doesn't seem quite like its in too much trouble around here. The pool is shirking with apartment living becoming more normal though in the area. But maybe because this is a club with its own layouts that members can use is one way for the hobby to survive & thrive.

There are 5 layouts, 2 in N scale. 3 in HO. 3 of the layouts are able to be broken down and put on a trailer and taken to an exhibition.

I do think that home built & run layouts are probably on the decline with cost of living & housing so high compared to years past. But I think club layouts that members can use is a way to help keep the hobby relevant.

There are cool projects like https://dcc-ex.com/index.html and arduino based control for layout automation bits. That historically cost a lot.

My observations of the US is that mostly ready to run models are sold now, haven't seen too many kit makers around for US stuff. Still kit makers for Australian & NZ stuff. With some decent ready to run Australian prototype available now.

The next house will have a train room or area of the garage available. This is definetly a middle class hobby. Its not cheap.

I have wanted to work with my hands again. Sitting at a computer all day or parts of the evening playing video games is only so fun. Would rather build something physical.

Son is into R/C Drifting. He's 21 and throws a considereable amount of money at it (though not crazy when you consider what Records/Cassettes/CDs cost in the 80's)

There's a crazy national involvement and it's pretty common to see two dozen guys watching the cars drift around the circut on Thursdays-Sunday nights.

The cars are crazy with LiPO amperages and full suspensions, active cooling, and programmable throttle profiles.

I guess the point is: It's social, and in-person, and has a lot of similarities to something model trains in a communal location would provide.

With the rise of 3D printing and wireless tech, what if we had a modular system of terrain pieces(Like Gridfinity), that could be set up temporarily at events?

Every member of a club would only have to bring a small section but you could still do really big layouts

Setting up the old model train set surely must be on a lot of folk's bucket list. I for one definitely will set mine up one more time when I'm retired. Although I have never done that as an adult. But I think it's such a fantastic hobby to have.

Everyone who prefers a virtual alternative in form of a video game is nuts! I cannot even see much similarity between the two, unless creating and automating tracks is really what you find interesting about the hobby (as lnrd hypothesizes). To me, that is the least interesting thing about it. It's not about creating a run of tracks, it's about creating a corner of the world. The scenery, the (long) building process, the hidden gems and stories... For many, it's also about being in a club, the community... you know, like, in the old sense of the word, not the internet sense of the word.

The article makes a good point that we should actually be living in a golden age of model building. Twenty, thirty years ago, it was much harder to come by supplies while in the globalized world we live in today, everything is just an online order away. But of course that also makes it much harder for your local shop to survive.

Also: youtube channel tip: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjRkUtHQ774mTg1vrQ6uA5A

Meanwhile in Hamburg, Germany: https://www.miniatur-wunderland.com
I don’t think this is just model trains. I recently took an interest in naval history and became interested in building a scale model of USS Missouri or Iowa. After researching how I could produce a realistic looking teak deck, I realized how big the model would be and how I don’t have the space for that.
I still have the Marklin HO model train from my youth. 40 years later it still works and kids love it (when we take it out).

One winter we mixed it with Lego from the Harry Potter series and pretended the train was the one going to Hogwarts.

Toys that still work 40 years later are amazing.

Younger parents who didn't play with model trains are also in awe. For those who have enough room it's really a nice thing to do to play together with your kid(s).

It s not crazy pricey either if you don't go wild.

How about real trains you can ride on?

https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/historic-bay-area-mode...

There's another one in the hills above Palo Alto that's open to the public once a year. Now I can't find it online. Anyone? It's not Roaring Camp.

This was a real train on private land, with a machine shop and a crew of volunteers. It had a loop of several miles.

One of the giants in this industry, Lionel, has been struggling for the last 30 or so years to stay alive. It’s been through several sales and I think two bankruptcies.

One thing about them though is they continue to innovate with new ways to put effects into their locomotives. Other companies have contributed as well, like MTH, ESU LocSound, SoundTrax, Broadway Limited, and others.

Model trains have a pretty loyal following, but the industry continues to narrow year after year.

IMHO all of these companies, but particularly Lionel and MTH missed out big time in the “maker movement” due to their closed, proprietary command and control systems. The patents have expired though, and many people have started to reverse engineer everything about them.

I think they also have completely failed on the marketing aspects of their businesses. Model trains have so many educational opportunities, and pitting this against video games could be a big win for them IMHO. The great thing for programmers and engineering types is it’s low threat to us since there is still a lot of software and hardware that could be built around model train products in the form of control and automation, and maybe even gamification of the operations of a model railroad.

But all of this is coming from a long time model train (and real train) enthusiast who is software engineer by day, so I’m biased.

How long until we have model networking?

tiny racks filled with tiny Cisco routers. with tiny cables management and tiny blinking LEDs everywhere.

You can even add buttons to simulate solar storms on your tiny microwave antena model which would change how the blinking lights work on the tiny routers.

And if you want to splurge like some train modelers do with fake grass and such you can maybe even go for the middle manager model as if it's walking around the server room as he tries to avoid the CEO that day.

I wonder if train simulators have filled this gap in younger populations that would have stepped into the hobby.
Sad to see but my overlapping hobby (miniature wargaming) has some cross over and model train stuff is so expensive even compared to miniature wargaming which isn’t very cheap itself.
I understand why model trains used to be expensive - they had hundreds of handmade parts.

But every other toy industry has taken on mass production and most toys can now be produced mostly by machine for cents.

Yet still model trains are beyond the budget of most 8 year olds.

I wonder if this also a consequence of the commodization of travel in general and daily commute in particular.

Taking the train (also applies to the plane), is much less an 'experience' that it was 50 years ago, and so the prestige around these objects also diminish, effectively reducing their value as toys too.

Please don't let this hobby die - this is my plan for when I'm too old and jaded to do this anymore
Model railways versus video games:

Decades(!) ago I read an essay wondering: What's the deal with model railroading ? What's the attraction ? Why are people compelled to build these little worlds and be their masters ?

But then, heh, along came Sid Meyer's Civilization and scads of other world-building video games.

So who's feeling compulsion nowadays ? Sitting on your duff in front of a video game for hours on end could seem somewhat inferior to actually using your hands to make and do things.

I think a key to keeping the hobby alive might be to play up the modelling aspects. How often does one get to build a mountain ? Or a multimodal transportation system ?

Im so sad about this. I am 24, and have loved Model Trains my whole life. I grew up in India, where there was no model railroading scene (I picked it up as a toddler in the UK).

My drive for moving abroad was to have the space to make my own model train set. I got lucky and we made it to the States when I turned 18. But I still need to earn, get a house, before I can build my layout. Hope it sticks around until then.

My heart aches, I have such a passion for model trains. I’ve taken a few friends to shops and they always found it interesting. But no one buys anything. I don’t think kids will ever get into this, I blame the babyfication of Thomas and Friends more than anything else.

Model railroading is D&D for non-fantasy folks. And I say this as a model railroader
Rod Stewart is a huge enthusiast: https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-50403561
"Model Railroading is Fun!"

Model Railroader magazine used to put that on their cover, perhaps in hopes of convincing people.

They've been acquired by Kalmbach Media, which also owns "Trains", "Garden Railways", etc., along with "Astronomy" and "Discover".

At full scale, the Pacific Locomotive Association, which runs the Niles Canyon Railway, seems to be hanging on. Those operations are high-maintenance and require many hours of volunteer labor.

The fun of a model train is in the building and as a kid I really could spend time with this (on other people's train setups because I really didn't have the money to spend on something like this and if I did have it I would have probably spent it on books, electronics tooling or computing gear instead). But once it is done it's done, there is zero fun in watching trains run around.
The hobby is changing, more people build modules or small shelf layouts that emphasize a particular scene or prototype behavior.

The large layouts are less often built, due mostly to the amount of maintenance needed.

Most young enthusiasts don’t show up at the traditional clubs or shows, there are quite a few nice private forums out there for younger work.

> folk are always concerned it’ll die out.

Not if my 4yo has anything to say about it. Upgrade path from Brio (wooden) to electric trains.

Here's a layout I've been following: https://www.youtube.com/@rcgrabbag

Easily highlights the issues in messages here, takes room, time and money to do this.

I've rebuilt a 40s-era Lionel train track system (mostly replaced the power plug to the control box), and ordered an AFX track from ebay just yesterday. The sizes don't mesh, but both are going on a plywood layout in the garage.
I played Satisfactory and Factorio. Plenty of fun to be had with trains in those games. Definitely scratched that itch, and I didn't need to buy a bunch of expensive physical pieces.
I dabble, but much like RC cars, video games have choked out another physical hobby.
This is a bit sad for a number of reasons: my dad used to have a setup when I was a kid, I had sets as a kid, and the Tech Model Railroad Club (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tech_Model_Railroad_Club) was a source of inspiration to me as a kid with a computer and a train set.... It's sad to see this appearing to trail off, but I agree with a previous poster, I think the retirement of more baby boomers and their nostalgia may yet give the market a boost.
All of you complaining about space, you just need to move to the country. I hear real estate in Missouri, Alabama, etc. is pretty reasonable.
My dad’s building a 1/12th scale railway at the cottage. Apparently demand is picking up according to a mom and pop shop he bought from, who suggested more boomers are retiring.
Put giant pauldrons on them.