Athearn RTR HO Scale Caboose

Discussion in 'New Products' started by Iantha_Branch, May 26, 2023.

  1. Iantha_Branch

    Iantha_Branch Member

    Attached Files:

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  2. fredman23

    fredman23 Member

    They say, "Why aren't kids into modeling any more?" Then you look at the prices and you say, "I can see why kids aren't into modeling any more!"
     
  3. Sirfoldalot

    Sirfoldalot Frisco.org Supporter Frisco.org Supporter

    EXACTLY!
     
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  4. gstout

    gstout Member Frisco.org Supporter

    Cost is certainly a big part of the problem, since at current prices, it will cost upwards of $500 to build even a small DC layout. But there are other elements of model railroading that are just as troublesome, including (1) Building a layout involves a fairly broad skill set, including carpentry, wiring, painting, fine motor skills (to assemble fiddly models), (2) lack of available space, especially in homes that do not have basements, (3) the time required to get a layout up and working, (4) competition from comparatively inexpensive Gameboys, etc., that take 10 minutes to set up and are interactive immediately as compared to building a small (4x8 sheet of plywood) layout that doesn't do anything except let the kids run a train around in a loop for ten minutes or do before it get boring and (5) the fact that contemporary 1:1 scale trains are not as interesting as they were in years past. Most look like rolling conveyor belts with 150-200 identical cars with little or no graphics. Plus, even if you just want to watch a few trains, get too close to railroad property in any urban area and somebody will kick you out almost immediately.

    GS
     
  5. Iantha_Branch

    Iantha_Branch Member

    I'm gonna be honest, if it wasn't for this forum, I might not have stuck with this hobby. The history and the technical details are just as interesting to me as the actual collecting and operating. While cost is a huge hurdle with the hobby, I don't see much discussion about the social aspect of it. With video games, you can live chat with your friends, while playing a co-op game together. Clubs are too few and far between and don't fit on a screen in your pocket.
     
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  6. dwoomer

    dwoomer Member

    You are correct in everything you said, and it's sad. I grew up in the Pennsylvania/Reading era, where manifests predominated, trains were interesting, and a branch line ran past the house I lived in. All gone now. Trains are still interesting due to their raw power and size, but the only variety you usually see is in the disgusting graffiti that seems to be on 90% of the cars. Since 9-11, security has greatly increased, and I have only gone out railfanning a handful of times since, preferring to just watch the old 16th sub from my back deck, from which the RR bulls can't remove me. I'm getting older and longing for the good ole days, but they are gone. There is a local club, but they alienated me years ago when all I was allowed to do was stand there and watch. We had decent round-robin group locally, but it has mostly fizzled since the pandemic. Times have changed...
     
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  7. geep07

    geep07 Member

    Here is my 2 cents.
    When I was old enough to understand about trains, it was me that asked my parents to get me a train set for Christmas . They just didn't give it to me just to have something under the tree.
    I wanted to pursue a dream. You can't force a child to like model trains, it has to start from their inner thoughts and to gain knowledge about it. The products that are introduced to us today are geared for the true enthusiast, not someone who hasn't a clue. The products made today are from the mom and pop business that started out in a basement or a back yard garage. Most of these were started to not only supplement their household wage income but to pursue their own dreams to start a company while maintaining their hobby prowess. They flourished into an industry that everyone who is in this hobby can enjoy the realism and details set in front of them.
    Today, parents can help pursue a child's dream and interest in any hobby, but it is up to a child to keep its interest in it and pursue a dream to a most satisfying hobby like most of us in this forum.
     
  8. gstout

    gstout Member Frisco.org Supporter

    The last 12 years of my work life, I taught 8th graders (in at age 13, out at 14). In all that time, I only encountered one boy who expressed an interest in model railroading--I knew because he used model railroad scenery for a diorama project. And when I met his parents, they were in their 50s, not mid- to late 30s like the rest of the kids. It's a generational thing.

    GS
     
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  9. Coonskin

    Coonskin Member

    My experiences were similar to John's.

    That is, I'M the one that had the interest in trains. No one else in the family or ancestry was crazy about trains. (Though my Pawpaw Brown did work for the Mop on a section for a while, but I didn't find out about that until he was deceased.)

    Too early for me to remember the details (preschool), but I recall a wind up train as well as a battery powered train or two. I don't know if I asked for those trains, or if mom and dad saw my interest in trains and acted on their own. I do recall at something like 6 years of age, I asked for an electric train set for Christmas, and received it, a Marx HO set with a Santa Fe Warbonnet F unit. Here's a page out of the catalog, and the set I asked for is at the top of the page:


    1958_SearsChristmas_Page376.jpg

    From there on out, I pretty much had electric trains in my life.

    As y'all have noted, in today's society and youth, an interest in trains on the part of the child/youth is very rare.
     
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