Model Railroading > The State of Model Railroading

In high school (1994-1998) I had an HO layout in my parents basement... and it seemed like the heydey of the Athearn bluebox and superdetailing; Details Associates and Details West small parts, Microscale decals, Floquil and Scalecoat paints. Into college I stayed engaged somewhat and the bluebox kits were getting better, Athearn Genesis came out, and Kato was knocking things out of the park. DCC was still prohibitively expensive (at least for a high school to college age kid) so I ran DC with block control.

Fast forward to now. In the past year and half I've jumped back in. My boys decided they wanted to jump in so we lofted their beds and built a model railroad in their bedroom under the beds. They love it! One of them is far more in to trains than the other... but the other one loves the model building/painting aspect of it, so it's working out as a great way for the three of us to do something together.

Anyway, my perception is that things are quite a bit different than when I was into this 20-ish years ago. I'll start with the obvious improvements:
1. Sound... oh man! This was just a gimmick back in the day, but now it is certifiably awesome. I've got two locos now with built-in sound and operating them is next-level enjoyable.
2. DCC. This seems cheaper and is much easier to transition to now. We've gone DCC on our home layout (necessitated by joining a club that uses DCC) and we love it.
3. Detail. The detail on these top-of-the-line out-of-the-box models just floors me... Broadway Limited, Scaletrains, Athearn Genesis 2.0, even the base level Athearn RTR have grabs now. Higher fidelity detail seems to have come a long way.

The areas that seem too have stepped back:
1. All the small parts suppliers of yesterday like Details West, Details Associates, American Model Builders, etc. seem to have stock issues. I'm resorting to eBay a lot for things that Walthers shows as out of stock or on backorder status. Is this just an artifact of supply chain woes from Covid?
2. Availability of models. You have to pre-order from Scaletrains (and many others) to be sure you'll get a model... then you wait. Manufacturing and supply sure has changed... again, is this maybe an artifact of Covid?
3. Paint. Tru-Color seems to be the only paint that still has railroad-specific color matches. Am I missing another manufacturer?
4. On the whole it just seems like model craftsmanship has given way to off-the-shelf purchases. I do see this as somewhat generationally driven... so maybe the manufacturers are just responding to consumer demand.

I definitely don't think the hobby is dying. But I do think it has lost some of its DIY spirit. Have I missed something? Am I just waxing nostalgic? Would love some banter and feedback on this.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/14/23 12:24 by jericson.

To the OP - it looks like we are about the same age and went through a similar experience, although I got back into HO starting about 10 years ago.  But your observations hold true.
I appreciate that you didn't gripe about how the costs are higher... I think that "what we get" is much better and worth the spend.  And there are a ton of older still-decent models available for purchase online, train shows, etc for those trying to participate on a smaller investment.

Personally, I think there still is a lot of craftsmanship out there, and in some ways I'm seeing more of it than before, but perhaps more around weathering, lighting, and sound as compared to true kitbashes, detail parts, etc.  That said, 3D printing is becoming the new "Details Associates" but isn't there "yet" in terms of having readily available 3D models available for every possible detail part.  But I have been able to more easily get custom 3D parts made than I would have 20 years ago.

The supply chain woes have definitely raised prices and slowed availability all around; and I think you're correct about the nature of ordering/preordering rolling stock and locomotives... personally I have a growing pile of models I'm not sure I need because I'd rather preorder and have it than go back and try to find it later.  I missed a preorder deadline recently and took a chance on a hobby shop allowing me to get the order in anyway... seems like a roll of the dice.  And since the prices *are* higher I care more about this than I used to... 

Paint wise I would have said "Scalecoat is still around" but I just read yesterday that that's no longer true. If so, a giant shame.

A good post, a worthy discussion.
Best,
-Alex

jericson Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> In high school (1994-1998) I had an HO layout in
> my parents basement... and it seemed like the
> heydey of the Athearn bluebox and superdetailing;
> Details Associates and Details West small parts,
> Microscale decals, Floquil and Scalecoat paints.
> Into college I stayed engaged somewhat and the
> bluebox kits were getting better, Athearn Genesis
> came out, and Kato was knocking things out of the
> park. DCC was still prohibitively expensive (at
> least for a high school to college age kid) so I
> ran DC with block control.
>
> Fast forward to now. In the past year and half
> I've jumped back in. My boys decided they wanted
> to jump in so we lofted their beds and built a
> model railroad in their bedroom under the beds.
> They love it! One of them is far more in to trains
> than the other... but the other one loves the
> model building/painting aspect of it, so it's
> working out as a great way for the three of us to
> do something together.
>
> Anyway, my perception is that things are quite a
> bit different than when I was into this 20-ish
> years ago. I'll start with the obvious
> improvements:
> 1. Sound... oh ma! This was just a gimmick back in
> the day, but now it is certifiably awesome. I've
> got two locos now with built-in sound and
> operating them is next-level enjoyable.
> 2. DCC. This seems cheaper and is much easier to
> transition to now. We've gone DCC on our home
> layout (necessitated by joining a club that uses
> DCC) and we love it.
> 3. Detail. The detail on these top-of-the-line
> out-of-the-box models just floors me... Broadway
> Limited, Scaletrains, Athearn Genesis 2.0, even
> the base level Athearn RTR have grabs now. Higher
> fidelity detail seems to have come a long way.
>
> The areas that seem too have stepped back:
> 1. All the small parts suppliers of yesterday like
> Details West, Details Associates, American Model
> Builders, etc. seem to have stock issues. I'm
> resorting to eBay a lot for things that Walthers
> shows as out of stock or on backorder status. Is
> this just an artifact of supply chain woes from
> Covid?
> 2. Availability of models. You have to pre-order
> from Scaletrains (and many others) to be sure
> you'll get a model... then you wait. Manufacturing
> and supply sure has changed... again, is this
> maybe an artifact of Covid?
> 3. Paint. Tru-Color seems to be the only paint
> that still has railroad-specific color matches. Am
> I missing another manufacturer?
> 4. On the whole it just seems like model
> craftsmanship has given way to off-the-shelf
> purchases. I do see this as somewhat
> generationally driven... so maybe the
> manufacturers are just responding to consumer
> demand.
>
> I definitely don't think the hobby is dying. But I
> do think it has lost some of its DIY spirit. Have
> I missed something? Am I just waxing nostalgic?
> Would love some banter and feedback on this.

Getting back into things the past couple of years, I've been putting much more craftsmanship into my work than I ever did as a teen in the '80s.

While I did build (er, start) a layout back then, assembling blue box kits or (poorly) assembling Magnuson Model buildings was the extent of my "craft". Heck, I did zero servicing or lubing of anything. 

These days, I'm having fun cleaning, fixing and upgrading my old, familiar Tyco, Life-Like and Athearn blue box cars.  I'm also cruising eBay and Craigslist for old Intermountain, Accurail, Red Caboose, Silver Streak and Varney) cars to fix up.  There was a recent post concerned about the flow of trains from China. Personally, it feels like there are many lifetimes worth of trains and projects in the world already. (And with plastic lasting x thousands of years, they'll be with us for a long time, in some form or another). While I appreciate the fantastic detail coming from Rapido, etc, I'm getting a lot of fulfillment from working on the old stuff. And maybe adding the modern bells and whistles. 

Ron on YouTube's Classic Model Trains had given me the confidence to try my hand at the pile of non/poorly running old locomotives.  I'd highly recommend his channel. 

Sound and DCC are indeed a blast. I've picked up a couple of used BLI steam engines and a Bachman "sound value" GS-4, all of which I'm putting Blunami into. For now, I only set things up temporarily and Blunami allows me to run DCC without getting too complicated. I also like that anyone can download the app and operate trains from their phone. 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/14/23 12:41 by KevinLA.

Large scale railroading, 1.5" and 2.5" has shifted to quite a bit of RTR items cars, parts and such. Few diesel style engines are home made these days, steam engines I think are still unmachined kits with few RTRs manufactured.  The smaller scales seem to be RTR wtih very few people taking then further. Had to see what year the poster was into his trains as he missed the orgianl sound systems by PFM they were quite the deal along with I think the first remote control train system I think was called Aztrack? made by GE?. Been way too long but was fun to watch things progress over the years. First HO model was a Globe F unit and then came Athearn.

This is all so true. I started in HO North American (I live in the UK) in 1994, joined the NMRA in 1996. It all begain for me with Athearn blue box locos plus a few dummies to eek out the costs and to look more realistric without adding too much power! I bought all the detail parts going because I knew I wanted to add as much correct detail as possible. As a consequence I have built up a large stock of Details West and Detail Associates parts that I still call upon today. During lockdown I did a lot of work on some old blue box locos and still now get immense joy from the challenge of attempting to make a blue box loco look closer to a ScaleTrains one, whether that be a GE Dash 9 or an EMD tunnelmotor. Attached is a photo of my blue box #4405 coupled with my ScaleTrains #4336. The detail parts are out there so go enjoy reliving the past! I do.

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Good reflections, and they are subjects I’ve seen often discussed here and elsewhere.

To your point/question on the preordering and manufacturing process, those were in place long before Covid. The industry transitioned almost exclusively to that model when most manufacturing shifted to China 20-25 years ago. Some of the manufacturers own their factories, others contract for products.

There have been many issues that have been lengthening product delivery timelines. A couple of years before the pandemic one of the principle factories a lot of the manufacturers used abruptly shut down, a lot of announced products from 6-8 years or more ago haven’t yet been produced because of the scrambling in the entire market that caused. Some of the manufacturers are just now starting to get caught up from that. The pandemic definitely slowed things down, a lot of the lockdowns and other public health measures the Chinese government put in place definitely slowed a lot of production, compounded by the supply chain issues that cropped up when things started opening back up again. Westerners until very recently have not been able to get into China, which has definitely caused some QAQC issues. Lastly the entire hobby has been hit especially hard by the worldwide chip shortage, more than a few products have been significantly delayed for want of chips.

On the whole, the current state of the hobby produces a lot of commentary, a lot of complaints about price and availability but on the other hand amazement at the details and quality of what is being produced. There are still many opportunities for the craftsman side of the hobby, even if one has to go to eBay or FB Marketplace or train shows to find a lot of the required resources.

Jeff Moore
Elko, NV

Posted from iPhone

If your into detailing locomotives and rolling stock, things are a bit harder I imagine. Hard to find those details of yesteryear and the paints. However, there's also much less to do with todays highly detailed models, other then this and that with a bit of weathering thrown in. These models today look and run far better then those of the past.

Now, if your into building a layout or a module, you have far more choices in great scenic materials, techniques and supplies then ever before. Track supplies, while tight at times are far more reliable and realistic then ever and as mentioned, DCC is a game changer in so many ways when operating.

While the hobby is definitely different today, I think it's far better experience overall then ever before.

There is a world of flat kits, shapeways details, cast resin kits, 3d printed cores and such. These are much lower volume and usually a small, enthusiastic fabricator who is following a specific road, era or region. Most of these guys are not on TrainOrders as they are out in the shop building things, but they do show up in smaller or dedicated websites. But they are out there and it's as good a time as any.

jericson Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I definitely don't think the hobby is dying. But I
> do think it has lost some of its DIY spirit.

I think you've hit the nail squarely on the head.

Quality of today's offerings is better than its ever been.  But the demise of some past suppliers (Scalecoat, Floquil, Champ Decals, Detail Associates, etc) does sting sometimes.

When I first became active in model railroading (60 years ago and more), layouts were primarily designed to let trains run around through interesting scenery. Operation, which is now (to me) the essential draw of the hobby, was in those days a very small niche among modelers. While pioneers such as Frank Ellison and Roy Dohn had emphasized operations as early as the late 1940s, few other serious modelers took much notice. It took Allen McClelland, Tony Koester, and Steve King to really kick operations into the mainstream.

NMRA regional convention contests were dominated by guys scratch-building fantastically intricate, but arcane pieces of maintenance of way equipment. These models often had but a single prototype.

Those of us who wanted to repaint and redecorate equipment for our favorite railroads had everything we needed, always available at many local hobby shops, with Floquil paints and Champ decals. Floquil and Champ are long gone, as are most hobby shops. (I am fortunate to have one of the best of the survivors, Mainline Hobbies, of Blue Ridge Summit, Pa., right nearby.)

DCC has transformed the hobby, but also brought with it sometimes steep learning curves and tech challenges far beyond my interest level. I have two layouts, the primary one of which is and remains DC, as the conversion of the locomotives alone would break the bank.  I do have a smaller, switching layout DCC powered. Yes, sound is fun.

Art House



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/16/23 07:07 by aehouse.

Details West is as busy producing parts in their extensive line as ever, working five days a week to keep up with demand. Walthers orders from them regularly but not everything in their catalog. Some slow moving items have been discontinued as with any business model. Best to order direct if you need it in a hurry.

 

This inspired me to fish out an old blue box Dash 9 in Heritage 1 paint... and bring it up to top shelf quality. Thanks for the motivation!

tunnelmotor Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Attached is a photo of my blue box #4405 coupled
> with my ScaleTrains #4336. The detail parts are
> out there so go enjoy reliving the past! I do.

Thank you all for weighing in... very helpful insights. A few key takeaways for me:

1. The hobby is still what you make of it; ie. you can do craftsman work or buy super-detailed RTR's and focus on the layout or operations.
2. 3D printing is filling in gaps in the superdetailing and parts/kits scene. This will only get better in my opinion.
3. Shapeways... I'm glad someone mentioned that, I should have thought of it. A plethora of stuff for all scales.
4. Covid/Supply Chain/Over-reliance on China has had far-reaching effects on multiple aspects of the hobby.
5. For all of our nostalgic "concerns" it isn't unreasonable to think that we are in the golden-age of model railroading.

Like everything, the state of the hobby is directly tailored to you point of view. While one might think its on the ropes, another will think it the best time od their life. I think it kinda comes back to the period you model. Its painfully obvious that todays highly detailed models have devistated the detail part, paint and decal market. Thank you Details West....Help me OB1 your our only hope. Now I know there are some new parts comoanies out there, but the list is narrowing. But if you model modern wide cab railroading, you get all your highly detailed equipment right out of the box. It behooves manufacturers to make modern stuff cause it all looks alike and details dont vary to much. But if your a transition era or second generation modeler, there are so many different railroads and paint jobs with various details that most times you have to model your own.

There used to be lots of heavyweight coach parts suppliers, now there are next to none as an example. Modern guys get Amtrak with one paint job on only a few model types, I had plans for quite a few heavyweights planned with some stuff acquired to eventually get to them. They are in a box of death.

So, what was that rambling all about? Some will think the hobby is fine and plentiful while others will say its on the skids, you cant get anything anymore.
 

Like everything, the changes in model railroading can be seen as good or bad.  Frankly, I think it's a little of both.  I've had trains since I was a little boy:  small N scale loop from my Dad as the first real model train setup; then a 4x6 HO layout my Dad built when I turned 8; I built my first serious layout as a 4x8 HO layout in my parents garage in the late 80's while in high school; built a shelf layout around the walls of the living room of my college apartment in the mid-90's; and now on my 7th layout (depending on how you count things) in HO.  Through all of that, there are so many good things that have happened in the hobby.  I do miss the Athearn and Walthers kits, have a number of those still - even a few unfinished ones.  The ready-to-run and the pre-ordering means I've had to pass up on some of the releases in recent years, my eyes are bigger than my budget.  While the cost is an issue, the ready-to-run is nice because with a young family, my hobby time is limited.  DCC & Sound are even better than I imagined.  The electronics for signaling, computerized layout control, fiber optics, miniturization, and other gizmos are making so many advances it's hard to keep up in a way, but it also presents so many opportunities.  The types of models that are available now also far exceed what I could have hoped for - I mean Athearn is making California Cars!  I don't think craftsmanship has gone away, I think it's just changed.  I like woodworking, and I use way more power tools than my grandfathers could even imagine were possible, and it lets me do some pretty cool things for my limited skillset.  For model trains, I think things home 3D printing is replacing the "I built it stick by stick" modeling, but it is still craftsmanship to me!  I think scenery craftsmanship has gone to another level, photography as well.  

So while things have changed drastically over the years, I think it's generally for the better.  And even if I have to scrounge eBay to find some of the discountinued models I want, I did add 2 more cars to the fleet last week.  Maybe, just maybe, by the time I retire I'll have everything I need to make my mid-90's San Pablo Bay Railways complete.

Nathan

jericson Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> In high school (1994-1998) I had an HO layout in
> my parents basement...

Your observations are pretty much spot on. Part of the reason the craftsman side has faded is the RTR stuff is far better than what even the best craftsman could accomplish with the old models. Back in the day of blue box Athearn many people would buy a plow and horn to dress up the model at the very least. But these days the models come with all the details. But this isn't a bad thing. History has shown that the easier the hobby has become, the larger it has become. Back in the 1950's and 60's people were lamenting the plastic injected models were "ruining the hobby" because people no longer needed to build cars from wood, cardstock and cast metal parts. But the model railroad hobby flourished in the 1960's. Now the hobby is easier than ever to get into, and when people were stuck at home because of Covid the hobby has boomed once again.  There is plenty of reason to be optomistic about the hobby, there are plenty of young people participating on social media these days. You even see this young participation on the railfanning side much more than the past, and many of those will be future model railroaders.

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

When I was in my 20s, I spent about three to four months detailing, painting and lettering each passenger car or locomotive. That's three or four new pieces of equipment each year. At that rate, I would never have been able to achieve my dream of building a passenger-focused, busy mainline model railroad.

Now that the detailing is done for me, either by my own company or by other companies, I have time to actually build my layout.

And I'm really grateful for that...

-Jason





 

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