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"For the 21st-century kids stuck in the back seat of that car, trains are noisy, antiquated, and irredeemably boring..." Having been to a model railroad show o

"For the 21st-century kids stuck in the back seat of that car, trains are noisy, antiquated, and irredeemably boring..." Having been to a model railroad show or two, every model train/town/yard is a model from the 1950's, 1940's or 1930's. Nowhere did I see any bullet trains or maglevs or modern cities being modeled. I always found this depressing, as if the hobby only had a past but not a future.

gumby 10y ago
My kid got an ICE (German high speed rail --InterCity Express) train set a few years ago as a present. It came out only at christmas. He was utterly uninterested. I'm Gen X and my dad wanted me to be into trains, but honestly I never cared much either. His toy steam engine was cool, and powered many inventions, but all the screwing around with train sets to end up with just making it go around and around...yawn.
- InitialLastName 10y ago
  When I was young, I started to cut my soldering teeth helping my grandfather maintain his model train layout (age issues meant he was finding it hard to do fine work upside down under a table)[1]. I was so excited to be helping, learning about electronics, and playing with tools, but so disappointed when the "done" state was a train going around. Moral of the story: When you solder upside down, wear eye protection.
- Symbiote 10y ago
  My dad bought me and my sister a train set, when I was about 7 years old, and she was 6. We both enjoyed playing with it, for a few years. Partly, it was fine to race the trains against each other, and to see how we could reconfigure a limited amount of track into anything more interesting than an oval. But, more importantly, I think it was the only "toy" my dad would join in with. We visited some preserved railways (there are many in the UK). In the 1990s, the old guys volunteering to work in these places didn't mind if a parent took some 10 year olds round the workshops. There would usually be an entire locomotive, disassembled down to the chassis, and we could walk underneath in the inspection pits. I could see big engineering up close, and it wasn't impossible to understand. I remember being unable even to lift one of the massive spanners they used. Plenty of people work on restoring old cars, trains and planes. When I was about 12 I realised the old train men were rather tiresome -- streams of disparaging remarks about anything newer than 1970, and "electric" was almost a swear word. The engineering was fascinating, but they mostly stood around and grumbled about modern times. I don't think that's the case for people who like old cars and planes -- they tend to appreciate new cars and planes as well.
Symbiote 10y ago
"For the 21st-century kids stuck in the back seat of that car, trains are noisy, antiquated, and irredeemably boring..." Well, in America. In large parts of Europe, and some of Asia, they're OMG-WOW noisy if you're standing close when they go past at 300km/h [1], although quieter than a car when inside, and somewhere between faster and way faster than a car. Children on a train are either used to it as a primary means of transport, or are making a special journey. > as if the hobby only had a past but not a future. That's exactly my feeling. Lots of my dad's friends were into model railways, and I saw too many of them. Still, the only time I've seen models of modern railways has been in larger European stations, where they're presented as a toy for children to play with [2]. [1] Or even just 200km/h: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CT34kTytUmw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CT34kTytUmw [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQb35F726Eg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQb35F726Eg

gumby 10y ago

My kid got an ICE (German high speed rail --InterCity Express) train set a few years ago as a present. It came out only at christmas. He was utterly uninterested. I'm Gen X and my dad wanted me to be into trains, but honestly I never cared much either. His toy steam engine was cool, and powered many inventions, but all the screwing around with train sets to end up with just making it go around and around...yawn.

InitialLastName 10y ago
When I was young, I started to cut my soldering teeth helping my grandfather maintain his model train layout (age issues meant he was finding it hard to do fine work upside down under a table)[1]. I was so excited to be helping, learning about electronics, and playing with tools, but so disappointed when the "done" state was a train going around. Moral of the story: When you solder upside down, wear eye protection.
Symbiote 10y ago
My dad bought me and my sister a train set, when I was about 7 years old, and she was 6. We both enjoyed playing with it, for a few years. Partly, it was fine to race the trains against each other, and to see how we could reconfigure a limited amount of track into anything more interesting than an oval. But, more importantly, I think it was the only "toy" my dad would join in with. We visited some preserved railways (there are many in the UK). In the 1990s, the old guys volunteering to work in these places didn't mind if a parent took some 10 year olds round the workshops. There would usually be an entire locomotive, disassembled down to the chassis, and we could walk underneath in the inspection pits. I could see big engineering up close, and it wasn't impossible to understand. I remember being unable even to lift one of the massive spanners they used. Plenty of people work on restoring old cars, trains and planes. When I was about 12 I realised the old train men were rather tiresome -- streams of disparaging remarks about anything newer than 1970, and "electric" was almost a swear word. The engineering was fascinating, but they mostly stood around and grumbled about modern times. I don't think that's the case for people who like old cars and planes -- they tend to appreciate new cars and planes as well.

Symbiote 10y ago

"For the 21st-century kids stuck in the back seat of that car, trains are noisy, antiquated, and irredeemably boring..." Well, in America. In large parts of Europe, and some of Asia, they're OMG-WOW noisy if you're standing close when they go past at 300km/h [1], although quieter than a car when inside, and somewhere between faster and way faster than a car. Children on a train are either used to it as a primary means of transport, or are making a special journey. > as if the hobby only had a past but not a future. That's exactly my feeling. Lots of my dad's friends were into model railways, and I saw too many of them. Still, the only time I've seen models of modern railways has been in larger European stations, where they're presented as a toy for children to play with [2]. [1] Or even just 200km/h: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CT34kTytUmw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CT34kTytUmw [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQb35F726Eg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQb35F726Eg