01-28-2012, 01:35 PM
I think it will continue to feature the present, with a look to the recent past. The "end" of the hobby has been predicted since the late 1950's at least. We have mostly older members of the modular club with quite a few guys in their mid 30s - 40s joining. The individual who has a train set as a child and continues into adult hood is probably not the norm. We don't have basements generally in So Cal, so the layout is either in a garage or spare room. I don't know what the situation is in other parts of the country. We also don't have bad weather out here, so there is no reason not to do outdoor activities year round. I suspect that Lance Mindheim's emphasis on building and operating small industrial switching layouts may be more common than not in the future. In fact many members of the modular club don't have space for a layout at home or are limited to a small layout at home so they joined the modular club to be able to run long trains on a large layout, and just have something small at home.
I have no empirical evidence to support the next statement, but I would not be surprised if So. Cal. has more garden railroads per capita than other parts of the country just because a garden railroad can be operated over 300 days a year out here. In an area that receives an average of 13.5 inches of rain per year, and daytime temperatures ranging from a low of the high 50 degrees f to a high of 100 degrees f but only above 85 degrees less than 30 days per year, outdoor garden railways under trees or under a shade structure are reasonable alternatives.
I have no empirical evidence to support the next statement, but I would not be surprised if So. Cal. has more garden railroads per capita than other parts of the country just because a garden railroad can be operated over 300 days a year out here. In an area that receives an average of 13.5 inches of rain per year, and daytime temperatures ranging from a low of the high 50 degrees f to a high of 100 degrees f but only above 85 degrees less than 30 days per year, outdoor garden railways under trees or under a shade structure are reasonable alternatives.