I think a poll asking the age we got serious about modeling is more telling for the future of model railroading than the current poll.
Charlie

I began my first layout as a teen ager. It was HO, and I think the locomotive I had was a Marx. I've had a layout of some sort everyplace I have lived.
I feel that today the youngsters are not starting in the hobby because there are other things that are less expensive for them.

Charlie B Wrote:I think a poll asking the age we got serious about modeling is more telling for the future of model railroading than the current poll.
Charlie

Charlie,

My emphasis added to your quote. I dabbled all kinds of things as a kid, including model planes, woodworking, computers (well, sort of), Scouts, soccer, cars, Lego, electronics, archeology, hiking/camping, cycling, photography, and so on.

So although I got a train set when I was 7, I would say I was not serious about it until after I had bought a house, had a kid, and had a good job with some available funds. At that point in time, I discovered that I did not have time to "dabble" so I chose something that I thought would provide enough diversion to be a long-term hobby. MR is just that, as there are so many facets to explore that I enjoy. If I don't feel like building, I can always do some research or reading, or if not that, then I can get my camera out (the only other hobby with any consistency) and head to the latest set-up to take some shots.


Andrew

I had to have a 4' X 8' "layout" ( minimum requirement was laid track ) before my parents would buy me a locomotive, so, I guess that's when I became "serious" about model trains. I was less than Ten years old, and the layout got built in the basement. It had to be reduced to a 4' X 6', to move it to my bedroom, and clear the space in the basement. This is the layout I've posted pictures of, my "first layout".

Quote:My emphasis added to your quote. I dabbled all kinds of things as a kid, including model planes, woodworking, computers (well, sort of), Scouts, soccer, cars, Lego, electronics, archeology, hiking/camping, cycling, photography, and so on.

So although I got a train set when I was 7, I would say I was not serious about it until after I had bought a house, had a kid, and had a good job with some available funds.

That's it in a nutshell. I could not "get serious" until I retired, because the space, the money and above all the necessary spare time just simply weren't available in sufficient quantity to make it viable.

Nearly from birth. Watching my dad run his On3 Grandt Line porter up and down his 30" long railroad on the basement freezer...pulling the 4 cars he'd built...that was what did it. It was far better than the LGB set we received for Christmas when I was 2 years old or the first HO set at age 5. The next best thing was seeing the Silver Streak freight cars he built in the '60s while in high school. My approach to the hobby became serious as a 15 year old. That is when I began to built craftsman kits, kitbash, focus on a credible reason for my railroads existence, and focus on having a rational roster of equipment.

That's kind of difficult, as to what serious means. I would say when you're set on a theme or a specific railroad, timeframe, or main setup of what you want to do.

In 2 points of time, I was considered serious. When I was 9 I was set on conrail and built according to my area. When I was 25 or so I was still in the same spot but had the time and funds to grow it.

I apparently always liked trains as a kid. My Mom told me I loved riding the Long Island Railroad as a three year old when she and I visited relatives in the city. I had a three rail train set with a small loop I operated on the floor when I was 7 or so. As a little boy I had train themed curtains and bed spread. I became "serious" about model railroading when I was 11 years old. It was around that time (1970) that Boy's Life Magazine published a series of articles on building a HO 4 X 8 layout. My parents were very cool about the idea of filling my bedroom with a plywood table top leaving just enough room for my bed. The layout was essentially all my work. Dad helped with some carpentry basics but I constructed the bench work, laid the track, glued the ground cover, etc. I had a Tyco set with a GREEN Penn Central F unit and a Burliongton Route caboose. Over the years I acquired more rolling stock from allownace and gifts.

Ralph

About 8yrs old. I helped my father with his old tyco ho silver and blue sharknose desiel . Every year at xmas help put up his 4x8 railroad under the tree. Trying to change things and reposition buildings on his layout,he finaly bought me for xmas my first ho train set. I built my own layout in the basement and kept it up all year round. when i recieved money , i would walk miles to the few hobby shops and could not wait to buy rolling stock ,buildings, switch tracks or model railroader and craftsman magazines. I would read the mags. from cover to cover 4 or 5 times.
I would constantly move track and buildings around and my dad would say" stop reading those books and finish one layout'. Som 46 years later iam at #? layout currently in construction

My Father bought me my first trains, I don't think it was a set as in a box but individual pieces when I was two years old. Well he said it was mine . I guess the first time I got serious I was about 10 or 12years old. My Father was a key player then also. I was still using the original American Flier. This was mid 60s and A.F. stuff was hard to get. We made our own hand laid track, using balsa wood for ties and rails covering them with aluminum foil to get electric.



One day my Father broke my heart by telling me we needed to box the A.F. trains and go with HO. I /we built several layouts until I left home and started my family. I then built several small layouts with my sons. Then they grew up and left home, and came back, and left again, and came back again, and left again. Now they won't come back. Anyway back to trains. I started my dream layout. Years later I am still working on it

I got my first AF around '56-'57, and stuck with that 'till the early 60's (I still have all my AF equipment), when my ol' man decided we needed a "real" layout...(No lying on the floor watching the AF go round and round... ) So HO came into my life. The ol' man had a couple of HO engines and a few cars from his student days, which are mine now as well... I became an "independent" modeler when I got married and had a place of my own (mid '70's), and have been at it since then...I'm on my third (and final...) layout .

While I was interested in trains and worked with my father on his Lionel stuff for many years through the 50's and 60's, I didn't really get serious until I was in my late 30's. By then I had the time, space, and funds to really pursue this hobby. That was 25 years ago. I recently built a dedicated model railroad building (similar to Charlie B) and am constructing a 20'x 32' layout for my impending retirement. This is my fourth and final layout.
willie

I had my first train set at the age of 6 or 8, I don't remember exactly when. I received a Marx O-27 set for Christmas. We switched to HO scale when I was in Jr high, and that went well until my dad installed a siding across the oval making 2 reverse loops on the 4 x 8. It never ran again!

In high school I lost interest in trains as I became more interested in girls and cars. I'm still interested in cars, but the only girl I'm interested in is the one I married in 1973! didn't have any sons, only daughters. One day in the 1980's in Toys-R-Us I told my wife, "I'm tired of looking at girls toys. I'm going to go see what is available for boys now." I found a couple of ho train sets by Bachmann, the Dewitt Clinton and the John Bull. I bought the John Bull. It is not much of a train set, and runs absolutely awful! I still set it up on a section of track with my wife's Christmas Village display at Christmas time, but I haven't attempted to get it to operate in at least 30 years.

The John Bull re-ignited my interest in model railroading, and I started planning a layout then. I had a house that had the access to the garage taken away when the city widened the street behind the house we lived in. The garage was kind of behind the house so there was no way to access the garage from the other side. The result was that I had a one car garage that could not be used for the car, so I built a model railroad by modifying one of the track plans in an Atlas track planning book. That layout was torn down when we sold the house and moved across town a couple of years later. I learned a lot about model railroading and about radius the hard way on that layout!

I've since joined a modular club, and now that my daughters are grown up, and married, I have a spare bedroom to build a layout in. I guess you could say I became seriously interested in trains about 25 years ago or so at the age of @ 35. I think that is why I don't get too concerned when kids are not that interested in the hobby now. I don't think most model railroaders really get serious about the hobby until after they are 30, and, in California at least. probably don't build a model railroad until close to retirement age. We need an "empty nest" to find room for the layout.

I got my first trainset when I was 6 (Lionel Seaboard Express)

I got serious about model railroading when I was 13. I bought my first HO equipment in September 2003, began construction of my layout in 2004, and finished it in january 2005. I've been maintaining serious participation ever since.

Christmas of 2003, three months in. The Chessie is my First HO, the Conrail my third, and the UP my 5th HO locomotive.



I convinced a good chunk of my family to help me build my layout table, though i would never get that much family involvement ever again.

Wow! 33% under 10 years old!!! That thing is genetic, I tell you!

As far as my memory go back, I've always liked train in a little bit too much. I got my first train set at 4 because my father was tired to hear me ask him to give me his own train set. At 7 years old, I got really serious about it and convinced my father and brother to build a "real" layout. After that, I left trains for a few years until I entered high school and found out model train books at the library. The same day, my English teacher saw the books on my desk, asked me if I liked trains, which I replied yes, then he gave me a hobby shop address. At that very moment, I knew it was an uncurable sickness.

I'm just curious, if born in a world without trains, what would replace this passion?

Matt