The "Good Old Days" of Model Railroading

[nachoman]

I'm much younger than most on here (37), but I would label the "good old days" when I could go to the LHS, browse for an hour, and wonder and dream. Now, there are fewer hobby shops, even fewer that carry many trains, and the ones that do have a "we can order that for you" policy more than a "browse the display case" policy. On the other hand, these may be the good old days, because of forums like this one, and online hobby shops that I can browse as I am laying in bed. So much modeling info is available online - and it has definitely improved my modeling. But, I miss the days when I read Model Railroader for the first time about age 11 or 12, when I realized that model trains were more than just the tyco and bachmann toys I had, and that people actually built layouts that looked as real as the freight yard across town.