Unscientific, not guaranteed to be representative, age versus modelled era poll

[Ozexpatriate]

The recent announcements by Hornby and Bachmann Branch-Line have spurred the recurring conversation about how we choose our modelling subjects, and in particular, how many people model the contemporary railway scene.

 

Do we primarily

• Model what we see out the window?
• Model what we remember when we were young?
• Model a subject that interests us, irrespective of whether we have a first-hand connection?

Data from some years ago suggests that the largest age group of enthusiasts models the BR late crest period, which conforms to the notion of modelling what we remember when we were young since this was also the largest group of respondents to those surveys. But the data also suggests that modelling railways of the last few decades is (by that measure) underrepresented and the number of enthusiasts for the grouping period cannot be explained by witnessing that period first hand.

 

A couple of people expressed an interest in seeing recent poll data and this poll is intended to address that request.

 

The poll is private - I cannot see how individuals vote, so I won't know how young you are.

 

I do not represent it as a 'scientific' poll. There is no methodology to make sure I have a representative sample of all British outline model railway enthusiasts. The set of respondents is limited to RMweb members who feel like contributing. As such the possibility of a confirmation bias by those who choose to opt in is present. This doesn't trouble me.

 

If I have messed up any questions or transition dates, please bear with me. I am confident you can figure out what best represents your interest(s). Bachmann's web pages are largely out of commission right now and Google did not find the Bachmann era page. (I used the dates from the Hornby announcement instead, with a couple of changes so the dates don't overlap.)

 

In a couple of weeks I'll process the results, but the voting histograms will give everyone a pretty good idea of answers as they come in. It may make sense to consolidate periods together - like Pioneering + Pre-Grouping, Nationalization = BR early crest + late crest, etc. It's easier to do this with more granular data.

 

If you'd like to participate, please do so. The more the merrier, and the better the result.

 

If you don't want to participate, please don't. No one is forcing you to contribute.

 

If you feel compelled to complain about the futility of the exercise, it is your prerogative to do that too, but in that case I'd appreciate it if you voted.

 

Thank you. I'm curious to see the results in a week or two.

[MarkSG]

Just for reference, Hattons also categorise their products (even non-Bachmann ones) by the Bachmann eras: http://www.hattons.co.uk/stocklist/1000818/United_Kingdom/eratypes.aspx

[GreenGiraffe22]

Love it! Thanks for creating this

[BlueLightning]

Thank you for creating this. I look forward to there being a nice unscientific non-representative answer to all these arguments that we can refer to in future!!! Even if I am wrong!!!!

 

Gary

[jonny777]

If I am honest, I would like to model what I would have loved to have remembered; which is not quite the same as what I actually remember, or what actually happened. I add a bit (always within reason) of fantasy spotters' license to my imaginary scenario. 

 

For instance, the local football team get to the third round of the FA Cup in the mid-50s and get an away draw at a First Division club from that era; resulting in a rash of local footex trains hastily arranged with whatever motive power and stock I fancy at the time. 

[chaz]

What, no US narrow gauge? No reference to scale? Isn't this survey just a little parochial?

 

Chaz

[GreenGiraffe22]

What, no US narrow gauge? No reference to scale? Isn't this survey just a little parochial?

 

Chaz

Probably because the debates are mostly specifically about British eras with very little mention of scales

[Talltim]

Agree that the periods are GB centric. I just chose by date. However although one of my periods is contemporary with my formative years, I have no experience of it as it’s on a continent I’ve never been to.

[daltonparva]

This post is just to get this topic back to the top of new content, so others might not miss it.

[fozzy280472]

Thanks for creating this , a very good idea .

Should be interesting.

[Ozexpatriate]

What, no US narrow gauge? No reference to scale? Isn't this survey just a little parochial?

I deliberately ignored questions of scale, gauge or geographic interests.

 

This is not meant to be a comprehensive survey.

[GreenGiraffe22]

Has a link to it been posted in the Hornby 2018 thread? That seems to be where it is most heated at the moment, I'll admit I've had my buttons pushed a couple of times over there haha

[Ozexpatriate]

Has a link to it been posted in the Hornby 2018 thread? That seems to be where it is most heated at the moment, I'll admit I've had my buttons pushed a couple of times over there haha

Yes it has.

 

It will soon enough be buried.

Edited January 11, 2018 by Ozexpatriate

[tamperman36]

It would be quite interesting to know which age group had the majority of disposable income and an a rough idea of what people could afford to spend per month.

[johnarcher]

Agree that the periods are GB centric. I just chose by date. However although one of my periods is contemporary with my formative years, I have no experience of it as it’s on a continent I’ve never been to.

Me too, I included early BR although all I've ever done for the '50's is Irish NG. So I don't remember that, and my only UK stuff is c1930 which I don't remember either.

[Miss Prism]

Thanks for this poll. Having voted (yesterday), and with the results now viewable to voters, and no surprises in the voting, I'm not sure what the results are going to signify!

[Ozexpatriate]

Thanks for this poll. Having voted (yesterday), and with the results now viewable to voters, and no surprises in the voting, I'm not sure what the results are going to signify!

Honestly the results won't  really change much of anything, but a couple of posters asked for new data and I like data so I went ahead with it.

 

People who like the results will feel comforted that their perceptions were accurate.

 

People who don't like the results will say the poll is not representative of a wider community.

 

Hopefully some people will consider the results and factor them into their dialog on RMweb.

[Ozexpatriate]

... with the results now viewable to voters, ...

I wonder if that was triggered by my own vote today.

 

Since this is in Musings I could not activate the poll until it was moderated and published.

[Miss Prism]

It's normal for the current results of an RMweb poll to be viewable to those who have voted.

[jonny777]

It is a bit scary that the number (so far) of modellers aged between 0 and 40, is almost the same as those between 65 and 69. 

 

What of the future?

[Miss Prism]

What of the future?

 

People have been asking that for the last 50 years...

[tractionman]

Thanks for doing this Michael, some interesting profiles emerging already!

 

Ok, the sample is small, and always partial, but the age profile of the modelling cohort (of voters) as it stands is clearly skewed to the 50-70 age group--would be curious to see if there is a correlation between age and era, and if so how strong that might be--I'd have assumed the 60-70 age group would be modelling the years of their youth--late 50s and early 60s, BR late crest -- steam/diesel transition. 

 

If we had carried out a similar exercise twenty-thirty years' ago the most popular modelling era (for GB) would have been, I guess, the Big Four, so there is a 'moving window' perhaps, linking age and era, which means, perhaps (again!) that in twenty-thirty years' time the main modelled era (for those of the future 60-70 age group in the 2030s and 2040s) will be the '70s and '80s, BR Blue! Something we can try out in two decades' time with another survey...

 

Meanwhile, some of us, of the BR Blue era generation, will no doubt (like me) get sucked into modelling the long lost worlds of the Big Four and pre-Grouping, cos we just love the locos, the liveries, the signalling, the stations and whole railway atmos of our grandparents' era and making it in model form is a way of connecting with that past (imagined) "golden age"?

 

all the best,

 

Keith

Edited January 11, 2018 by tractionman

[Miss Prism]

It's called the '40 year rule', Keith. (Although that is a generalisation.)

Edited January 11, 2018 by Miss Prism

[Andy Hayter]

Thanks for doing this.  AS you know I too am interested in raw data and how to interpret it.  

 

I did struggle with the kit versus rtr a bit; by value they are probably rather close to 50:50, but by numbers of items of stock, kits+scratchbuild win handsomely, so that is where I put my cross.

[Paul821]

Have voted, but as was pointed out in the Hornby thread, the grouping era covers three periods that are as distinct as the the sub-periods in both BR and privatization That is pre-war, ww2 and post war. This is especially true for the LNER  with different numbering of loco's and some livery differences ie no Silver after WW2,

 

With my modelling focus being WW2 I would certainly be interested in seeing  the grouping era broken down.