Hiding in the cupboard

[WIMorrison]

I have been travelling again and became very aware that in Germany and Netherlands building model railways for a hobby is mainstream and openly discussed by everyone unlike in UK where when I say I build model railways I am immediately considered to be an anorak and the ensuing 2 min conversation is littered with words such as toy, closet, old, boring, etc - you know what I mean.

 

My colleagues aboard all ask to see pictures, they all tell me where the best model shops are and show genuine interest in what I am trying to achieve - even those that don't personally have models of any sort or count modelling amongst their hobbies. when I go to exhibitions over there I see people of both sexes and all ages, not the predominately 60+ male, with surly grandchild in tow complaining that he cant see Thomas anywhere. For some reason the hobby in UK is seen as something that Grandad does in his shed and is visited by other old men to discuss toy trains (BTW I am far from being Grandad ), and I stopped even mentioning at work due to the comments that were made.

 

I also note that in the model shops - and to be honest the magazines also - the focus is on nostalgia for a period that wasn't that brilliant but it did have steam engines, whereas on the rest of Europe many people model today, with the magazines and model shops reflecting today (and nostalgia) with a vastly greater range of products.

 

Where have we gone wrong in this country (you may not consider this to be wrong though) - I am worried that this hobby is literally dying with no, or insufficient, new blood entering to sustain its future. A local friend has a superb layout and only the other day was saying that he doesn't know what will happen when he goes as none of his extended family has any interest in the models at all. I saw a really large layout broken up and auctioned off for pennies a couple of years ago and we fear that will be the fate of his layout.

 

What are your thoughts?

 

Iain

[kevinlms]

I have been travelling again and became very aware that in Germany and Netherlands building model railways for a hobby is mainstream and openly discussed by everyone unlike in UK where when I say I build model railways I am immediately considered to be an anorak and the ensuing 2 min conversation is littered with words such as toy, closet, old, boring, etc - you know what I mean.

 

My colleagues aboard all ask to see pictures, they all tell me where the best model shops are and show genuine interest in what I am trying to achieve - even those that don't personally have models of any sort or count modelling amongst their hobbies. when I go to exhibitions over there I see people of both sexes and all ages, not the predominately 60+ male, with surly grandchild in tow complaining that he cant see Thomas anywhere. For some reason the hobby in UK is seen as something that Grandad does in his shed and is visited by other old men to discuss toy trains (BTW I am far from being Grandad ), and I stopped even mentioning at work due to the comments that were made.

 

I also note that in the model shops - and to be honest the magazines also - the focus is on nostalgia for a period that wasn't that brilliant but it did have steam engines, whereas on the rest of Europe many people model today, with the magazines and model shops reflecting today (and nostalgia) with a vastly greater range of products.

 

Where have we gone wrong in this country (you may not consider this to be wrong though) - I am worried that this hobby is literally dying with no, or insufficient, new blood entering to sustain its future. A local friend has a superb layout and only the other day was saying that he doesn't know what will happen when he goes as none of his extended family has any interest in the models at all. I saw a really large layout broken up and auctioned off for pennies a couple of years ago and we fear that will be the fate of his layout.

 

What are your thoughts?

 

Iain

Other people waste their money and time on other hobbies & activities. Good luck to them & don't worry about it. You could tell them about your skills learnt on the way, woodworking, electrical skills, soldering, painting, repairing stuff rather than binning it. Whatever.

 

It is hard to know what to do with layouts, books, magazines etc. The reality is no one wants them, anymore.

 

With regard to layouts, look at the 'eBay Madness' thread, where anyone selling a layout, gets laughed at by members here. So it ain't just outsiders.

 

Edit to correct eBay thread name.

Edited April 13, 2018 by kevinlms

[Spitfire2865]

Somewhat similar here in the USA, though Id say "playing with trains" is a bit more accepted as traditional Americana.  Certainly isnt as socially welcome however and I tend to not talk about it to most people.  Especially as what I do is so different to what most people think of as modelling in this country.  Oh well.  

[The Johnster]

If anyone doesn't like my hobby, f*@k 'em.

 

Actually, I find most people are either interested and want to know more, or completely bored (fair enough, I find cars a bit of a yawn), but very few are critical of it.  I would say that modelling the current scene is very much mainstream in the UK hobby and I have no evidence that the hobby is dying; it seems more popular and accepted than ever to me.  Decent layouts can be created out of the box, so the skillset entry level is low and more inclusive than at times in the past, and while this leads to aspects i disapprove of it is IMHO A Good Thing.

[brightspark]

I think its part of a particularly nasty little englander mindset. 

 

I am doubly cursed as I am both a railway modeller and a club cyclist. Railway modelling = socially inadequate, Cyclist = Lycra lout.

At least no-one tries to kill me when I am at a model railway show (yet).

 

I can't think of any other law abiding groups that seem to attract as much disdain.

[brianusa]

I think its part of a particularly nasty little englander mindset. 

 

I am doubly cursed as I am both a railway modeller and a club cyclist. Railway modelling = socially inadequate, Cyclist = Lycra lout.

At least no-one tries to kill me when I am at a model railway show (yet

 

<<<<<I can't think of any other law abiding groups that seem to attract as much disdain.>>>>>

 

 

Do you own a caravan by any chance?

 

Brian.

 

 

Edited April 14, 2018 by brianusa

[Nearholmer]

Or work in estate agency?

 

This country is strange and contradictory, IMO. Over the same timespan that we’ve become a bit more accepting of, and relaxed about, certain things, and ever so slightly more inclusive, we’ve taken-on a set of ‘accepted norms’ about different things, and can be just as nastily intolerant about deviations from them, as we used to be about other things. There is a pressure to conform in many areas, often driven by commercial imperatives, that simply didn’t used to exist.

 

It’s as if we have to have something to despise, and we even have a popular national newspaper that is pretty much the house-magazine of despising.

[Suffolk Dave]

I think you've tapped into some themes in British (English?) culture. There is the nostalgic thread that runs through us: we assume the present is so crap that we forever look back to a past that in reality didn't exist the way we remember it, and the class system. We seem hard wired to sub divide folk and then place them in a hierarchy where we can then sneer at them for our chosen reasons.

 

Personally, I lean towards the 'couldn't give a toss' attitude about what illinformed people think, or do in their spare time.

 

Play with trains, ride your bike and, in my case, go watch some birds. Enjoy the moment!

[F-UnitMad]

It’s as if we have to have something to despise, and we even have a popular national newspaper that is pretty much the house-magazine of despising.

Just the one??!!??

 

As for the 'Death of the Hobby', I'm not so pessimistic. As far as I know this has been predicted since before I was even born (1960's) let alone since I got into trains. If it was dying, the annual Warley Show would now be in a small shed at the back of the Harry Mitchell Leisure Centre, Smethwick, instead of moving from that location in 1993 due to chronic overcrowding, & been at the NEC ever since.

This may well be a Boom Time for the hobby, especially in O Scale, & so there may be a decline ahead - but I don't think the hobby will die out completely. The perception that it's only the realm of old men is because they have the most free time to get involved.!!

Concerning the future of the hobby 'When I'm Gone' - I really couldn't give a monkey's about it; I'll have had my turn and enjoyed it, & won't know about anything anyway. My Mrs would be ecstatic if I got rid of all my trains right now, so she could use the space for herself!! My lad isn't interested any more; anything happens to me it'll all be disposed of! I know one thing from very recent experience - lying in agony on a hospital bed, the very last thing on my mind was if my models were accurately detailed enough.

 

Finally, it's again one of those contradictions that a layout is always worth a lot less £££-wise than the cost of it's constituent parts. Just why that is so is unclear, and might make for an interesting discussion.

Edited April 15, 2018 by F-UnitMad

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

This hobby interest wil exist as long as steel wheels run on rails. What its popularity may be will vary.

 

The mindset thing: the UK is actually very diverse and 'non-conformist' compared to most similar sized national populations. We can make disagreement out of anything Getting anything done is like unto herding cats. That sizeable subset of the population that is conformist by nature is always in a lot of distress as a result. What is 'correct'? I know I am 'correct', it stands to reason that I am, but relatively few agree with me! Panic, wail!; everything's running to ratshit!

[Nearholmer]

I’ve never lived outside the UK, and Ireland is about the only other country I can claim to partially understand, and the peculiarity of England does make me wonder how other nations get along. From a distance the US seems to have different, but just as deep, divisions in the way various groups of people see things, for instance. The pessimistic view might be that people struggle to unite around anything except real or perceived external threat.

[newbryford]

Lots of replies from another cupboard

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/15885-coming-outbeing-outed/&do=findComment&comment=148899

 

cheers,

Mick

[Steamport Southport]

I can't even get in the cupboard. Too many kits and boxes.....

 

 

 

 

Jason

[Colin_McLeod]

Don't worry about the future of the hobby - just enjoy it.

 

Today's children will get old and take up the hobby as old men and women. :)

[Steamport Southport]

Yep. I used to go to exhibitions when I was a kid and they were always full of old men. I go to them now and they're still mainly full of old men. Different old men, but still old men. In a few years time I'll probably be one of those old men.

 

 

 

Jason

[Guius]

To some people having any sort of interest or hobby is seen as odd and "un-cool" if it isn't sports related or car related. The idea of building a layout or locos etc. for the pleasure of creating something by hand is quiet alien and, if truth be known, a little intimidating simply because they would not know where to start on such a project, and so our hobby becomes an object of derision. And once derided, it's no longer a source of a feeling of being 'a bit inadequate' in the face of technical skills.

I remember being introduced to a friend of a friend who had a couple of vintage cars in his garage, being very well restored I asked how much work it had taken to reach this condition, at this point he told of the number specialist he had engaged to do just about every single job, he simply had 'project managed' the restorations and paid the invoices. A few weeks latter I attended a steam and vintage rally where some cars and motor bikes displayed stickers saying " Made Not Paid" after enquiring I learned this referred to the work of restoration being done by the individual exhibitor and not 'contracting out' the work out to  third party specialists, such was the feeling that anything was restorable if you had deep enough pockets and little skill

 

So, in a nutshell, the voices who are our hobbies detractors are simply jealous of or abilities and the things we like to create.

 

Guy

[Skinnylinny]

Funnily enough, of all the various things I'm "In the closet" about, model railways are the thing I'm least concerned about. There are some truly vitriolic people out there who object to parts of what they think of as my "lifestyle". I've had a little friendly teasing for my hobbies, but never the full-on credible threats of violence that I've had for being transgender (usually from complete strangers in the street).

Sure, it might be "uncool" to be a railway modeller, but as long as it keeps me busy and happy I'd far rather spend money on bits to build something and have something to show afterwards (not to mention all the new skills I've learned!) than spend every evening watching the TV.

Oh, and I'm one of the "younger" generation, too. Twenty-six years old, been in love with trains and models for as long as I remember, and modelling (Airfix kits etc) for nearly 20 years now.

[Corbs]

As I've got older (30 now) I've very much come out of the closet about being a trainologist. I found that the company I keep these days is actually very supportive and finds it interesting. 

When I was younger there was a lot of ridicule, but maybe the people I work and hang out with now are craftier people with hobbies of their own.

[The Johnster]

Obsession.  It is not a healthy thing, but essential to good modelling, and it is easy for those who do not understand to conclude that insistence on correct liveries for the period, or research into different forms of haystacks around the country, or worrying about the incorrect track gauge of 00, to conclude that we are unhealthy obsessives.  Knowing every goal scored by Cardiff City since their formation in 1899 in not considered unhealthy though, and such people attract admiration from their peers.

 

Truth is, any hobby can look obsessional to those who do not understand it.

[tomparryharry]

Obsession.  It is not a healthy thing, but essential to good modelling, and it is easy for those who do not understand to conclude that insistence on correct liveries for the period, or research into different forms of haystacks around the country, or worrying about the incorrect track gauge of 00, to conclude that we are unhealthy obsessives.  Knowing every goal scored by Cardiff City since their formation in 1899 in not considered unhealthy though, and such people attract admiration from their peers.

 

Truth is, any hobby can look obsessional to those who do not understand it.

 

That's nothing.

 

I can name every pot-hole in Sloper road...

 

That's a local Cardiff joke, for local people. Sorry, but I couldn't resist....

 

Cheers,

 

Ian.

[Spitfire2865]

Truth is, any hobby can look obsessional to those who do not understand it.

Wait...are we not supposed to count the rivets?

[The Johnster]

That's nothing.

 

I can name every pot-hole in Sloper road...

 

That's a local Cardiff joke, for local people. Sorry, but I couldn't resist....

 

Cheers,

 

Ian.

 

Actually it's a very local Cardiff joke, for Leckwith people, but I'm glad you didn't resist...

 

I was brought up in Roath Park, third bench on the left as you go in.

[brianusa]

We had the builders in, usual lot; lives for ball games, enjoys a beer or two, probably an NRA member but you wouldn't want to tangle with the guy.  He happened to see my trains and had a hard job getting him back on the job!  I don't think I convinced him to take up the train hobby but he sure enjoyed watching them for a while

 

Brian.

[tomparryharry]

Actually it's a very local Cardiff joke, for Leckwith people, but I'm glad you didn't resist...

 

I was brought up in Roath Park, third bench on the left as you go in.

 You're the posh one, eh?

 

We used to sleep under the bench...

[F-UnitMad]

 You're the posh one, eh?

 

We used to sleep under the bench...

Oh, we used to dream of sleeping under a bench...

 

 

Sorry, couldn't resist. Coat, hat, etc....

Edited April 18, 2018 by F-UnitMad