Young People's view of the hobby

[mezzoman253]

When I was a youngster in the late 50's early 60's, people traveled by public transport with their children a lot more than they do now. The car now dominates daily life. My Dad never owned a car, though he had learned to drive a lorry in the army.

 

Travelling by train as young lad was a treat, and an adventure, making a big impression on me. Naturally that led to an interest in railways, spotting, and subsequently model railways. However I never had an electric train set/layout until relatively recently. But that interest has stayed with me throughout.

 

A few years back we were at the KESR and got talking to a family in the same compartment. It turned out the dad was a driver on the southern area and he'd brought his lad along to have a train ride. He'd never been on one before.

 

My point is today's children, mostly, don't get that exposure to railways. Holidays are usually abroad via air travel, if in the UK by car. 

 

So our pool of candidates is reduced before we start. How we turn that round is another thing.

 

Rob

['CHARD]

When I was a youngster in the late 50's early 60's, people traveled by public transport with their children a lot more than they do now. The car now dominates daily life. My Dad never owned a car, though he had learned to drive a lorry in the army.

 

Travelling by train as young lad was a treat, and an adventure, making a big impression on me. Naturally that led to an interest in railways, spotting, and subsequently model railways. However I never had an electric train set/layout until relatively recently. But that interest has stayed with me throughout.

 

A few years back we were at the KESR and got talking to a family in the same compartment. It turned out the dad was a driver on the southern area and he'd brought his lad along to have a train ride. He'd never been on one before.

 

My point is today's children, mostly, don't get that exposure to railways. Holidays are usually abroad via air travel, if in the UK by car. 

 

So our pool of candidates is reduced before we start. How we turn that round is another thing.

 

Rob

 

Yet the railways are carrying more passengers than for several generations, surely indicating that exposure to trains is increasing - albeit less among the under-eighteens maybe, than the salaried age-groups.  More trains travelling at increasing frequencies means that children out and about are more likely to see them, rather than just empty parallel steel rails heading to a vanishing point on the horizon. 

 

My initial interest was fostered by being taken to the vicinity of the footbridge of our local station, five minutes walk from home, train travel came later, and preserved railways later still, the real seeds of interest having been sown by seeing the railway, and to a lesser extent its trains, fitting into the local environment.  I firmly believe that if we can culturally promote an interest in 'things,' rather than seeing such interest and awareness as nerdy, then this has the potential to unlock pastimes, maybe hobbyists of all ages.

[njee20]

And even then - how many people would like to participate in these hobbies/pastimes but feel that they are priced out of it?

 

Cycling and football (to name two) are easy to get in to, because there are relatively inexpensive options. Which is, I suspect, one of the factors making cycling so popular for social climbers - you don't need to pay £1,000 for clubs and then pay course fees every time you play, you can cycle quite adequately on an £80 bike. That isn't so much the case, or isn't perceived to be the case, for model railways, along with golf, cars, sailing and much of the tech stuff.

Cycling, insofar as 'buying a bike' can be cheap, but to actually 'do' cycling you need quite an outlay I'd say, and the big thing versus model railways is that there is a guaranteed ongoing cost. Even if you buy the cheapest bike you can - say that £80 one, you'll still need tyres, tubes, cables, lubricants etc to keep it going. Yes, ok, some stock may need a spare now and again, but you're talking comparatively trivial costs, and not necessarily proportional to outlay.

A service on a bike, if you don't do it yourself, can easily run to hundreds of pounds, and stuff wears out and needs replacing, or you can't use it. Not to mention clothing, helmets etc. There's little resale value too, unless you're selling stuff in great condition it's worth a tiny proportion of new cost, in stark contrast to railways which retain, or even gain, value extremely well.

 

Then if you want to compete in cycling (or even just do organised events) you need to factor in a whole load of new sunk costs - event costs are typically £20 - £100 depending on the event, plus obviously hotels, petrol etc (which I accept are equivalent to visiting exhibitions, although they tend to be more far flung). I used to reckon that doing five National mountain bike races a year would be about £1500 a year, excluding wear on bikes. Obvious a crash can cost you thousands if you really smash something up. That's the equivalent to destroying a load of stock in one fell swoop!

 

I'd actually say model railways are cheaper than cycling. The £80 bike is the equivalent of the railroad starter set, which still lets you 'suck it and see'.

[Nearholmer]

Something that I'm not sure is coming out in this debate is that younger people seem much more health-conscious, both mental and physical health, than I can remember people of the same age being 30+ years ago, so that the cost of "fresh air and exercise" hobbies like cycling can, at least to some degree, be counted against 'health maintenance', or at least excused as such, in the individual or family budget.

 

Can railway modelling be counted as 'health maintenance'?

 

Traditionally not, but I hit on a sound point the other day in a conversation with my good lady, who is younger than me,  and her sister, who is much younger than me: railway modelling ticks just about every box when it comes to the sort of mental relaxation that is fashionable under the banner "mindfulness" ........ and, you get a rather nice toy train-set at the end, instead of a colouring-book full of swirly patterns! It was the first time they'd ever said "Oh, yes, right, now we get why you are into it!".

 

If we badge railway modelling around its 'craft' nature, the 'making and doing', and the undoubted mental benefits of engaging in such things, non-participants might just "click", which few do if the focus is on what we make models of ...... few people connect with 'old trains', but a lot of people connect with 'craft, creativity, and mental relaxation'.

 

And, as a chap who paid for his first ever cycle-service yesterday (long story as to how I ended-up buying a bike with hydraulic brakes, which I don't trust myself to deal with), after fifty years of merrily servicing his own bikes: cycling can get a b sight more expensive than it needs to be!

[njee20]

Introduce electronic gears which can need diagnostic tools and it gets worse!

 

Given the somewhat rotund stature of the average railway modeller I think you'd be hard pushed to find any physical health benefits, although the mental health benefits are undeniable!

[Jongudmund]

That is a very good point that Nearholmer makes. The absorption in model making is great for relaxing and reducing stress.

 

Until you mess it up or drop a bit or something won't fit or something. But even then, at least you're aggravated by something you can potentially fix.

[PM47079]

My daughter now 16 had a railway which was populated with a couple of Hornby 040 locos and a Lima class 31 and warship. She was quite rough with the locos and stock but she enjoyed having the little layout and gets the whole model railway hobby. She has moved on but has still kept everything. But the main thing is she got enjoyment from it and we didn't spend a vast amount.

[The Johnster]

Something that I'm not sure is coming out in this debate is that younger people seem much more health-conscious, both mental and physical health, than I can remember people of the same age being 30+ years ago, so that the cost of "fresh air and exercise" hobbies like cycling can, at least to some degree, be counted against 'health maintenance', or at least excused as such, in the individual or family budget.

 

Can railway modelling be counted as 'health maintenance'?

 

Traditionally not, but I hit on a sound point the other day in a conversation with my good lady, who is younger than me,  and her sister, who is much younger than me: railway modelling ticks just about every box when it comes to the sort of mental relaxation that is fashionable under the banner "mindfulness" ........ and, you get a rather nice toy train-set at the end, instead of a colouring-book full of swirly patterns! It was the first time they'd ever said "Oh, yes, right, now we get why you are into it!".

 

If we badge railway modelling around its 'craft' nature, the 'making and doing', and the undoubted mental benefits of engaging in such things, non-participants might just "click", which few do if the focus is on what we make models of ...... few people connect with 'old trains', but a lot of people connect with 'craft, creativity, and mental relaxation'.

 

And, as a chap who paid for his first ever cycle-service yesterday (long story as to how I ended-up buying a bike with hydraulic brakes, which I don't trust myself to deal with), after fifty years of merrily servicing his own bikes: cycling can get a b sight more expensive than it needs to be!

 

I also have my bike serviced; I am perfectly capable of doing it myself but do not want to bother with the faff and mess.  

 

My regular readers here will be aware that I have to deal with the odd mental health issue now and then, and I would have to endorse your view that railway modelling is A Very Good Thing Indeed, especially in terms of helping me cope.  It ticks a good few boxes; distraction therapy, positive validation, mental stimulation, loads more I can't think of at the moment.  These benefits are not age dependent, and a younger modeller will be able to partake of them to the same extent as any older one.  

 

But I have learned from experience that things do not always go according to plan, and my nature is to plug away until I get it right.  This is not always the best approach, and it is often better to go away and do something else, then come back to it with a fresh mind.  Time was, you could have found me sweating under an anglepoise at 3am with a soldering iron or tube of glue, far too stressed for sleep and messing things up.  Avoiding this needs a phlegmatic and stoical approach, and this is not the strongest feature of many younger people's characters and natures as a sweeping generalisation; it certainly wasn't for me no matter what I said at the time!  

Edited November 18, 2018 by The Johnster

[Nearholmer]

Ah, yes!

 

It took me years to learn that the best thing to do when something starts to go wrong is to leave it, forget it, do something else, and come back to it later, in a different frame of mind. This applies to almost everything, not just toy trains.

 

Its one reason why I think a hobby is a way of maintaining "zen", but not necessarily a direct route to obtaining it in the first place, because attempting to start a hobby when your head is in the wrong place will almost inevitably lead to frustration, rather than "flow". Anyone starting any hobby as a relief/therapy should probably start at the really simple end of things, and build-up slowly.

Edited November 18, 2018 by Nearholmer

[brack]

Ah, yes!

 

It took me years to learn that the best thing to do when something starts to go wrong is to leave it, forget it, do something else, and come back to it later, in a different frame of mind.

My drawers are full of things that fit that description!

 

(Drawers in my office/spare room, just to avoid confusion).

 

Trouble is I find the build up of unfinished projects sort of haunts/stresses me. I need the guts to chuck some of them out completely really.

[jjb1970]

Perseverance is a virtue, but so is knowing when something just isn't working.

[brack]

Perseverance is a virtue, but so is knowing when something just isn't working.

What about something between stubbornness and knowing I've spent money on the half finished parts...

[jjb1970]

Sometimes people invest huge effort, ingenuity and £££££'s into solving problems that nobody else had ever thought about, I sometimes wonder "why?" but then I recognise that it is all about the journey and not the destination. As an example, I worked with a guy who converted a Vauxhall Astra to rear wheel drive with a mid-mounted V8 engine and complete new suspension, steering and other systems. He freely admitted he could have bought a very decent Porsche 911 for less than what he paid to do the conversion (not including the price of the car) and when finished he rarely drove it and was looking at starting a new project. His passion was to design and do the conversion, the nature of the end result really wasn't that important to him. Mad? Maybe but it gave him an awful lot of enjoyment and satisfaction.