How long have you been a model railroader?

How long have you been model railroading?

  • 1-2 yrs

    Votes: 15 18.1%
  • 3-5 yrs

    Votes: 10 12.0%
  • 6-10 yrs

    Votes: 6 7.2%
  • 11-15 yrs

    Votes: 6 7.2%
  • 16-20 yrs

    Votes: 5 6.0%
  • Over 20 yrs

    Votes: 41 49.4%

  • Total voters
    83

bigsteel

Call me Mr.Tinkertrain
my dad first gave me a set in 1968,for the life of me i cant remember what it was though :confused:.but i did model railroad for about 14 years then came college so i quit for lack of resources.then i recently got back into it about 6 years ago.so since so much has changed im still a noob persay but all together its 17 been years.--josh
 

RobertInOntario

Active Member
All I can say is "all my life".
When I was 2 we spent the summer with my granny in Edinburgh. By the end of the summer, I knew which tram to take to go downtown to the museum where they had model locomotives and you could push a button and watch he wheels go round. I sthat still there? I know the trams aren'st

In a round about way, I can kind of say the same ... although I didn't really get into trains as "my own thing" until about 4-5 years ago. Rob
 

Ralph

Remember...it's for fun!
I had a similar experience to Mark's when I was about four or five taking a ride on what was probably the Long Island Railroad with my mom to visit relatives in the NY City area. I recall my young boy's impressions of the size of the train, its loud noise, and earth shaking vibrations. I was hooked! Mom saw this and shortly afterward made me curtains for my bedroom out of train images fabric.

Ralph
 

UP SD40-2

Senior Member
Hmm...my dad was modeling a year before i was born, so i was brought up with it:winki: . we built MY FIRST layout when i was about 8(1973) , stayed with it till i found girls were more important at the time:119: . i have been back into it FULL FORCE for the last 7yrs:thumb: . i guess I'll say put together i have been modeling about 12 yrs:winki::mrgreen: .
:deano: -Deano
 

hmas

Member
Hi
playing with trains since the late 1950's, my father built a small layout & I
started with the H0rrible & f00l scales :p Left them when I found the old Hornby 00 track only lasted 3 days outdoors & went into Gauge 1 (G scale)from there, & never looked back, made a few locos & wagons along the way
Tony
Sth Oz
 
My dad started with Lionel in 1937, I started helping him around 1956 in our basement in Brooklyn. I retired from modeling in 1969 when I went to college. I picked back up with HO in the early 80's, so that makes around 37+ years.
 

MadHatter

Charging at full tilt.
Well, in South Africa, trains arn't as big (as in well liked) as in the U.K and U.S.A., so I don't know how I got interested in them (not one family member has an interest).

Anyway, I just know that I do like them, facinated by their strength, smells and sounds I guess. I used to have lots of plastic battery operated plastic trains and then, one day, just before my 13th birthday I saw it- a Lima South African Class 34 Diesel loco- man-o-man I had to have that, so, when May came I asked my dad to ask my uncle to send it up to us from Cape Town, every day for a week I checked our post box for the blue slip from the post office and eventually it came- YIPPEE (I guess that's the story of why 13 is my lucky number- I guess that's when I also really started noticing the ladies :) ).

So, I've loved trains all my life, but officially started having an interest in MRing for the past 7 years.
 

leonard

New Member
Off and On for over 50 year in both HO and O gauge ( Lional ) have a HO in attic and Lional mostly on display. For 1 year belonged to a club in Prattville ( Club is still there to best of my knowlage ,great bunch of guys just wasn't for me)
 

TruckLover

Mack CH613 & 53' Trailer
Ive been modeling for about 3 and a half years now. Done 2 HO layouts so far. Getting ready and planning a around the room layout, N scale steel mill module which will be started soon also, and a HO scale photo Diorama which is in progress :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

I model in HO and N scale obviously and model BNSF and UP/CNW/GBW
 

RobertInOntario

Active Member
After re-reading these comments, I'm reminded that the "whole railway hobby" encompasses several "sub-hobbies". :mrgreen: In addition to model railroading, here are some others -- all pretty much hobbies in their own right:
-- kitbashing/weathering/scratch-building locos, buildings, freight cars
-- railfanning / train watching
-- railway photography
-- railway histororical research (generally for modeling different regions or researching locos that you might be kitbashing)
-- assisting with or simply riding on heritage railways
-- collecting rare or vintage locos and coaches (i.e. Lionel or the British Hornby Dublo or Triang products)

And I'm sure I've left some out. I've dabbled in all of these areas and find that this variety helps to keep the hobby "fresh & interesting"! :mrgreen:

Enjoy!
Rob
 
L

lester perry

i selected 10- 15 years but in relity iy has been sbouit 48 years as i recierved an american flier train at 2 years old and nver stopped playing but as a serious MRRer abou 11 years of which 1 year was building place to have it as i don't have a basement so had constuct a bulding iin back yard for it.when buildin ws finished ny wife said i was not completely trithful in telling her how bi Iwas mnking it. no I am planning on making it vbigger. but health may brcome an issue as I am sittin in hospital rhab from a stroke which will explain typos or strang words. thi no esy.
les
 

RobertInOntario

Active Member
i selected 10- 15 years but in relity iy has been sbouit 48 years as i recierved an american flier train at 2 years old and nver stopped playing but as a serious MRRer abou 11 years of which 1 year was building place to have it as i don't have a basement so had constuct a bulding iin back yard for it.when buildin ws finished ny wife said i was not completely trithful in telling her how bi Iwas mnking it. no I am planning on making it vbigger. but health may brcome an issue as I am sittin in hospital rhab from a stroke which will explain typos or strang words. thi no esy.
les

Thanks, Les -- interesting. So sorry to hear about your stroke. I will pray for you and hope you will have a speedy recovery. Rob
 

steamhead

Active Member
Wow...!!! I would have thought that the 11-15 and 16-20 years would have the bulk of responses...Seems like us ol' foggies are kings of the hill..!!! I've been at it, together with the ol' man (now deceased...two years ago today) since the early 60's. Had a bit of an interlude (well...close to 20 years..) with RC planes, but I never stopped working with trains. One of my earliest recollections is getting jolted awake by the ol' man as we stopped at a RR crossing and watched the fire-breathing monster smoke by....I must have been 3-4 years old. Guess that left quite an impression somewhere in the ol' noggin'...
 

N Gauger

1:20.3 Train Addict
i selected 10- 15 years but in relity iy has been sbouit 48 years as i recierved an american flier train at 2 years old and nver stopped playing but as a serious MRRer abou 11 years of which 1 year was building place to have it as i don't have a basement so had constuct a bulding iin back yard for it.when buildin ws finished ny wife said i was not completely trithful in telling her how bi Iwas mnking it. no I am planning on making it vbigger. but health may brcome an issue as I am sittin in hospital rhab from a stroke which will explain typos or strang words. thi no esy.
les
Geeze = Les - - We'll be praying for ya!! Take care!!!
 

steamhead

Active Member
Les,
The typos & strange words we can handle...What you gotta do is get well..FAST..!! We need good folks like yourself contributing on The Gauge.

We'll be looking (and praying) for you..!!
 

Smoke

SOU is for you!!
For about two years now. Before that I had trains but didn't do anything with them. So I should say two years of "serious" trains.sign1
 
From the time I lived on Vineyard and walked the tracks and watched the trains go by at 2 in the AM and 4 in the AM. Actually, before that but that will do. I took time out for the Navy and starting a family and then returned to modeling about 1973.

I have been at it fairly strong since 1980.

See ECI Railroad Main Page
 

nkp174

Active Member
My first train set was an LGB set around 1984...when I was approx 2 years old. Therefore, I have no memories predating the LGB. What I do know is that I was getting dragged up in the cab of NKP 765 and helping my dad work on his NYC 2600 series coach before that...but that doesn't count since it wasn't model railroading. Up until age 5, the LGB was my primary scale building my first layouts around the sofa and our christmas trees...with watching my dad's On3 0-4-0 pull a car back & forth on his 28" of track he'd set up on the basement freezer. At age 5 we got started in HO...with our first steam engine being occasional use of our dad's 30 year old MDC 0-6-0t.

I got mixed up in N scale briefly around 2nd through 5th grades.

I began working with narrow gauge (HOn3) and craftsman kits in early high school...my dad had been into those and scratch building long before I was born. He introduced me to the wonders of Grandt Line kits. I also started hand laying track then...although my first turnouts didn't work too well...although now I'm good at building them.

I switched to On3 and started scratch building in early college...although my progress has been slow due to being busy.
 
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