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
R

RobertInOntario

Active Member
Mar 22, 2006
1,384
0
36
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
I came across this question this morning while reading a Canadian model railway magazine & thought it would be interesting to toss it out here. I hope it hasn't been asked too recently and that I've broken down the categories OK! I've tried to limit the number of choices to keep the poll simple.

I'm sure I'm a relative newcomer compared to many of you, but I hope to make this a life-long interest (I've spent too much money to stop now!!). I also realize that you have to "pace yourself" in that if you over-do it, you can overwhelmed or tired of it. Breaks or time away from any hobby is probably a healthy thing! :eek:

And, I'm sure there are many folks like me who got into the hobby as a kid, and then got away from it, only to return to it much later in life.

So, how long have you been into this hobby? I think the answers could be quite interesting!

Thanks,
Rob
 
If we're counting toy trains and tinplate, over 50 years for me, although there was the usual time-off for girls. Well, maybe more than the usual time-off. ;) I've been railfanning since I was about 2 1/2, as we had tracks right across the street from our house when I was a kid. :-D

Wayne
 
doctorwayne said:
If we're counting toy trains and tinplate, over 50 years for me, although there was the usual time-off for girls. Well, maybe more than the usual time-off. ;) I've been railfanning since I was about 2 1/2, as we had tracks right across the street from our house when I was a kid. :-D
Wayne
Click to expand...

Thanks, Wayne. I also remember railfanning as a kid with my Dad, waving to the engineers/firemen and watching for Santa Fe, PRR and CN emblems on the freight cars. I was constantly exposed to train stuff through my teens, 20s and later.

My Dad had his layout running when I was a kid. Then he took a break from it and got it going again in the 1980s/90s. He passed away in 1999 and now I've inherited not only his train stuff but his obsession with railways ... and my 4-year-old son seems to be following in our footsteps! :eek::mrgreen: My poor wife rolls her eyes a lot.

Take care, Rob
 
Off and on for about 30+ years. I have been collecting HO and N scale equipment and structures for about 40 years but have built only 2 n-scale layouts (one in the 1972 time frame and my recent 2003 layout). Been into the "arm-chair" mode for a long time:):)
 
Don't know how to count the years.:confused: Dad got my brother and I a American Flyer set up back in the 50's. Had the layout set up in a upstairs hobby room.:thumb:
Got back into trains (n scale) bounce7in the mid 60's. Been active ever since.
 
DC from 1967 to 2003 (36 years).
DCC since 2003 (4 years). Total of 40 years.

The DCC years have been the most fun... by far!
 
I started when my grandmother gave me my first n scale diesel and caboose when I was 9 or so and been at it ever since. I believe that I have built 9 layouts now... some nearing completion more than others. 4 of those actually reached what I would call "finished."
 
I've been watching trains all my life, I can actually remember watching PRR steamers when I was 3 years old. Didn't take a picture until Conrail started. I'm on my fifth HO layout and it is 25 years old already and no where near completed. Had 3 N gague in between. First Lionel in 1949 and first American Flyer in 57.
God I must be crazy sign1
Charlie
 
You had better believe it. (we are all crazy)It is a very fascinating hobby.
I wish we had digital cameras years ago. It was expensive to take photos and We often ran out of money and film at the same time.
Everyone that takes pictures should remember that that building or other item that isn't near the railroad may some day look great on your pike, so take a picture and burn several copies to a cd or dvd. back up all your digital photos now, and invest in an external hard drive for backups too. Don't wait until its too late.
Charlie
 
been at it since 1978 this time,had a S gauge (American Flyer) layout from 1955 till 1961,then I went to war,got home in 1965 met my wife,and started a family then got back into it in HO in 1978.

I got into N scale in 1992 to prove to the MRR club I was in that you didn't need a building to model railroad.(NTRAK) I still have four 4' corners and two 4' straight modules that are now part of out 2TRAK layout.

I am now primarily in N scale with both HO and 0n30 as my second choice scales.:mrgreen:
 
I can still remember...

...reaching up to hold my mom's skirt hem. It was the 60's and I was up to my mom's knee. We were at Wissahickon Station in Philly- goin downtown to get shoes- I musta been going into first grade.

Well, there we were on the platform- me craning my neck all around looking up and down the tracks waiting for a train to come. I wanted to see a train come- close. My mom kept yanking me back behind the white line painted on the gently curved concrete platform (poured in 1930). The side we were on was on the outside of a curve hidden by city/residential builds (blind curve). Check out "Rails Through Manayunk" to see what I'm talking about.

Anyway, our "local" would come to the platform and take us 16 minutes to downtown- The Reading Company apparently decided that I needed to be taught a lesson for not paying attention to my mom about crossing the white line. "You could get killed there"! (Like the white line's gonna protect ya?)

Well there it comes...

...I'm leaning ever over to see what I hear coming. Once around the curve, having been hidden by buildings- just seconds away from the platform, me falling back onto my moms legs grabbing for her hem- an express FP7Push/Pull in all its steaming regalia BLASTS by. OMG! Wow!! I Like Trains!!!


Mark
 
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
 
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