between the time of a modeler's youth and what they choose to model.  I've noticed at train shows where our club has a modulaer layout set up that young kinds will come by and look at a long train pulled by a consist of diesels, unless a steam engine or Thomas is running on the layout!  Put a train on the layout with a steam engnie on the point and all of the kids come running.  Also Thomas seems to be the "new Lionel" to get the young kids of today interested in trains. 

Along a similar vein, I was talking with a friend who works for Athearn in the design and quality control areas at the National Train Show in Anaheim in 2008, and I was asking him why all of the F-units.  Athearn makes both the r-t-r F7 from the old Globe dies and the Genesis line.  Intermountain was offering F-units, Bachmann offered F-units, MRC had them, BLI.  Is there any major manufacturer of electric trains that does not offer F-units?  His answer was that the F7 was Athearn's all time best seller in both the r-t-r line as well as the Genesis line!  How many kids today have even seen an F-unit run on the rails?

Took to survey on the desktop.  Decided to stuff the ballot box using one of the laptops.  No problem!

Bob Hayes

Over the 50 years I've been, if I may say playing with trains, I found that I like them all. In the 1960's I built my railroads on the standard 4 X 8 Plywood flat top train tables. In fact in 1962 I build my first 4 X 8 after coming home from a brand new Hobby shop a the edge of town with two books I had never seen before. The First Book was called HO Primer it was a brand new first edition By Linn Westcott and published by Klambach Publishing. The second book also by Linn Westcott called HO Railroad that grows in 8 easy steps.

I Built the HO that grows layout in about 10 months 1 stage at a time. This book taught me the basics of Model Railroad construction including the basic use of all kinds of tools. Up until about 5 years ago I still had the 2 ft X 8 ft Drop leaf yard with the atlas turn-Table.

Back to Era:

On this first HO Railroad I changed the era and the Track plan slightly when I got to stage 6. I didn't like the bridges in the Book. Girder Bridges and the Great Northern Pacific got changed to Trestle Bridges mixed with Howe truss Bridges and the Southern Pacific RR.  I wanted more of the old west look so I started scratch building log buildings out of the branches from  5- 8 ft Douglas fir trees my father took off a ridge in the back pasture of our southern California Ranch. He pulled them and I drug them up the half mile to the south side of the work shop my father build for us and for my little RR. I left these trees out back of the building and cut all the branches off and spread them out to dry in the summer sun along the back of the work shop.These were my first attempts at scratch building structures. Man when they were completed they were the ugliest Cock eye group of cabins anyone every saw but we all need to start scratch building some where. Two years later out in the back of the house in the big Brick Bar-B-Q we had I took all those structures and one at a time burner them. I was flicking matches at them on the grill like flaming Indian arrows. They burned really well in little scale cabin fires. This is not recommended as my dad gave me 5 wackes with the razor strap for playing with fire but I survived.

Dan

I wasn't even born when the New York Central existed yet for some reason I love the equipmen and paint schemes.  Though the kind of railroading I like to model is more like the C&O and N&W.  I have no idea why, it's just what I have come to like modeling.  I started modeling "modern" (at the time) diesels and rolling stock, but later on sold it all in favor of the 1950s. 

I don't think there is a correlation.  I think it's more what kind of influences each person has experienced.  For instance, Joe, if your son hadn't had an interest in Amtrak and the SP Modelers in your area modeled the say 1950s and 1960s instead of the 1980's, wouldn't the Siskiyou LInes in your basement be based on an earlier time period most likely?

I can tell you that one profound influence on me has been Tony Koester's Allegheny Midland.  Especially his Trains of Though columns and his disucssions of backdating the AM from the 1970s to eventually 1958.  And the final push, was when I was able to visit and see the AM, and hear the 2-6-6-2's come to life pulling their coal drags, and I was hooked.  If it were not for the AM and that visit, I beleive I very likely would be modeling something much different and more modern than I am now.  But i'm glad for the change as I have found more enjoyment with early Diesel and Steam than I every think I could have with SD40-2's and long strings of Bethgons, Autoracks, and Container Trains.

Ken L.

Most have shot my theory down.    There was just another topic about why people got into trains, and often it goes back to childhood experience, so I wondered if era was also from that experience.  It is for me and several others I know, but obviously not for most who've responded.  I think the transition era will always have a following simply because of the "cool" factor of running steam and diesel as well as the availability of product for that era.  Heck, if I wasn't so passionate about my childhood era, my second choice would have been the transition era.  Still might some day do a small transition era layout, who knows?  I just thought I'd ask the question and see what makes you pick your era.

Thanks to everyone so far who has filled out the MRH 2011 Reader Survey.

If you haven't yet filled out the survey, please take the time to do so. Just click the "Take the survey" button, above. There's only 17 questions and they're all multiple-choice so the survey goes fast - should take you less than 10 minutes.

Until just a few years ago this Rail Link Canada F unit used to run by my house a couple of times a week supplying jet fuel to CFP Cold Lake.  Sadly that ended about 2002 when they tore out the rails. I wonder if it is still in service?

Bump to the top

I live in Sweden but model Germany Era II but find this magasine very interresting anyway. I thought a question about where you are located would be interresting for the publishers. Otoh that info might be available in the download stats...

Thanks for a great mag!

//Björn

When you did this a few years back we were able to see the aggregated results.  Is that going to be possible this time?  I'm curious to see where I fall in with the rest of the hobby...