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Just out of sheer curiosity, does anyone a general idea of what region or state has the highest concentration of model railroaders? My guess is the northeast, particularly Pennsylvania - or California. im not looking to start a business or anything, again just curious
I'm guessing the Northeast would be correct, there's lots of hobbyshops & clubs listed and the cold weather drives the "cellar dwellers" underground for a good part of the year.
Much of the BUSINESS of model railroading seems to be Wisconsin based. Model Railroader, Walters and I believe several others. The cold weather basement dweller mode modeler would be very much at home. I'm thinking Northern Illinios - Wisconsin area would have a large concentration of modelers. Chicago still has several LHS that either only carry model rail stuff or carry alot of it. They must be selling to someone other than me. Also, Chicago has always been THE rail town so I'ld bet there are a lot of railroader here that are also model railroader. Not to mention, we just see alot of the prototyes and have alot of history, that's sure to stir the modeler in many.
A real good gauge would be if you could see the actual sales data from Walthers broken down by state, even just a graph with no numbers attached, just percentages.
The number of shops is a decent indicator, but the sales data would be much better.
I think model railroading is the largest "underground" hobby in the US. Lots of people do it but it usually doesn't get mentioned until someone else does. When it comes to hobby shops by state that will be hard. Many do not list themselves in directories or magazines. Don't look to distributors to give out that information either, that is proprietary financial information they wouldn't want the competition to find out.
I know that MR magazine ran several of these surveys back in the '70s and '80s. AT THAT TIME, the upper midwest had the most, with the NE a close second. California and the Pacific NW was third, with the SE and the "West" having the fewest.
How accurate these figures are NOW I don't know. I do know that Model Railroading is growing as a hobby at least in this area of Alabama, and over in Atlanta's area as seen by the growing activities of NMRA divisions and the LHS inventory selections.
I'd have to agree with Gary B that the center of hobby interest is currently likely situated in the upper midwest. As a Northeast resident, I can say that it certainly isn't here, although it unquestionably once was decades ago. Except perhaps for western NY, area hobbyshops, clubs and shows have declined greatly around here over the past 20 years and today are but a pale shadow of what they once were.
As to the point about the hobby's overall size, that too has been steadily coming down and today seems unlikely to amount to more than 200,000 to 250,000 participants in HO and N. Even the Model Railroader Forum site can't muster more than 60,000 participants today, where once upon a time they could boast upwards of 200,000.
I obviously have no concrete data on this question but I would also guess that any place that has a lot of houses with basements and long, cold, nasty winters must be near the top of the list. I also suspect we are emerging from a several decades long trough in the number of model railroaders as more baby boomers retire and will get back into model railroading to recapture their youth. In addition, there are a lot of people here in their teens through about 30 that are really getting into the hobby. I think the hobby is actually much more diverse in age now than it ever has been.
In fact, Jim, based on MR's past published readership surveys, of their 150,000+/- readership the average age must be very close to 60 today, so the Boomers most definitely are THE demographic composing and controlling the hobby. The most favorable figures I've seen anywhere regarding the 30 and under crowd suggests they make up less than 15% of hobbyist. I think that Internet presence, which is highly skewed toward the younger hobbyists, leads to mistaken ideas regarding hobby demographics.
Not to long ago there was an article in the New York Times about the only model train store left in Manhattan, it think called The Red Caboose. The owner said his best customers were 55 year old architects getting back into the hobby. I met a lot of them in my 25 years in the construction business and almost all of them said they wanted to build a model railroad later on in their life.
Good afternoon all,
After attending a swap meet/layout display this weekend outside of Ann Arbor, MI, I'd have to say the 55+ crowd is still the vast majority. Being 29 years old, I felt a little out of place though thoroughly welcome at the event. I also notice this at the two local "train only" hobby stores in the area, initially those working in the store are hesitant to really accept that I am interested in more than a plug and play layout, but once I make my intentions clear they too are more than accepting. Though the number of Chinese made products on the market is disappointing, I'm excited to see the explosion in products available. Whatever the demographic, I hope people continue to drive the hobby in a positive direction. Sorry for the long winded first post.
What y'all need to remember is that 20 years ago, the big buyers and active modelers were also in the 50+ category. That's when the business of getting kids raised, and getting established in a career, tapers off and people have the time and money for a hobby. People build some, and look and plan before, but the 40s and 50s seem to be when most of us have the time and money for this.
I think model railroading is the largest "underground" hobby in the US. Lots of people do it but it usually doesn't get mentioned until someone else does.
I have to agree with this, particularly in Alabama. Here, in T-town with a population of 100k+, we only have one very QUIET club and one R/C hobby shop with few MR kits. However, I am always surprised during a conversation about hobbies to learn someone is in MR or their neighbor, friend, or a family member. There is no promotion of the hobby from the club or businesses, so I guess everyone feels they are the only one and stay in the closet.
I have always felt the Industry and NMRA have failed miserably in promoting the hobby. How effective is running a box car around the country; promoting the hobby in MR magazines and other media that aren't read or seen by the general population. To negate the above paragraph, isn't it unreal to meet people that don't even know the hobby is anything but a Christmas present or don't even know it still exist.
Excellent point, Joe. When I joined my first club in 1967, I was only 21, and felt really out of place. Most of the other members were in their 50's and 60's and there were only a few of us under 30. I don't think that has changed much except I do think the introduction of DCC and more high tech things in model railroading today is attracting a few more younger people than back when I was the "kid". If you look at the demographics of the baby boomers like me, it's like an elephant moving through a python. There's a huge group behind me and a lot of them will be getting back into model trains as they retire and have the time and money to start another layout. I think the next 20 years are going to be wonderful for the hobby.
The term that would apply to the graphic distribution of ages in the hobby would be "a leptokurtic negatively skewed distribution". Instead of being the nicely symmetrical normal curve, the bell curve, it would have a long tail to the left, indicating younger ages, and it would curve and rise sharply near 45 or so, with the greatest slope near 50-55. The peak, after which we would find the average (the "mean") would be near 60-70, hard to peg that down, and then the other side of the 'hill' would fall sharply down to the 80's and nineties. Since people are living longer these days, the right hand tail, representing those aged over 65 or so, but notably beyond 75, would have more 'density' than it would have had in the 1940's, or earlier.
So, the hobby can enjoy the spending power of post-war successful people for a time yet.
And I didn't even have to cheat and look at the results accumulated in the poll up to the time of my post, Rex. If you turn your head to the right and look at the bars as if they are rising vertically from the axis below them, what I described above is almost exactly what we see.
You guys know I was pulling your legs, right? The stuff I wrote is true, but I was just having some fun with some o' them big words I larned way back when. I was feeling good a day after my H1N1 shot, so I went for a longish run this afternoon. Shouldn'ta. I had to take an Advil when I got back. So, I am suitably chastened for my hubris in both the post and deciding it was okay to run.
Anywhere it gets wintery weather would be my guess, especially the midwest. Wisconsin has a big network of model railroaders. I would think the east cost and states like PA have quite an abundence of MRRs because of the inspiration they have with the landscape and the prototype history thats there. If you like bridges and trestles and most people do, PA is the place to be from the looks of it. If that doesnt inspire, I dont know what would.
What y'all need to remember is that 20 years ago, the big buyers and active modelers were also in the 50+ category. That's when the business of getting kids raised, and getting established in a career, tapers off and people have the time and money for a hobby. People build some, and look and plan before, but the 40s and 50s seem to be when most of us have the time and money for this.
While this might be true today, Joe, it certainly has not always been so. In fact, years ago the hobby's demographics were entirely the opposite of today's!
For decades Model Railroader magazine published surveys of its readership and from these it's possible to gauge a number of changing situations in the hobby over the years. One of the most startling instances is the hobby's demographics from 1950. At that time the average hobbyist's age was reported as 30, while 20% of MR's readership were teenagers ...and only 5% were over age 50!!! That kinda shoots down the prevailing myth that model railroading has always been an old man's hobby, huh?
Overall, the average age of model railroaders was pretty near constant at 33 between the years 1944 and 1974. But after that the number begins to rise steadily. By 1993 it had reached 47 following a very smooth line. Extrapolating this trend suggests the average age today should be very close to 60 (the NMRA indicated 61+ for its membership several years ago).
Thus, the highpoint of the age bellcurve has moved steadily through the years since the late 1970's and has been almost perfectly in step with the median age of the early Baby Boomers (those born between the late 1940's to the mid 1950's). Not surprisingly, that period corresponds to the huge public interest in model and toy trains one saw immediately following WWII and ending by 1960.
That folks are living longer today, as Crandell points out, will only cause the average age for hobbyists to continue to increase and it will probably be close to 65 early in the next decade. So...be careful not to jump to conclusions that the demographics have always been the same in our hobby.
I also suspect we are emerging from a several decades long trough in the number of model railroaders as more baby boomers retire and will get back into model railroading to recapture their youth. In addition, there are a lot of people here in their teens through about 30 that are really getting into the hobby. I think the hobby is actually much more diverse in age now than it ever has been.
If you turn your head to the right and look at the bars as if they are rising vertically from the axis below them, what I described above is almost exactly what we see.
The stuff I wrote is true, but I was just having some fun with some o' them big words I larned way back when. I was feeling good a day after my H1N1 shot, so I went for a longish run this afternoon. Shouldn'ta. I had to take an Advil when I got back. So, I am suitably chastened for my hubris in both the post and deciding it was okay to run. 
