how old are you ???

Awesome! Your layout room doesn't need much aisle width... just keep cutting those legs down!!!

I'm 43, right smack-dab in middle-age; unlike Ed my waistline has begun keeping pace with my age...

After a couple of die-cast and tinplate toy trains in the 1960s, I got a Tyco figure eight set for Christmas from my parents when I was ten, and enjoyed the hobby right through my teen years. As is typical with so many people, things went on hiatus when I left home for college.

Now I am a structural engineer (I design bridges - including some railroad bridges!) and after finding the woman of my dreams (or more correctly, succumbing to the pressure of a long-time girlfriend), settling down to a more sedentary lifestyle and buying in a basement (with a kitchen and some other rooms on top of it), I had the opportunity to return to the hobby. Married life has led to children aged 6, 4, 2, twins age 0 so modeling comes in fits and spurts right now.

But I'm sure it will be better when I have five teenagers in the house.

---------------------------------------------------- I'm envious, Bruce. Do you eat food?

Bill, As far as food goes I eat what I want when I want but it often takes very little to fill me up. The weakness that will eventually catch up with me is the love for breads and baked goods of all sorts. And bacon and scrapple. My work is outdoors and very physical so I'm sure that's the big factor. I took about a year off to take care of my mom when she became ill. Since I mostly hung out at her house eating, watching TV, reading or sleeping I gained about 10 lbs but as soon as I returned to work it dropped off to normal. I was side lined with busted knees a few years back and gained about 5 lbs. That to fell off shortly after I was back in the saddle. Bruce

I'm 51.

Got my first train around the Christmas tree (O - Lionel) in 1956 at the age of three. Dad built a train table in the basement and added a grass mat, roads, lighted structures, street lights, a couple trees and operating accessories. Then he apparently got it out of his system and I was pretty much on my own. I told him recently "This is all your fault!" when he seemed amazed and incredulous at my wanting to fill the entire basement with a layout.

Anyway, at age 8 we traded in the Lionel stuff and got a passenger set, freight set, track, a couple switches (all HO) and an MRC power pak (still works!). I traded all that in on my own, at age 13 or 14, for N-scale (except I kept the MRC).

Then out of the hobby pretty much for the typical reasons that go with that age group, and also because I didn't have my own place when first married, and then when I did get my own house I didn't think the basement was adequate to fit a layout in for a couple reasons. So I was out of the hobby from the middle 1970's until the late 1980's, but got back in and eventually went back to HO.

Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Paul - "The CB&Q Guy" Modeling 1960's in HO.

I sold my S gauge stuff in 1951(American Flyer) and bought a Bowser Challenger kit. Painted it with a throat atomizer using a squeeze bulb. Bowser at that time was located in Red Bluff, Ca. Been at it ever since, more or less. Have a 20 X 30 foot room that is dedicated to RR. I don't do operations, just enjoy building and running.

I won't give my age but I'm the oldest to respond so far!

Dave Wheeler GM Whitefish Northern

Jim

This is a cheap hobby compared to skiing, smoking or just going out to dinner at a restaurant each week. Then there's boating and motorcycling

- now those are not cheap hobbies!

Besides, as many will tell you, scrounging at RR flea markets can yield lots of good hobby items for modest money. Most of us spread the cost over years or decades. True, the newer DCC stuff costs money to start.

Larry

cat wrote:

On Mon, 21 Feb 2005 01:04:58 -0800, ldc purred:

But there are FAR cheaper ones than model railroading. I make paper models (now that is cheap, just paper, ink and printer time), collect anime, sculpt figures, and even collect unusual automobiles. All cost less than model railroading. Even RC planes and boats cost less. I would place model railroading somewhere in the upper middle cost of hobbies (remember the space to do it costs money, too and in states like CA, that is a big expense. Moving up to a bedroom larger apartment here would cost over $700 per month more, so that would be part of model railroading as well)

I have never even heard of a model RR swap meet, let alone gone to one and I have been in the hobby for years, so I guess it isn't an option for a goodly number of modlers wither. Wish I could find such swap meets. If I can get values like I do for car parts at auto meets that might make rai;roading more affordable.

cat

Cat, what part of which country do you live in? (This is a serious question, by the way.) If you get Model Railroader or any of the main stream mags, check out the 'schedules'. You will see, by state, listings of Swap meets, train meets, train show & Sales, swaparamas and such. If you live in Michigan, there is a show and sale on March 6th. look at my sig for details. If you live in Lower New York, NJ or CT there is a train meet in Old Greenwich on March 20. These are just two from former clubs that I use to belong to until a move took me to the west side of Michigan. The Kalamazoo club that I joined has their train show in October.

cat wrote:

Frank and cat- Perhaps this is a classic communication problem. Like Frank, I avail myself of these gatherings. I believe I've attended an average of about four of these a year over the past two decades. These are the sites of most of my model railroading purchases. Like e-bay, older, out-of-production items can be found and, unlike e-bay, real bargains are possible.

Like cat, however, I wonder if I've ever attended a real "swapmeet". Though the name persists, the only thing I've ever seen bartered is cash! Has anyone been to such an event wherein a non-monetary transfer takes place? Do the vendors trade items among themselves during that time before the general public is admitted to the swapmeet? Thank you.

Jerry

Well, "swap meet" is used loosely, since the only ones I've seen are people selling new and used stuff, not swapping it.

But to find one, go to

I'm in a town of a few hundred thousand and we have at least two big meets a year. I just went to one last week and picked up some decent car and structure kits for $5 each. They weren't the really good stuff, but they were kits that would sell for $15-$20 new.

Yes, they're really 'flea' markets, rarely 'swap' meets. Most are run as fund raiser for some model RR club or railway historical group.

In addition to the website, many of the larger 'fleas', and some smaller, are listed every month in Model Railroader, Railroad Model Craftsman, various NMRA monthly publications, and several other magazines as well. Most decent hobby shops have a rack of promo literature, usually with several upcoming 'fleas'.

Sadly, most all have become swamped with 'dealers' operating on a purely commercial basis ... portable hobby shops. These have driven the price for tables up to a point that the guy just wanting to get rid of some 'fleas' often can't make a profit. Thus we get more stuff, but at higher prices, and with LESS selection to choose from. The darned dealers ALL carry pretty much the SAME stuff. You can look at 50 tables, and see the SAME stuff, usually at about the same prices.

Most are just a general mixture of scale and tinplate stuff, with some railroadiana. A few are more restrictive, like either NO or ALL tinplate.

For someone coming in from a rural area with NO hobby shops, it must seem like 'Christmas', but for anyone living where there is one or more decent hobby shop, these dealers have little or nothing to offer.

These 'fleas' are not at all hard to find in more populous regions. there are 15-20 of them every year in the southern Michigan area for example. They range from perhaps 100 tables to well over 500 tables. And, I'm NOT including the purely commercial shows like Greenberg's, etc.

Personally, I avoid the commercial shows sponsored by ANY organization that is NOT affiliated with the hobby. These are just leeches milking money OUT of the hobby. I prefer to recycle my hobby money within the hobby. Many of these shows are also larded up with non RR items, like Hallmark ornaments, beanie-babies, and barbie dolls.

Dan Mitchell ============

The last GATS I attended was full of computer crap and other non-model railroad junk, and was absolutely swarming with yuppie larva. They even went out of their way to have the show in "BMW-Volvo Land" Totally disgusting experience. Last time for GATS for me.

That does not seem to be the case here with the club shows(Spokane,WA). Although I will say the GATS shows that came to town for a couple of years and then went away were indeed a waste of time.