I see better descriptions for the model RR hobby than growing or dying. There are still a lot of baby boomers interested in model trains. Few are joining the hobby so it can be said that the hobby is contracting a bit but far from dying. Hobbyists are still buying and the choice of suppliers these days is greater than it has ever been in the history of model railroading. Look in OGR and at the banner ads above. The hobby is alive and well if not as big as it was 20 years ago.
What is dying is the Train Collectors Association; an old obsolete operation trapped in the past, promoting the collection of post war items strictly in the period from the early 1900's to 1969. They have absolutely nothing to offer the current day hobbyist but still believe that they are important enough to levy dues increases of 40% in one year and people will still pay. The memberships being lost seem to prove otherwise. The TCA is the Titanic of the model train world. Its just that they don't yet know it or are too naive to see it. Some people on this forum will mount an emotional argument to disagree with me on this, but the numbers don't lie.
