Moonson, excellent question. I've wondered this myself for awhile.
I am going to a stab at it, and throw out a number for the US only.
I am basing this on limited logic and simple math, but really it is a number that comes from the clouds.
No less than 459,640 total modelers is my guess, with no less than 22,982 of them being in O gauge.
Again this is based on a few assumptions, and the following limited logic and simple math.
Here goes:
According to the OGR Forum, they have 9,991 Registered Members.
J & C Archive Studios Archives, of which I (We) am (are) a Member(s), has about 1500 Members last time I checked.
That totals 11,491 people, although some I know, belong to both, (and there are many other forums).
I myself didn't even know about this forum until about 2 years ago at best, and I have been in the hobby my entire life really, and I'm in my early 50's.
I will therefore put forth the assumption that for every person who knows of these two forums, there is at least one modeler or collector who does not, or is an armchair modeler, which I have also been, at various times in my life. That puts that number at 22,982 (11,491 X 2).
Now, I have read by people in the know and those who may have a better handle on this, that O gauge alone represents perhaps 5% of the Hobbyists/Collectors/Modelers in the entire group of scales, combined.
If that is even close to being true, that would suggest between the remaining scales, that there may be 20x the number 22,982, which is 459,640. The reason I say "no less than", is because 459,640 people doesn't sound like much when you consider that there are..... what, between 250 and 300 million people in our country alone? So I think, that the number is really a lot larger, and I mean a lot larger, just here in the US.
I don't sell trains as a retailer, so I have no idea from an item sales/quantity perspective, whatsoever.
And worldwide, whew......huge!!!
What does everybody else think?
