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A couple weeks ago I spotted a post in a forum of someone giving away old train and hobby magazines.

Well, the guy had a bunch of magazines from my favorite era for reading 1950's-1960's model railroading and it turned out he was in the same city as me. I figured if he has a collection of old magazines he must be an older gentleman that is clearing out some junk.

When I got there I met his mom, and he came out of the garage. Lo and behold he is a younger train fan. Even more surprising, he said his favorite scale is O scale.

We hung out a little and talked trains. And I left with boxes of magazines.

I will let the pictures speak for themselves. I am the older dude in the pictures.

 

Seems I got a new train buddy. 

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Last edited by Traingeekboy
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Traingeekboy posted:

A couple weeks ago I spotted a post in a forum of someone giving away old train and hobby magazines.

Well, the guy had a bunch of magazines from my favorite era for reading 1950's-1960's model railroading and it turned out he was in the same city as me. I figured if he has a collection of old magazines he must be an older gentleman that is clearing out some junk.

When I got there I met his mom, and he came out of the garage. Lo and behold he is a younger train fan. Even more surprising, he said his favorite scale is O scale.

We hung out a little and talked trains. And I left with boxes of magazines.

I will let the pictures speak for themselves. I am the older dude in the pictures.

 

Seems I got a new train buddy. 

Resized_20190907_15535920190907_155504

That's a nice floor plan.

I think the entire hobby may be mostly for old men. As an older fellow myself, I am not offended by the title of the original post. As evidence, I cite the attendance at train shows, membership of model railroad clubs, and posters on the OGR Forum - mostly older guys by my observation. That's not to say there aren't youngsters and younger people, too - but predominantly older males. I read a comment in another modeling magazine today to the effect that N is the most rapidly growing scale because it best fits the budgets and living spaces of younger people. The OP's statement will have absolutely no effect on my enjoyment of O gauge model railroading.  In response, I just say - so what?

MELGAR

My love of O gauge dates back to the late 50's as that was my first set of trains. They have been stored for years with the occasional Christmas display put up for kids and grand kids. At those times maintenance was done and interest kept alive. I would always look out for garage sales, auctions etc. and have added to my collection over the years. Now in retirement I will hopefully have the time and energy to put together a full layout. I have seen the smaller scales and for some reason, they just don't have the same appeal. Must be early O Gauge imprinting of my brain.  I do agree I have seen mostly older gentlemen at shows and hobby stores. I would guess that is because trains were THE mode of transportation when we were young and adventurous. Too bad the rail industry took being a railroad too seriously, had they viewed themselves as a transportation industry and ran trucking services in combination with rail service there maybe younger members at the shows. 10-4 good buddy this ain't the rubber ducky over

Dwayne B posted:

I have always been in o gauge from newborn on.........Seems to me anytime I meet someone in HO gauge they have their nose in the air and look down on me for being in o gauge. What's up with that.

I always thought HO was more of an art form...scenery and all that. Not to say that there isn't a lot of really talented art in O gauge. It's just that O gauge has a history in toys and HO seemed not toy like. I have no problem with all that, I don't do trains for the art or the layout, but more for the technical aspect, detailed models, and some toy value.

Tinplate Art posted:

GLAD to see a young man having fun with his trains as we once did at an earlier age - his smile tells it all! With arthritis and some carpal issues at 77, I moved to just standard gauge and LGB and PIKO G scale (1:22.5). I can see them better, and now all I have to do is struggle lifting the dadblamed things! LOL! 😁

Tinplate Art, I am with you, but where do we go from here?  At this rate we will be playing with 1foot=1foot by the time we hit 80.  I don't know about you but those might be harder to put back on the track when they derail.

Chris S.

I bought my first O scale train as an adult when I was 25. Now that I’m 10 years older, I can afford to buy higher quality locomotives and now that I own a home, can actually build a "permanent” layout. 

I prefer O scale because it’s easier to handle (compared to smaller scales), seems to have more details (or maybe I can’t see details on smaller scales), and it was the scale of my first set that was around the tree.

I helped a high school aged neighbor, Mason Moore, get his late grandfather's HO layouts working this past Saturday.  The grandfather had two fine layouts; one large one in a game room and another larger one in an upstairs room dedicated to the second layout.  Mason could not figure out the control systems on either layout so nothing would run.  The first thing we did was clean some long neglected mainlines, and then we unraveled the control setups and fixed some broken connections.  By the end of the morning we had trains running on both layouts for the first time in several years.  It was a stunning lesson to me as to how difficult it is to keep a large HO layout running smoothly.  The least bit of corrosion on the track will bring every train to a standstill.  We found automated switches that would not actuate due to broken linkage, and locomotives that needed oiling. It took a while to get trains running continuously around the mainline loops.  We did not get every function on each layout working, but we did make significant progress.  Neither one of us has the time to troubleshoot every aspect.

As well, O gauge track and locomotives must be cleaned and maintained for proper operation, but I found HO to be taxing on my eyes and unsteady hands.      

Give me O gauge every time. 

Dave Ripp. posted:
Traingeekboy posted:

I thought so too.

I hope people realize I am being sarcastic by saying O scale is for old men.  

I used to think 56 was old but as I've gotten older and reached that age my outlook has changed. 3 Rails are better than none and age is just a number.

Don't worry … the number that we each perceive as old will only get higher as we age.

Last edited by Richie C.

Friends of old men.

I admit it's getting harder every year but still hanging in, next week I begin a a 200 kilometre walk in the bush should be grateful I can still do it at 76 years old. The trains are easy to maintain because they are O scale no problems there and I don't have any duck unders ! Roo.

A few comments from an older man.

First and I think most important, O scale modeling is for real modelers who love detail.  You can put details on an O gauge car or locomotive that few have the dexterity to do in HO.  I love operating at the O scale club in Gardner MA.

But O gauge toy trains are on a different planet from O scale.  I love old O gauge trains, especially prewar.  I buy, clean, repair sell and collect them.  But that's another world from the HO model railroad club where I am a member who delights in reproducing actual railroad operations in 1955.

BTW, I'm 81

Malcolm Laughlin

cjack posted:
Dwayne B posted:

I have always been in o gauge from newborn on.........Seems to me anytime I meet someone in HO gauge they have their nose in the air and look down on me for being in o gauge. What's up with that.

I always thought HO was more of an art form...scenery and all that. Not to say that there isn't a lot of really talented art in O gauge. It's just that O gauge has a history in toys and HO seemed not toy like. I have no problem with all that, I don't do trains for the art or the layout, but more for the technical aspect, detailed models, and some toy value.

I disagree and have a totally different opinion on HO.  It's a scale for operators.  I belong to a club that has enough track in a 40 x 90 restaurant basement to model a long main line with intermediate classification yard, local yards and branch line.  We model actual railroad operations as they were in the 50's  In the Boston area there are a few dozen home and club layouts of different sizes that have operations as one of the key objectives.

For us operators, the art part is background to give better context.

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