Why Do We Feel The Need To Have Young People Take Up Our Hobby?

Reminds me of a conversation I had decades ago when I was in my early twenties.  In a discussion with an "old man", he lamented the lack of interest in classical music.  I posited that it must be that most people just don't like it.  I guess the same is true of model trains.

Brendan 

Lest one forget many classical composers were the young rebels of their day.  Despised by traditionalists and older people of the time.

Yes.  History always seems to repeat itself.

Brendan

I am the only one in my family that likes trains, My son thinks my trains are worth  lot of money and wants me to leave them to him. His idea of a hobby is video games. my daughter could care less. Her hobby is the Hallmark channel.  I have a good friend I grew up with who is a train nut like me, we talk trains all the time, he is a lionel guy also. I could care less if the younger folks do not like them. I just tore down the old layout and I am building a new one so I am happy as **** doing that even though my bones hate it.

My Dad gave me my first train for Christmas when I was 3. It was a Marx Green UP M10000 and was followed each year by Lionel trains, track, switches, and a larger transformer until WW ll.  After the war, I became fascinated with HO trains that lasted until my children were grown. Then in the 80's, I became interested in the scale sized O gauge trains that Lionel, MTH, Weaver and Williams were producing. I'm still enjoying their products today, but none of my children or their children have shown any interest Papa's hobby other than watching them run on occasion.

@Brendan posted:

Reminds me of a conversation I had decades ago when I was in my early twenties.  In a discussion with an "old man", he lamented the lack of interest in classical music.  I posited that it must be that most people just don't like it.  I guess the same is true of model trains.

Brendan 

Brendon,

I'm still laughing about your very interesting post, and thinking of a Boomer writing a song titled, "Old Man", as a then 27 year old. Paul McCartney's, "When I'm 64", recorded by the Beatles, is in a similar vein.  Both Neil Young, and Paul McCartney enjoyed playing guitar and singing as young men, and then kept up their interest (among many others) as they aged.  

To me, anyone who has an avocation (or avocations) that they enjoy is very lucky, regardless of their age, or the length of time that they maintain their interest(s).  As TexasSP notes, many friends don't share the same interest, and, that is one of the special characteristics that makes them interesting. 

My 2 1/2 year old grand daughter likes to watch Thomas the Tank Engine, I do to for that matter, I have 3 PODS to finish unloading then I'll get down to the serious stuff and start unpacking my trains (first to get packed and now they'll be last to be unpacked, something wrong with that picture).  I will find a spot in the den or even in my room where I can put up a small oval and let her run my Thomas set that I have.  I'm sure she'll love it when she see's it.  I can't wait for that to happen.

My boys were never interested in trains but my oldest son knows about airplanes really well.  He knows pretty much about WWII types and some of the newer jets that are out zipping around, the younger son doesn't give a rats behind about trains or planes, just fast cars.  Funny how that works, I've loved trains for as long as I can remember, I was brought up with them and have loved them ever since.  I love planes too, my new home in Lewisville, TX is on the down wind leg and final for DFW and to suits me just fine, when rush time starts, I see them on the 2 minutes apart routine every day numerous times a day.  There's tons of Railroading up in this area, both UP and BNSF have some yards in the Ft. Worth area along with some huge Grain Elevators with lots of traffic.  I also plan to start riding the DART and the Ft. Worth train that runs between Dallas and Ft. Worth.  To keep it in perspective, I plan on taking my granddaughter to go see the trains as often as I can and will definitely take her to see the big display that TW Trainworx sets up at one of the malls,   She saw it last year and it was fantastic.

We need younger kids to get involved in the hobby, who will keep it going when we all die off?

@TexasSP posted:

This is a ridiculous comment.  People under 30 are probably more engaged in hobbies than ever.  For the record, I am 42 at the tail end of Gen X.  Must of my friends though are solid Gen X'ers with none being under 50.  However I can see what is around me and I work with a lot of millenials and people under 30.

Here are some facts:

1. Trains, especially O Gauge take up a lot of space (yes, you can have small layouts, however for most that doesn't hold interest for long)

2. Trains, especially O Gauge are expensive (yes, you can go less expensive but even setting up a decent postwar layout isn't cheap)

3. Trains are a niche for a hobby, you have to have an interest in trains in general

4. There is a larger variety hobbies today than ever before, especially around outdoor activities which I see a lot of younger people engaging in

5. Trains are mostly a solitary hobby (yes there are train clubs, however they are not convenient to or of interest to many for a variety of possible reasons, clubs have their own challenges)

During this lock down, if my 13 year old's hobby was trains, he would have been by himself isolated with just me.  However, he loves Xbox and playing with his friends, which has kept him socializing and working with others the whole time.  It takes a lot of active teamwork on these multiplayer games. Even though I myself as a gamer don't care for that style, I respect it.

For people who say the younger generation doesn't like building, using their hands, etcetera, you need to get out of your bubble.  A quick look at YouTube disproves this easily.  I see millennials building guitars from kits, restoring antique items, modding their cars, building their own Lego creations, making amazing static models in ways never seen before, converting old vans and trucks into RV's, re-purposing multitudes of things, building their own guns, building and modding RC vehicles, making furniture, designing, 3D printing and building custom projects, building and modifying mountain and street bikes, electric bikes, and so on, the list is never ending.

 

Why emphasize O gauge? IMHO all model trains are expensive these days. OTOH, I would argue a PW layout can be built at a very reasonable price compared to new trains in O Gauge or new trains in other scales. 

I don’t think anyone here is saying Millennials are not creative or do not build things with their hands. I agree with that there are many very talented Millennials on YouTube showing off what they can do and I think that is awesome! But how do you know that this is indicative of a large percentage of Millennials? I personally think this is only small representation of the total. I know 12 Millennials personally (all wonderful kids or young adults) and only two of them has a hobby that is not video games. One is into cars and another plays guitar. Two more are into sports so I don’t know if that counts as building or creating something but still it’s 4 out of 12. I am not knocking them. If I were their age I would probably be just like them. It’s just so much easier to to do stuff in the virtual world as compared to real life. In real life you have to put time and effort into building or creating something. It could be anything, not necessarily trains. IMHO, video games and other computer stuff is so captivating to young people. It’s hard for them to turn away. 

I do agree with your other points. 

If you reread my post I do not exclude other scales. Hence my wording "Trains, especially O gauge".

I know a heck of a lot more than 12 millennials and would say a large percentage have hobbies that are not video games.  Many of them have outdoor hobbies such as Mountain Biking and other sports.  

I edited my post to better reflect what I was trying to say. Traditionally, sports whether baseball, basketball, football or hiking or biking were not considered “hobbies” but if you want to classify them as such I can see your point of view. However, in sports there is no building, no using your hands. The fact is these days that people are needed in all sorts of trades from plumbers to carpenters to automotive technicians. 

"Hobby -