Quote from Terry, AKA Col Stevens


So here's a Poll to check his point

There's no selection for just 'Over 21'


Ed

At the moment I am in the 50's group, but next year I will be in the 60's group.

Rats, I'm going to have to do some sums now! Cheers Mike! 

How about a pole for how old we think we are? In my head, I'm still a small lad,

Bill :)

Just come across this thread, and I'm a bit confused!


It was only started this afternoon, when I was at work
(in my van without internet access) and it shows the
results of the poll. There is nowhere to vote, but I can
change my vote, trouble is I haven't voted yet!

It's at the top of the page if you scroll up from here Jeff …………………:roll::roll:

All fixed, it had a default of one day allowed for voting.

Thanks Ron, I've voted now.
(Petermac, it wasn't there earlier, honest!)

[user=1460]jcm@gwr[/user] wrote:

Thanks Ron, I've voted now.
(Petermac, it wasn't there earlier, honest!)

hmmcheers…………….

Well up to now it's 85%  50s and above. Glad to see I'm not the only one in the over 80s, I'm still running N gauge, having started with 0 gauge clockwork in childhood, dabbled in 00 for a while when sons came along, moved to N in 1974.

I seem to be younger than the average here by some 10 - 20 years but where is the "younger at heart" option?  The body might be past the half-century but I don't think the heart has left its teens! :mrgreen:

I would agree that there is a gap in serious and tangible interest across the younger ages and perhaps caused by a combination of other interests (wine, women and song being popular choices) and a lack of disposable income (refer to previous brackets for partial explanation) at the same time.

Many of us might have had a train set in our childhood.  A few of us may have kept it and sustained an interest at some level.  I still have some of the Hornby tinplate O-gauge toy trains which I was given in my pre-school years.  The loco not only works but still has its original key.  I reckon that's a fair effort in the survival stakes.

I've always had an interest though never until ten or so years ago the time, place and funds to really begin modelling.  Loosely-placed and readily dismantled Tri-ang bits and pieces became battered and bruised but some survived long enough to be handed down in useable condition to my eldest nephew who now has his second permanent layout under construction.

For my part I try to actively encourage the younger interest by maintaining my Penhayle Bay Railway Facebook page.  Social media is more widely used by the teens to thirty-somethings than hobby forums and it's easy to engage an interest with a decent photo delivered right to someone's news feed.  Currently there are almost 1600 followers and each post might be seen by up to 13,000 unique viewers.  If that brings a few into the hobby in the longer term then one of my aims in that effort will have been achieved.

Well done Rick.

432 members, 24 votes, I hope that means the missing members are all under 30 but unlikely.
Just realised that 6 months ago I would have fallen into the 40s bracket and would have distorted the figures even further.
Andrew

Just voted but I wanted to press the 30 button twice but it would not let me. :mrgreen: 

Sad that less than 6% of us are active, but cool that the over 60's are at it the most!!!

Bill :cool:

I hope you mean model railways.:cool wink

Well Alan, it's like this . . . when I was a young man, we were advised that our age group thought about the opposite gender every seven seconds. Whilst I wont offer any personal opinion on the accuracy of such a generalisation, I certainly admit to thinking about railways more frequently than gender issues these days. Mind you, despite my mature years, there's absolutely nothing wrong with my eyesight and as we all know, spring is in the air and French women certainly have a certain, je ne c'est quoi!

Bill :cool:

 

Good luck with that then.

Voted…
Always had an interest… parents had to pull the car over at level crossings and stations to allow for a decent bit of train spotting while still in the booster seat in the back!


Had an OO roundy roundy in the garage on a bit of 8 x 6 chipboard when in my middle teens… you can imagine what a disaster that was!


Moved up to N gauge in 1990 after years of dreaming and armchair modelling. A couple of years of a unfulfilled layout on a door in a garden shed, a hiatus of another dozen years or so of more armchair modelling and then a start on the current layout in the late 2000s.


Pros: No children at home, wife out working, own home with room to spare for a layout, steady, well paying job, still a solid interest.
Cons: The home is over 100 years old with the associated maintenance requirements, there is a decent patch of garden (including lawns and a vegie patch), emergency service volunteer, wife, holidays, travel, full time work… and it goes on.
So… still steadily chipping away at the layout 7 or 8 years later (I'd have to refer to the layout thread to be sure…. Ooo :shock: just looked, first post 2nd Jan 2007… so that's 9 years and a couple of months!!!) and ticked of the half century a year and a bit ago.


Come on lads… vote up… even if you are just a reader… in fact, especially if you are just a reader… it would be neat to know what the results show. Don't have to write anything, just vote.


Of course, the results will just reflect the members of this forum and not the wider modelling population.


cheers
Marty

Three score and ten this year.

I know nuffin 'bout trains - sept I like American diseasals. 

Don't like steamers.  Too many flying bits attached to the wheels - get bent when I pick 'em up.