AHC make model railroading more popular.

t results in a frustrated dad and a bored son with foam shrubbery cemented to his fingertips.
heh. It's amazing how much incidental scenery stuff is available for model railroading. I've actually bought quite a bit of it over the years (grass, plants, vines, basing materials, etc.) for use on my metal gaming miniature stuff...
 
And even LEGO added electronics.
Model railways have continually embraced technology - the widespread use of DCC and Sound chips. The improvements in manufacturing technology and design (this is however not mass produced 3d printing, which will remain the realm of the uneconomical commercially niche prototypes and kit modelers).

It's amazing how much incidental scenery stuff is available for model railroading. I've actually bought quite a bit of it over the years (grass, plants, vines, basing materials, etc.) for use on my metal gaming miniature stuff...
I always find it funny when the military modelers, miniatures/gaming guys and the railroad modelers get on their respective high horses about "the peasant other guys" and don't see how much they have in common and how many shared resources and knowledge there is and continually reinvent the wheel. Thankfully those barriers are getting less and less these days.
 
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DougM

Donor
I have a 2000+sq ft of model railroad layout in my basement. It is controlled by a digital command control system with a dozen wireless handsets (throttles). All my engines have built in sound. The layout used advance electronic circuit breakers and such.
I have used DCC from within a couple years of it being released and older systems for a long time before that.
I have a pc that I use to program my engines. I have a CNC router cutter that use to build models and I am thinking about getting a 3D printer or a laser cutter.
I USE advanced technology build and control my layout. But my layput is not realy advanced technology. Not in the way things like computer games smart, phones, virtual reality, etc are advanced technology.
Kids moved away from trains starting in the 60s and were almost gone by the 70s. Just as electronic games came out. I know trains were all but dead as a common toy in the mid 70s as I was a kid then and I was the only kid I know in my school, my friends, or my family that still had a train. And even I got into electronic games and the computers and computer games.
To keep them you have to eliminate that. And that is basically ASB
As much as I love trains nothing is going to change that.
 
I always find it funny when the military modelers, miniatures/gaming guys and the railroad modelers get on their respective high horses about "the peasant other guys" and don't see how much they have in common and how many shared resources and knowledge there is and continually reinvent the wheel. Thankfully those barriers are getting less and less these days.
maybe it's because I'm a loner who's always lived in small towns, but I can't say I've ever seen anything like this... I know that the hobby supply stores are happy to sell model railroading stuff to anyone who comes along... even me. :)
 
maybe it's because I'm a loner who's always lived in small towns, but I can't say I've ever seen anything like this... I know that the hobby supply stores are happy to sell model railroading stuff to anyone who comes along... even me. :)
The store's will sell it - they don't care - I'm talking more about the broader hobby communities and groups and some of their perceived attitudes. The internet and social media have actually been one of the best things for the hobby for years - even if some of the old fellas and cottage industry manufacturers refuse to jump on board...
 
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