The pop and rock greats who love model railways
theguardian.com
theguardian.com
The "rockstar modeler" phenomenon they're talking about here is amusing and very real, because if you're not into it you might not realize modeling is such a closeted hobby. Almost every modeler I know (all of whom, through the internet), makes every effort to avoid telling anyone about the hobby, and we all do it instinctively. It's funny because it's not like model-makers are some classically oppressed group, but we certainly act like we are. Maybe its childhood trauma lurking deep in our subconscious. Maybe it's just cognitive dissonance between who we really are, and the face we present to the world. I don't know.
But anyway, that's the sort of deeper significance to this article, and why it's so funny (or cool, for some of us) to have rockstars of all people who are into modeling.
Curious if anyone in the young crowd, or teaches/parents the young crowd in highschool could chime in on this. I could be very very wrong and living in a bubble.
I think it's a pretty natural response, honestly. Not everything has to be, or even should be, up for social grabs. It's OK to have a personal, private life.
To clarify my previous post, I was referring to those who are suppressed by others from expressing something about themselves that they would otherwise share.
Not to get too off-track, but one of my close friends is directly affected by this, and it has cause them a lot of stress at work. Thankfully most of the the folks they directly work with are understanding, but still.
It's really obnoxious and while I'm sure I've missed a couple decent conversations I know I've dodged a lot more unsolicited drivel by just keeping the hobbies I do to relax for fun to myself.
Is it a cultural thing specific to where you live?
I should also mention it's not always aggressive, it seems to be I meet a lot of other guys where the hobby for them is all about the gear. Don't get me wrong, I love bells and whistles, but at some point I learned it's more about what works for me and gives the results I want.
He had since built a very extensive indoor O scale layout. The quality of the landscape / scenery is really high. Unfortunately we are now presented with the ‘so what do we do when he passes?’ Question.
He has started to look for a museum to donate it to and trying to offload engines before he passes. It isn’t easy to sell these days, definitely a niche hobby.
Edit: grammar / typos
> instead of wondering where I should put a cymbal, I’m thinking: ‘Does that tree work there? Is that house too close to the railway line?’ It ticks exactly the same boxes.”
These pursuits seem very dangerous for some technically minded people. I built a system for monitoring the levels in our water tanks. Crappy solutions are available for a few bucks, but they didn't suit me. It grew into a multi-user cloud based system that took perhaps a year or so part time to complete. It does its job perfectly but there's no way I can justify that time (and I knew it at the time). I just had no choice but to do it to a high standard.
Isn't that what a hobby is all about though, no need to justify the cost, just because you want to.
Mine’s a railway grid of ‘cells’ with roundabouts at each intersection. Each cell does a specialised function eg oil and coal to rocket fuel, lubricant and petroleum gas. When another cell needs something it just enables a train stop using a circuit network, and the nearest supply train sets off to deliver it.
I’m basically playing ‘model trains’ at this point!
It also makes me wonder if there any simulators or video games that cater more specifically to the impulse behind building model railways.
The "impulse behind building model railways" varies among victims, some like the scenery, some like the tracks and trains on a bare table, etc. scene geeks might like "Planet Coaster".
But have a quick look here:
One of the main reasons is that this hobby hit the (I do not know what to call it, so Ill throw everything here) "betabrand", "group-buy", "one offs" too dang hard.
You see an engine, its a DCC / Sound / Hyper-realistic switcher and it comes in the rail (Union Pacific, BNSF, CSX, Norfolk Southern, etc) and yard number you want. You have to join the pre-buy list, paid in full upfront. If you miss it (OH, and snipers buy all of them ahead of time to sell later on forums and ebay), well...you are going to pay a lot more later on forums and ebay.
Its nuts. What used to be in stock all the time is now a group buy, "we will never do this again in this paint scheme and road number" production run. Sure, I get it, but it costs a LOT of money to get what you want. I really thought, on my pretty middle-upper class salary that I could relive my childhood and get back into MRR. Yeah, I had to give that up after the realization hit me.. "this small layout is going to cost thousands upon thousands of dollars just in engines and cars, much less scenery".
I have no idea what those MRR companies are thinking, but everyone in it has a LOT of extra money to spend. Even in most forums the line "hard to get new people to join our hobby" is thrown around quite a bit.
That said, I think, model railroading will survive and return to it's roots of small basement and garage makers thanks to 3d printing.
i'd spend all that money on musical gear instead!
I can absolutely see the appeal of spending your money in an industry where nobody cares who you are or what products you use.
Many years ago, I was affiliated with a permeant lan gaming store (this was before everyone had high speed internet - which was the downfall of the store when it became available) that was down the road from the state capital.
The store was next to another one who's owner was known in certain circles of politics - but it was more a "known in the circles" rather than "active in the circles"... anyways...
One day, a well dressed young man came around a lunch break time and asked about the video games and playing them and then came back after working hours and played some lan games for a bit.
When he left, the neighbor shop owner came over and asked if we knew who that was - turned out to be the speech writer or press person for the governor at the time.
He often came back and the guess of the appeal (beyond playing games) was twofold. (1) None of the other patrons of the shop cared - they were mostly high school and college kids. (2) Once on line, no one knew who he was.
So yep - spending money where no one cares who you are or what you do where you would be noteworthy outside can have its appeal.
But for the most part these guys are buying vintage/classic stuff and paying astronomical amounts of money for it, since pretty much all people on the planet who care about guitars or tube preamps are chasing the same couple models.
Thats the advantage of growing old
Not all of that is due to age or volume :p