by umtrr-author
Getting back to Google for a moment... the number of websites out there continues to increase dramatically as far as I can see. So even if model trains had the same absolute number of hits, the percentage would keep going down.
I know my own website's "popularity"-- if I can call it that-- has trailed off. I think the causal of that is "more choices"-- both railroad related and not railroad related.
As far as how popular trains are, the "golden age" of availability of models of any kind at long defunct stores is over and has been for decades. The "golden age" of product variety may be with us, but I think even that's a debatable point in the pre-order high price point environment. (That's another discussion for another day...)
I don't believe that model trains (or railfanning, for that matter) were ever "highly accepted" by the "mainstream". Many hobbies aren't. Sports are. One of my fellow N Scalers put the reason very simply and elegantly: "Model Trains don't sell beer."
I know my own website's "popularity"-- if I can call it that-- has trailed off. I think the causal of that is "more choices"-- both railroad related and not railroad related.
As far as how popular trains are, the "golden age" of availability of models of any kind at long defunct stores is over and has been for decades. The "golden age" of product variety may be with us, but I think even that's a debatable point in the pre-order high price point environment. (That's another discussion for another day...)
I don't believe that model trains (or railfanning, for that matter) were ever "highly accepted" by the "mainstream". Many hobbies aren't. Sports are. One of my fellow N Scalers put the reason very simply and elegantly: "Model Trains don't sell beer."
George in Rochester NY
The Unofficial Micro-Trains Release Report (among other things)
The Unofficial Micro-Trains Release Report (among other things)