NEW MTL PS 2 Hopper

Joe D'Amato Jun 21, 2022

  1. BigJake

    BigJake TrainBoard Member

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    To misquote the Tina Turner hit: "What's neeeed got to do with it?!" It's a hobby. I need what I like, and vise-versa.

    As for the hobby growing or not, it is definitely changing, from the products to the participants. I think there may be more competition from collectors as opposed to from other model railroaders. The product lines seem to reflect that.

    While electronics has always been a part of it, that has stepped up a notch with the addition of DCC. The cost of entry, for those with will and skill to build their own (e.g. DCC++, etc.) is quite cheap, but entry-level ready-to-run DCC systems are still reasonable.

    The cost of updating a large collection of DC locos to DCC is daunting, but beginners don't have to deal with that. Whether they want to hand-lay ties and rails, flex track, or sectional track to Unitrack, there's a solution available for all modelers. And DC modellers can still purchase DC capable locomotives for their layouts.

    I think the railroads are more in the news lately, whether the UP steam tours, or the intermodal freight congestion, etc., so there are likely more not-yet-modelers aware of railroads than before. How we continue to help beginners will determine the future of our hobby.

    A look at the excitement on the faces of the kids (and their parents) glued around the edges of the Lego layout at the train show is another indication that our hobby is expanding its reach, if not it's size, and perhaps in a direction for more growth. Just imagine integrating JMRI into that!

    Don't know how this will all turn out, but it ought to be a fun ride!
     
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  2. NorsemanJack

    NorsemanJack TrainBoard Member

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    DCC is an archaic concept in the era of bluetooth. Will we ever see a shift? Probably not, because it's a dying hobby.
     
  3. Shortround

    Shortround TrainBoard Member

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    Even though I still haven't fully come to understand DCC, I do find much truth in your analysis.
     
  4. Inkaneer

    Inkaneer TrainBoard Member

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    It is a slow death to be sure. But go to a train show and observe the people. How many are young people? Not many, most are old guys and a lot of them just go to 'window shop' so to speak (they don't buy anything).
     
  5. Shortround

    Shortround TrainBoard Member

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    Inkaneer, I have seen that since I gained interest at age 25. As well as the disapproval of my bringing a youngster to see the show.
     
  6. Inkaneer

    Inkaneer TrainBoard Member

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    I've been going to train shows for about forty years now. I see a lot fewer young people there now than before. People I see are usually older men late 40's +. Some bring their wives, some have walkers. Don't see many with purchases. Only young people seem to be babies in strollers or young kids whose parents/grandparents take them to see the trains. The only vender that seems to do well is the young lady who sells the fudge. Good fudge too!
     
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  7. Kisatchie

    Kisatchie TrainBoard Member

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    Hmm... I love banana
    fudge...
    [​IMG]
     
  8. Allen H

    Allen H TrainBoard Supporter

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    "Thread drift", you gotta love it.... :rolleyes:
     
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  9. John Moore

    John Moore TrainBoard Supporter

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    This wasn't a drift but a roaring avalanche. This is what happens when you get a bunch of old geezers together, they forget what they were saying mid sentence and start off in a new vein.
     
    Martin Station likes this.
  10. Hardcoaler

    Hardcoaler TrainBoard Member

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    Since we've gone astray, I'll take us a bit further in regard to railfanning. I'm very pleased to see significant participation by young people in railfanning. Regional and state Facebook pages are chock full of quality photographs, videos and good information, and to make it even better, there's diversity in race and even gender. It's a friendly bunch and even as a 65+ geezer, I'm welcomed. This certainly bodes well for railfanning and perhaps modeling too if someday income and space allow.
     
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  11. BigJake

    BigJake TrainBoard Member

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    I agree whole-heartedly. When the UP Big Boy came to Fort Worth, I was amazed and the young adults/families that came to see it! Sure, there were plenty of old folks too, but the interest in 1:1 railroading is still there. How that translates into model railroading is yet to be revealed. I think a lot of people are turned off by how much work (and space & expense) they see us put into our layouts (young adults with young children have little time for other avocations) Circling back to the Lego layout at the train show I mentioned, that is another opportunity for a growing market (perhaps to the chagrin of many here.) I also think products like Unitrack allow new entrants to have fun reliably running trains before they commit to a larger, more permanent, detailed layout. And many of us still use Unitrack!

    Bringing it back to the subject of this article, prices of railcars count. (See what I did there?) Therefore, DC control will still be here for a long while, if for no other reason than providing a necessarily reachable entry point to the hobby.

    Bluetooth tops out at 7 simultaneously connected devices, so it is not likely to replace DCC in model railroading, although it is used for Lego trains (which are larger than O scale, probably due to battery capacity).

    I have a great-nephew that loves all things Lego. Maybe a Lego train set is in his near future...
     
  12. Shortround

    Shortround TrainBoard Member

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    Interest is definitely lacking here in northeast Wisconsin. I was always very good in the Milwaukee area but then I moved up here in '06. :sick:
     
  13. Charlie Vlk

    Charlie Vlk February 5, 2023 In Memoriam

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    The people that first started saying the Hobby is dying are dead and continually replaced with yet another generation of doomsayers.
    Sure, older people are the prime participants at conventions as they have the disposable money and time…which has always been the trigger.
    I do have a general concern about the general dumbing down of the population, (Instant gratification TikToc mentality) but we still have room to grow the Hobby for the segment that have patience, curiosity, quest for learning, and willingness to try mastering new skills.
    While you might find a kid that will eventually become an adult model railroader, it is more productive for each of us to recruit one or more adults into the Hobby. We could double the size of the Hobby NOW and likely insure it’s future by having more people as examples of people who enjoy it….the best seed to plant for long term harvesting. The onset of activity age may be shifting from 30 towards 40 because of the changing work/social reality of today but people never really got into the Hobby until their family and work settled…very few of us are true lifelong train nuts. If you find such a kid, treat them as much as possible as a fellow Model Railroader if one parent will participate. You will probably learn as much from them as they do from you. Kiddie programs are largely a waste of time and in today’s post Boy Scout era a risk.
    There are dead spots of the Hobby where outdoor activities are hard to compete against. We considered retiring to the Rheinlander, WI area. We even looked into buying a quilt shop where I could open a Hobby Shop in the basement. Quilters are everywhere….Model Railroaders, not so much. Too many bait shops, bars and snowmobiles. The specter of snow brought us to our senses as well.
    By all accounts Model Railroading is very active in England and Europe. It might be in decline in Japan as most production was more targeted to a 10 year old Japanese boy as Lionel/American Flyer toy trains and even though they are surrounded by trains the are, like our kids, fixated on the electronics. Model Railroading as an adult Hobby exists but due to their space limitations and culture not really developed as much as you would think.
    Charlie Vlk
     
  14. NorsemanJack

    NorsemanJack TrainBoard Member

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    Interesting. So seven locomotives per controller? That should work. I wouldn't see battery capacity as an issue as our existing rails could provide a constant voltage power supply at all times, at least to feed the DC motors. An on board rechargable to keep the brain alive might be worth having, and a welcomed reliability improvement.
     
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  15. NorsemanJack

    NorsemanJack TrainBoard Member

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    I don't see the current generation as dumbed down, just distracted by a growing number of things to attract their attention. Many of us old guys grew up in an era where things were extremely boring. TV had three channels of crap (four if you could pull in a UHF). If you were good at sports, that's how you killed time. If you weren't, then you gravitated towards things that could challenge your creativity and teach you new things. Hence, the hey day of model railroading. Now days? There are literally thousands of things competing for a person's attention.
     
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  16. BigJake

    BigJake TrainBoard Member

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    That limit would include individual locos currently controlled via one DCC/consist address. So a triple-header and a ABBA lash-up orbiting a doubletrack loop, and you're done with one controller. No switching in the yard, or local freight dodging the above while working the local industries, until you buy another controller.

    I guess you'd have to kill track power for an emergency stop (another bluetooth client per controller? That means no more than 7 controllers per track power supply. I would find these limitations unacceptable, and every club layout would as well. So now I can't run my BT locomotives at the club layout either. And each controller needs a BT controller to talk to its max 7 locos, and a BT client to maintain an emergency-power-off link to the track power supply. Or the track power supply could repeat the emergency stop command from one controller to all (6 max) other controllers, so they can stop their max 7 locos each.

    WiFi endpoints are getting cheap enough to support one per loco "decoder" (but still maybe not small enough for N scale and below in many locos), and support far more simultaneous network subscribers (assuming a GOOD WiFi router) than BT. BT's attractiveness is low power consumption (at the cost of range and capacity, it was designed to support battery powered operation.) But you have plenty of power available via the rails, so why put up with BT's limitations?

    Good enough for Lego is not necessarily good enough for model railroading.
     
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  17. Calzephyr

    Calzephyr TrainBoard Supporter

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    Okay... this thread 'was' about Joe D'Amato announcing a newly tooled PS2 hopper... right???
    Well let me get back 'on track' with this.

    Joe... the price for a single car is prohibitively high for most of us.
    At first I though it was for a pair of cars... and thought that would be a bargain at $45.00 MSRP. Now that it is confirmed that the price is per car... I find the cost difficult to justify. I would probably purchase 'each' at about $32-$35 MSRP... so if you offered the pairs at $65-$70 MSRP... I would buy... begrudgingly.
    The cost of living has skyrocketed over the past few years and these discretionary purchases are taking a back seat to necessities. I am sure most model railroaders are not immune to the inflationary spiral of everything.
    BTW... I haven't purchased a Micro-trains car in 2 months... which is unheard of for me. If it's not a 'have to have' model and is not fairly priced... I pass on it.
     
    Last edited: Jul 9, 2022
  18. freddy_fo

    freddy_fo TrainBoard Member

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    I see reservations being offered on this for $34.45. I'll bet tophobby will be selling for that price or better when they finally do list them.
     
  19. BigJake

    BigJake TrainBoard Member

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    Inflation hits everybody, including producers (and retailers), not just consumers. Their costs are increasing too. While some can absorb temporary losses for a little while, they all eventually have to raise their prices to stay in business. And to be able to absorb those losses, even temporarily, they must have been charging more to begin with.
     
  20. NorsemanJack

    NorsemanJack TrainBoard Member

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    That price won't prevent me from buying. I might just buy one or two instead of three or four. I'll take quality over quantity any day of the week.
     
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