The Majority Here?

Merry Christmas 2006 (in case you're reading this thread well into '07 and beyond...) to all!

I just noticed looking at the Train Board MRR forums index that the N scale forum posts outnumber the HO forum here by nearly five fold! Is Trainboard traditionally oriented more towards N scalers or does this show a real demographic shift?

As a new N scale convert I'm curious to see if I'm really part of this shift...Especially now since the price difference between N and HO has blurred considerably the past few years -- and in some cases N is more affordable (the Atlas articulated auto carrier car for example: $40 MSRP for N scale, $60 for HO!)

 

Alan-

Or not enough.

OR, or, or perhaps N-Scalers were learned better in skule to rite with aplomb and stile.

 

My thought is that there are a lot more computer savey people who model N scale vs HO (no offense to our HO brothers). That is why you see so many more post from the N scalers. Also, it seems we N scalers tend to send more time researching and purchasing products on line. Thus, discussion boards like this wonderful place are a great wealth of information. Just my thoughts on the question and Merry Christmas 2006 to you and everyone here.

 

This is probably the best answer. HO modelers have so many more products available that they spend their time modeling. No need to talk about what they don't have.

Ben

 

This phenomenon has been discussed a few times before, both here and on other forums. Many theories have been advanced.

1. N scalers are newer to the hobby.
2. N scalers are younger, and more accustomed to computers.
3. There was a dearth of N scale information in the bigger train magazines.
4. There were a small group of high posters on N scale forums. They drove the forums.
5. There were few N scale clubs compared to HO, so we turned to forums for a community.

I'm sure I haven't recalled all the theories. I'm not familiar with the HO market nor the forums. Some things on the Internet just take off in unpredictable ways.

 

If you check out Kalmach's Model Railroader forum, it is pretty clear HO dominates that forum so I think it's a matter of different scales dominating different forums. Unless they are N scale specific, I've yet to see a train store that is stocked with more N scale stuff than HO.

I will say I've seen tremendous growth in N scale in recent years. I think it has a lot to do with manfacturers finally making equipment that runs and looks like it should.

 

Thanks for that perspective, John. I haven't been over to the Kalmbach forum for a long time. Model Railroader does tend to feature HO, so a forum from Kalmbach (the publisher of Model Railroader) logically would be oriented to HO.

 

Hee Hee LOL That's good.

I do participate on another website, brand X and we asked the webmaster to give us a N Scale forum. His reply NO!..."Not enough hits". I wonder why? So most of us brought our little toy train complex and rejection to TrainBoard. Grin!

I'm an older HO stuffed shirt and they feel it's beneath them to communicate on a computer.

Seriously, you won't find this many well advised and experienced modelers on most other forums. Lot's of shared knowledge.

Till later.

 

If you want O gauge go to the Gauge. you want HO go to MR's forums. N scale... Well this seems to be a hotspot.

I'm a rubber scaler and just love trains. I welcome anyone to Trainboard regardless of scale, and I read about layouts regardless of scale. It's the cross talk that makes us better model railroaders. I hope we get more larger scale modellers here because they have lots of good info to share with us.

I use Jon Grant as a fine example of an HO scaler who has plenty to offer the N scale side. Perhaps it's more of an issue of quality than quantity.

P.s. still lol'ing over the inferiority complex comment and the nice speelling from foth.

 

After a brief stint with HO last fall, I came back to N scale with a passion a couple weeks ago. Alot had to do with space constraints and the fact I already have an N scale layout set up.

I'm probably as much of a collector as I am modeler and find N scale is one of the funnest scales to collect. The better stuff like Kato, Atlas, Intermountain runs and looks super.

I meet a lot of N scalers who like me are table top plug and play type guys. So I'm enjoying the comradeship too.

 

The interesting thing about The Gauge is that the HO and N forums are almost equally used.

 

Who cares N is the only scale that matters!

 

I dunno, my LHS is N specific!

I also agree that many N scalers are younger and have tighter spaces to fill; Thats how I fell into it.

-NUTEY-