Where does model railroading rank among Americans’ favorite hobbies? “It depends on whom you ask and how you define `hobby,’ ” says Jim Slocum, editor and publisher of Model Retailer magazine in Waukesha, Wis. But this much is true, according to Slocum and other sources:
– Among traditional hobbies — radio-controlled vehicles, rocketry, plastic models, miniatures — model railroading is far and away the most popular.
– The bible of the industry, Model Railroader magazine, has a circulation of 210,000. Nine other magazines serve the hobby, including specialty publications Garden Railways and O Gauge Railroading.
– Americans spend more than $897 million a year on model trains and accessories.
– Americans lead the pack in model railroad purchases. Other countries where the hobby is hot include Germany, France and England.
– HO scale trains are the top-selling trains, with 82 percent of the market. Next in popularity are the smaller N and O scales.
– The U.S. Postal Service recognized the hobby earlier this year by issuing a stamp with artwork from the 1929 Lionel train catalog. The boy in the illustration is Joe Adda, now a 75-year-old New Jersey dairy farmer who still collects trains.
– The average model railroader, according to the latest (1993) Model Railroader poll, is male, age 47, married with children, a homeowner with a household income of $51,909, college educated, lives in the Northeast or Midwest, has an average layout of 215 square feet and attends three train shows a year. He usually has his train layout in the basement, unless he lives on the Pacific coast. Then it’s most likely in the garage.
