I was in a hobby store today looking at the train stuff. I have a general interest in the idea but the last thing I need in my life is a new useless way to waste time, space, and money. But nonetheless I’ve noticed that all of the railroad diorama stuff you see is stuck in the past. The “modern” diorama supplies look like they came from about 1963. Now I pretty sure that hobby stores aren’t just selling off inventory that was manufactored fifty years ago - somebody is still making this stuff. So why don’t they update their dioramas? I can understand that maybe their main demographic is older men who feel nostalgic for their childhood and also that the golden age of rail transportation was decades ago. But don’t they feel there might be some untapped market for people who want to build a contemporary looking diorama?
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I’m not so sure that there are many fans of modern trains that are also into diorama building. I’ve noticed many of the people who in the past would’ve built kitset models, dioramas, and model railways, now get the same level of joy from building 3D graphics models instead, and that’s where the more modern trains are being built.
The boom in train layouts came before computers did much. I agree that many train fanatics have moved on to the computer for their fun. There are railroad simulators out there. Someone that has a layout is likely to stay in the same time period the rest of the layout represents. The kits are likely being made by 20 year old tools which are expensive to make in the first place. Many of these kits are not from America either. I expect a German made kit to be less likely to match our modern buildings.
Around here the buildings around the actual working railroads are old and not modern. They are actually some of the worse parts of town. This spring one of the buildings had the basement wall collapse, which is typical of the condition of the buildings by the track.
People do make buildings from textures printed on card stock. You could try that for more modern buildings.
Consider what periods are noted for train use, or forparticular trains.
What Muffin said. There’s a lot more of the past than there is of the present, plus if you prefer steam to diesels you’re going to be talking about forty or fifty years ago, at least.
Model railroader here.
You got the main reason in the OP. Most model railroaders, whether they do dioramas or full layouts, are older men (In the club I belong to, I’m one of the youngest – and I’ll be 40 next year). They’re the ones with the time and income that the hobby eats so much of.
It’s common for modelers to draw upon their youth for inspiration – so you see lots of models of trains and roads from 30-50 years ago.
Another reason is that the “transition era” is by far the most popular era – this is when you would find both steam and deisel engines running around. Many people want to run both, and be prototypical, so they pick this era. Also, most passenger rail travel (save Amtrak) ended in the late 60’s – if you want to do heavy passenger traffic, you pick an earlier era.
Also, modern equipment is larger, and requires more space to model.
Finally, it’s a vicious circle. I’d prefer to model the 1930’s, but it’s hard to find a good selection of engines, rolling stock and building kits for this era (esp. in the road I model). So gradually I’ve been modelling more and more of the transition era, because that’s what’s available. As I buy more of that, it reinforces to the manufacturer’s that it is what people want. Naturally they make and sell whatever has the most mass appeal.
All that said, modern layouts (80’s and newer) are becoming more popular, as it becomes nostalgia for younger people entering the hobby.