Hacker News

Oh no, Hattons are closing!!

I’ve always loved model railways, but the hobby has got increasingly expensive over the last 20 years or so. The high end has eaten the middle, and much as the details and fidelity of the models are now wonderful, the prices are absurd and the target demographic is retired boomers on final salary pensions. Combine that with the space constraints - 00 is the only gauge anywhere near being affordable and it requires 6’x4’ for a simple oval - and it’s a recipe for disaster.

Hornby are right to push TT, and personally I’d steer the industry heavily away from DCC and other expensive digital add-ons as defaults, as cool as they are. The right angle to push is that of unplugged creativity, not connected consumerism. Not good for profits in the short term, perhaps, but the hobby needs a new generation who dream of joining the local club and building their own large-scale layouts in retirement. If there’s no generationality then it’s over.

Me? My dream is simple now. Two-track garden railway loop along the fence with a few sidings and passing loops. I have neither the time nor the space to fully model anything, but I want to sit back and watch the trains go by anyway.