BOB2 touches on a topic I think is a huge detriment to the hobby: the "aging curmudgeons" syndrome.

I recall when I was a kid getting interested in trains, there were some folks out there who welcomed my interest and encouraged it. They took me trackside to see places I had only heard about and introduced me to other fans. Today, look at any message board or museum or model club and you're likely to hear variations on "You missed the real thing", "It was so much better years ago" and the one I truly despise, "It is all crap now".

Of the several museums I work with and support, I know of only one that is openly welcoming to new people and particularly young people. The others have huge barriers to participating in "the fun stuff" or are just openly hostile.

Who would want to get into a hobby where they are constantly being told there is nothing interesting and they aren't welcome? No wonder the kids aren't interested. (And then there are the curmudgeons who take it one step further and keep telling the kids how worthless today's youth are and how much better the older generations were. Yeah, that really makes people feel welcome.)

And modelling! As a kid, I could save my allowance for a few weeks and buy an Athearn blue box locomotive or a couple cars and then spend a few bucks detailing and weathering them, tuning up the drive on the loco and then happily watch it trundle down my layout with just a simple power pack. Today, you can't see to touch a locomotive for under $150, many cars are in the $30-$60 range and clubs look down on you if your stuff isn't ultra-prototype and remote control. I got our of modelling 20 years ago because of the elitist attitude of my local clubs and whenever I poke my head in again the cost of models and the worsening attitudes just chases me right back out.

I hear how so much has gone away, but a lot of the things I hear about are, in the end, superficial. Yes there are cultural things that have changed, but most seem to be lamenting the loss of a paint scheme or a new type of signal being installed. You know, the essential drama is still there. There are still multi engine lashups roaring into canyons and over mountains. Pokey little shortlines still wander questionable branchlines to gather a few cars. Regional railroads fill the niche of the small class 1s of yesteryear. And we have more dinner trains, excursion trains and museums than I ever remember seeing before.

Several years ago, I got into an email exchange with someone who was lamenting the rebuilding of the Central California Traction line to Lodi, bemoaning that it was all "shiny and new and had no character anymore". I wanted to know if he would have preferred it removed and gone. You had your time to see it one way, now it was another way but it was still there and actually healthier than it had been in years. Enjoy it. As the subject line says: "Only constant is change".

I saw embrace it, enjoy what you have now, and look to tomorrow with expectation of what new things you can find.