Model Railroad industry may not survive Trump tariffs

[ThoughtCriminal]

The hobby has always depended on imports - Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, and now China and American distributers are not going to be able to afford recreating the tooling and expertise domestically.

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[wyn borkins]

1. A Pleasant Video I Enjoyed Watching (n/t)

[wishstar]

2. Friend who is model airplane hobbyist is concerned about availability too

Tariffs threaten to hurt entire hobby industry

[calimary]

3. Aw man... BUMMER! I hope it can hang on.

It’s an absolutely fascinating hobby! And a legitimate art form, methinks.

[ThoughtCriminal]

5. The things I learned from the hobby in my early teens

Followed me my entire life. The video mentions the STEM benefits for students - that's very real.

Craftsmanship, carpentry, materials, research, photography, history, electronics, geography, and how the transportation industry works. The clubs and organizations I joined taught me about teamwork and organization.

Oh, and it's fun.

[calimary]

15. Totally agreed - and for ALL those reasons!

Especially the history part. The model railroaders in the little group I briefly got to know were deep into it. A couple of 'em had brass engines (in their collections) that they handled like new babies. Really beautiful and intricate work. Fascinating to look at!

[GoneOffShore]

4. And the banner at the start? "This is not a political message."

I think they've missed the point on that one.

[multigraincracker]

6. Just my guess.

Invest in vintage model RR stuff. This is going to be a better investment than gold. Don’t forget, original boxes can be as valuable as the cars.

[Auggie]

7. I don't know about the value of old stuff ...

but I do know there's a ton of it floating around. The issue with some modelers might be is that it's from an earlier era when there was less emphasis placed on accuracy and detail, operation was more finicky, and certainly before the digital world added cool extras like remote control and sound.

Those with MacGruder-type super skills know how to repair, upgrade, and even manufacture their own equipment. But this is indeed a sad state of affairs.

[Vogon_Glory]

8. Whatever happen, it's going to be grim

I suspect that a lot of importers are going to be hit hard.

On the other hand, it’s not as bad as it could be. As was said before, there’s a lot of used stuff out there. Also, a lot of the Chinese factories making models of American-style stuff also cater to European markets, which are more Donnie-proof. They can hunker down until things get better, storing molds until happier times while continuing to produce motors, electronics and drive mechanisms. In addition, 3D printing will allow for a lot of model-making that wasn’t possible in earlier times.

[piddyprints]

9. Such a shame.

I just got an email from Walthers saying they can't honor backorders and advanced reservations at the original price, due to tariffs.

We have a small layout that we put considerable time into over the winter. It's such a rewarding hobby, and something fun to do in the winter. I never would consider myself an artist, but doing scenery seems to be my thing. I even made an HO-scale basswood horse barn that looks exactly like our real barn. Then I made the roof removable and added all the cool things inside and even put a horse in the run-in.

We had an engine in for repairs/replacement a few months ago. They worked hard to repair it, but could not replace with the same model. So it couldn't get some of the cosmetic stuff fixed, which they would normally do just by putting on a new shell. The gentleman told me then that the hobby is dying, which limits how many different models they can have available. That was before the tariffs.

[Liberal In Texas]

11. Model railroader and modelers in general, like me, tend to be older folks.

It doesn't attract many younger hobbyists like it once did. No doubt with the advent of computer games and the internet, the curiosity of young people is diverted more that way.

[piddyprints]

12. True.

The one guy told me that most are in their 80s. We’re not that old, but close enough. Our grown kids are completely unimpressed by our work.

It’s also a very expensive hobby. That would be a deterrent to younger people as well, I’d guess.

[ThoughtCriminal]

14. I'm in my late 60's

When I go to shows, I'm among the youngest - but I still see considerable talent from the next generation.

Estate sales, scratch-building and 3D-Printing will help keep the hobby alive, but very-very few of us have the talent to scratch-build a locomotive model that has the detail and performance of an import. Small business importers are going to have a hard time surviving.

[Liberal In Texas]

10. Oh man, I was wondering how this was going to affect scale modeling.

I'm not a model railroader, but I use many of their products adapted for my modeling needs.

This corrupt guy is taking our country into another Dark Age.

[MagickMuffin]

13. Yikes, Neil Young is part owner of Lionel Trains

Young is part owner of Lionel LLC, a model train company. It was Young's designs and inventions for Lionel that helped to bring the company out of bankruptcy in 2008. Neil Young continues to write music, perform, and dream up new inventions for his model trains.

My neighbors had a room devoted to model trains, I fell in love with them. My brothers had trains but nothing impressive, just the tracks put together and that was it. You’d think my dad being a carpenter could have built really cool towns, but no time I guess.

[sakabatou]

16. There are probably a lot of other hobbyists who are getting screwed

[Wonder Why]

17. Well it's definitely small business [pun intended]. I used to associate with a model railroad group but they

were the biggest bunch of MAGAts you could imagine and many of them were doctors and engineers, not uneducated, idiots. I just couldn't stand being round them any more.

[WarGamer]

18. I collected Marklin trains as a youth... Made in Germany.

[neverforget]

19. I'm 54 and still have the trainset my parents bought me when I was 7. I don't have it set up

but I'm holding on to it because it holds good memories of my dad. I really hope this industry survives.