The last few days has seen a double whammy of news around something that was a part of my childhood that I expected to continue on largely unaltered.
Model Railways was a boyhood thing from the first plastic set that run wide gauge track from batteries that dad bought me to the first layouts and a thing I saw across the generations as cousins of both sexes visited and played with them.
Their offspring have a interest in railways.
Yet it was announced this weekend that the legendary Hatton's originally of Liverpool are to shut up shop and the Warley Railway Show that has been held for many years at the N.E.C., Brum is postponed indefinately.
What's that all about?
One thing is costs business rates, rents and freeholds have all contributed to reducing high street shopping as has online sales from the likes of Amazon.
Exhibition centre fees are quite high and caused issues in another hobby of mine Ham radio where overnight costs shut up and many moved or stopped operating.
The NEC charges around £20-25 per person admission, parking can be expensive as are the captive catering unless you take the train to Birmingham International which makes attending for a day a dear do.
Then there's hobby expenses.
The modern loco has digital control systems with sound effects and often is well over £130 so the days of simple dc control with controllers are long gone.
It may be more realistic but the entry point to the hobby is very step today which makes a hard sell to boys (and for that matter girls) who still love playing but have less opportunities to build up a great layout even if card models and scenery is still affordable.
Then that leaves fewer people to get involved in clubs working on the club layout to show off at shows with stores both shops and bring and buys which draw more in as was the case post war and even into the 70's and 80's as a young lad.
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