I thought it might be fun and interesting to get an understanding of the demographics of the Z-scale community, so as to see who is among our ranks. Unfortunately, the survey only affords me one question at a time, so I went with age first. I may post a second question regarding salary, and maybe a third on number of years involved with Z-scale. All participant responses are confidential and the final results will be fully shared with the forum.
Jeez, I did miss that age bracket! Sorry about that. For the sake of the survey just answer for the 60-70 year old bracket. It'll make you feel younger than you are..... I wish the survey had multiple questions that I could put out but it does not. You’re only allowed one question. Maybe we will ask how old you are when you started the scale in the next poll.
Hemi, Also might want to make it 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, etc. Otherwise you have two options if (like me) you are at one of the milestone birthdays (i.e. 30, 40, 50, etc.) That makes the poll even less statistically relevant than it already is.
Noted on the relevance concern as well, and I struggled with that same thought when setting up the poll. Noted on the age break points too. Should have went to 20-29, etc. This effort was more of a “curiosity” poll to get a minor understanding of where the age of the community falls. No real surprises mind you, but a bit of disappointment that we are not seeing a few more in the 30’ and 40’s. Just my observation.
Lance, Thanks for doing the pole. I wonder if this represents the actual total number of Zheads on this site. Scott
Scott, There were no "ground shaking" revelations in this poll, as the data reveals pretty much what we knew going into it. But this poll was prompted by another post that touts the Z-scale ranks are filled with pretty much "old rich guys". So I created the poll to really see where the ages lie, which there were no surprises obviously. What I was hoping to see were more responses in the lower age brackets, but the numbers are what they are. THANK YOU to those younger folks that have chosen to be Z-heads as well. As for the actual number of Z-heads, I suspect there are way more, but they don't take polls. Of the 38 that took the poll, this is probably that group of us that are on here daily/weekly and are posting, responding, etc. But there are many more that just pop in when bored. Now, interesting side note - but of the recent train shows I have attened here in South Dakota, the ages pretty much fall where our poll falls. However, I have noticed more of those in the early 30's to mid-40's either in attendance or with clubs. Which is encouraging. Well, and also the fair number of young parents which bring their kids to these shows to see the trains run, and the parents ages obviously fall into the mid 20's to mid 30's. I do find some encouragement though from the poll and via other observations, which is that model railroading is doing well and at least not on the decline. We know COVID was a shot in the arm for the entire hobby industry, model railroading most notably, with many returning to the hobby. Final thought -- I'd love to see Z have the following that N-scale has, and maybe in Europe it already does. Many in the Z industry are seeing a steady year-over-year increase in sales and demand. But on the other side of that coin, there still is a lack of diverse supply in my opinion and it's ALWAYS been this way with Z. We need more reasonably priced inventory, so newbies getting into Z have some choices, otherwise they'll jump to N. And without younger entrants into the scale, when it comes time for us "old dudes" to retire and be put out to pasture, there will be no-one interested in buying our collections, etc. Not that we are in it for the investment mind you, but I'd hate to see my inventory deemed of no value in the future.....
That's why I am building T Trak Z modules from now on, that way the modules can be sold off more easily and if tossed out, some of the structures will be on a magnetic base and can be saved and stored without damage, taking up little space by storing in a metal cookie tin. I want to make everything a collectable looking and detailed as possible so they live on.
Ha, we are glad to have you on-board. Just make sure you can keep us with us old dudes….. Actually would love to see more in your age group become Z-heads.