Strathclyder
Established Member
In answer to the OP's overarching question: No, I don't think that the number of people with a interest in the railways will drop off too much on the whole. As has been raised a few times already, there are multiple facets one can take interest in bar the rolling stock - infrastructure/architecture/engineering, timetabling/diagramming, history (on it's own a wide-ranging area of interest), the tech behind the scenes, photography, models etc. And this is without getting into how easy it is to connect with other people with similar interests in general now, thanks in large part to the internet/social media etc.
Speaking on a personal level about this, I fall into the 'younger' category of enthusiasts (25, 26 in less than a month) and my main areas of interest in regards to the railways are heritage/retro locos/MUs, photography, history (pre-grouping locos under BR ownership is a particular fascination of mine at the moment) & infrastructure/architecture/engineering. Within my age bracket and within this particular hobby, I realize that I'm in something of a minority there, but hey-ho lol
Speaking on a personal level about this, I fall into the 'younger' category of enthusiasts (25, 26 in less than a month) and my main areas of interest in regards to the railways are heritage/retro locos/MUs, photography, history (pre-grouping locos under BR ownership is a particular fascination of mine at the moment) & infrastructure/architecture/engineering. Within my age bracket and within this particular hobby, I realize that I'm in something of a minority there, but hey-ho lol