Model Railroad Hobbyist | May 2016 | #75 STAFF NOTES Growing the hobby (comments on a letter to the editor) ... and more We recently got a letter to the editor from Nicholas Kalis about two steps he recommends for increas- ing participation in the hobby by the younger generation. Here in Staff Notes, we’ll pull out a few of Nick’s points and comment on them. If you want to read the entire letter, please visit this thread on the MRH forum [mrhmag.com/node/26279]. Here’s how Nick’s letter opened. Letter to the Editor Reversing the Decline in Participation in Model Railroading Depends on Taking Two Steps Participation in the model railroading hobby will expand if we take to heart some lessons from military modelers. While admit- tedly anecdotal evidence, a look at the ages of authors published in Kalmbach’s Fine Scale Modeler reveals military modelers, or more broadly plastic modelers, to be a generation or two younger than model railroaders. Our first observation: Nick assumes the hobby is in decline as to participation. We don’t think that’s a given. Everything has ebb • INDEX • TABLE OF CONTENTS