Model Railroad Hobbyist | October 2016 | #80 ASSISTANT EDITOR editorial Don Hanley Playing or creating? In the past few months I have had two conversations that, while in no way related by topic, were very related to our hobby and the supposed impending demise of the hobby. The first was with Les Halmos, our advertising man- ager, regarding playing with trains. The other with my brother- in-law, about working and the sense of satisfaction in building or accomplishing something. Many of us are hesitant to mention our passion for model rail- roading because, for a lot of non-hobbyists, it conjures up the idea of someone who never grew up. Still playing with trains, what they did in their adolescence. Athletes play sports and compete, but because some are paid large sums of money, it is taken very seriously. If model railroading were a paid profession, would it be taken more seriously? Maybe. The hard fact is that the perception of many is what it is – trains are for adolescents, not for grownups. We are unlikely to change that perception, so we need to work around it instead. • INDEX • TABLE OF CONTENTS