#should model railroad manufacturers mark trains as 'boomer' and 'gen x'? maybe

[trainsinanime]

Generations like Boomers, Gen X, Millennials and Gen Z and so on are arbitrary, meaningless, and it seems like too many people buy into the "gen this vs. gen that" mentality that news media produces as cheap click-bait. I think we should reject that and go back to what the gods truly intended:

Continental European model railroad epochs, as defined in standard NEM 800 and related (German, French). The great thing is that it has very simple delineations:

World War I (up to that is Epoch I, then Epoch II)

World War II (after that Epoch III)

That time they painted twelve-digit numbers on all passenger and freight cars in the late 1960s and early 1970s (after that Epoch IV)

The end of the cold war (after that Epoch V)

That time they added some letters to the twelve-digit numbers, and started painting them on locomotives as well, around 2007. (starts Epoch VI)

Just like the whole "Gen A/B/O" thing, these are completely made up. They claim things belong together that were often very distinct. At the same time they claim strong dividing lines exist where reality is much more fluid.

But on the plus side, they do tell you which European model railroad locomotives and cars you can assemble into a roughly realistic train.