A Lonely Hobby

[FJ and G]

For some, there are nearby toy train clubs to join.

For the lucky few, their wives and children enjoy trains.

For others, friends with toy trains who live nearby visit them.

But for many, esp. those who live away from the big cities and hobby shops, toy trains has been a solitary and often lonely pursuit. Pity especially the poor souls in Holland, New Zealand, and England, who buck the 2-rail trend.

The forums have, of course, brought us together in cyberspace.

But for many, the hobby will remain a lonely but passionate pursuit. Cloistered deep within the bowels of the earth (the basement), an engineer sends his toy train smoking and shooting sparks, flying down the mainline.

Meanwhile upstairs, the rest of the family goes about their lives, ignorant and uninterested with all the commotion and ruckus going on downstairs.

Dave Vergun

[Anonymous]

Geee, Dave. A basement in the bowels of the earth? How deep is your basement? We don't even have a basement, let alone one that reaches into the bowels of the earth.

Tony

[Big_Boy_4005]

I must say, Dave is in rare form this morning. Did someone put something in his coffee??? Bowles of the earth?? Chad trees? F***** granny?

Personally, I have been on a tirade over the UP trademark thing, both here and on MR, for almost 24 hours now. Man that galls me. Funny thing is I haven't bought any trains in years. I guess it's just the principle of the thing.

My brain is fried, but then you probably already knew that. How are you this morning Dave???[swg]

P.S. At least we're not lonely, we have each other. [:0][:D][:o)][;)]

[FJ and G]

Elliot, Tony,

They are shutting down the entire city of Manassas, VA tomorrow for "Train Days," a humongous annual event; so won't be too lonely. Taking BB the beagle w/me.

[Anonymous]

Railroading is like ham radios and cb enthusiasts. We get cast into the basement because of all the noise. I'm not lonely in my railroading because my brother is not far away . Luckily, when the trains go on, I can't hear my brother's CB or ham radio, no matter how loud they are. Funny how the two hobbies parallel. We go on forums, read tech books, and magazines, mostly in cyber space, and communication is through electronics.

[daan]

My track is in the attic, though no-one in my house except myself is interested, they are forced to cope with the noise of 2kilo's F3 driving across a wooden table..[8D][:)]

[Kooljock1]

I feel your pain Dave. Here in Northern Vermont we have no train shop for a good 150 miles! But still, we train geeks find each other, even if we have to travel three hours to run into one another.

And even so, the TCA has chosen our fine city for a convention soon...

Jon [8D]

[IRONROOSTER]

If you want socialization join the local sewing bee. [:D][:D] Personally I like the solitude and peace of working on and running the pike alone in the basement. Not to mention the fact that I get to do it my way. But each to his own.
Enjoy
Paul

[brianel027]

Dave, I've spent the vast majority of the past 30 years alone (unintentionally and unwittingly). Don't know why, but most the women I do meet end up being the true definition of jerks or another unkind word referring to the world's oldest profession.

YET, for me the trains have (until recently) been the one place where I truely could forget about everything. I got back into the trains for the sole accidental reason of buying an ex-girlfriend's son a train set... I realized she was still fooling around on me and been told of some other things she had done (that I wished I didn't know), so I ended up with the train set. Ironically she was always encouraging me to find things to do with her son (I never really needed the encouragement either), but then would dump on any idea I had.

The hobby has been a God send for me of sorts for the past 14 years. Lord knows, I probably wouldn't have made it this far without them. Yes, back in Ithaca I did have some very good train buddies and dealer friends who also helped make the hobby fun. But it was my trains, first and foremost.

People try to tell me they're just toys. True as that may be, they are also one heck of a lot more than that!

Granted Dave, what you say is physically true... it can be a lonely hobby. But (and I say this as one who knows what lonliness is) I never thought about that when I was in the thick of it, whether it was running the trains or creating my newest train engine or car. I was too busy reliving my childhood memories of my trains when life really was simplier. Fortunately though the trains, I could go back there.

So I guess the old Lionel ads were really true... a lifetime of memories! And when I show off my trains to folks with kids,and I see the kids getting all excited about it - that makes it all worthwhile.

No offense friends, but I'd far rather show off the trains to a group of kids with their folks than sit around and speculate on the financial return of some supposed valuable train with some die-hard collectors.

It's ironic, but I think the kids really appreciate my trains (with all my customized cars and engines) much more so than the adult collectors. The Brianel®™ Trains Spongebob Squarepants Car is now the big hit!!

Dave, I got a world of troubles right now, but even now, when I'm showing off the trains to kids, for a brief moment I forget about everything eating away at me. Even with the initial expense of the trains, it's still probably cheaper in the long run than many "shrinks!"

And possibly just as effective.[:D]