Does your family get involved with your hobby?

[joecool1212]

Everyone in my house gets involved. I have my time by my self with it but the train room is the play room so we are usually together.

[Hawks05]

since i'm not married and i'm 17. none of that applies except the space thing. my mom went crazy when i told her i wanted to get started in this hobby. she flipped out when i told her where i can't to put the trains. in this spare room that was a mess even after we cleaned it. so she finally cleaned it and put stuff in the attic. when she was done she was like i can't wait till you get your own place and get this out of here. my dad is starting to like it i think. he's going to be helping me build the benchwork. my mom likes looking at stuff. she's really into the paint schemes and all that. still calls stuff cute and thats pretty. hopefully they'll take a liking to it so i don't have to pay for all of the stuff.

[Anonymous]

hey josh im 17 to!! and my mom says the same thing! there cute and stuff like that lol, my dad did almost all of the bench work i gave him the plans and he started he wouldnt let me do any of it becuse i would do it wrong which he says do it right or dont do it at all, but he did a great job and he even figured out an area where i can have more room so now its bigger than i planned which is good now i can have a bigger yard or something. my brother likes to build car kits mostly walther autoracks he follows the directions and takes hima week to do onw hes only 15 but he does ok he wants to grafitti one next but i dont now if i will let him.

[CP5415]

My daughter is too young to help with anything. I'm trying to win over my wife with my hobby. Forunately enough, she has recently started with a hobby of her own.
I hope to be ready for scenery soon so I can get her involved with a horse farm I want to include so she will help.

Gordon

[Anonymous]

yeah guys.. when I was younger we had big house with 6 bed rooms so I got one room for my trains and shut door keep kids out. I was very young age like 10 something had train called "The Rock"
Right now I am 35, married, no kids YET... yeah pretty soon they be here. my sisters have kids really and I had to put every thing up before they come in house! sure I need bigger house soon or later.. better think of put other building outside for trains only. that what I am thinking.

[Anonymous]

I too am 17. There's a lot of us 17 year olds on here. I couldn't vote because none apply to me. My parents are both actually quite supportive of my hobby. Most of the basement is devoted to my trains. My mom is really good at painting figures and my dad's done a lot with my benchwork and builds the shelves I need to display all the trains I don't have room for on the layout (which I keep needing more of). Both are genuinely interested in trains and I can talk to them about something using technical terms and they fully understand. My dad has also hinted at starting model railroading himself after I move out someday.

[Hawks05]

wow there is a lot of us teenagers on here. i thought it was just a coupler of us then mostly working people.

my dad i think is kind of starting to read one of my magazines. not sure. he had it open the other day like he was reading it. my mom i think will enjoy just helping buy stuff and look at everything.

Jim

[ShaunCN]

I am only 15 but my dad does take me out to the hobby shops and somtime helps me with wiring my layout. Other than tht it has been up to me to build everyhing else. I am glad to see other teenagers out here enjoy trains!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ShaunCN

[Anonymous]

I'm 13, so like most of you guys, none of thease aply to me either! Maybe joecool1212 should make more choices. I sure am surprised of the number of teens into modeling.

[Anonymous]

I can't vote either. I am 25 and married, but no kids. My wife helps me paint the models of buildings and the figures for the layout we are building. I see there are a lot of younger people in this hobby.. Why have I never met any of them at the hobby stores? Whenever I go to the hobby shops I meet men twice my age who want nothing to do with me because I am "too young" to know anything. Is there a forum or site for modelers under 35?

[Anonymous]

dont know, theres another 17 year old like myself at my club so were always hanging out togeather competeing for the days trains. which buy the way i win because he models BNSF and i model U.P. and are trains are heavy on the layout with 3% grades and when it comes time for the 65 car coal train my 5 SD90MACS beat out his 3 SD70MACS, lol but he gets to pull the grain train anyways yeah there is alot more teens in MRR now and thats great!!! im on my first layout and im doing ok the only thing you need to remember is that you need alot of PATIENCE hmm i sound like AXL ROSE there lol. like i said us teens are the future and the future looks bright for MRR take care and keep on modeling.

[Jetrock]

I'm 34 and am married but have no kids--I voted because I figured in this case "wife and kids" could be contracted to just mean "wife."

My wife doesn't really help me with the layout or anything but she enjoys going on railfan trips and museums and my weird drives to desolate parts of the county to take photos of abandoned rails. She is very supportive of my hobby and likes the fact that I'm home more often fiddling with trains--my other hobby/avocation (being in a band and promoting shows) kept me out late a lot, which she didn't like as much. As I get older and less obsessed with the idea of being a rockstar, I like the stay-at-home aspect too.

all I can say is YOU WANT FEMALES IN YOUR LIFE TO THINK YOUR TRAINS ARE CUTE. This applies to mothers, grandmothers, sisters, girlfriends, wives, daughters. Get over your irritation at their use of this term. GIRLS LIKE THINGS THAT ARE CUTE! If they think they're cute they'll tolerate them better. And the bottom line is that our model trains ARE cute (at least mine are) so, frankly, they're right and you're wrong. But that's okay, because girls will make allowances for things that they think are cute.

I think this forum is a bit skewed in its focus because most older modelers are not that Internet-savvy and so younger folks are over-represented. That's okay, though, because it means that roving teenagers who aren't yet model rails surfing the Net who stumble across this forum will discover that there are other young folks involved, and not get turned off by too many of us old farts. However, I have to disagree with the suggestion that older modelers want nothing to do with younger folks--I've had plenty of hobby store bull sessions with fellows twice my age, and one of the nicest things about this hobby is that it allows teenagers and senior citizens (and ages in between) to have something in common to share and enjoy.

Perhaps, where the survey says "wife and kids", teens could assume it says "mom and/or sisters." The analogy is similar.

[Anonymous]

Not if they can help it!! (sigh)

My Dad is the only one and he's in his eighties

[AggroJones]

No family member is involved. I'm all alone. No wife. No kids.

[Anonymous]

42 and married with children.[:p] Sweetie is very supportive, as she feels better with me in the basement and not at a bar, My 3 boys are all into the trains. My 14 and 13 year olds have their own trains, complete with DCC. My 8 year old runs whatever he can get his hands on![:D]
They frequently ask me when we're going to get a bigger house, with a HUGE basement!
Now, is that raising them right or what!!!!!!!!

[joecool1212]

Its great to see so many 17 and younger interested in the hobby. If your single and young do you and your friends get together around your hobby. When I was younger I only had 1 friend who used to come over and help. Its fun to have a hobbymate, and I wished i had more friends interested. Even today only 1 friend helps, but he is a chef and dosent have alot of free time. Its been 3 years since we planned a HO layout and he still dosent have his basement ready. I Wish I had more friends interested in the hobby, even if just to train watch or go to model RR clubs or shows. Joe

[Hawks05]

my friends dad is the person that got me hooked. i've been to 2 shows with him and some of his train buddies. he's also taken to a model railroad club open house and i've been over to his house to talk to his son but instead we talked about trains. he's also been hinting at setting up some lawn chairs by 2 main lines and watching trains the whole day in the summer sometime.

i have no friends who are into model railroading. except my friend i mentioned above. of course only maybe 4-5 people that i'm friends with no that i'm into model railroading.

[Anonymous]

I do have some very close friends of mine that are involved in the hobby. Not my age, though. Two guys I know are in their late 20's and that's the youngest. My other train friends are all over 40 or even senior citizens. I don't mind at all, though. We all love trains and that's what counts. All of them are very glad that there's someone my age who's into trains as well.

[Anonymous]

15 here. My dad is the one who got me hooked and he is being really suppportive and helpful with the new layout. On my last layout that didn't get completed, I was making my own block detectors and that is where I began to truely appreciate my dad. He works in microelectronics. The logic was easy for him. My mom is really supportive, though I don't have a layout at her house. My stepmom just doesn't care. My sisters tolerate it.
Reed

[Seamonster]

None of the questions seem to apply to me either. My wife supports my hobby but doesn't take any active interest in it. When our children lived at home, our son worked on it with me but our daughter had no interest in it. However, our 10 y.o. granddaughter loves working with Grandpa on the layout whenever she visits. She has become very talented at painting and scenery construction and has built some plastic structures. I enjoy sharing my love of the hobby with her.

Just a comment. After reading the previous postings, I have to ask, "Who says young people aren't involved in model railroading any more?" Just over half of the posts were from young people. Great stuff!
... Bob

[Anonymous]

Not married with kids here so I can't say I have a family that gets involved in the hobby. However, I do have friends who are not into model railroading yet they always seem to enjoy seeing what stage my layout is in when they come to visit. They think it's cool, watching it take shape--and of course to see the trains run. My dog is fascinated too--but I have to keep her at bay. She's already destroyed one of my locomotives.

[Anonymous]

Not married with kids here but so I can't say I have a family that gets involved in the hobby. However, I do have friends who are not into model railroading yet they always seem to enjoy seeing what stage my layout is in when they come to visit. They think it's cool, watching it take shape--and of course to see the trains run. My dog is fascinated too--but I have to keep her at bay. She's already destroyed one of my locomotives.

[Anonymous]

My 23 year old daughter enjoys model trains. She loves going with me to hobby shops and train shows.[:)]

[CBQ_Guy]

The wife flat out hates it , won't give any support at all, and calls it a BIG waste of money (I'm sure gonna miss that gal... <insert rim shot here> ...but seriously, folks.) A few years ago we moved into a large house which is three times more area than the old house we lived in for 19 years was. I managed to connive the entire basement for a layout somehow. I call it my world and put a door at the top of the basement stairs to keep it private and cut down on a source of dust and cold air flow down to the basement. She mentioned something about moving into a smaller place when we get older and told her if she wants to move again it had better be before I build the layout or the only way I'm leaving will be feet first in a box!

The older daughter didn't have any interest in the layout in the old house. I thought the younger one did since she would come down in the layout room, look around and ask what I was doing and listen to my long winded explanations. At one point the wife told me she came to her and said, "I wish Dad had a little boy so I wouldn't have to pretend I liked his trains." - She didn't have to pretend any more after that!

Other stuff, too, but you all get the idea.

[orsonroy]

Well, I don' t have kids yet, but my wife loves the hobby. She's amazed by the fact that I'm creating a miniature world in the basement. She supports my hobby fully, and generally buys me model RR related gifts. It helps that I don't spend TOO much time in the basement, turning her into a "model RR widow". She especially loves my railfanning trips, especially if architecture or steam chasing is involved!

My dad's a modeler and railfan, too, so the rest of my family's well acquainted with the hobby. My dad's in N scale and modeling Pennsylvania in the 1970s, while I'm modeling Illinois in HO in the 1950s, so we don't end up stealing each other's stuff! My dad and I make it a point to go railfanning together at least one day a year.

[pbjwilson]

My wife tolerates my insanity. Herfavorite trains are my pre-war lionel "toy trains". They are "cute" and "colorfull". Although I must say she does offer encouragement and has a great eye for detail and color when it comes to my train layouts. My 8 year old son has fun with trains. He too has a good eye for detail, and high end trains. Today we saw a Marklin passenger train running at the local hardware store. My son said "Dad Thats a cool train. Can we get it?" In the display case was the boxed set an F7 ABA and passenger cars. Price - $999.99! I showed him the price and he replied, "So, can we get it?"
Santa delivered a nice set for my son, a Bachman McKinley Explorer in H.O. The local hobby shop was selling it for $65.00. It really runs nice and the cars have good detail and interiors - and they're big! You know who plays with it though, Me. He plays gamecube, and more gamecube and more.......

[bruce22]

at 64 + I have been a modeler since age 9 ( except for the opposite sex attraction years in my teens and twenties .) My wife of 33 years is most supportive of my hobby and does not begrudge me the time I spend- or money- on the layout ; However, I think she has more shoes than I have motive power and rolling stock. Oh well, life is a compromise .

[Anonymous]

Well, I guess I'm not alone. My wife loves it enough to help me with the planning , landscaping and detailing, but doesn't really care about any of the track laying or structure building that goes along with it. She loves having a little town with little houses and stuff that she can be involved with. It's like always designing your dream house without the mortgage.

My son is 10 and just now starting to get into plastic model building, so he may come around. My daughter is 14 and already knows all there is to know in the world, so why bother? It won't fit into her social calendar. [sigh]

[Anonymous]

My dad was the one that got me started in the hobbys of model railroading and railfanning. My brother also likes it and my mom dosn't mind it much.

[rambo1]

My wife and daughter think train shows and stores are for lossers. My son loves it though and supports me in the hobby . Hey! the next time I go in to a shoe shop with wife, I should wear my VIA rail hat. YEA! rambo1..........