Did you get teased as a kid for being a model railroader?

[Anonymous]

Some kids did tease me yes, but those kids were the ones that would tease anyone for anything. In elementary school, most boys had a trainset they would play with. Later into high school, there were a couple of us that had actual layouts and what not. One guy that graduated the year ahead of me had a decent sized layout and an enormous fleet. He had a lone brass locomotive (I think it was a Dash 9) he'd been given for his 18th birthday.

People at my high school tended to not care what people did in their spare time and, strangely for teenagers, actually considered the time and craftsmanship it took to make something by hand, be it a highly detailed model of the USS Constitution or a Lego castle. We were an odd bunch.

[cwclark]

I never had a layout as a kid besides that lionel train that ran around in circles, but I used to buy a Model Railroader Magazine or Model Railroad Craftsman once in awhile and dreamed of the day I had a layout... I got teased by one guy once who just moved to the neighborhood and he found out real quick after I put a rather large knot on his head that I wasn't a guy to mess with like that...It was a tough life growing up a Texas Redneck...Chuck[:D]

[tatans]

Teased??? If anyone in my town was wealthy ( well, rich parents) enough to own a train layout he wasn't teased, he was looked upon as a very fortunate individual. I can remember only ONE person, that had a train set-up, he had a Lionel layout in his room, it was like going to paradise to see this train roaring around. Things haven't changed, I see train layouts today that could pay off mortgages ( as I stand there drooling) and the owners seem to think this is perfectly normal, nothing changes over time eh???

[Anonymous]

I wasn't teased much per se, but I never cared for the fact that people couldn't see anything very constructive about it. I talk little about it, except to my best friends, as
some I know would not even pretend to find what I was talking about interesting.

I wrote a paper in english on why model railroading is a good hobby. It was short, but it was a good paper.

Thats all I say for now,
Alvie.

[aloco]

Yes! I was in grade 7 and I used to draw locomotives in art class, and the kids picked on me for being obsessed with trains. I had a copy of Model Railroader magazine lying on my desk and some kids gave me strange looks. I lived not far from some light industrial trackage, and if they saw me out watching trains I'd get teased for that too. My classmates didn't understand me at all. I wasn't into any of the 'cool' stuff, and trains just weren't cool.

[on30francisco]

No. When I was growing up in the 60s model railroading was a popular pasttime. Most kids I went to school with had or wanted either a Lionel or an HO trainset for Christmas. Nobody teases me today either and the San Francisco Bay Area is extremely tolerant of people with non-mainstrean interests.

[bruce22]

nobody knew

[Anonymous]

That sounds pretty harsh. At least where I have lived, I've never seen much teasing going on.

[CG9602]

It wasn't the only thing I got teased about, unfortunately. If one was doing something, and not a super-good pro at it, then one got teased by kids at school. Kids who were quiet got teased, kids who were clumsy got really, really teased. If I told folks I was in model Railroading, the teasing would have been viscious and non-stop. To this day there are a lot of classmates where if I see them again before I die it will be too soon. Kids I went to school with were a lot of jackasses. The girls could be just as bad (and sometimes even worse) than the guys too. At least I had something like trains and model railroading that I could enjoy.

[Supermicha]

I also got teased from some of my friends. But when they come to visit me, and looked at my collection and my custom painted engines they became quiet fast, they just were impressed.

If someone want to tease me, i let him. I know the reality, so its not my problem.

Micha

[Anonymous]

Well, I have myself. I've always been so obsessed with trains and also being that I live in a small town where everybody knows everybody else, it's been pretty much impossible to hide the fact that I'm into trains. I don't go out and advertise it, but I don't try to hide it at all. I actually am the type of person that isn't really too open about many things to my peers for fear of what they'd think. In the past I have been ridiculed by people from other grades, which is very upsetting (although this has actually let up quite a bit), but never from anyone in my own class. They all know me quite well and have enough respect for me (although I know for a fact that many must think I'm completely insane). I suppose they have made some jokes about it, but just in fun and never to be insulting. Some of my friends have seen my trains and can't help but be amazed and think my layout is pretty interesting. My French teacher who is new to the school this year has heard that I'm into trains and seems quite interested. She has mentioned that sometime she'll have the French class (which consists of only 7 other people besides myself, only one of which is a guy for all of grades 10, 11 and 12) come over to my place to see my trains one class! I live right next door to the school, so it wouldn't be out of anyone's way. I'm really looking forward to that! As others have said, someday I'll be out of school and what people said will be completely irrelevent.

[Anonymous]

Wow, you guys had it way differeant than I did, as a model railroader, I got all the hot chicks! They always wanted to go down in my basement and see my trains.

[CBQ_Guy]

Don't remember being teased about it but I didn't go around advertising it either. My friends from the neighborhood seemed to like seeing the layout when they came over.

Occasionally I run into someone I knew as a kid or from school whom I haven't seen in like 30 years. Most of the time at some point in our conversation they end up asking if I still am interested in trains!

[lupo]

QUOTE: Originally posted by LightBender

Hello Lupo,

Well what a coincidence, except my village was in England. When the local vicar, his son and train layout left and the replacement appeared trainless, my interest in religous matters waned rapidly.

same for the vicar at my village, when they left i was 13 so no more playing the big lay -out, only my own, where i learned to model, at age of 16 I had to sell everything I got due to financial problems and I was out of the hobby for 25 years.

[MAbruce]

In my high school days (late 70's to early 80’s), I could really not afford to stay consistent in the hobby. But since I moved to the Boston area from the Midwest when I was 14, I had enough other ‘teasing” to deal with as the new kid. So what little modeling I did was kept private lest it make my situation worse.

Our culture is generally not kind to kids who are not in the popular mainstream. My heart goes out to you teens who are in this hobby and are paying a social price for it. All I can say is stick with it, because things change as you get older. I’m in my late thirties now, and being cool is something that I stopped being concerned about by my 5 year high school reunion. I can almost guarantee you that by then, all those “popular” kids will have lost their edge and you will all pretty much be on the same level (not that would likely care very much by then anyway).

[Anonymous]

Come to think of it my high school geography teacher was big into trains, We would talk about it in class while the rest of the students just looked on, Infact he actually endorsed my playing hooky one day to go down and see the CP Royal Hudson that was in town for the day. That was a 20 mile round trip on the bike. That was the 70's for ya

[Anonymous]

Never had a model RR as a kid--grew up dirt poor--but I am much better off now! I did get picked on for watching trains--everyone knew where to find me! It was tough once we moved to a county that didn't have a single railroad--worked my butt off to buy a car and see trains again and haven't looked back since (except to see a headlight in the rearview mirror!).

[Anonymous]

Hello Lupo,

Well what a coincidence, except my village was in England. When the local vicar, his son and train layout left and the replacement appeared trainless, my interest in religous matters waned rapidly.

MRR wasn't considered geeky in my neck o' the woods back in the '50's. Trainspotting became 'anorak' about the time steam left.

[mloik]

Originally posted by GASmith
[
(Why couldn't they admit it back then???).


Jealsousy.

• Reply