General Discussion (Model Railroader)

Hi all,

Flicking through my issue of MR from November 1986, I noticed a letter to the editor from a young French girl who decided to get into model railroading despite having lost an arm.  Aside from the question of 'where is she now', this got me thinking about the gender balance in our hobby.  It strikes me that while women connected with a model railroader (wives, mothers, sisters, etc) seem to support the hobby, there aren't that many cases of women who are outright model railroaders themselves.  I was wondering if anyone knew of any layouts which were done by female model railroaders, or if there may be a 'shift' in the gender balance?  And any thoughts on why this imbalance may be the case?

Cheers,

tbdanny

tbdanny:

Hi all,

And any thoughts on why this imbalance may be the case?
Cheers,

tbdanny

I can count the number of actual female model railroaders I have read about in the magazines since the mid-1970's (MR, MRG, RMJ, and RMC) on two hands.  I'm sure there is more but its a 99%+ male hobby - I blame the genes.  My fiance is threatening to play with my trains so I might have gotten lucky here.

Coupla things---how many female hot rodders do you know?

Audrey, my wife, is in the process of building up a steelmill layout---does that count?

I take it by 'steel mill layout', you mean something along the lines of a switching layout based around steel mill operations?

Yes, that would count.  How did she get into model railroading?

We are lucky in that we have 2 girls in our club one in N scale and one in H.O who is in her 60's and loves running her train along side her grandson.

Absolutely feel privileged to have'em aboard

I haven't come across many in my model railroading travels over the years either. The ones that I do know or have met all seem to be more interested in the artistic side of the hobby as opposed to the operational.My wife, case in point loves to make scenery ,buildings,and trees etc but could care less about the locomotives, wiring or rolling stock. I count myself luckey that she has any interest. Her dad was, still is a very heavy model railroader which probably has something to do with her interest as it was something she grew up with.

Rob

trolleyboy:

The ones that I do know or have met all seem to be more interested in the artistic side of the hobby as opposed to the operational.

I know exactly what you mean - my girlfriend's the same way.  Her mother's an art teacher - that's probably where the interest comes from.  As riogrande5761mentioned, model railroading is probably one of those 'guy things', but I'm still curious if there are any female model railroaders out there.

 I only know one full blown model railroad buff of the female persuasion....Now, my two girls are into modeling almost as much as their dad is

 I read some where that Rossie O' Donald is a rail roader.

 We have one at K-10 Model trains, her name is Sue and she is wicked with a soldering iron!

      Cuda Ken

cudaken:

 I read some where that Rossie O' Donald is a rail roader.

Please tell me cudaken....how Rosie is an asset to the cause??

How to tell if you have a genuine female model railroader:

• She gives you a list of brass and tells you she wants one for Christmas...
• She simulates a rolling brake check when she starts her freight out of the yard - after having made it up to match the deck of car cards and attaching the caboose last...
• While discussing how to handle some unusual situation, she reaches over to the bookshelf, pulls down Rights of Trains, flips it open to the correct page and points out the rule...
• Her average weathering job looks better than your best weathering job...
• When something electrical malfunctions she grabs the multimeter...

I will concede that my own wife isn't that enthusiastic, but I've met a few ladies who were.  My wife settled for twisting my interest knob from New York Central to Japan National Railways with the gift of my first brass locomotive.

Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)

Driline,

That was just not neccessary. I lost my dinner thinking of her in the annual calander but after that shot I broke an airhose.

Thanks! 

Driline:

I didn't need this, especially just after eating a BLT.

Mark

Whew, glad the trash can was nearby.  That's Rosie O' Donald! 

Because I had heard the same thing about Rosie O' Donnell, you know the comedian, actress, former talk show host.

On the more serious side, there are a few female model railroaders.  Elizabeth Allen is one that comes to mind.  She's well known in prototype modeling circles.  I've seen pics of her stuff and it would put 90% of male modelers to shame.

Driline,  Does Rosie really count as a female?