Hi!
I'm retired now so I don't meet all that many people that learn of my hobby. When I was working, I had MR calendars in my office and pictures of my layout or latest structure. I never could get used to folks calling my layout a "trainset" or similar comments. Truthfully, most all the folks were innocent in what they said, and I realized that.
I also collect Lionel postwar and every once in awhile someone would stop by and tell me of their Lionel stuff and ask what it was worth. Of course most all of them had MPC that was worth very little but they were convinced they had a goldmine. Ha, I suspect they thought I would try and "steal" it from them.
There were very few folks that seemed to make fun of the hobby, but I do recall pointing out to at least two of them that I also worked on cars, and had a significant handgun collection and a concealed carry permit. That tended to quiet them.......
ENJOY,
Mobilman44
ENJOY !
Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central
Wow! Guess I opened up a whole can of worms! Passionate people have strong feelings about the things they love that's for sure! Just to clarify a point; when I started this thread I just came off a 13 hr. shift and probably wasn't in the best frame of mind to start a thread of this nature; that being said, it is very interesting to see the mindsets of us all. It takes patience to be in this hobby and the impatient instant gratification type will often find a different avenue of entertainment/enjoyment. It seems after so many responses though, that the general consensus is that in our lives there are much more important things to worry about or become annoyed with. Such as economics, politics, wars, famine, environmental change, personal finance, careers, weeds in the garden and the fish aren't biting!....
Have a super day folks!
Matt
Margaritaman I just show them pictures which is usually followed by a lengthy pause then..."Wow, I had no idea, that's more art than toy."
I just show them pictures which is usually followed by a lengthy pause then..."Wow, I had no idea, that's more art than toy."
If they ask about costs, I tell them "a few hundred dollars per year (true for me)," but it sounds less dramatic than the thousands I've spent over the decades. I also assure them that you can pace your spending to fit your budget. The most common question is "What are the mountains made of?" Often they want to know how big the trains are (to get a sense of how tiny all the other stuff is), or how I learned to do it.
Most of the time these conversations lead to a discussion of their experience with a train set they got as a child for Christmas or about a museum layout. Sometimes they ask if people kid me about "Playing with trains"; I reply that is really pretty rare, especially since Rod Stewart is one of us (that raises to cool-factor a lot).
Phil, I'm not a rocket scientist; they are my students.
I think it's one of those otherwise harmless annoyances of life. I have gotten almost the entire gammet from do you set this up every Christmas? aren't you a little old to be playing with toys?, How much does it cost and where can I buy one for my kids?, Simply why don't you have better things to do with your time?, me and my son build something like this for science class last year, I have learned to take it all in stride being as many of them don't mean to be rude or hurtful but if I sense the slightest note of sarchasim I fire back with well better off playing with toys then drinking my life away or cheating on my wife or ignoring my kids to the point that they don't even know me anymore. I have looked more then one person in the eye and meant every word when I said this is a family hobby. My wife helps me out as much as she will deny it, she finds me certin hard to find items freight cars, structures, engines etc.that I am looking for my 16 year old stepson is getting into it going to train shows and visiting layouts and helping work on the new layout every now and then and my 6 year old and all his little friends think I am the coolest guy in the neighborhood who has the cool trains in the basement and most of their fathers come to me asking for help or maybe cursing me under their breath becasue their kids now want to get trains.
So I figure I am in pretty darned good company especially with the little people no matter what anyone else thinks.
Heh, I get called all kindsa stuff----the Pretty choo choo sounds more toss away than anything
Any argument carried far enough will end up in Semantics--Hartz's law of rhetoric Emerald. Leemer and Southern The route of the Sceptre Express Barry
I just started my blog site...more stuff to come...
http://modeltrainswithmusic.blogspot.ca/
tatans Try setting up a model wooden trestle that is pretty complicated (of course it's scratchbuilt) and set a nice steam locomotive on it in your restaurant (out of reach) and let people see what a part of MR is all about, just a thought.
Try setting up a model wooden trestle that is pretty complicated (of course it's scratchbuilt) and set a nice steam locomotive on it in your restaurant (out of reach) and let people see what a part of MR is all about, just a thought.
Actually, this is exactly what I was going to suggest. A pizza place near us has two 10x20 or so layouts at opposite ends of the upstairs dining area, connected by about a 100' run of straight track along one wall. They're right in the restaurant, but behind glass panels to keep inquiring fingers off. Local artist Steven Cryan builds and maintains them. It's definately a conversation piece, and it certainly draws the customers. You don't need to get this complicated to have the same effect.
A year and a half ago, on "Take a model train to work day", I did just that. I built a 4'x2' diorama and displayed it in my cube. Some people thought I was nuts for bothering, but most of the feedback I got was very positive, and several people told me afterwards that I had rekindled their interest in the subject. But most of the questions I got were of the "Wow, how did you do that?" variety. To the people who said that they weren't that creative, I let them know that I didn't think I was, either, until I tried it. It's a great way to get people to appreciate that being a model railroader ISN'T about "playing with toy trains" but something much bigger.
Connecticut Valley Railroad A Branch of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford
"If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right." -- Henry Ford
wedudler Show them your railroad and you will get the questions: "How much money...?" - "How much time...?" And my answers are "What do you spent smoking....", "How much time to you sit in front of the tv?" Wolfgang
Show them your railroad and you will get the questions:
"How much money...?" - "How much time...?"
And my answers are "What do you spent smoking....", "How much time to you sit in front of the tv?"
Wolfgang
Good point.
I tell people about my hobby and I sometimes get responses like "Trains are so dirty and ugly." or "I don't see why we need trains." Mind you these are people I work with. I only have to deal with them 8 hours a day. Anymore, and I wouldn't be on these forums; I would be in the looney home.
Will
I don't care or bother myself with those uninterested in our hobby. They have theirs, and we have ours.
So, in my mind this issue is finished, done, complete, dead, kaput, gone, and so on and so forth.
Mark
Reading some of the posts to this thread I gain the feeling that model railroading has little social acceptance in the US. At least for Germany, I cannot confirm this. OK, now and then you bump into some homo ignoramus, but overall, interest seems to be growing, To my knowledge, there are over 6 million model railroaders who have a membership in one of the two major associations we have in Germany -. that is 7 % of our population.
The reason why our hobby is wide spread is that trains in general are a part of our daily life, IMHO.
No comment as to who's wife to take, maybe a one way trip to Europe.
I Luv me toy trains and play wiv them as much as I can, don't know nuthing bout baseball or many other things, but don't let it worry me.
Teditor from Downunder.
(Imagine how we feel down here in Aussie land when we get asked how do we keep the cute toys on the track down here in upside down world!)
Teditor
Sir Madog Reading some of the posts to this thread I gain the feeling that model railroading has little social acceptance in the US. At least for Germany, I cannot confirm this. OK, now and then you bump into some homo ignoramus, but overall, interest seems to be growing, To my knowledge, there are over 6 million model railroaders who have a membership in one of the two major associations we have in Germany -. that is 7 % of our population. The reason why our hobby is wide spread is that trains in general are a part of our daily life, IMHO.
Ulrich--
I'll probably be flamed for days for posting this, but here goes.
I think you're right that trains are much more a part of the European landscape than the American. Americans love their cars, and hate things that interfere with their cars. And trains, at level grade crossings, hold drivers up for long periods of time. A week does not go by in this country when you don't read about some yutz who is injured or killed trying to beat a train through a crossing. That's changing slowly, though. $4 per gallon gas, when we're used to seeing it around $2.50, woke a lot of people up. Our roads are getting more congested. People are rediscovering trains. The vast distances between our major population centers compared to Europe makes passenger rail a little more challenging to operate in competion with cars and airplanes. I live in a small town almost exactly halfway between Boston and New York City, and neither I nor any of my neighbors would ever consider using anything BUT a train to get to either of those cities. We have frequent, reliable, and fast trains to both places, and having a car in either of those cities is just a bother.
I don't think that there's any lack of social acceptance. We have our fair share of, as you so aptly put it, ignoramuses, but most people are just ignorant (not using that term pejoratively), and would gladly learn better. I think, though, that the average American has an extremely individualistic mindset which often catches Europeans by surprise. We tend to be, dare I say it, bound to go our own way, and think that our way is the best way, even the only way, and we tend to be outspoken about it (both individually and as a group). So people who don't share one's hobby tend to dismiss it a little too abruptly. We also tend to be an outgoing people who often speak first and think later, so that when we say, "Man, you waste a lot of time doing that," we mean "you spend a lot of time doing that, which I would consider wasted time", not that the individual doing it should consider it a waste of time, just that the speaker would rather be doing something else with his time.
But yes, here as everywhere, there's always one jerk in the crowd who is prepared to put you down as childish, immature, unmanly, un-American, uncultured, etc. just because of what you do with your spare time.
Hi again,
One additional comment........
I'm 65 and have been "playing with trains" since I was 8 or so. In my adult years, I have found that "hobby people" - meaning those folks that spend time/money on collections and stuff - tend to appreciate my MR hobby much, much more than those folks that do not have hobbies.
In example, my brother in law has a major investment in antique cameras. He and I have a ball discussing our hobbies and going to antique stores and hobby shops. Yet, he knows little of trains, and I know little of old cameras.
Also, my next door neighbor - an 80 year old widow - collects glassware. I know nothing of that, and she knows nothing of MR. Yet, we share an enthusiasm for each others hobbies.
On the other side, I once dated a well to do woman who had no hobbies or serious interests. Her first comment on seeing my layout was "how much did all this cost?"
I think that's an interesting point, people who have hobbies understand and appreciate other hobbies more than people on the "outside" world do. I never really thought about it, but although no one in my family was into model railroading, my parents were coin collectors. They always thought my interest in trains was a good thing, but of course they were both born in 1918 so had more contact with real trains growing up than people did now. (My Dad did mention he was pretty ticked off when he came back from WW2 to find his sister's kids had pretty much destroyed his "still in the original boxes" Lionel trains from the late twenties / early thirties though....)
BTW as far as terminology, I think it's hopeless. I've been a model railroader for almost 40 years and my older sisters still ask me how my "train set" is coming along !!
I have a Plan for you. Spend a whole day super detailing your railroad. Next time you see all those people, give them an invitation to come see your railroad, and blow their mind.
~G4
19 Years old, modeling the Cowlitz, Chehalis, and Cascade Railroad of Western Washington in 1927 in 6X6 feet.
Hi,
Had to add one more comment.....
I wish I had a buck for every time someone asked "when will it be finished"? I then go on to explain that the building process is a large part of my enjoyment of the hobby, and that in fact, a layout is never truly finished as there is always something left to be done (if one chooses to do so).
Hee Hee, maybe I'm just laid back but comments about playing with trains, trainset etc don't bother me. I do PLAY with trains, I don't WORK on my layout. When it becomes work it's not much fun. I sometime call my layout a trainset as well because that's what most people think of. Face it layouts aren't mainstream but trainsets are. People see them in stores or relatives homes around the holidays and thats about it. The comment about "trains are ugly" is probably from someone who never saw a streamlined passenger train. Freight trains usually are dirty ugly noisy beasts and that's what non AARP members grew up with. Not a derogatory comment just a point of fact. "Look at the pretty Choo Choo" come on didn't we all call trains Choo Choo when we were kids? Some people never had ay more exposure to trains than Choo Choo wheel noodles. But this goes farther than just model railroading...
I'm a mechanic by chosen profession, it's got plenty of hard labor, dirt, stress, and thinking (diagnosis) I feel it's honest work and I charge for it. But people think of mechanics in the typical "grease monkey" mentalityand that stereotype is portrayed in all the media. I get lots of comments about "you're smart, why don't you get a real job" "You could do so much better for yourself" "How can you charge so much for what you do" etc. That isn't going to change in my lifetime so why get worked up about it.
I could go on about all sorts of things people do or don't do and why others make comments about it but I think you all get the point. Go play with your trainset and enjoy it, be proud of what you're building. If someone makes fun of it so what.
Modeling the Cleveland and Pittsburgh during the PennCentral era starting on the Cleveland lakefront and ending in Mingo junction
Some very good comments here and I do believe we all see the same thing. Some more than others depending on their circle of acquaintances. As some have said, most don't mean to be mean. they just don't know what terms to use.
As to what Ulrich said I think if you take percentage wise then we probably have way fewer interests but in actuality , we have quite a lot of MRR's in this country. Mainly we only hear from the negative or tend to report or retain the negative.
CTValleyRR, no flame from me, I think you described the United States citizen to a "T" in your second paragraph. It's not a negative description, just accurate. Many people do speak in terms of MY interests and we do feel we are right. Just as many MRR's do. Otherwise some of us, (myself included sometimes), wouldn't get upset when people don't care for what we do.
For the most part however, I do believe I have received only maybe two negative comments over the years. (no I do not hide my hobby, nor do I go around waving a look at me flag) One from an arrogant individual who I worked with that you could only describe accurately by using words that this forum would not allow and probably offend many of you (but you would still say yeah I know the type. Most of the time we sit on that part and that is just a part of the description). And the other I can't recall, I just know there has to have been at least one other comment. Most of the time it's just either the "neato" type comments or the "neato, but I wouldn't have the.....(time patience, talent, room etc.) worst I can recall from my own town is " Hey, if that's what you like to do, have fun. It just ain't for me."
I think for the most part MRR is accepted, we just have so many people and therefore more ....um jerks, and we like to report on the negative. Just watch the news.
EDIT: ruderunner- Ditto your comments. I too was a mechanic, well there never is a was for mechanics once they find out. I feel the same way on the mechanic part and the train part.
Todd
Central Illinoyz
In order to keep my position as Master and Supreme Ruler of the House, I don't argue with my wife.
I'm a small town boy. A product of two people from even smaller towns. I don’t talk on topic….. I just talk.
I am a Baptist pastor and my congregation loves to tell others that I play with trains! I actually build on this good-hearted fun, correcting them that I am the owner-operator of a minature rail system and don't play with trains--I move freight from one location to another. With a point to point switching layout set in the 1960's, the two most common questions are: why don't I make a circle so I can "run" the trains and why are the freight cars mostly "brown" and small and "dirty." I compare my card-order movement of cars to a chess game to those who ask what the cards are for. But when I "run the trains" for visitors, they are impressed by the smoothness of the engines and the sound (DCC). I tell people it beats torturing fish or shooting Bambi's mother! Just kidding about this--most of my sons are avid hunters. I'd rather hunt for parking places to watch trains and fish for compliments about my layout!
TRNJ
grizlump9 maybe you are just a little thin skinned. perhaps their comments only show a lack of knowledge about this hobby. when i think i am being ridiculed because of my interests in trains and models, i tell them about my other hobbies. defacing churches, senior citizen porn, and strangling small animals. grizlump
maybe you are just a little thin skinned. perhaps their comments only show a lack of knowledge about this hobby.
when i think i am being ridiculed because of my interests in trains and models, i tell them about my other hobbies. defacing churches, senior citizen porn, and strangling small animals.
grizlump
Man after my own heart. That is the kind of answer I would probably give. My other hobbies include augury, sacrificing goats to Jupiter, and introducing unknown diseases to the natives of technologicaly inferior nations.
On a more sober note, I simply ignore those who speak as a child about my model trains, unless they are a child of course. More often than not, when I'm asked about my "choo choo" trains, I simply reply that I like my choo choo train, and ask them if they need a blanky and a diaper change if they are going to use baby talk like that.
The Dixie D Short Line "Lux Lucet In Tenebris Nihil Igitur Mors Est Ad Nos 2001"
It happens in other hobbies as well. Im into everything RC and most people think it stands for remote control! I hesitate to tell people I have a layout, but once I do they generally are interested and think its neat. When I tell them it passes thru walls they usually ask,"your not married are you?" I say," no I can do whatever I want"
I just ran into an annoying model railroader! Couldn't wait to get away!
loatharI just ran into an annoying model railroader! Couldn't wait to get away!
ruderunner Hee Hee, maybe I'm just laid back but comments about playing with trains, trainset etc don't bother me. I do PLAY with trains, I don't WORK on my layout. When it becomes work it's not much fun. I sometime call my layout a trainset as well because that's what most people think of. Face it layouts aren't mainstream but trainsets are. People see them in stores or relatives homes around the holidays and thats about it. The comment about "trains are ugly" is probably from someone who never saw a streamlined passenger train. Freight trains usually are dirty ugly noisy beasts and that's what non AARP members grew up with.
Hee Hee, maybe I'm just laid back but comments about playing with trains, trainset etc don't bother me. I do PLAY with trains, I don't WORK on my layout. When it becomes work it's not much fun. I sometime call my layout a trainset as well because that's what most people think of. Face it layouts aren't mainstream but trainsets are. People see them in stores or relatives homes around the holidays and thats about it. The comment about "trains are ugly" is probably from someone who never saw a streamlined passenger train. Freight trains usually are dirty ugly noisy beasts and that's what non AARP members grew up with.
rr:
Amen, brother! It's playtime for me too! I sometimes hear "train set" or "trains" but it usually means "layout"...and I also hear a lot of people say they "used t' mess with them aitch-oh's" themselves...or Lionel. Lionel is big around here.
But you're wrong! Streamlined passenger trains are pretty, but a nice, wiped-down Pacific with a rake of green heavyweights, that's beautiful! :D
Lots of interesting comments and viewpoints in this thread. Living in Philly, I feel lucky that I ride a train to work everyday, and can take intercity rail to NY, Baltimore, DC, Harrisburg, etc. I sometimes forget how sparse train service is over the rest of the country.
There are certainly more exotic hobbies and probably some of them never get those kind of inquiries. For example, today I stopped down to the Simeone Museum for one of their demonstration days, where they take some of the cars out back and run them around. Today they featured a "race" between a 1913 Mercer Runabout and a 1916 Stutz Bearcat. I'll tell you, Dr. Simone and his colleague had smiles as big as any kid playing wiht trains, hauling that old iron around.
.
Here's the Simeone website, if anyone's interested.
I guess envy is the reaction most people would have for that hobby.
Getting back to the topic, though, I think there is some jealousy, even when people make fun. It's a classic way of covering one's own inadequacies or insecurities.
Yes, we may capture annoying comments from people who do not share our hobby, but there are also many annoying fellow model railroaders around. We all know them, the rivet counters, knowing everything betther than anybody else in the world.
I can accept a funny remark from a non-MRR, but I find the remarks of those experts by self-acclaim ...
Sir MadogYes, we may capture annoying comments from people who do not share our hobby, but there are also many annoying fellow model railroaders around. We all know them, the rivet counters, knowing everything betther than anybody else in the world.
I know a few Rivet Counters myself--I've even been accused by some of being something of one---the problem is not the Rivet Counting as it is the behaviour of said Rivet Counter. You see there is a differance between the person who is looking for accuracy in the way their layout works/appears(especially if they're modelling a specific RR/era/locale) and their behaviour. If he is a boor it'll not matter where/who/what he does/is etc----a boor will be a boor regardless----
I know a guy who has a Harley---does that make him a drug runner in the Hell's Angels? No. Does he act a boor? No. So to me being a Rivet Counter is not the issue. It is being a boor that is the issue----
blownout cylinderSo to me being a Rivet Counter is not the issue. It is being a boor that is the issue----
So to me being a Rivet Counter is not the issue. It is being a boor that is the issue----
.... that is exactly what I wanted to express, Barry. Blame it on my poor knowledge of the English language -
Everyone of you has the easy life of modeling standard guage, popular railroads. Well, i do too. Mines CSX in West Michigan as of the late-70's. But on the side, i am planning starting a HOn30 Wiscasset, Waterville, and Farmington module on a 4ft by 15in. sheet of OSB. I can just see all you sitting at your computers scratching your heads. WWF? Wheres that? What is HOn30? i.e. my grandfather, who is a avid mrr, pretty much has no idea what that stuff is.
Theres an advantage to being 14: nobody ever comments about you "trainset" since all my friends don't cknow/care about my hobby
Analog Kid, you are right, at the age of 14, none of your buddies cares about you "playing" with a trainset. The only issue is that we all get older, just like magic...
I get the same comments about "trainset" by those who just find out that I'm into model railroading, until they see it. I just tell them, "It's a trainset on steroids..."
Marlon
See pictures of the Clinton-Golden Valley RR