Some times I feel so alone...Am I the only woman here?

[claycts]

George,

If you are still in the track building stage, I am curious what $30K provided.  A new building?  How large is your layout?  Did you do your benchwork or did you hire someone to build it?

Sue

Miss Sue, almost 1200 sq ft. LOTS of brass. Lots of everything realy. We have all the track down and most of the buildings purchased. (2) walthers 130 ft TT. Running all DCC with computers and such. Spent over $1k on just electronics and such.

This is still way cheaper than my other hobby. My wife and I collect Exotic cars and sports cars, the real ones.

[Anonymous]

I never expected so many replies to my simple little question and I thank everyone who has written I'm afaid I won't be able to keep up with all of you But I wiil definetly try.

Mr Beasley, I have been told by some one else that I need to go there so I guess I need to plan a day trip. That Lord of the Rings layout you talked about sounded incredable, At one time I thought about doing a Harry Potter Theme(Yes I am A 40 year old HP fan)But I thought the trains looked cheep.

Sue great to hear from a fellow lady I got into the hobby because of my son (though I've always had a fasination with trains model and real) but now I'm the one who is into it not him.

I am so overcome with all the posts I have recieved that I think I wiill respond in a general way to the rest. I plan on sticking around and as far as staying with railroading, I am hooked and there is no going back now. Some day I plan to start work on a garden train but for now I will stick with my HO.

I just looked at the clock I've got to get to bed, Church in the morn.(actually later  this morn.)

bye for now. 

[Mikeygaw]

don't feel too lonely... off of the top of my head I count 6 to 7 female members plus two who are staff members for the various magazines.

[gear-jammer]

George,

If you are still in the track building stage, I am curious what $30K provided.  A new building?  How large is your layout?  Did you do your benchwork or did you hire someone to build it?

Sue

[rtstasiak]

Lisap, the railroader in my life was my MOTHER!  Started as a NYC Pacemaker clerk, later an interchange clerk, time off to pop me out, then back to the LV as an interchange clerk, piggyback clerk, and finally, freight damage claims clerk on CR.  I caught the train bug hanging around at my mom's office back in the '60s.  Talking to her about her work, I learned all about intermodal and had the jump on classmates, and later, coworkers.  So, don't let the gender-thing give you the creepy crawlies; remember, since Stephenson's Rocket, railroading has been THE PLACE for the best and the brightest.

[boxcar_jim]

Lisa, I seem to remember another lady posting on here a few years ago as well can't remember her screen name. However, whilst you may be one of one or two on the forum you most certainly aren't alone in the hobby.

My wife, Zoe, is helping me build our German N gauge layout, in fact it was her who pursuaded me to buy some N gauge trains when we were over in Germany a couple of years ago. She is mainly interested in the sceneic aspect of the hobby and has built several structures for the layout already.

The model club I belong to does an annual exhibition (portable layout exhibitions are quite common here in the UK) and I generally get asked to do a scenery demonstration. Let me tell you that at least half of my audience every time is female, and very often they are the keen ones staying after I have finished the main 30 minute talk to chat and ask questions. I've noticed however that most of the ladies I've talked to always need a reason to build a layout: they are building one for their son, they are helping their husband/partner, they've just retired and are looking for a fulfilling hobby "for their husband". You can usually tell however they are really itching to have a go themselves - I wonder why that is?

Keep modelling, and posting; sometimes it can get well ... just a little testosterone filled round here.

[RRTrainman]

Your not alone.  My wife has done some work and is getting the hang of it.

Here is some of her work.

 

 

 

So to the hobby and enjoy it

 

[TomDiehl]

Lisa,

I've seen at least two other women on here, but they mostly hang out on the Trains part of the forum. Their screen names are Mookie and CSXrules4eva.

And I believe the second one even works for a railroad in the Philadelphia area. Her profile says she's also an artist and has built a small layout. Her real name is Sarah Warner.

[claycts]

Miss Lisa, My wife is into this as bad as me. She is the one who can not wait to get to the scenery and such so she can help out. We are still in the track building stage.

If she was NOT 100% behind what I am doing I could not spend over $30K in 8 mo and still have a wife.

The good part about this hobby is that you know where your other half is 99% of the time.

and enjoy the hobby. If they let 2 Polocks (wife and I) in then anybody can be in the hobby

[gear-jammer]

lisap,

You are not alone.  My husband and I started our model railroad hobby when I remarked that I thought that the train under his uncle's Christmas tree was a great idea.  When we priced locomotives, we decided that the investment was too great to only do one month of the year.

Our first layout was a 4X8 DC.  In mid December, we started on our 13X13 DCC.  The 4X8 replaced our dining room table until we got our mainline running. (We did not want to be without a working track)  The benchwork on the new layout is attached to the walls, and we can walk on it.

We are running mainly Northern Pacific and Weyerhauser locos and our main theme is logging which fits well the the Pacific Northwest. I am amazed how many locomotives that you can acquire.

What turned out to be a rainy day hobby has become an obsession.

Sue

[cjcrescent]

Lisa;

Don't feel alone. There are many women who are modelers, just not online. Over on www.modelrailroadforums.com there is a nice lady known as Lady Railfan. She's the cheerleader and even one of the moderators of the forum. She posts there quite a bit.

Within the NMRA there are a lot of women. Several like Mary Miller (I think thats her first name), have even earned the Master Model Railroader certificate from the NMRA.

Hang in there girl, there's more women than you know in the hobby!

[Hoople]

I really appreciate all the guys I have met on this and other forums but I have yet to meet another woman, I realize this isn't a "girly girl" type hobby but I find it satisfies all of my artistic talentsand it seems there would be others like me.I thought it would fun to see if there were any other women who enjoy railroading too. But If I'm to the only lady on this forum, so be it, I may just change my name to "The Lone Lady".

 

[tomikawaTT]

Lisa,

You may be lonely as a poster, but I know there are other women deeply involved in the "World's Greatest Hobby."

I just read all the way through this thread, wondering if 'canazar' was included.  Not only does his wife approve of his hobby; she accompanied him to a Las Vegas hobby shop (on their honeymoon) and helped him to decide to buy a locomotive.  The photo he posted showed her 'up close and personal' with the Santa Fe 4-8-4 on display in Kingman, AZ.

MarkNewton, the very knowledgeable (and sometimes ascerbic) Aussie engine driver, mentioned that, "Me and the missus," were in the process of building an American-prototype layout.

My wife is deeply involved with golf - which has one advantage.  I don't audit her golf expenses, she doesn't audit my railroad expenses.  (I do know she has paid more for a single club than I have ever spent on a locomotive!)

Keep the faith - and the railroad!

Chuck

[tcwright973]

Hi Lisa,

I wouldn't be surprised if there were some ladies who frequently read these forums, but choose not to particapate for one reason or another. I have noticed a lot of women at train shows going through the boxes found under the tables, or discussing items for sale with their husbands/boyfriends. So there are others out there. Maybe your post will encourage more participation.

Recently an older women who lived alone and about a block down the street from me passed away. It turned out she had a fairly large Lionel layout in her attic. Who would have thought...  Only after another neighbor passed away did I find out that he also was into model railroading. The sad part is we maybe we could have gone together to train shows, etc, and enjoyed the hobby together.

Tom

[jfugate]

My wife goes with me to train meets, and has even participated in prototype operations with me on some pretty hard core layouts. Her favorite thing is doing scenery, and she's done some knockout scenery work on some club layouts in years past.

She is what I would call a casual model railroader -- but she's savvy enough in the hobby that she can look at a realistic model photo and immediately pick out the things that give it away -- Kadee couplers, too large spike heads -- things like that. She recently helped with an open house I had of my Siskiyou Line layout and she was a kick.

When we would run SoundTraxx equipped locos over dead frog turnouts the sound would often cut out. "You just have to get that keep alive circuit you've been talking about installed in those sound locos!"

Nice to have a wife who loves the hobby almost as much as I do!

[One Track Mind]

Hey Lisa: I'm still pretty new to this forum but don't worry if you are the only one. I for one hope you will continue to participate. There are other females who are in this hobby if not on this forum. Plenty of wives (not mine, but...) like to help their husbands, especially the garden railroaders.

The old days of this being a man's man hobby are slowly eroding. I see a lot of minority groups participating in the hobby these days that maybe you didn't see so much of "back in the day." Everyone should be encouraged to be in a hobby as cool as ours.

And just a note because I can't help it: Safety Valve mentioned that a proposal was made at another hobby shop here in central Arkansas a couple weeks ago. Heard about that! But as we friendly competitors down here sometimes try to one-up each other, my store actually had a real wedding!

One of my younger customers, Derek, met Stephanie here in Little Rock. She became interested in trains, both real and model. The relationship became serious, and a few years ago (when my store was still across the street) they asked me if it would be OK (sure!) and they called a Justice Of The Peace and were married on the front porch over there. The JP had her back to the UP mainline 80 feet away and Derek and Stephanie faced the tracks. I served as the witness. One of the coolest things to ever happen around here!

They are still married and she is still a model railroader! So the females are out there if a little few and far between.

[reklein]

I thought therre was a woman from New Zed that was posting here about a month ago. Had some questions about some chemical uses  for something. Maybe someone will remember.

[tarp]

I did the same thing on Senior People Meet and the woman I met that I am with now thought the train was interesting.  I guess she thinks I am also.  

Also Lisa, my sister, now 68 has a bigger layout than I have had and her husband was not into trains much.  We both grew up riding the Union Pacific as kids as out dad worked for them so we both really liked steam engines.    TARP

[MisterBeasley]

"Maureen" used to participate in this forum.  I haven't seen her here for a while, but she seemed to be more active in the Prototypes forum.  As I recall, she is from the Boston area, and was interested in my subways.  There was a Lord of the Rings theme to her layout, if memory serves me correctly.

Since you're in southern NH, by the way, you might want to take a detour to Chelmsford some time and check out a nice little LHS, Maine Trains.

[FJ and G]

I put photos of my garden RR on match.com and gave myself the name GardenRRDave. I was hoping that the ladies like gardening (so many have that in their profile). I guess they just don't like the trains going thru? :-)

I figure it's better to be honest up front rather than spring it later and the future wife becomes unhappy. I'll be honest, I envy couples who do things together with the trains (as well as other things of course)

[Pathfinder]

There are definitely a snobbish few out there, Lisa. I've run in to several who think if you don't do the hobby the way they do, you aren't a "real" model railroader and they look down on you. ....

    Regardless of gender on that one!

My wife is supportive as well.  Both my son and daughter have an interest but we will see where that goes.  I work in what has been a traditionally male dominated industry (forestry) but I started with a company that was very progressive in hiring women and I quite enjoyed the slightly different perspective they provide.  I look forward to your continued contributions and those of any other women who end up posting here.

[skiloff]

There are definitely a snobbish few out there, Lisa. I've run in to several who think if you don't do the hobby the way they do, you aren't a "real" model railroader and they look down on you. The great part is, you just do what you want and enjoy the hobby however you were attracted to it. Over the years, maybe new stuff will come up you never thought you'd enjoy, but now seems very interesting.

My son and daughter both watched the first video of Joe Fugate's the other day and my daughter was just as interested as my son, and she actually seemed more interested in some ways. She wondered about switching the cars and the sidings and asked some really good questions. Now we'll see if she maintains this interest. My wife is artistic and I've told her she can paint the backdrop and help out with the scenery. She pretends not to be interested, but I think once we get going, she'll be more into it. Just keep plugging along!

[91rioja]

Lisa,

You may be one of the few women modelers in this forum, but I have seen others on the trains.com boards.  Who really cares what your gender is?  You're into the hobby and this is a place for all of us who love the hobby to meet and exchange ideas.

By the way, I've only been back into the hobby for about 8 months now, so I'm still a noob.

Chris

[tarp]

Good morning lisip,

My current wife and my former wife that passed away were and are supportive of my hobbies, both railroad and model cars, planes and military models.  It is really special. Perhaps they think of me as a big kid but I'll take it. My current wife is planning the knew addition to the house so we can have a hobby room. 

I feel this is a hobby that embraces all: men, women and young people.  This forum is great because no one looks down on you if you have a question or know nothing at all.    TARP

[Anonymous]

There may be quite a few I'm not sure, I do know my husband sews better that I do(though neither one of us will do it unless absolutly needed)

[Anonymous]

Good morning and thank you to everyone who has posted, I wasn't expecting much, I've tried posting on other forums but Recieved very little feed back from any one, I'm pretty sure it was just the site either that or this is just a great bunch of modelers.

Electrolove, That must be so hard to be the only one around into trains, I don't have any friends who model but aleast if I run into a problem or have a question there are a few shops around that I can ask at. I don't have any pictures of this layout,I feel funny posting my work before it is done(it's the artist in me, I don't let anyone see my paintinga till they're done either).I am not modeling any particular place or time, I guess you could say I am try to create my "perfect" world.

James, I agree looks like I am a rare breed ,that's OK being Unique is a good thing When I was still in school(feels like 100 years ago) I tried so hard to fit in with the rest that I tended to get into trouble often, now as a grown woman with children, I try to show my Boys that we don't need to all be the same.

Dave, glad your wife is supportive my husband is great but some times he makes sugestions that sound good until I try to impliment them, that's when I realize my inexperience and have to call for help often I find that these good ideas are either to hard to do or they are not do-able at all.

Jsoderq, Yea that's very possible, I haven't found that to be a problem here but I tried posting on anothe site and was made to feel pretty stupid, though I don't know if it was because I was a woman or a Newbe(a double wammy is some peoples minds).

 

[tatans]

Yes, you are the only woman here, but if I want a question answered or a comment,  I'm not worried if the answer comes from a male or female as long as I get an answer. How can we (guys) tell if if a message is from M or F ??  I hope most members don't care, and not to worry, how many men subscribe to sewing forums?  keep 'trainin'

[jsoderq]

One thing for the back of your mind. It is very possible some of the posters are in fact women, but pose as a male to avoid ridicule etc. You are aware how cruel places like this can be. This happens with soap opera forums, where some guys pass off as women for that reason. If you watch the soap forums, it sometimes becomes obvious from the replies. The two places I have seen the most female RRs are California and Pennsylvania.

[Dave Vollmer]

Lisa,

My wife and I have two young boys (no daughters) also...  Both show an interest, though my older boy is clearly a future model railroader, no question.  My wife is very supportive, from helping ensure the budget is there for my hobby to accompanying me to the hobby store.  She's helped me with scenery, with painting the benchwork and fascia, and with moving the layout(s) around.  She didn't kill me when I tore down Layout #3 in preperation for Layout #4.  She knows I was in this hobby long before I met her, and hasn't tried to change me!  What she's not interested in are the trains themselves.  Still, I use her as a critical eye for the scenery and structures.

Honestly, I'd love to see her more interested in operating the layout.  She was intrigued when I went DCC (she's very computer savvy) but has yet to crack the throttle.  I imagine you feel the same way about your husband...?

[james saunders]

It reminds me of a time, when I was working at my LHS and a girl my age walked in and asked what would be the best starter set, I told her what was best (that you should buy the parts seperately) and so she walked out with a P2K steamer and some passenger cars, and a bunch of track etc... to date I haven't seen many more girls around... but it's nice to have a lady around!