Never! For all the above, and I once paid to run a steam loco in Essex and I dressed like a normal person as well.
It's one thing to wear "street clothes" for a one-time joy ride, quite another if you're going to spend all day tending to and operating a steam locomotive.
Rusty
I have to admit this is a quite entertaining thread & I do enjoy reading others views on wearing train related garb.
But I have spent too much time this morning dawdling on the computer, so I'll slip into my Roundhouse RR Striped overalls (they are the most comfortable pants I own), head outside and get the tractor running and start mowing the fields.....
Dave
Well
! I was going to divide up and leave my entire train collection to all my young friends on this forum. But since the truth has surfaced, and they think I am old, fat, and smelly (not to mention bald), I'm taking them with me 
!
Remember, with each passing day we all get older, fatter, smellier, and whatever.
This thread is good stuff, thanks for the laughs!
Stack
Crossdressers always catch my attention at shows. What's up with that?
Going to a swap meet, or other train related event, I will usually wear a train related T-Shirt. During the Club's open house, I tend to spend a lot of time(By choice) in the roundhouse, it is one of the first things people see, entering the layout room, and is very approachable to the public, which is why I enjoy it, I will wear a train T-shirt and an engineers cap. One of our members has a full classic Conductors uniform, and it looks Great.
As far as the Hygiene thing, is that an EAST of the Rockies thing? I have never noticed it being "Train Show" thing, out here on the West Coast. There is of course, the occasional person in need of a bath, but no more common than in society in general. It seems that there are more complaints, the further East you go.
Doug
Besides, my track spike spurs; knuckle coupler mitts; beenie, with the front end of a bubble blowing big boy, busting out the front and my titanium O gauge power thong... I'm pretty low key.
No need to be a curiosity...
Rick
Although good train shows are few and far between over here, I always wear my Lionel t-shirt and most often my Lionel train drivers hat. I'm way too far past my sell-by date to worry about whether I look strange or not.
According to the chart on the National Heart Lung & Blood Institute, 300lbs at a height of 6'7" gives you a BMI (Body Mass Index) of 33.8! THAT is not good!
Check it out. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/guide...sity/BMI/bmicalc.htm
Lol...he looks healthy enough that I wouldn't want to say that to his face if he was in a bad mood. I, however, have little to say as I'm 6'4" @ 215lbs. 
Dave what kind of shows are you talking about? Don
Interesting thread...here's my 2 cents for what it's worth, and I've been to a few trains shows in my years.
The most offensive folks seem to be;
- the ones who bathe in cologne...better than B.O., but still...
- the ones who just bought what "I" wanted..they stink..."figuratively" 
...wait, this was about "clothes", I think...well, no problems there ever...except that one that I "think" was a..well, I never did figure that one out....coulda gone either way.
Dave what kind of shows are you talking about? Don
...Not that kind!...
Thanks for the shout out, Choo Choo Bob!!
It's not necessaryly "nerdy" or even
to look the part.
It's for the kids. They love to see someone
that actually looks like they belong on a train somewhere.
(and the Mom's appreciate it too, it keeps the little one's
interest).
It's all about the kids, big and small.
I, personally, don't care what anyone wears to a train show or anywhere else but PLEASE take a bath or a shower first. And, above all, do NOT splash a gallon of cologne over yourself to try and quench the stink.
Rick
My daughter say's train collectors are the worse dressed people.
According to the chart on the National Heart Lung & Blood Institute, 300lbs at a height of 6'7" gives you a BMI (Body Mass Index) of 33.8! THAT is not good!
Check it out. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/guide...sity/BMI/bmicalc.htm
Lol...he looks healthy enough that I wouldn't want to say that to his face if he was in a bad mood. I, however, have little to say as I'm 6'4" @ 215lbs.
Yeah according to that chart I'm supposed to weigh 185 lbs at 6'1", I haven't weighed 185 since highschool!
According to the site:
Calculate Your Body Mass Index
Body mass index (BMI) is a measure of body fat based on height and weight that applies to adult men and women.
Apparently it doesn't take into account that not everyone has the same fat to muscle ratio, 300lbs of muscle will or 300 lbs of fat will give the same results according to the chart but it claims to measure body fat, how does it know how much body fat I have?
As to the personal hygene, weird attire at train shows, that is one of the reasons my wife stopped going a long time ago with me to shows. She thought most of them really needed a bath and a fresh set of clothes. My 6 year old grandson goes with me now to shows and several times he's pointed out to me "That guy stinks" or "He's wearing a dirty shirt" or "He just f***ed" all with no prompting from me or others. He actually at a Greenberg show made me walk away from a table because the guy there really reeked.
He was brought up like me, when you go out you look presentable, clean clothes, comb your hair and attend to proper hygene but it seems that many either never learned that or they just don't care. Now someone dressing up like a railroad guy isn't something I'd do for a train show I'll admit it does add a bit of fun to the event for the kids. But dressing in old, torn and dirty clothes doesn't cut it, unless you're supposed to be a hobo!
Jerry
I'll add simply..."I wear clothes"...you folks will appreciate that. 
Ever wonder why the OGR Forum black leather thong was not a big seller? 
I might as well join the fray with my input on the "smelly" factor of model railroaders. Age, weight, and medication can all be factors as well as unkempt slovenliness.
It is a fact that with advancing age can come a diminished sense of smell and less attention to ones personal grooming. Also certain medical conditions and medications can cause body odor and obesity and its inherent effect on certain glands can likewise trigger our body's chemistry to produce what to many others are offensive odors.
But for others it's root cause is a lack of soap and water prior to attending shows.
I might dress the part if I ran a display like Popi, I wear my engineers cap sometimes any how, show or not.
The stink,
Worse in the mid-morning. I'll skip breakfast choices -vs- gas. Sleeping in too late(weekend ya know!), and not bathing is my best guess, although I suspect some do it to get more elbow room in "human herd" situations. Mmmoooo...
I might as well join the fray with my input on the "smelly" factor of model railroaders. Age, weight, and medication can all be factors as well as unkempt slovenliness.
It is a fact that with advancing age can come a diminished sense of smell and less attention to ones personal grooming. Also certain medical conditions and medications can cause body odor and obesity and its inherent effect on certain glands can likewise trigger our body's chemistry to produce what to many others are offensive odors.
But for others it's root cause is a lack of soap and water prior to attending shows.
Years ago a good friend and I were going to a train show (before GPS). We had a flyer but the how to get there part was hard to read. We were close but didn't know the correct exit. Some guy in an old beat up Jeep passed us. He had an engineers cap on with 25 or 30 RR pins, a large handlebar mustache, his glasses were broken and taped together also bib overalls with several RR patches. We looked at each other and said at the same time "just follow him"!LOL! We had a great time.
AL
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