Great visitor question last night - how would you reply?

I always reply that I come from a Railroader's family as my father and his father worked for the railroad. I received my first Lionel set around the Tree, for Christmas 1946, and I have been "in to trains, and railroading" ever since.

I would have answered the question about model railroading just as you did.

However, the real question is: Why do you "love real trains and get excited hearing the growl of big diesel engines, whistles, and the smell of trains"?

For this, I answer: "I don't know.  It has always been a part of me."  I grew up in a house close to the railroad tracks.  My mother used to tell the story that as a 1 year old, when a train went by, I would toddle over to the windowsill every time.  She knows this, because one day she had painted the windowsill and wasn't thinking about what would happen when the whistle blew.  Apparently I had two light blue palms afterward.

So, "I don't know.  It's always been a part of me."

Your wife... and her husband??????

My usual response is, having traveled nearly my entire adulthood as well as settling down outside my boyhood home. my model railroading depicts my boyhood growing up which in fact was alongside ICG railroad, as well as hearing my father story of his young adult life working on the extra board of the railroad.

To Chugman  - Invite the lady over to run train with you !  Maybe she could help you with scenery.  

To Illinois Central _  Good Answer !

I recently told some friends I am Like Sheldon on Big Bang Theory !  LOL !

Because I can't afford real trains.

I like model trains because I can't have the real ones.   It's in my genes to like them, going back two generations that I know of.  I would go to the DL&W depot as a boy and was fascinated by the size, sounds and power of the streamlined diesels.  Also the all-business conductors in their crisp uniforms and the (seemingly) grouchy baggage handlers intrigued me.

Birth defect?

I don't know, I think from a very early age the creativity and construction aspect of trains hooked me. I also liked watching real trains. My parents recognized that and fostered it. They created a monster.

I was a third generation railroader. I ended a streak of 97 years with the RR as my son wanted to try something different. When I had my layout,(no where near what yours is), I was asked that several times.

My answer was it was relaxation, a way to relieve stress. It was easy to come home and relax a while in the basement after a taxing day at work.

When the manufactures finally started offering some Atlantic Coast Line, I bought everything that came out. It was part of my heritage, it made me feel good about it and seemed closer to my dad and grandpa.

My wife will tell you, at least she knows where I am at, and what I am happy doing.

Gene

Why do you like model trains?

Because I do.  

I sort of accept it, like I do gravity, the blue sky, etc.  the world is just like that. 

I would show her your layout in operation, let her run some trains, and then ask her..."question answered"?

I like trains because it brings me back to when I was little. I grew up in a 3 bedroom house with 5 brothers so trains were my escape. Upon deeper reflection its not so much the trains I like as the building and creating things, the design and planning, the creation and then solution of some unique and interesting problem. For me a bigger part of the hobby is the construction as that is actually a majority of what I do. I find it rare that I run the trains these days just to run the trains but maybe I need to stop and smell the roses for a bit

My first thought was like P51.  Why do all 4 of you like playing cards?  Why did she become a teacher?  Why do any of us like what we like?  The answer boils down to what Lee said, we just do.

Art, from your posts in the past, I think you are like me.  we don't like being blunt or facetious.  So we start explaining what specifics we like or things we were exposed to as youngsters, or a mentor.  And that is good.  My brother three years younger was exposed to everything I was growing up, but he has no interest in trains or models.  

It reminds me of Foghorn Leghorn, "Daw, I say Dawg.  Why do you do what you do, do, do?"

Art, thanks for starting this topic, it is great!

Nothing mystical or deep, just because it is fun! But then I also think it is fun trying to stop 6 oz. of rubber flying at me at 80 plus miles per hour, so go figure.

The husband of the lady asking the question.

She jumped in and said how cool steam engines smelled and sounded.  I added that I grew tired of watching trains running in small circles when I was a boy, but have always loved trains.  She jumped in again and said she could never understand why anyone would want to see a train go round and round, but totally gets the creative aspect of it and has gained a lot of interest in my layout now.

Art - you're very lucky, you got off easy!   You gave an excellent answer.  I assume you got an A on that one.

I don't have a pat answer.  It always depends on the audience.

I might respond with a smile and say,"so, what are you writing a book?"

fred

I do not like explaining myself.

"Because the world has too many baseball fans as it is," or something along those lines...

Oh, now I get it. Thanks!

Because of my earliest memories are:

1. Watching the 6 EL train on my maternal grandfather's shoulder at the Middletown Rd station.

2. Watching the trans all day from my paternal grandparents yards which abutted against the New Haven 4 track main line in Larchmont......now 95 separates the property from the tracks....I remember diesels and electrics in McGinnis colors flying by.

3. When I was 4, I ran away from home to join the subway. The cops found me on the platform of the Buhre Ave station.

I guess I was hooked as a little kid!

Peter

Like running away to join the circus?  That's great!  You were defiantly hooked, Peter!

Hi ART,

  If I were asked, "Why do you like model trains"?

First I'd answer,  Why not.  What's not to like.

Then I think I would say just about the same as you did.  Well stated.

Art

It's the existential put-down. It says that you like something that I don't and never could, so why do you? You must be a fool to like something like this  because it is not in my vocabulary.

Coming from a teacher that's all the worse because it says a lot about her teaching skills that must be something akin to "learn this and learn it my way or fail."

All she knows is STRUCTURED leaning and will never create anything outside her backyard.

She jumped in again and said she could never understand why anyone would want to see a train go round and round...

Because for some of us without cavernous basements, it's a choice between running them round and round or never running them at all.

People always ask 'why' for any hobby.

As many of you might know already (and especially from my avatar shot), my primary hobby is US military history and doing public displays. It never fails when I set up some display, someone will always ask me why I'm into that stuff.

My answers never suited anyone until I was able to tell them I'm a former US Army officer. Somehow, that justifies everything and makes sense. Never mind that I'm really into it because all our family vacations were to civil war battlefields and I grew up listening to stories from my uncles about fighting the Japanese in WW2 (I loved the story of two uncles meeting in Burma and going out into the jungle with Tommy guns to hunt either Tigers or Japanese soldiers, whichever showed up first). My military service came from my interest in that, not the other way around.

But I'd bet that any current or former RR employee would get the same reception?

Art,

The chance to design and construct a stage for the trains we love to perform on and share it all with friends and guests, something every "young" boy and girl who fall in love with trains wishes they could do at some point. (Though some have asked not to be invited if rivet counters or obnoxious guests will be there!) Even when we are all done, or as close as all done in model railroading might be, and go "gosh darn, I've sure got to change that part" as the big picture is a wee bit skewed from the dream.

Hi Art

     Interesting question. i like it because it is a fantasy and escape really no rules. I can build and be satisfied or try something new. Always something to learn or see that' s new. Best of all the people. I am lucky enough to travel, maybe too much, and always meeting more train people.

Ray Marion

Except for the urban commuter (which probably explains the popularity of model subway cars), there are not too many in younger generations who grew up with, or still travel by, train: even less who understand or appreciate the mechanical details of said machinery. 

I grew up riding single-car branch line trains, steam and diesel main line expresses, and the odd electric streetcar or suburban train here and there. Our family never had a TV until I was 7 years old, and no sports fans in the family, so I guess something had to take root.

My model railroad spark was a retired army officer who scratchbuilt his 00 scale locomotives from card, catalog parts and tinplate from soup cans. I still have an affinity to tin, wood and Strathmore.

We still try to re-create those mixed memories in one way or another I reckon. I recall an article on a home office ceiling layout where the owner enjoyed just listening to the subway cars roll. There's something calming about this hobby that you just don't see on the latest faux-macho so-called TV reality shows. 

My train room is my "Fortress of Solitude" just like Superman!

http://www.supermantv.net/articles/fortress.htm

franktrain

I grew up with model trains and it has stuck with me since.  As child my dad and brothers would set up Christmas Train layout in one of our rooms which consisted of American Flyer train Set.  This is something I enjoyed a lot.  My brothers and me would spend hours running trains growing up.  My dad would also take us regularly to DuPage Fair Grounds to train shows.  In those days there was no Internet so going to train show was the place to see all the new O’Gauge Trains.  My Dad’s primary hobby outside of trains was circus.  For him circus and trains went together.  At one time he had HO Layout with circus trains.  My interest in model trains also grew from seeing real trains while growing up.  When the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus was in town, we always would go downtown Chicago to see the circus, but also to see the circus train.  When there was a circus parade in Milwaukee Wisconsin, my dad got to ride on the train from Baraboo to Milwaukee, hence we got to see the train then.   Back then, 4501 Southern Mikado was the engine that led the circus train.  We would also ride behind the Steam engine at the IL Railroad Museum and trolley’s at the Fox River Trolley Museum.   My last time out with my Dad which was a few weeks before he passed was a trip together to a nearby train store to show him the Milwaukee Road 261 manufactured by Lionel.  To answer the question…my interest in model trains comes much from my Dad and the great memories that I shard together with him.   Ken

Hi Art, you did OK with your reply.

      All my friends who ask this type of question are golfers. So I usually say anything is better then chasing around a little white ball. Then I give them the true answer, something like yours.

I would have asked her what her hobbies and interests were.  Then I would have asked her why she likes them.

At some level, it strikes me that when people ask a question about something in that manner, there is an element of judgment to it, hence my turnaround.  Stated differently, why does there have to be a reason for what I like, and why do I have to answer questions about it?

People have different interests and skills.  It is one of the things that makes like interesting.

Genetic predisposition. I have no other response.

My layout is at a friend's house, where his entire basement is dedicated to it.

Yet, in my little home office, I have a little HO thing with Unitrack on a long, wooden folding table. For some reason, I like to be around toy trains.

I just tell people that playing with trains is one of the only activities my parole officer will allow.

Jeff C

Your reply was fine...however, I have no problem watching trains go 'round and 'round. In my mind, they are traveling cross-country. Just how big does a layout have to be before they are not going around?

I just answer that I lke trains. No further response is necessary. 

I get that question a lot, and over the years, I've had a good deal of time to think about it. 

Model railroading is mostly an art.  It is also a way to enjoy recreating history.  It does this by teaching us things like electricity, photography, and appreciation of the mind of man to actually think up these behemoth machines to advance society over the years.  Why not model them and show others your appreciation of the wonderful machines that have advanced our society?

Think about it.  What hasn't been brought to you by a train?  Go all the way from the 17th century to now and the answer is almost everything you can imagine. 

The artistic part of it allows each of us to visualize scenes in our own lives, in the world around us in general, and even scenes of fantasy and shape them in miniature to show to others. 

I is a WONDERFUL way to play!   

I have often said when asked this question that is a really cool hobby that has a way of keeping your interest. If there is a husband involved by the lady asking, I immediately ask if her husband has an equally creative and gratifying hobby. Normal response, silence. That usually does the trick.

I have really enjoyed reading all your great responses.  I have to add that I did not take this lady's question as any kind of cheap shot or put down, but rather a sincere interest in what it is about trains that attracts me so much.  She teaches special needs kids and has a student that loves trains.  She asked if she could come back and film a video of me and my trains to show to him.  I know her well enough to believe that her question was a show of interest and nothing negative.  She is a great neighbor and very good friend.  We are blessed to have them living next door.

Art 

My response: 

"I need a reason?"