How do You Feel About Others' Viewpoints About You an O-Gauge Trains?

Doesn't bother me in the slightest. I have been "into trains", especially steam locomotives, since I was about 3 years old. My dad worked for the railroad, has did HIS dad, however my mother did NOT want me to become a Railroader. She forced me to go to college, in order to "get a GOOD job"! Upon graduation, EMD hired me immediately and I have thus spent my entire working life in the railroad motive power industry, both diesel AND steam.

 

My wife is especially proud to tell ANYBODY, that the second story addition on our house is for the "model railroad". A young family man from her church, stopped by just yesterday to view the upstairs, and run a train. Naturally, he was amazed.

 

Thus, I really don't care what anybody else thinks about how I have made a living, nor my hobby activities for the last some 57 years professionally.

I can't imagine being anything less than proud about playing with trains.

 

That said, I should also note that I don't talk about my train hobby unless I'm asked about it.  I maintain this policy, not because I'm insecure, but because I know that once someone winds me up, I'm capable of bellowing in gale-force winds on the subject.  In fact, if I think there's any chance the listener might be converted, I'll proselytize at the drop of a hat.  I wish I had a nickel for every time I've said the words, "It's a great hobby."

 

If someone gave me grief about it, I'd be on them like white on rice with questions such as "Oh?  And what is your hobby?"

 

No, no insecurity here.  Just the opposite.

PTC,

   Brian as most people know, I do not care what other people think, especially those that believe my O gauge train hobby might be beneath them.  With Guys like Audie Murphy, Frank Sanatra, President Reagan, Jimmy Stewart, Gene Autry, Brian Keith, Charlton Heston & John Wayne, and the list goes on and on, rest assured our hobby has never been to juvenile for real men.  Further anyone who actually knows me personally, knows I am the O gauge train guy in our neighborhood.  I have big Lionel Christmas Ornaments hanging from the eves of our front porch at Christmas time, so everyone can see them.  Like anything else in life, there will always be small minded people who are jealous of those they do not understand.  As you know the Supreme Architect guides my path in life, no mortal man, what most people fail to understand, is that there is no such thing as pier pressure, only Good & Evil.   I live by the statement at the end of each of my posts.  Our O gauge hobby is just another part of life.

PCRR/Dave 

I'll admit to keeping my interest between myself and my family for a very long time. The few times it was casually brought up with friends, it was not well received. Not that I was really embarrassed by it, alright, maybe slightly, but it obviously was not a topic of interest with anyone I associated with. Those were my college years though. After college, and now as my friends and I are all approaching our 30's, I freely share my interest in conversation, post pictures of things online, etc. A few guys even ask about my progress with the trains now. Obviously, as I've gotten older, the weight of others opinions has mattered less and less.

Brian,

Could not agree with you more. Although I do try to be mindful of what I think Mark Twain once said: "There is nothing less interesting than someone else's hobby". So, although I do talk about my interest in trains I try to measure the other persons response as to how much I will go on about it.

 

Knowing your love of trains, I sure if we were ever to meet I would be delighted to spend an afternoon drinking coffee and 'chewing each other's ears off' discussing the fantastic world of trains!

 

Train on.

JohnJr

No I couldn't care less what people think of my hobby. I have had more favorable reactions than not. I have found that people relate to model trains more than you would think. If I mention Lionel trains that seems to hit a cord more than anything as some remember either having them as a kid or knew someone that did. I don't share to much of my personal life at work but I brought in the magaziene with my article in it and my employees and fellow management staff were very interested and asked if they could read it.  I didn't get the "Oh that's nice" sort of reaction. 

When I speak of my hobby, it is "Railroading." For me, modeling is just one part of a much greater passion for study of the development, history and operations of the industry. When it comes up for discussion, I believe most people come away interested in what I've had to say. In college, while many of my classmates were drinking during their free time, I was interning with Conrail learning how the real railroad worked. My friends were very impressed and, in fact, I would even sometimes get requests so they could come over to go up on an engine, see the inside of the tower and so forth. Sure, I had some O and HO models on my shelves and train pictures on the walls but nobody ever said anything derogatory about them. Of course, I never gave anyone a reason to think I was weird for pursuing my hobby. I often suspect some of the people who say others think they're strange for liking trains give them genuine reason to think that way but it has nothing to do with the hobby.

 

Bob

I tell all my friends about "my trains" some have asked: What size, I reply O and then they ask how big is that. One of my friends came over to help with my layout and low and behold, he was a train guy and knew a lot more about train history than this writer.

 

I like my trains.

 

Brent

I couldn't care less what others think.  Those who know me know about my hobbies and are generally supportive.  I think the stereotype of a model railroader is the crop duster, unbathed, scruffy guys that have been talked about on this forum many times.  I don't fit the stereotype.  

 

Jeff Davis

People talk smack about any hobby they just don't 'get'.

I once was in a line of folks waiting to get into a sci-fi convention and the line was right alongside people waiting to get into an football-related event at the same time at the same venue. A person painted in colors for a certain team look across the hall at someone dressed in a Star Trek uniform and yelled, "Good grief, get a life, man!" and the painted guy truly didn't get the hypocrisy is that statement.

My primary hobby is history and I've done historical re-enacting for most of my life. People can get downright frightened at the thought of people who drive WW2 vehicles and carry around firearms at re-enactments and displays. I've even had people contact police asking if I should be arrested for simply owning stuff they don't feel someone should own (like my 1944 WW2 Jeep) because they simply don't know any better. I had a cop at an airshow come up to our display laughing at the ignorance of a soccer mom who felt we had no legal right to even own WW2 uniforms.

My point is that there's ignorance everywhere.

If you're not bothering or causing harm to others, what you do with your own time is your own business.

There will always be that knucklehead painted in sports team colors who thinks you're the one who needs to get a life. You can't fix stupid.

As I recently wrote in another thread, I don't go out of my way to mention my trains, but if they come up in the natural course of a conversation, I certainly will talk about them. Casual aquaintances whom I only see on rare occasion will often ask me if I still am into trains. I always answer yes.

I've always been with the quiet set. Might acknowledge my involvement, but don't wear it on my chest.

 

Lately, however, I've had a change of mind.

 

I finally realized that anyone with negative views of my hobby can go pound sand - they're not going to have any impact upon my finances or life.

 

Additionally, I rationalized that folks who model r/c planes don't suffer the same perceived disdain from others, and often spend multiple thousands on a model. Plane or train, both are models.  It's no difference, and I even tell folks that.

I can see were younger guys (twenty/thirty somethings) would probably get razzed about "playing with toy trains".  I'm with Hot Water, people's opinions don't bother me in the slightest.  If your closest group of friends do mountain climbing, race sports cars, big game hunting, or belong to an arm wrestling team, chances are you will be getting razzed.  Oddly enough, if someone knows they are getting under your skin, they tend to razz all the more. Even though technically they are toy trains, I don't refer to them that way as I feel it denigrates the scope of the hobby.

 

Stack

When I was young I did care about what other people thought and I rarely talked about trains with friends.

 

As I have grown older I really don't give a care what other people think. I'm having fun and nothing will stop me from playing or talking about my model trains. 

I am 64 years old and I play with toy trains.  I don't model, count rivets, or bad mouth the newest train, because it's not an exact model.  Any body who doesn't like that, tough.  Far more people, who find out, are anxious to ask for advice about what to buy for their kids, nephews, nieces, etc.  I'm always happy to help them, with information, and advice.

 

Richie

Most folks I know don't understand why I would spend so much time and energy...and money on this hobby.  These are the folks that either have another interest other than model railroading or have no hobby at all.....but.....it is not important to me that they approve.  If it is a non-hobbyist to whom I am speaking, I may not mention the layout at all.  But the reason is not because I am embarrassed rather I don't want to overwhelm them with something in which they are not particularly interested.  It is a little different if we have guests because usually guests will see the layout.  I have had all kinds of reactions from disbelief (you must be crazy!) to..."WOW...can you run the trains?"  So....I have to say that the determining factor of whether someone becomes a friend of mine certainly doesn't require them liking the hobby or my trains in particular....BUT it sure does help!!..LOL! 

 

Alan

Well, it's hard to hide it when you're running trains for the public on a modular display! Occasionally people will inquire about my interest. I just point to the smile on their youngster's face and point out that my "baby" is 29 years old right now. I just get a kick out of seeing how happy this hobby makes kids (from 6 to 60)!

 

Gilly

Don't care.  I enjoy my hobby and if they don't like it.  Not my problem.

I don't care what anyone thinks of my train collection. I've been into trains since I was a little boy. I have over 500 O gauge trains alone and 100 accessories. I also have a few sets of G gauge as well as HO, N and S gauges. I am also a gunsmith with a large collection of guns, So I don't think anyone would question my collections lol 

Interesting posting, many of us on the Forum are senior citizens and have received some critical comments about our hobby, but its interesting I have friends in there 50's and 60's, some retired, whose hobbies are the muscle cars of the 60's,rc model airplanes or model kit building, none of these people whatever hobby they chose have made cynical comments about model railroading, all of us of this generation remember the muscle cars of the 60's, the rock and role music of the 50's and 60's and most likely built model kits in the 50's or 60's, the hobbies that we chose as middle age adults and senior citizens are our choices.

Brian:

Anyone who knows me well, either personally or professionally, knows I like trains, both toy and real; including all of the railroad account managers who have called on me over the years and quite a few of the senior Class 1 officials with whom I am acquainted.

This love of trains has landed me more office car trips than I can remember along with countless cab rides and, one of my fondest memories, a chance to operate a Santa Fe FP45 many years ago.

When I stepped down as chairman of the National Industrial Transportation League back in 2008, they even gave me a gift certificate to my favorite train store in Atlanta.

Keep my love of trains a secret?  No way!

Curt

Have no interest in what others think about toy trains.  It's a real good hobby that others tend to like when they see them.  I run the trains each Thanksgiving at my daughter's special needs school.  The delight these kids get from flashing lights and sounds makes it more than a hobby for me.

 

It takes a real man to act like a kid.

I am with Jeff, I could care less what people think. After 25 yrs in the army  with multiple deployments starting with the Balkans.  This was and still is one of my stress relievers. It started with HO and 4 wheeling in Germany, Then to O when I PCSed in 2009 to Tampa. How I found time I cant tell you. I try to be a good ambassador for the hobby, But like I said I don't care what people think.

 

Doug

I have to agree with the rest of you.  Not once have I ever thought or felt embarrassed to tell anyone that "I love model railroading".  I was lucky enough to live for a while in Whitehall, PA and just down the street behind the last row of houses was set of railroad tracks and as a 5 year old; me and my friends loved to play on and around the tracks.  Always hoping the train was coming.  Well I digress.  Great Times and forever cherished.  I now relive those day and new ones every time I run my sets.  It sounds like our friend has forgotten to Dream and hold on to Good Life and Adventure.  Every time my trains run we go a new place and a new adventure.  Remembering and cherishing the past and the thrill of the future just around that next turn.  The hobby to me is just great fun.  Even the cleaning to adjusting, technical, and most of all now because of this forum and you new modelers I've come to know, the excitement and the ability to create my own personal railroad and just detail out "Bling" my existing fleet.  To make them more alive.  It's a great hobby With great friends just a post.  No one has ever given me grief over having a model railroad hobby, but when I look deep into the eyes of those who kind of may think that; I see a little bit of envy or loss within them.  So as for me, Does it bother me? NO! and Yes I do feel sorry for them.

I could care less about what other people think of me or my hobby. I love it…  and I really like the people on this forum. Let everyone else go fly a kite…… is flying kits a hobby?….. because if it is I would look up to those people.    

I generally keep it to myself, unless I'm talking to someone whom I know is also interested in trains/railroading.  But then again, I'm a fairly private person; it's my opinion that the less people know about you, the less they can use against you.

As far as O gauge in particular, we're in a minority within the hobby as well. HO and N scales are more common/popular by a long shot, and many modelers of these scales tend to "look down" on "toy trains".  So yes, I sometimes am concerned about what others might think.  Maybe that will change with age (I'm 34), but for now I just keep it mostly to myself.

I do not keep my hobby a secret.  Virtually everyone I know is aware that I am into trains.  I do not go out of my way to bring it up, as JohnJr quoted from Mark Twain, "There is nothing less interesting than someone else's hobby".  When I have brought it up, I had some interesting results.

 

Late one evening, east coast time, a customer called but our service department had closed about 2 hours earlier.  He seemed nice enough so I located his service job in our system.  It was a pocket watch and he said he used it for work.  Turns out he was a conductor on the UP.  He collected watches; I collected trains.  So we talked for a little while.  I comped the repair charges on his watch and expedited the job.  About 2 weeks later, receiving brought me a box.  It was a UP mug and a UP engineer’s hat.

 

One of the times I was in Switzerland, the head of our Swiss office picked me up on a Saturday morning and took me to a museum of railroad memorabilia in Fribourg.

 

When I retired this past March, the folks at work were asking my wife what they could get me.  She only thing she could think of was the locomotive I had just ordered.  They found out what it was and took up a collection; the company kicked in the balance.  At my retirement dinner the company president presented me with a picture of the Lionel VL Big Boy in an engraved frame from all of my friends.

 

It’s a great hobby and you meet a lot of great people both in the hobby and all around it.

consider this interest in our hobby as perhaps childlike or otherwise inappropriate for an individual of his maturity.

 

I noticed something this year working the Christmas layout. Kids grow up to fast

and adults don't play enough.

 

For those who still tend to snicker at us, I show them some of the photo's here

and then watch their eyes get big. A lot of people here do some real art work.

Then say, "well what do you do for fun ? "

 

I TELL EVERY ONE. I TRY NOT TO FORCE MY INTEREST ON THEM. THEN THOSE THAT GET DRAWN IN SEE THE CLUB LAYOUT AND THE REACTION IS ALWAYS HOLY %^*# AND THEY WALK AWAY FROM THE EXPERIENCE TOTALLY AWED.

 

BETWEEN MY CLUB (TMB), THE NJ H RAILERS, NLOE, COL AS THOSE HERE ON THE FORUM MY CIRCLE OF FRIENDS AND ACQUAINTANCES IN THE HOBBY NOW FAR EXCEEDS THOSE OUTSIDE THE MODEL RR COMMUNITY.

 

 

I have been playing with Toy Trains since Christmas 1938. Co-workers, customers and friends all knew of my "affliction", as one very good friend explained it. He could never get me on the golf course and felt that doing yard work in my wife's mountain flower gardens [my other hobby]as well as train play, gave his wife ammunition for complaints regarding his lack of "honey do"s.

 

My wife always supported my train doings and enabled me to build a 14x32, twin shelf, five track operation in her 18' high kitchen breakfast room at our mountain retirement cottage. She had only two requirements: 1] that I not run trains when she was watching Oprah, etc, on TV and, 2] that I play golf with her on the Club''s Sunday afternoon couple's 9 hole round and dinner party.

 

My wife was a four-time Club Champion and played courses from New Jersey, Florida and Carolina to China. I didn't mind the Sunday events but when she insisted I fill in the foursome if one player short when her semi-pro girl friends visited for golf outings I complained. She beat me by 12 strokes and her girl friends were likewise talented golfers. Tough on ones testosterone level.

 

But the point of my story --- all of the many women who visited, all loved cranking up the 3 pw ZWs and running my kitchen trains, [usually wide open post cocktails]. So two things were pretty much known far and wide: one, I was a reluctant and terrible golfer and two, I played with Toy Trains. No one except my close friend and golfing neighbor in the mountains seemed to think I was border line strange.

 

 

I'm not shy.  I love them and always will.

I welcome everyone's viewpoints, but like many, cringe when I see certain responses made by certain members all in the name of "going toe to toe"....

Is there really? Seriously? A reason to go toe to toe with anyone for any reason in this forum?

I share my viewpoints like 99% of the forum members here, like a mature adult, and welcome any and all mature adult view points as well.

 

This tends to be the case here toy trains are looked down on by a small number of scale modellers. The hobby press here does not help ether. Personally I don't mind who knows about my hobby. I am quiet happy to educate some of the heathens in the error of their ways.

I think toy trains S&O gauge along with standard gauge are more "Rock & Roll" ,just a bit on the edge.....and generally cool

 

Nick

No, I've never felt self-conscious about the hobby and I'm indifferent to what others think about my interests.  I've met plenty of people who are as "involved," if not more involved in their hobbies:  a Yankee fan with a NY Yankee room in his home; a golfer with a golf room in his home; a woodworker with all the tools; and, etc.  Not to mention the skiers, photographers, Harley riders who are invested in those pursuits.

 

Among the personal items that I displayed in my office was a very attractive 126 LIONEL pre-war station.  It never, to my recollection, drew a comment from a visitor or colleague.  Now, the 4x6 snapshot of me with Muhammed Ali, everyone would ask about it.

 

Folks who participate on this forum are, themselves, and I include myself, different from the ordinary O gauge buying public.  So, even among O gauge train owners met in a LHS, chances are they don't have nearly the interest in these trains that we do.

 

My final comment is this, in layintracks' reply he states:  "Most folks I know don't understand why I would spend so much time and energy...and money on this hobby."

News flash, Alan, neither do I.  Believe me, I'm glad you do what you do--but "understand," no, at least not yet.

 

 

Brian, were you at my elderly parents' house on Saturday?  My brother was up from South Carolina visiting them for the week.  He is 3 years younger than me.  He mentioned seeing a childhood friend who is between my brother and me in age.  We have not seen each other in decades.  I do have the friend and his wife as "friends" on FaceBook.  My brother commented the friend had seen my trains on FaceBook.  First my brother scoffed that I had a FaceBook account, then sneared about the trains.  Since we were kids, he has always teased me that I should stage train wrecks like Gomez Aadams.  The other thing he always mocked was my participation in Boy Scouts.  I didn't even comment other than saying, yes I have had contact with our friend.

 

My brother was an athlete, which is fine.  Now his interests are watching a few games, exercising, and reading about the Civil War.  I don't scoff at any of those things, but I do see that he is a lonely man.  On the other hand, I don't care what my brother or any other person thinks.

 

I was very shy as a child, so I never mentioned my layout as a kid.  I never talked to anyone about much of anything.  Now I have some freight cars on a shelf in my work office, so people there know I have an interest.  A friend is coming over on New Years to see my trains, as he bought a starter set from Dave at Mercer Junction for his son, who is having a rough time adjusting to my friend's divorce.  This friend asked my advice last month, and went to the TCA show in Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania.  This is why I am glad to let folks know I like trains.

I say, "One of my hobbies is electric trains". Some of my other hobbies are far more odd...like collecting tin litho sand pails, or other people's family slides.

I have never had a problem with family or friends regarding

my love of Toy Trains.  My wife has no problem with my hobby,

and when she tells friends about my passion for trains, the

response has been positive.

 

The only other leisure passion I have is Baseball.  The history of

Baseball & Trains go way back.  O Gauge Trains like Baseball for

me, has been a part of my life since I was five years old, and

like Hot Water & others on the Forum I would not be bothered

my a negative view of my love for Toy Trains & Real Trains as

well.  

 

I can understand how Brian feels about a negative view point

of this great hobby.  Believe me, I can get just as upset with

life in general.  That is why my train room is my escape from

that world.

 

Many thanks,

 

Billy C 

I think that peer pressure from forumites can be much more damaging than the opinions of outsiders.

 

Pete

The people at church know there are 2 persons to talk to if they want to discuss toy trains: the pastor and me. 'nough said.

 

Chris

LVHR