Is This A Hobby, Or A Sinister Compulsion?

Lee

You can push a button on me with this quote.

 

People are taught a very simplistic view of the war now, that is was all about slavery.

 

 

This BS has been fed to children and adults in our public school systems for decades. It still gets me that it's sucked up like totally valid information.

 

I will never forget my 10th grade History teacher. He read a quote from a history book, then he tossed it out the window. We were on the second floor!!!

 

He then told us to never believe a one book story about history. Always find other resources to confirm your convictions.

 

I better shut up.

 

 

Larry

 

Sorry Bob being off post here

OCD

"O" compulsive Disorder.

O guage trains is a hobby......... coming up with these concocted topics is the sinister compultion.

Larry,

Food for thought, maybe? My eldest is a History Professor. Nothing else is permitted. He knows the truth. I told him about loads of 10K BB's & meat cans I delivered.

I found that prewar Lionel Std Gauge was a good escape. It's like it over takes and consumes you. I was serious when I said, "Toy Trains Are A Way Of Life". When I was Air Crew, I was able to find people like you and I all over the world. In almost every country, on almost every base I was able to find at least one O-Gauge layout. In Nam they had a layout in Load Planning. On one Med-Evac from Japan we had 68 patients in various stages coming home. I met four ambulatory patients who had Lionel trains and shared a layout with their father before shipping out. All it took was one magic word,"LIONEL". It tore down walls and brought smiles to the once somber faces. Before that magic moment some had little interaction with others.

Wow, RickO, I believe you have hit the nail on the head.  I do not understand why we in the hobby are always coming up with negative connotations to describe the hobby we enjoy when all it has ever brought to my life is pleasure.

 

Happy railroading,

Don 

 

??????? Please show me the negative.

Rick,

Toy trains are a hobby for a few. For others,"Toy Trains Are A Way Of Life". Your statement, "these concocted topics is the sinister compulsion" is cute and rather amusing. LMAO!

I think for most of us it is an enjoyable hobby even though we all suffer from never having enough space.

 

But I know at least two cases of true compulsion/addiction. Unfortunately neither individual is super wealthy so the addiction is causing the same financial pressures as

one finds in the drug and alcoholic worlds.

 

In both cases, their homes are warehouses-- filled with unopened boxes of trains.

 

And when they sell stuff to fuel new acquisitions, it's no surprise that they often absorb

significant losses.

 

It's very sad, and virtually impossible to get them to modify their behavior.

 

lewrail

 

 

 

 

I have always thought that the space you have for a layout is a excellent means to keep you from having one of those layouts that you never get to the point of even running trains, because you dreamed insanely beyond your capacity to do complete the layout itself.

I really enjoy having a train layout and watching live trains.  I find it relaxing.  However; I don't go overboard with either of these hobbies.  When I know a heritage unit is coming through town I'll go out and see it.   If I don't have anything going on during the weekend evenings I'll play with my trains.   If I have to work OT I'll take my laptop down to the basement and let the trains run while I work.    I feel the same way about trains as I do about running.  It's relaxing and takes my mind off of the daily grind.

"I'm not crazy,  my mother had me tested!  But my wife might have me tested again! I just have to stay healthy enough to ever get the layout finished.

Gary: there are several ways to pass those tests, and make everyone believe you're okay.  

Kind a like Barney and Teletubbies(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfYP56ziEU4 . Who also was a concocted sinister compilations.  This has been great to follow. I would never had thought of this hobby as a sinister compilation. Learn something new every day.

I often muse over commentary offered to posts when the commentator obviously has not read or understood the complete post.  This usually results in vague responses that demonstrate the lack of concentration or consideration for the original thought.

Bob

 

I got it from your post. This is a vicious circle that feeds on its self and we are all guilty.

Sinister Compulsion.

 

Next question?

Remember, "tongue in cheek".

Yes but more familiar with foot in mouth.

Not being of loose limbs, I have a very hard time achieving the latter.  What started out as an innocuous post about my own foibles has become contentious because of misunderstanding, taking words out of context, and misspelling several words during the posts lifetime.  The early responders really got it, and we all had fun with it.  Then, it started to turn dark, and began to slide.  I oft think that I should stop all my attempts at serving insights to my psyche and leave my sense of humor behind.  

Bob, I think all of us here suffer this condition to some degree or another.   

 

In my case, the stuff I purchase finds its way onto my ROSTER.  I don't usually admit to having a collection. 

 

David

Nothing wrong with having fun with your inner self. As with the post taking on a life of its own, that's what makes this place great. I'd just enjoy the ride and have fun with it.

Shall we talk about sports fans? Whoops, I forgot fans is short for fanatics. Do fanatics have OCD? I am lucky to have an interest in trains. Since I was a little boy I loved trains. the hobby kept me out of trouble. I made lifelong friends. I am constantly working on them with numerous projects going on. Wait, I am wasting time. I must go down to the basement now.

Cheers,

Nate

My fiance would probably say it's a compulsion, as both her Dad and I tend to be rather fanatical about trains.

My own interest stems from both a historical and modelling interest. I spend plenty of time researching and reading material regarding the O&W, money collecting memorabilia, and even more money on the toys! But, everything is budgeted for and there is always plenty of money every month for all the bills, dates, and other special outings.

As others have said, a lot of it is a matter of perspective.

Sinister Compulsion for sure

Sinister compulsion.  I learned about the compulsion with o gauge tinplate and it is now spreading to standard gauge.  These trains cost real $$. And I buy them.  Sometimes I sit back and think, huh, I spent that much?  It is just a toy train!  But they are very cool toy trains and I just keep purchasing what I like.  

 

Where is that LCT 2015 catalog!?  

 

 

Still having fun despite the cynics, naysayers, and would-be demi-gods.   

I have my own theory on this:
In the o gauge hobby when we see something we 'just gotta have!' We get excited and buy it or start laying plans to get it later (and by that I mean sooner rather than later).  When we see a kit maybe we look at it and think what we can do to it.  We get this good feeling.  We're excited! We're having fun!  We are taking this idea we have in our heads and putting it out in reality in three dimensions. A lot of the time we are making something.  I think there are many people who do not get that.

Whereas we often feel that same 'high' as we felt when we were nine, I think many people haven't felt it in years or decades.  THAT is what makes it so impossible to understand.  That high has become too foreign to them. I tell the gentleman that I work with that I'm painting a building, he never ever asks what color: he always asks if it hurts the 'value.'

That's the least important thing. I'm doing what I love.

The deceased wasn't on the bandwagon du jour. The dilemma is that our compulsion or obsession is not a mass compulsion like social media or video games. If it was a mass compulsion then it would be ok .....

Bob & Doug,

The thing that creates the most turmoil is human nature. There's something about human nature that makes people try to read between the lines. People make attempts to do this no matter how close together you print the lines. I'll let you figure it out.

I don't have a compulsion, I just have a lot of trains, in 5 different scales, too.  

I think there was probably way more to it than that. From the first quote here, I suspect the person who'd lost his Dad:

• Didn't like Dad all that much
• Resented the model trains for any of several reasons (felt that dad liked the trains more than the kids, likely resented them for some reason)
• And was happy to see said trains be destroyed

Think of all the divorce stories you hear where one spouse destroys a prized possession from the other, or fights for it in the divorce so the other can't enjoy it. I'd bet it was a lot like that.

I don't think one can generalize. For many of us, interest in "O" gauge trains is a healthy hobby. For others, it can be an unhealthy compulsion.

 

Hopefully I am in the first group

I have the same problem with my sense of humor. Many people take things way to seriously. I am not usually all that serious, but one's sense of humor is sometimes very difficult to grasp through the written word. And as someone else said, there is a lot of reading between the lines sometimes as well. 

From what the 4chan poster said I think he thought it was an absurd hobby given that his dad's fellow hobbyists were hardcore rivetcounters who fussed because a detail was short on an engine. And having dealing with this colored his judgement. Go to transportation in 4chan and scroll down,you'll find the statement.

C'mon Folks....LET'S GET THIS THREAD BACK ON TRACK! This is supposed to be about TOY TRAINS! My Goodness. Some ought to be ashamed.