Sure Way of Telling if Your Wife is Really into our Hobby

When she doesn't send pictures like these to you when you are at York.

Scott Smith

Being so "into" the hobby my wife can't help but being exposed to it and truly appreciates my involvement in it both socially and mechanically. She is the CFO of the railroad though and I do abide by her decisions. But I am somewhat shocked that at the last 3 York meets, she has out spent me by adding to her tinplate collection. Could #4 be only a few weeks away?

My wife has no personal interest i.e. that she would want to help me with it, but she appreciates my interest in the hobby and tells others about it.

.....

Dennis

When we were married some 13+years ago, I requested that we schedule the ceremony so as not to conflict with the fall York train meet and so we were married the week after York. My wife motivated me to build our hi-rail layout and did most of the scenery, ballasted track, made the skirts, and painted the backdrop. Without my wife's help, at most I would have had "a guy's layout "consisting of bare plywood, a lot of track, and few if any buildings. Recently, once again with my wife's help, we have created a standard gauge layout so that I can now enjoy running the trains that I have collected for so long. In the summer we often travel to TCA, or LCCA national conventions. I'm a very lucky fellow to have such a wonderful companion to travel down life's tracks with. 

Eric Hofberg

TCA, LCCA 

My wife is very supportive and offers encouragement as needed. She seems to approve as she always wants her friends to see the layout. When I ask for scenery ideas she always is willing to give her opinions. When I have operating sessions, she offers to make anything I want to serve to my friends. She loves baking cookies for these events and is very good at it in my opinion. She also comes down an socializes during operating sessions or when visitors are over. I haven't talked her into being an engineer yet, but who knows???

Art

Art

     You are being humble. In one visit it showed how proud your wife was of your interest in trains. The fact that your son Jim is very much involved only makes it more satisfying for her. I am happy to accept benign neglect from my wife. 

Ray Marion

I knew my ex was really into trains, when she presented an outrageous demand for half the alleged value. She got nothing, however.

EXACTLY...many of the "LUCKY ONES" will be rueing the day when they find out their wives have an interest in ONLY HALF their collections.  Oh well, these posts sound good anyway.  My ex actually told the Judge that she was the collector BEFORE I accidentally dropped my TCA CARD in his Chamber!!!

I, too, am one of the lucky ones.  In fact, it was at my wife's suggestion that I got back into trains 13 years ago.  She has been involved in many aspects of building the layout, but her specialty is people.  The combined population of the 3 towns on our layout is somewhere around 2000.  Jean has painted around 600 of these and she bought and placed virtually all of them.

I've never been to a train function (show, meet, club party, train ride, etc.) without her and i wouldn't want to go to one without her.

Brian, your comment made me think of our wedding.  I was mostly left out of the planning, but my wife found this catering/banquet hall for our wedding & reception that was a former passenger station on the Reading Railroad line in Phoenixville, Pa.  Just as the ceremony began, a Norfolk Southern freight train rolled by behind the station!  Couldn't have planned it any better!



On the site was this caboose, which is converted into a dressing room for the bride.  Inside it was covered with varnished wood and a seating area where we shared some champagne and snacks after picture taking before we joined our guests.

One of the surprises she had for me.  A caboose ice sculpture for a vodka fountain.

Another surprise was my chocolate GG1 Groom's cake. (single stripe version)

Brian; that is pretty neat.

Brian:

These are wonderful pictures and memories. Having met your wife, I can understand just how supportive she is of you and your trains. Thanks for sharing.

My wife was part owner of a hobby shop I when I met her. On some of our dates we went railfanning together. We were married in 1990 and it was her idea to have a train around our wedding cake. To this day she is my best friend and train buddy.

Dan, great story and congratulations on your 23 years of marriage. Sometimes on the Forum we read stories about disgruntle wives or former wives and our hobby. It is a nice change of pace to read positive stories as there must be many out there that this thread can attest to.

Maybe already been answered, but according to the 1970 Manual of Uniform Traffic Control, yellow striping was to be used for center lines of two lane roads of opposing traffic.  White was to be used for two or more lanes going in the same direction (divided highways).

Reason I know is I needed to know before I striped my o gauge roads of the 1950s era and so wondered when the cutover was.

Oh and to continue, we have been married 42 years.  Last October she was in a horrific wreck.  She is now walking with a cane.  She knows there is a train show in the Quad Cities and she is determined to go come h*** or high water!

She will make a negative remark to our sons or some of our friends occasionally. However, Christmas , b-days ect she always gives me some nice train stuff. To me that's being supportive.  She hasn't thrown me out after almost 45 years. So life is good.

My wife has been married to me 26 years.  Though she doesn't take as active a part in the hobby as awakening from sleep with a question, she will examine the layout from time to time and make relevant comments.  She once baked me a great birthday cake in the shape of, and decorated like, a Santa Fe F-unit.  She has also surprised me with many items that are in my collection, always hitting the mark.

For forty years Sharyl and I have been blessed to enjoy our hobbies together.  The trains have always been a fun element of our marriage and have never caused one moment of angst.  Once the kids were gone and done with college we finally had the room in the finished basement to build our permanent layout and little did I know that Sharyl would be so interested in designing and building scenery around my track plan, it's been awesome to say the least.

We've only been to York once and I had saved up to buy an MTH Climax, I had lusted over that locomotive for a long time but I just couldn't feel justified spending that much money unless I could pay cash for it.  I found a great deal at York and bought it, while we at the booth I asked if they had the MTH Shay as I just wanted to see it.  They did have it and Sharyl bargained with the owner of the shop and we left with both loco's!!!!!!  I about fell over, what a woman   I would never have done that if I had been alone.

It's been a great hobby for us for a long time.

Brian, thank you, it's my pleasure!  Will you be coming to York and bringing your bride?  If so maybe we could meet for breakfast again.

The only thing she say's to me in bed is..."It's your turn to let the dogs out"   Linda knows how much I love the hobby and she is my "York mate" I don't go without her. I'm always in good shape so long as I pick something in blue! If it's in tinplate even better!

Interesting! 

I mentioned earlier that my wife outspent me at our last York a year ago.  She bought the new LT Standard Gauge Blue Comet set + add-on cars.  Seeing it in action at the MTH booth, she couldn't resist.   Sez she, 'And it will be a nice complement to your dad's 366W set (1835E w/two-tone blue cars)!'...both of which are shelf-queens now. 

Our basement is filled with O3R. 

Our two goldens, Millie & Daisy, go to York with us.

Go figure. 

BTW...I figure that our very first visit to York several years ago had something to do with all of this.  She shared the hobby interest with me, but couldn't understand this 'Yorkamania' thing. 

Her registration number was on the door prize list.

She walked away with a Lionel Christmas Train set.  It runs each year since then under the tree....of course!

(Talk about someone 'upstairs' having some fun with her psyche!....Now it's York, York, York. ..........)

Brian, absolutely, she is looking forward to meeting the two of you as well.

My wife never visits the train room. However the wife of one of our more illustrious forum members, who lives nearby, visits several nights a months.

My wedding reception was in a former train station - Baldwin's Restaurant in Sykesville, MD.  It was a weekend, so I do not think we had a train go by.  Honestly, I do not recall.

A Brief Summary:

The 1883 railroad station is the town's most important structure. Lovingly restored by the town of Sykesville and a grant from the Maryland Historic Trust, named after the renowned architect who designed it, Baldwin's Station is listed in The National Register of Historic Places. The architect's sense of humor is apparent in the depot's chimneys, which are a brick version of an 1880's locomotive; a charming little joke atop a Queen Anne style building. With original jewel-toned stained glass windows, wrap-around deck, exposed brick, 20-foot ceilings and Victorian appointments, the station is delightful both inside and out.

Baldwin's is located on The Old Main Line, the oldest railway in the country.