Wife likes trains too.

In a word - no.  My wife has tolerated my interest in both model and prototypical railroading over the 37 years we’ve been married but; beyond indulging me with an occasional train ride together, she has no more interest in trains than I do in playing games on an iPad or iPhone.

Now; I will add that after our youngest son hired out with NS as a conductor, she did begin to take more of an interest in the “real thing”.  

Curt

My wife definitely likes my train hobby. Not only that, but the favorite items in my collection are items she encouraged me to buy.

But I can't help but conclude that in this photo she's thinking: "This would make a great space for my sewing room..."

  I’m fortunate as well.  At first she didn’t like me taking over our unused upstairs living room.  Now she’ll turn on the lights even if I’m not home, using them as a happy nightlight.  I’ve even caught her just standing there soaking in all the details...then offering suggestions for expansion.  

  With her family ties to Allentown PA, I have carte blanche to purchase anything Lehigh Valley...although I do still get a certain look when I show her a “cheap” $700 locomotive.  

What blows me away the most is the mother-in-law.  She absolutely loves it, reminds her of a long since passed father. Has anyone ever heard of an expensive hobby approving in-law?

Tom

Sweetheart has been sewing face masks, with an insert slot for an N95 filter.  She has done 100.  Her quilt guild, close to 500.  

My wife supports my hobby and helps me with the layout when I need it, but other than doing some scenic features does not run trains with me.  She has never complained and use to buy me train stuff until I got to the point I only wanted very specific items.  Between her dad and I, she knows a lot about the Pennsy.  She loves reading, and that is what she does when I'm working on the layout.  No TV unless the weather forces us to workout inside.

"This would make a great space for my sewing room..."

Don, I know that look on her face all too well...

”Look honey, two mortgage payments are crossing a little bridge...five minutes later...look, here they come again!”

Tom

My wife likes the trains.  Mostly she likes going to train shows and digging through everything looking for cool stuff.  She also likes going on a trreasure hunt looking for a specific item i might be looking for.  Sometimes she picks out more things than me.   She has little interest in running them.  She likes seeing me having fun playing with all my toys.  She likes the train around the tree and actually is always looking forward to the delivery truck bringing a new toy.  I alway let her open it up to see what's inside.  I am truly blessed and this is just a small part of it.  

i am the wife, i like the trains. my spouse has no interest, but they understand and encourage my hobby. i’ve been told my trains are “good for me”. 

My wife has no interest in trains, but she does like it when kids visit the train room.

She used to go to train meets with me on occasion until one crowded Hamburg, PA meet.  She said there was “too many fat, smelly, old men that would push her out of the way like she wasn’t there to get to trains”.  That was the last meet she went to.  I buy a spouse ticket for York every year since it’s only a few bucks, but she has never gone.  She used to get upset when I bought trains until I reminded her how much money she spends on her hair.

She will go on train rides though.  Especially if it involves an interesting place like Jim Thorpe or Strasburg.

NO

BJ sews quilts, builds LEGOS, and is a great cook.  I grow roses, keep a koi pond and play with trains. 

We each have our separate hobbies, formula has worked for over 40 years.

 My wife does her own thing - 1870’s in On30. Loves to make and paint 1800’s people, also horses and cattle.

@MONON_JIM posted:

Anyone else lucky enough to have a wife that likes trains? My wife used to sit at the table with a marker and would flip through the catalogs and mark what she wanted. Now she just goes online. She is helping me with the layout and now wants to assemble and paint some buildings. She really likes going to train shows and of course out for pizza.

 

MONON Jim, You have got to be living in some kind of alternate universe or something.  You are indeed one lucky man.  At the very best my wife tolerates my train affliction with a strong sense of condescending bemusement.

My wife has gone to many train shows and accompanied me to every York meet I attended over the years.  We traveled to Williamsport, PA several years ago just to see the collection (forget whos train collection) showcased on an OGR the Video.  Our most recent train excursion, earlier this year before the current situation began, was a second trip to Corner Field Hobby to see the layout expansion.  No home layout for several years but she runs the trains that are setup around the Christmas trees each year whenever the mood strikes her.  Lately we have been watching the live shows on YouTube put on by Eric's trains and Pittsburgh Train Fanatic.  Her regular comment about the live shows is too much chit chat before the trains are running, lol.  Yes, my wife definitely likes trains.

My wife is supposritve of my model trains. She loves swap meets, has bought a penguin roller coaster and a couple of tinplate items.

She's all in for going to Strasburg and the Valley RR in CT. We also schedule some things that are not train related but she loves riding on the trains. We take Amtrak to FL to see my brother and we had a train trip from NJ to Halifax including overnight on VIA planned when she broke her foot.

Also pushed me really hard to do the "Hand on the Throttle" at the Valley RR.

I'm a lucky guy in some many ways.

YES! Twenty-plus years of Southern/Norfolk Southern steam excursions together, MANY TCA Meets and multiple tens of thousands of dollars spent on my hobby. Very supportive of my obsession with trains of all kinds over our 49 years of marriage!

No such luck. "Almost" once, but it didn't work.

Grandma laid claim to all the General sets and was in charge of the Christmas layout though.... none of that plain track either.  Super O or GarGraves only

My other Grandma had an early Marx CV set that kinda survived. She wanted one bad I guess.

Enjoy it every chance you can

Somewhat,  we have been to Strasberg multiple  times, Lionel headquarters,  many train stores, other train museums in other states and she purchased every Hallmark ornament produced to date. This ad other Christmas trees are up 24/7.

My wife tolerates my hobby, though not a big fan of the cost of the locomotives. Though she would be more apt to support it if I focuses on 19th Century Steam Engines, as that is her favorite type of Locomotive, partially due to them being around the same time-frame of her favorite president. She Lets me put up a train around the tree and is letting me get our son a locomotive that is connected to his favorite movie. 

@OKHIKER posted:

MONON Jim, You have got to be living in some kind of alternate universe or something.  You are indeed one lucky man.  At the very best my wife tolerates my train affliction with a strong sense of condescending bemusement.

Kinda sums up my spouse's relationship with my hobby too.

Mine likes Standard gauge and G gauge, and trusts me not to overspend at shows and stores (and occasionally has whispered "go ahead and buy it" when I hesitate).

I suppose that it helps that we each have our own disposable income. I never complain about the cost of her hair appointments, make up and those fancy purses. Works for us. I usually finance by purchases by selling things I no longer want and then purchasing what new things I want. Fortunately, there has not been a lot in the catalogs that I want to purchase.

@MONON_JIM posted:

I suppose that it helps that we each have our own disposable income. I never complain about the cost of he hair appointments, make up and those fancy purses. Works for us. I usually finance by purchases by selling things I no longer want and then purchasing what new things I want. Fortunately, there has not been a lot in the catalogs that I want to purchase.

Jim

DITTO, WE HAVE ALOT IN COMMON.

STEVE

No, but she tolerates it really well. 

My wife has no interest in running trains, but she enjoys going to shows with me.  She collects vintage kitchenware-- Pyrex, Cathrineholm, etc.  When we go to train shows, we always look for estate sales, garage sales, antique shops to go to on the same day/weekend.  We both encourage and support each other in our hobbies and enjoy each having fun.  Truly blessed.

My spouse especially liked my standard gauge, LGB and my gauge one live steam. ALL $$$$!

My wife is the owner of the On30 portion of our family layout.  She isn't real active in building, but she guides the process.  

My wife is not into the hobby but she completely supports my involvement in it and enjoys herself when she attends social events with me.

-Greg

Mine, too.  Outspends me at a York meet.  On our very first York visit years ago, she (the spouse) was a door prize winner......Lionel Christmas Set!.  Karma?

On our first date in 1994....shared this-and-that about our families, experiences........interests.  I mumbled something about 'trains'....model/toy genre.  Her eyes grew much wider than when she first met me!  That's all we talked about for the rest of the evening.....26 years ago.

OTOH...

She is not my first wife....or why I only "mumbled" about model/toy trains on that date....

That first 'experience' can be summed up this way....

....which made the postman kind of nervous thereafter. too!.........

C'est la vie =====>C'est la guerre!

The last 26 years have totally made up for the prior 25.

My wife has her own trains, mostly WWII era kits.  Lots of Woodside reefers.  Must be wood and metal, no plastic.  She tolerates my Atlas O Reefers but reminds me her trains are art.

Lou N

My wife is totally not involved but supportive, for which I am very grateful. 

She knows the trains have reduced my stress over many years, and has been my dynamic art project. Her attitude is that when I'm in my basement dealing with the trains, I am home and not messing around elsewhere with some other woman.

What I wish for all of you is to have a marriage in which each spouse considers it highly desirable to support the other's hopes, dreams and interests. Arnold

My wife thinks the cellar is the "Twilight Zone".  She can't wait to get out of there when trains are running (especially if they are smoking).

Having said that, I should be glad she tolerates it.  I envy you guys whose wives take a real interest in our hobby!

My wife and Arnold’s wife are of the same mindset. The trains are an awesome diversion for me and It keeps me home. She and I like Charlie Brown and the 1st set I bought was Peanuts Halloween. Set it up on dinning room table and I have been playing around since. Thru time she has supported and tolerated all .

I recently ordered some buildings off the website while they were on sale. She looked at them after the order and said if this stay at home stuff continues , she might take a crack at one. She also said To me, you look at that website enough, you should just buy membership and support the hobby.

She is an art teacher and if she has fun....well the fun will just be getting started

"What I wish for all of you is to have a marriage in which each spouse considers it highly desirable to support the other's hopes, dreams and interests" . Arnold

Well spoken Arnold! My wife approves!

I am Blessed that my wife is very accepting of the hobbies that I am involved in.  

She has been supportive and understanding (without complaints) and has endured many out of State and long distance trips which were all taken for one reason or another and almost always hobby related. We always have a good time during these searches, usually going somewhere to a show, or picking up the latest purchase, and it is always interesting considering some of the things that we have brought home.  Never a dull moment in our house. My wife Debbie has even gone with me to disassemble a big layout and train collections which I have been lucky enough to acquire. (Hot rods, project cars, swap meets etc.)

I am currently starting to renovate a portion of our basement for the new train room and she has been helping with this as well. She has been understanding through all of it and has always encouraged me in my pursuits. 

With that being said I am a lucky man! 

At Mottler Station, family history includes toy trains beginning in the 1940s. For me, with an American Flyer large (4 x 40 feet) basement layout with three train sets - my hobby interest was supported by my parents and my maternal grandmother. For my wife Carol, her parents bought a "shared" Lionel train set for her two brothers. Mounted on a 4x8 plywood sheet, that train layout was stored in their basement for decades. During a visit to her homestead, I offered to fix the misbehaving loco, and that made me a hero! After Carol's parents passed away, that train set remained as the LAST property item to be allocated to one of the three surviving children. Carol's older brother got it, and he still has it.

During past Christmas holidays, we presented Holiday Train Open House events for about 250 invitees. Carol stepped up and provided a snack table, which some visitors may have appreciated more than the trains. 

I helped design and build several club and home layouts over the years with Carol's interest and support. I learned it was helpful to describe my hobby interest as a "benefit for our grandchildren." My current (and probably last) layout is L-shaped and includes a Dinosaur Park with a Lionel Dino Train provided for our great-grandsons: Matthew, now 7; and Hudson, now 6.

Arnold pointed out that most wives prefer husbands with a train hobby interest to a testosterone-laden alternative: i.e., following the loose caboose of a temptation-inducing "other woman."

Mike Mottler     LCCA 12394
mottlerm@gmail.com 

My wife is a ‘bro when it comes to my hobbies!  Lol.

She likes most anything I do in the basement to de stress. I am always in an elevated state or mood while working on the railroad. This kind of glow is always a happy thing, highly observable by her. “You built that? So cool man. Yeah! You are good at solving problems”  

Who is this person?

you know the music....you've just entered the twilight zone.... lol

[some of you baby boomers might remember the Sherrie Lewis show...“what do you want Charlie horse?“]
 but I digress, she doesn’t really want anything, she is genuinely supportive. 

my wife Is a wonderful, I am lucky, she has seen my train interests since 1980 and never once even had “that look” on her face.
Always happy to see what I have built, refurbished, created, and operated on 5 different layouts over the years!  used to go to train shows Together to sell trains, always split proceeds with her.  while it’s not rocket science or Shakespeare or ballet, she can dig it, it’s what I like to do. What makes me happy seems to generate better sharing. I am so grateful. 

nope, not the twilight zone.

I guess I have to add my wife’s potential early fascination of playing with Lionel trains were Shall we say limited by her brother and father many childhood era decades ago.  That early experience is somewhat easier to get over when all of a sudden poof!  WE have trains to play with, a happy thing! Almost a therapeutic magical fix. 
I spent a lot of time with my daughter and now my grand daughter with Lionel trains. My wife thinks that is a couple of generations of cool. 

My wife’s family worked for the Rock Island. So they appreciate my interest. I’ve always kept my spending in line given the family budget. So all is good.