After reading magazines and postings on forums I have got the impression that there are very few female model railroaders among us. Is this a wrong impression?
I don’t think there is anything in this hobby that a woman can’t handle just as good as a man.
I have read about man and wife that are working together on model railroads with good results. Even whole familys.
My question is: are there any women that are participating in this hobby on there own or have taken her husband into it?
An very good LHS near me was until recently run by a quite model-rail-knowledgeable woman. She has since retired and turned it over to her son.
I deal with an attorney who told me that his wife likes model trains, though apparently he has no interest of his own.
Nice to have some women on board; there’s nothing inherent in the hobby which excludes them. When I get to the point that I need some serious creative input on backdrops and other artistic/creative issues on my layout, I’m going to try to recruit my own wife for some help.
My wife knows as much about trains as she does baseball. That said, she does want to “help” with the scenicking(if I spelled that correctly I’ll pass out) and she is the mayor of the Dept 56 village in the display beneath the HO railroad. Somewhere I have pictures of the space, empty, where this is all going. I hope she understands the importance of having at least one dinosaur on the layout.
My wife models in G and Z scale independant of what I do.
I have a teenage cousin in a single parent family (dad kicked mom to the curb and she lives with mom) that I help from tiem to time with her HO layout, mostly with carpentry and wiring. These are things she’s not comfortable with doing yet.
I know the Grossers (Ray and Renee) have been featured in the model press.
Unfortunately I have not seen any females involved with railroad open houses/layout tours as other than spouse (i.e. non club member) of a husband.
I’ve always thought that a garden RR could have a home with a garden RR depicted. Z scale train running the same route by a house modeled after your own.
The superintendent of our local NMRA division is a woman, so there’s an example of not only a woman model railroader, but a woman model railroader in a leadership position. She must be doing something right if she was elected by a primarily male membership.
Other than her, I’ve met one female railfan. Women exist in the hobby, I just get the impression that either they openly participate with their husbands, or have a quiet interest if their husbands are not interested. Who knows, people are different!
While we do have a husband/wife team in our n-scale div. I would have to say from my view the ladys seem to lean more toward’s the larger G scale because of the gardening aspect .
I recently gave up on my garden railroad and sold off most of it. Now my lovely tells me she misses having the train chugging around the garden… Maybe I’ll get her some new track for Mother’s Day… She apparently likes weeding better than I do…
Check out Liz Allen’s work. She models HO, mostly Southern Pacific, kit and scratch built models, engines and freight cars. She does fantastic work. She’s kitbashed SP freight cars and kit/scratch built engines, including an SP SD-45X.
Then there’s the lady that furnished all the interiors of the homes on her family’s HO layout. Hey! Don’t put the Lay-z-Boy so close to the fireplace. You’ll burn your toes!
In England we visited a few Model Villages (which usually do have a train running through them). One, I think on the Isle of Wight, included the Model Village in the Model Village, etc. Kinda neat!
Boy you can say that again, I’ve seen Liz’s work and it is outstanding , she is a nit - picker ( in a good way ) about details and her work wows me. And being an SP modeler myself of course her work is very interesting to me. here is an example:
My wife collects HO scale circus/carnival & farm related stuff. She expects me to build the layout(s) for her to display them on. (Gee, that will be like pulling an arm and a leg, eh?[swg]) Doubt she would be into HO if I hadn’t started giving her some for her Birthdays and at Chrsistmas. (I am into N scale)
Oh, wife has mentioned numerous times that one day she would like a garden railroad too. Wonder what our barn cats would make of that?
I consider myself very fortunate, as my Wife actively supports my hobby. She contributes much to the layout. I owe much very realistic scenery and a fantastic,as in realistic, MRC sound system,to her. She very patiently tolerates, even supports my “car and locomotive shops”. She is also very much interested in prototype operations.
Same with my soon-to-be-wife. Although I think it’s a totally different game here. My Sarah loves the Red Sox, knows the entire team, and also loves trains. She also is waiting to hear back from Amtrak about her dream job, conductor. She helps out a bit with the model railroading but prefers to go and watch the real thing. Her favourite engines are EMD E8s (which she remembers fondly from her time living in Chicago as a kid) and has her own copy of the Diesel Spotters Guide.