ROD STEWART: Ferroequinologist?

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

It was about a year back, if my feeble mind is recalling things correctly through a haze of influenza, that Model Railroader featured a cover article of the venerable Rod Stewart’s achievements in our hobby.

It was also around then, that a young pal convinced me to get hip and become a member of FACEBOOK.

What I learned from this experience, was that the basic idea of that website, is to get other people to become your “friend” and then pretty well ignore them altogether–or, if any communication is to occur, it be limited to messages such as: LOL, or HOWRU? (These messages are interchangeable, by the way.)

In any event, I noticed there are ways to “search” for friends…and I figured I may as well aim high, putting ROD STEWART in the search box. Up pops a photo of him, along with his correct full name, and even the right birthdate.

But I was still skeptical…after all, I didn’t have to JUSTIFY the veracity of anything I’d entered, in my own profile. So, I got this idea: if this is the real Rod, he’d have been reading Model Railroader about as long as I have, and he’d remember back to when there was a discussion about giving the practice of our hobby, a fancy name. MRR readers seemed to agree on FERROEQUINOLOGY as appropriate: the study of the iron horse.

SO: in my email invitation to be friends on Facebook, I challenged the person to write me back, explaining the meaning of that word–and if he knew of the magazine, and that story from way back, it’d have to be him, alright.

NO ANSWER.

THEN: just a few days ago, I get a notice that Rod Stewart has accepted my invitation to be a Facebook friend. (After a YEAR or more???) Well, maybe if it IS him, that’s about how often he has time to go into that website.

2

It went way over my head, but then, I’m not Rod Stewart. I must’ve missed those issues.

3

As I remember, there was an article in MR about 30 years ago, give or take, written by (I believe) Ed Vondrak about a course he taught at Indiana State University called “Introduction to Ferroequinolgy.” The course was designed around the study of the iron horse (ferro = iron, equine = horse, ology = study of). It’s possible Sir Rod never read the article, or else doesn’t remember the reference if he did.

4

Even if that is Rod Stewart’s legitimate account, it’s probably handled by his people. I have a feeling he’s busy enough between his family, career and hobby to be personally answering all the messages he gets through those sites.

5

Good point Nelson-I have both a My Space & Facebook. On “my” My Space, I’ve several “friends” that are country & early rock music legends (one of my other interests is classic hard country & early pre-Beatles rock music) & all of those are maintained by either publicists or close family, depending on the popularity of the singer/singers. One I have is George Jones, & though it’s obviously maintained by the previous, it’s written as if George himself were maintaining it personally. No deception intended I take it, just another way to keep him close to his fans.

6

Hmmmnnnn…good points, all. And I suppose that IS way too hard of a test, to expect someone, even an avid hobbyist as Rod must be, to recall every little discussion of such things, even in the hobby’s most-read magazine.

Making it WORSE: I just went in there to Facebook, and noticed there’s not only THAT Rod Stewart, but several OTHER individuals, all claiming to be him.

But, on another point totally unrelated, I noticed when re-reading my first entry, above, that a word I used (one I assumed was nothing more than an English slang for “idiot” and not anything that couldn’t be uttered at the family dinner table) was altered to “SLACKER.” This took me by surprise, MAINLY to find out that everything we write in here, is being “filtered.”

I’m pleased to think its the first time anything I’ve written has had to be cleaned up, at least.

7

I remember the introduction of, “Ferroequinology,” and its accompanying, “Person who does it,” on the unsuspecting world, back in my modeling era or thenabouts. If I recall correctly, it was the product of some highly imaginative dictionary definition writer, and first appeared in one of the ‘really complete’ dictionaries. (I want to type Oxford English Dictionary, but I’m not sure.)

IMHO, I always thought it was the product of the south end of a northbound horse, trying to give Latin-based respectability to a blue-collar, hands in the machinery activity.

Just for the record, I don’t study horses, iron or otherwise. I study tetsudo, which translates literally as, “Iron road.” Maybe that’s why I use steel benchwork.

Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)

8

The impression that I got from the MR article on Rod the Mod is that between model railroading, being married to models and jetting to concerts eevry night he hasn’t got time to be horsing around on Facebook.

Even if you hit the right “Rod,” though, it 's probably just a PR flack responding.

9

Well I don’t think it’s too “hard” exactly. “Ferroequinology” has around for a long time and at least at one time was a very common term years ago - although, even though I’ve read MR since 1971, I don’t remember an MR discussion that “created” the term. Anyway, like a lot of slang or catchphrases it’s kinda faded away over time. (Personally I hope “cabeese” is the next to go!)

Plus I’d remind you Rod is British, not sure that 35 years ago he was necessarily reading American RR mags. I could be wrong but I don’t think the moved to the US until the eighties?? He might know what ‘shunters’ or ‘banking engines’ or ‘brakevans’ are, but not know a US term like ferroequinology.

Anyway, I guess I don’t see the point “challenging” Rod to see if he knows it or not. If it’s a fake site, the guy doing it might still know the term (or be able to look it up online); if it is Rod, depending on how you word it, he might take it as kind of an insult - like you’re testing him to see if he’s a “real” model railroader or just a dabbler with a lot of money.

10

Yeah, in retrospect, if I was going to try to play detective and see if I was really corresponding with our fellow model railroader, maybe I should’ve asked a question like: Say,
Rod, baby, what do you do about Kadee sag?

(Only, looking at THAT typed out in front of me, it dawns on me that he may take it as asking about fellow singer Ms. Lang’s aging problem.)

Sometimes ya just can’t WIN.

11

I would say Mr Stewart is waaaay to busy a man to reply either way. The less unsolicited flack he gets from us, probably the better.

But: If you are reading Mr Stewart: Love the layout, and the music! [:D]

12

Well, lets not get carried AWAY, here: I’m not about to feel any guilt over responding to someone on the FACEBOOK site! If a person doesn’t want to be BOTHERED by people, you DON’T plop yourself on a website specifically set up for meeting others there.

Which is probably why the speculations here, and my initial suspicion that its more likely some 13 year old pimply kid in New Jersey, hoping others contact him in his charade, are what it is. I think its a “no harm/no foul” matter.

On the other hand, if Rod Stewart ever posts a message in here to the tune of “Can’t you whackos leave me ALONE?” I’ll be the first to apologize.

13

Hey Unca Roggie, I got facebook to, lol. Check your PMs.

14

Hi unca roggie,

From what you said about there being so many other Rod Stewarts out there, I’d be especially careful not to put personal information on your facebook.

Your Rod Stewart might be watching for personal info?!

Don’t mean to be negative, just be careful!

Nige.

15

FWIW, I’m older than Rod Stewart (I think) and I never heard the term “ferroequinology” until I saw this thread. Also, anyone could Google it. It’s almost impossible to know someone’s true identity over the internet.

16

Hmmnnn…thanks for the warning.

Thing is, my life is SOOOOOO boring. I work and sleep, and in between don’t really have the time to get into any trouble; so for the last 35 years of my life, there’s nothing to have to hide–I sometimes feel GUILTY about that…not exactly “Mr. Intrigue,” huh?

My bank manager confirmed that the worst that could happen if someone hacked into my online banking, would be to move my money from one account to another, or pay my gas bill for me, or to send something called an “email transfer” for up to a thousand dollars (which the bank would be responsible for, and could quite easily track down the culprit once he tried it.)

There was a time when I was trying to be “cool” in high school, that if it got out that I “played with trains” it may not have been easy to live down. But like “NORMAN” from “On Golden Pond,” once you stack up the years, you reach a point where you truly feel if someone doesn’t like you the way you really are, its THEIR loss.

That’s about all anyone could glean about me from my Facebook profile. Besides, I thought only those you ok’d being a “friend” could view your profile, there.

17

One of the things I remember from Rod Stewart’s M.R. article was his subtle sense of humor. The cityscape reminded you of the Franklin & South Manchester, and on the rooftop of one of the buildings was a figure of “The Grim Reaper” where you somehow realized one of the city’s residents was looking things over from a better vantage point.

18

Not just Rod Stewart, I am sure a lot of other famous people are train fanatics, the most basic definition of “Ferroequinologist” by the way, like the rest of us. At least the normal ones I hope. But according to some people I know we train modelers and fans of the real thing are far from normal anyway, just fine by me.

I can think of a few celebrities I am glad not to read are one of us…