The votes and replies to this poll clearly indicate that we LOVE OUR TRAINS. This rocks! I hope each of you will share the hobby with someone who expresses even the smallest glimmer of interest. Who knows, you could be responsible for giving the next Malcolm Furlow his start! Keep sharing the good news about our hobby folks.[^]
thats how my friend got me hooked. i went over to his house to talk to his son who is 2 years younger than me. i walk in the door and he’s like i have something to show you. so we go down into his train room. i looked and was in total awe at what i saw. i came home, started looking for sites, found this place and i’ve been hooked ever since.
I come from a family of railroaders,my dad was a railroader and model railroader,I worked on the railroads twice…So to me its a way of life…I would have it no other way.
I wi***hat was the case with me. Some of my kindred are like anti-railroad. [V]
I got started when I had Lionel trains as a kid. I have always liked trains and railroad structures. I especially enjoy building rolling stock, structures, scenery, and enjoy watching the trains run through all the scenic items on the layout. And yes, It sometimes keeps me out of the bars (talk about expensive).
I’m a modeler first and a railfan second. My fascination with miniature scenes and models that work came first. I developed more interest in the prototype details over time and also became more of a railfan.
Most of my railfanning was as a kid in the 1960s and early 70s. Then a big hiatus came to get married and raise a family … finally in the late 80s the model railroading bug bit again and I haven’t looked back since.
I started out fascinated with well done freelanced model empires like John Allen’s Gorre & Daphetid. Then the freelancing went from cutesy to more prototypical with the V&O and the A&M. When I re-entered the hobby in the late 1980s, I realized the prototype that fascinated me as a kid would also fascinate me the most as an adult modeler, so I began modeling the SP Siskiyou Line near where I grew up.
Number two was closest to my choice.
I got my first train set (Lionel) at the age of three for Christmas, 1956. As a kid I also had slot cars, other models, army men, mechanized toys. But for some reason I always had to try and make the setting they were in look as real as possible; for some reason it just seemed like the right thing to do and it gave me great personal satisfaction to “do it right”. That feeling still endures today, almost 50 years later. I had a fair amount of exposure to the prototype of trains as a kid, and combined with having the model trains for the longest time, probably accounts for the trains winning out over the previously mentioned hobby pursuits.
There is always endless potential in this hobby. Always something else to investigate and learn about. Carpentry, tracklaying, model building, weathering, electronics, scenery, historical research and more. Atlhough sometimes these things can be frustrating at time (it took me forever to get good at soldering rail) I get a tremendous sense of personal accomplishment when I finally get it (of course scenery has been my monster in the closet for nearly 20 years now! but I’ll get it down someday!).
As I get older I have also realized another great thing about model railroading, or any hobby for that matter. My personal observation is that those that have a hobby that is truly engaging of the mental and manual skills seem to look forward to retirement and when retired seem to live longer and happier lives. Has anyone else noticed this?
Its really a creative outlet for me…
…but I voted “keeps me out of a Bar”[:-,][(-D][D)][oX)][swg][:-^][%-)]
I voted it’s fun;
Because name one thing better than seeing CB&Q models every day![8D]
I chose all of the above, but, I need to void out the thing about grandchildren, and the bar crack.
~[8]~ TrainFreak409 ~[8]~
I voted ALL OF THE ABOVE with the exception of bugging my wife. I live in California, she’s happily re-married and living in Texas. Hm. Maybe I DID bug her! But I forgot the most important thing about model railroading. It keeps me YOUNG! Remember, girls get rid of their Barbies around 11, men keep their toys until God calls them. Just hope when I get there, He’s alloted me at least a 24’x24’ garage and an unending supply of Yellowstones!
One of the earliest memories of my childhood was the Christmas before I was 3 (birthday in April). Dad got me a Marx set and my memory is my cousin John and I sitting on the couch watching my dad and uncle John in the floor playing with the train.
I still have that train (50+ years later) and it still runs. I credit that train with kindling my interest in anything mechanical.
Over the years I’ve tried just about every hobby that involves building something and I keep coming back to trains. I just love them.[:D]
Cliff Smith
Its more fun to do then homework. And well, I do like my trains. I just wish I had more time for them.
Alvie.
I was 6 months old when I rode the pre-Amtrak Seaboard Air Line Silver Meteor. My first memory of prototype trains was riding the pre-Amtrak West Coast Champion in 1967, the year of the SAL-ACL merger.
I also enjoyed watching the local freights move in and around Tampa. As a kid, I jockeyed between Florida and NYC via the passenger train! I’ve experience traveling by coach and by sleeper. Like AntonioFP45, I rode the Subways of New York and watched the commuter trains on the old Harlem Line of New York Central (later PC then Amtrak).
I attended the Florida State Fair in Tampa, FL in 1969. Seaboard Coast Line displayed a working layout in H.O. scale. I remember seeing a passenger train and freight rolling stock in action while a switcher simulated yard operation in the background (just a loco and some cars moving back and forth). I just stood there in awe ( I was seven)[:0]. I’ve been hooked ever since!
I started with plastic model cars, planes, ships, etc, when I was a kid. I built many hot rods, detailed with colored thread to simulate battery cables, customized most of the cars some how. I ended up giving up modeling when I got married. A few years back I started doing WWII aircraft and armor. I had had a “train set” for about 10 years when I started thinking there must be something better. I bought my first Model Railroader mag and have been hooked since. I just can’t believe what’s available. It is mind-boggling. For me, it’s all about FUN. It is, after all, a hobby.
My great great grandfather was a railroader,
my great grandfather was a railroader,
my grandfather was a model railroader,
my father was a model railroader…
so I guess it is in my blood!!!
Locomotives.
I grew up in a railway family and had a lifetime of close access to the prototype. I learned all about trains while still young. I understood trainworking regulations and signalling systems before I reached high school. I rode behind virtually every class of steam locomotive that ran in this country from 1950 to 1990. I love everything about trains - the sight, the sound, the smell. Trains have a magical, mystical quality for me. I am fascinated by the machinery, the technology, the history.
As an adult with a job and a salary that made home ownership and leisure time purchases possible, it was inevitable that I would try to recapture and reconstruct these experiences and memories in model form. Now the prototype has gone, but steam still rules on my model railway. What is the attraction for me? It is the synthesis, the reconstruction of all my happiest memories. It is my life encapsulated. It is a time machine.
I grew up on trains. My grandfather worked in the roundhouse for the Souhern Pacific. Trains are great! Excellent hobby, you can imagine it ,create it and build it . It’s like a work of art! You met people who are very helpful and willing to share their tips and experiences. Great stress reliever! You can get away from the real world and go to the one you created!