Coming Out/being outed

[mozzer models]

This topic ame to mind yesterday when I was asked to do a short slot on our local BBC radio station. When I was being taken through the newsroom to the studio I was greeted by a friend who comes with his son to our modle railway club. My guide asked him how we k new each other. There was a short pause and my friend said 'we know each other from way back'. It was obvious that he hadn't come out and later I teased him about it. However the good thing is that hopefully he and his son will be at the club tonight.

 

The sad thing is that at least one other member of staff at that place is a well known 2mm finescale modeller as well as a well known TV reporter.

 

Jamie

 

would this be Leeds

If so i know the man you are on about

[pirouets]

In my case it was the fact that a couple of years after getting married I decided I needed a hobby. My wife at that point was a primary school teacher and generally weekday eveings were spent with her surrounded by paper work and marking, whilst I read or watched TV.

 

One particularly boring evening with the TV proving that Bruce Springsteens "57 channels and nothing on" was correct I said I needed a hobby, and after a short while I decided that I wanted to start modelling again. My wife did complain to a few of my friends that they should have warned her about this, but to be honest I have never looked back, and I think she likes the fact that if I do need a bit of space, I can do it in the shed at the end of the garden.

[sixteen 12by 10s]

My first date with the missus

 

Picked her up in my old 1970 Avenger, it had a hole in the foot well at the time, i convinced her that it was a design feature to see how the tread was wearing on the front wheel. We went of all places to the east Lanks railway 80 mile away. During the first 10 miles on the journey, i managed to pull the gear leaver off, to her astonishment, i got the tools out of the boot and fixed it there and then. What a superb date 40145 performed faultlessly.

So you think she would have dumped me?

Next date, a week later, I had been working with the lads at Butterly on 40012, we needed to get a large piece of her train heat boiler to a place near to where i live. I took the front passenger seat out and put the bit there in the foot well. Later that evening, i picked her up with the boiler still were the passenger seat should be, she had to sit on the back seat.

 

And 16 years latter she is still with me!

 

Gary

[Pacific231G]

One particularly boring evening with the TV proving that Bruce Springsteens "57 channels and nothing on" was correct I said I needed a hobby,

Springsteen is of course a well known model railroader as is Rod Stewart who was very proud of getting the front cover of Model Railroader a couple of years ago with his model of NY Grand Central and with Pete Waterman, Jools Holland and many others it seems like half the music industry are modellers. Such adherents should make ours the coolest hobby around so why is it still seen as rather naff by so many people? I get the impression that this is a peculiarly British attitude even though railway based leisure activities are probably more popular here than anywhere. I can't think of any other country where preserved railways are actually seen as an industry yet there still seems to be an attitude that anything to do with railways is really "something for the kiddies" which doesn't seem to apply to any other serious leisure activity I can think of except maybe anything to do with science or technology. Curious.

[Dave777]

I think a convo I had with a modelling colleague at work a couple of years ago sums up my attitude:

 

Colleague (in a normal voice): Did you get much done on the railway layout this weekend?

Me (looking around nervously): Yes, but keep your voice down.

Colleague: It's nothing to be ashamed of Dave.

Me: Yes it is.

 

 

Whenever I get a catalogue or magazine to pass onto him I always put it inside an internal mail envelope for the walk through the building to his desk, and when I hand it over I always joke about 'Here you go, some very hot material for you, phwoaarr, etc, know what I mean?'

 

Yes, porn is more socially acceptable than railway modelling

[bluebottle]

Springsteen is of course a well known model railroader as is Rod Stewart who was very proud of getting the front cover of Model Railroader a couple of years ago with his model of NY Grand Central and with Pete Waterman, Jools Holland and many others it seems like half the music industry are modellers. Such adherents should make ours the coolest hobby around so why is it still seen as rather naff by so many people? I get the impression that this is a peculiarly British attitude even though railway based leisure activities are probably more popular here than anywhere. I can't think of any other country where preserved railways are actually seen as an industry yet there still seems to be an attitude that anything to do with railways is really "something for the kiddies" which doesn't seem to apply to any other serious leisure activity I can think of except maybe anything to do with science or technology. Curious.

 

Railroad modellers in the music industry? They didn't come any cooler than Frank Sinatra, and I shudder to think of what might have happened to anyone stupid enough to have dissed him!

[ClikC]

Some friends of mine were at some time convinced Jarvis Cocker of Pulp was a committed Basher.

 

With regards the comments on drinking, I don't think I know any tea-total railway enthusiasts. Hell if anything, a love of real ale is almost mandatory!

 

I've a fond love for clubbing (music dependent), and I appreciate a good night out. Not really much of a pub goer per se.

 

Regards

 

Matt

[rob D2]

As I work as a commercial pilot I work with some bright funky young things whose passions appear to be cars, gadgets, extreme sports, and chasing women. I don't mind mentioning the hobby but tend to play on the more high tech aspects such as DCC sound which they seem to quite like the concept of, although they cannot see the attraction of trains per se.

My wife pretty much detests it all since I had her build a metcalfe pub and then accidentally squashed it.....

[Melly]

My wife pretty much detests it all since I had her build a metcalfe pub and then accidentally squashed it.....

 

Ah - new concept - take the pub to the wife not the wife to the pub.....

[owentherail]

Work mates keep catching me on this web site, that did it!!!!

[MRDBLUE17]

I personally don't care who I tell about my hobbies. I work for a large fashion retailer and in my last store all the staff knew and yes you do get a few jokey comments from time to time but it is all harmless banter! One day my boss was unwell and he his totally into cars but he saw my copy of REX that I had got at lunch time and he was sat reading it in the office and when I came in and caught him he didn't hide the fact he had been looking but asked me lots about what he was looking at as he was really interested. When I left that store they had a collection for me and I got the Bachmann model of Tornado - how about that for a decent leaving gift and totally too generous from everyone but I was really pleased with it. All my friends know and love to have a look at my railway when they come round - my wife tells everyone she works with as well and when the girls come round they like to have a look - I can quite safely say that I have had my train room full of hot women looking at my layout much to the annoyance of the wife and not got into trouble for it! In fact it doesn't really matter what past times or sports my friends and I all play or do all or wives, girlfirends or partners have some way of talking about it in a jokey way such as my friends who play golf are part of the Old Man Golf Club for example. Myself and most of my friends are all just around 30 and I am failry sure I will be able to convert a few of them into railway modellers in the future. Some how the subject came up at one of the many 30th parties I have been at this year so far when one of my friends asked me something. Another friends girlfriend that I had just met for the first time who was sat next to me looked at me so I told her that I built model railways thinking that she wouldn't have come across this before and she got into a whole conversation about how she loves railways and has always wanted to build a model so hopefully she will now be able to and I can help where necessary. There is really nothing to be shy about I think most people have some hobby they keep quiet about until someone starts on theres and then everyone else will start to open up too. If your not sure start with your good mates first - they might take the mick a little but thats just the British way.

 

Mark

[luckymucklebackit]

Everyone at the work knows about my hobby, I care not. We have a stock yard from which I can see the line just to the west of Dumbarton Central and it is a standing joke that if I head out to the yard to check something someone will say "O.K. what special is running today". When Olten Hall was returning from a filming assignment on the West Highland several Dads followed em out to get a picture for the Kids!!

 

Jim

[newbryford]

When I'm explaining to people about my hobby and get any p*ss taken, I usually back it up with "at least I've got something to show for my spare time".

 

For those that show a faint bit of interest, a demonstration of DCC sound and lights convinces them that it can be quite entertaining.

 

Having said that, I also play golf, drink and go mountain biking. I have been known to wait a minute or two on the golf course to watch the trains go by - with the excuse that it's distracting my concentration...............!

 

The wife refers to it as "playing chuffer puffers", but she knows it keeps me out of the pub and that I do get a lot of personal satisfaction from playing trains.

 

Cheers,

Mick

[Invicta]

Not sure I've ever been 'in'- had several railway modelling mates at school, and was briefly a member of a short-lived school club. As a student I was a member of the college railway society (Left more than one Friday night student party at about midnight to go and catch a train because we were doing the West Highland line or whatever that weekend!), and my choice of leisure reading was as likely to be RM as it was NME.

 

Been a member of a local club for nearly 10 years, and in my last couple of jobs as a reference/local history librarian, quite often found my colleagues passing railway-related enquiries, or requests for help tracing obscure railway books in my direction

 

I get the occasional good-natured leg-pulling from friends about 'trainspotters', but nothing serious- work colleagues have never been a problem.

[CullingworthGNR]

I find that not taking yourself too seriously - see attached photo - means that it's quite difficult for people to take the mickey. They don't know quite how to have a go if you're one step ahead in the self deprecation stakes, and even the guy at work who did try and have a laugh later asked me to value some old trains of their grandad's.

 

As someone else said, one of the benefits of growing older is not giving two hoots what others think, and those that do look down their nose at you are often very hypocritical!

[westerner]

I've never been ashamed of being a railway modeller, and am quite happy to talk about it. Strangely when one does , I quite often get the reply " I still have my Hornby double 00 in the loft" or even better "I have a small layout."

 

It is surprising how many people out there model.

 

Be brave, if anybody asks what you do as a hobby TELL THEM!.

[rob D2]

Nice one Tom !

Maybe part of the problem is that we take ourselves too seriously.

[Portchullin Tatty]

A good technique I found was to tell a journalist of the leading business magazine in my area of work...............................

 

http://www.building.co.uk/comment/building-buys-a-pint-%E2%80%A6-for-cb-richard-ellis/3162190.article

 

 

What was much more interesting was then finding which of the business contacts that I had shared the interest or indeed modellers that I knew (including a couple on here) who where in the same line of business.

 

I also got a fair amount of s**t for the hat too - probably fair enough really!

['CHARD]

I find that not taking yourself too seriously - see attached photo - means that it's quite difficult for people to take the mickey. They don't know quite how to have a go if you're one step ahead in the self deprecation stakes, and even the guy at work who did try and have a laugh later asked me to value some old trains of their grandad's.

 

As someone else said, one of the benefits of growing older is not giving two hoots what others think, and those that do look down their nose at you are often very hypocritical!

 

Is that a g-string I see before me?

[Long Line]

A friend of mine regularly phones me up and trying to embarrass me asks me in the presence of others "are you playing with your trains again" to which I always reply with a suitably sarcastic comment along the lines of "and I suppose you are playing cops and robbers with your mates then?"

 

The thing being that one time i returned his missed call and went straight onto his speaker phone, as he was 'tooling up' in a tactical aid van amidst a football riot! He later informed me that his colleagues were highly amused at my jibe, although the inspector present took issue with my remarks!

 

Mark

[fozzy280472]

At my work [aircraft maintenance] some of the lads know of my railways interest but never really say much about it , the real figures of ridicule are actually the plane spotters and they NEVER willingly admit their hobby , i suppose its all the same for any hobby, those who are not interested cant seem to understand, and also cant understand someone else not being into golf etc...........................................

Mind you i cant get excited by seeing almost identical ryannair 737s all day ...............not like when i was out collecting those blue 31/37/47 numbers,because of course they were all totally different and much more interesting ..............

[LNERandBR]

Everyone at my previous job knew about my intrest, as did my uni mates and I've never had any problem with it.

 

I'm now an ICT technitian at a school and very happily sit in the staff room reading the latest railway mag on my lunch break.

I do however keep it from the kids.

 

 

[45156]

A lot of my colleagues now know of my interests, and it pans out about even in the "anorak" vs hobby debate, but when I've got RM Web open, and am looking at some of the super photos that others have posted, it tends to show that ours is a multi skilled hobby which can in many cases represent very high levels of ability, and tends to quickly dispel that toy train running round the floor image.

 

I agree that Pete Waterman has also done a great deal to bring our hobby into a new era of respectability, as have many of the other celebs named from time to time - in fact ISTR that Frank Sinatra was also a railway modeller.

 

There are always a few who cross that invisible line between enthusiasm and fanaticism, and that's true of all hobbies, it just seems to be that our hobby got singled out (rightly or wrongly) as having more of those who have crossed over.

[mezzoman253]

the real figures of ridicule are actually the plane spotters and they NEVER willingly admit their hobby,

 

Oh great I've no chance of a anyone taking me seriously then. Railway modeller, train & plane spotter, radio ham!

 

Rob

[Neal Ball]

I find that not taking yourself too seriously - see attached photo - means that it's quite difficult for people to take the mickey. They don't know quite how to have a go if you're one step ahead in the self deprecation stakes, and even the guy at work who did try and have a laugh later asked me to value some old trains of their grandad's.

 

As someone else said, one of the benefits of growing older is not giving two hoots what others think, and those that do look down their nose at you are often very hypocritical!

 

 

Fab pic Tom! - Certainly never one to be taken too seriously!