Maybe it's something as simple as the placing of the thread in this part of the forum? RMWeb has separate sections for kit building, layout building and - if I dare mention the P word - photography et al that people can read/ignore as they wish. I'm wondering if having this thread here has lead to some thinking it's being promoted as some sort of gold-plated standard, although I realise that's absolutely not the intention.
I'm also not suggesting that after more than two years and 160 pages the mods split it out into separate threads. What I like about this thread is that it features all of the interests and projects (well, the train set related ones at least) of an individual and as such forms a coherent whole. You may not be its owner, Tony, but you are definitely its glue!
Aside from that, I'm as baffled as you are as to where the accusations of elitism come from. Your content, like the majority on this forum, comes across not as "look at what I've done" but as "look at what it's possible to do".
Finally, as I'm aware of your aversion to forum aliases, I'll sign off with my real name although I suspect it might prompt a response of "Oh gawd, not another one!"
Phil