T Shirts

[briyeo1950]

playing trains on a computer is not something I wish to openly advertise

Haha! Me too! Likewise friends find it geeky that I play flight sims (although those that have actually had a go on my setup think its awesome) but the train thing is a bridge to far.

I hate the fact that steam lets people know just how much ive been playing (and how much ive spent on DLC).

As for the misses, she finds it hard to understand, but then again, one of her favorite pastimes is putting the world to rights on mumsnet. Which I find equally abhorrent.

Cool thing is my 5 month old son, likes nothing better than sitting on my knee and bashing the spacebar to sound the horn/Whistle! Guess we have her outnumbered

Now a Trainsim T-shirt on him would look cool

But what will you do when your son is 12 and too cool to play with trains
I remember 2 guys who foolishly allowed it to be known at work that they were train spotters. Whoo Whoo! followed them wherever they went and their tormentors never ever tired of doing it .

[SHEEP]

I remember 2 guys who foolishly allowed it to be known at work that they were train spotters. Whoo Whoo! followed them wherever they went and their tormentors never ever tired of doing it .

Anorak, was what one of my workmates used to call me, Until one day i pointed out to him (in front of an audience) that i have never stood on the end of a cold wet platform taking down train numbers,
I hadn't traveled 100's of miles to look at trains,
I couldn't tell you much of the technical details of any trains apart from maybe class numbers of some of the diesels,
And i hadn't spent 100's of pounds buying train related items (It was pre Railworks )

Then i pointed out to him that he was an Arsenal fan, but not just an ordinary Arsenal fan, An Arsenal fanatic
He could name every player that had ever played for them and every game that they had played since 1909 or something and the score and who scored them,
He went to every match, home and away,
And had spent 100's of pounds on team shirts, books programs and such,
So he was in fact a much bigger anorak than me, just a football anorak,

He didn't bug me about trains anymore after that.

[hertsbob]

Ah, but being a footballing anorak is something to be admired.

Sport is the only interest where you're socially 'allowed' to have in-depth knowledge, for whatever reason.

Allegedly.

[gavo01]

Bieng a train geek, anorak, spotter or whatever else my friends want to call it, is fine by me.

wearing a t shirt for the world to know is a step too far personally.

[briyeo1950]

The prove you are not just a train geek quiz

Who won the UEFA Intertoto Cup in 1966?

Which 1964 war movie starred Burt Lancaster?

[Padsterdood]

Idea for the TS12 T-shirt:

'I bought TS2012 and all I got was this lousy T-shirt'

I was watching an episode of The Tube on BBC 2 the other week (have become rather a fan of the 'dark rails') and a group of young enthusiasts got together to mark the final run of the last 1960's-built EMU on the Victoria Line (I think). They were interviewed on screen and all agreed that an interest in trains is just not socially acceptable in little old celebrity-obsessed Britain. This is because most people are obsessed with other things which they find acceptable, like spewing forth verbal excretia on Facebook and Twitter, or shouting obscenities whilst cheering on a group of grossly overpaid footballers whose idea of sporting behaviour is intimidating the ref and falling over at the slightest touch from an opponent. They'll never understand why some people like trains: to them a train is something they sit on while they talk loudly on their phones on the way to work, or something they vandalise on the way to a football match.

Best wishes,
Padster

[flightsimflier]

The prove you are not just a train geek quiz

Who won the UEFA Intertoto Cup in 1966?

Which 1964 war movie starred Burt Lancaster?

1. A football team? [Edit- Locomotif Leipzig - thanks 2 Wikipedia]

2. The Train!!!

[eyore]

I remember 2 guys who foolishly allowed it to be known at work that they were train spotters. Whoo Whoo! followed them wherever they went and their tormentors never ever tired of doing it .

It's amazing how our hobby is treated by others in such a mature and adult way.

[ashgray]

Quite the opposite at our place, as there are quite a few railway enthusiasts about. As we work almost adjacent to Bristol Temple Meads and have a fine view of the lines out towards Bath and Paddington, we quite often see steam or diesel-hauled excursion specials.

One bright spark last summer said, on looking out of our window and in facetious mood, said, tongue in cheek: "Oh look - there's a green class 4563--295/K Mk2!", to which one of the experts replied without even seeing it (but after craftily having looked on the net to see what was expected that day): "actually no - that's GWR 4-6-0 No. 6024 King Edward 1 - could tell 'er anywhere by just the whistle".

That sort of response tends to shut up the amateurs...

Ash

[briyeo1950]

I remember 2 guys who foolishly allowed it to be known at work that they were train spotters. Whoo Whoo! followed them wherever they went and their tormentors never ever tired of doing it .

It's amazing how our hobby is treated by others in such a mature and adult way.

Also of interest, at the very same workplace, when it was rumoured that Tornado was to pass by (we too are situated within 60ft of the mainline) Almost everyone managed to find a vantage point to see it. It was running later than expected, so nobody at work saw it that day.
Could it just be the number collecting side of the interest in railways that is looked down on?

[jimmyshand]

It definitely is not considered socially acceptable to be into trains as a hobby. I think it's got worse with time, in the days of steam then train spotters were everywhere, people genuinely loved trains and had affection for them and being an enthusiast was completely "normal". This lessened somewhat in the new diesel and electric era but did continue on as locomotives were still awesome, attention grabbing beasts of power! The problem today is that trains are no longer awe inspiring or romantic machines, they have lost all of the characteristics of steam and early diesel, they are just buses on tracks. Quiet, efficient, coaches with cabs. Although technically speaking they always have been, trains today really are more than ever before just a functional mode of transport. Without the character traits of yesteryear it's easy to see why the general populace has turned on train enthusiasts and labelled them as weird. If I ever get quizzed on my love of trains then I'm always quick to point out that it's a history thing, nostalgia for proper trains that no longer run. This seems to be a tad more accepted. Admitting to being fascinated by modern units will have you viewed in the same bracket as deviants and weirdos!!

[faedundee2]

Quite the opposite at our place, as there are quite a few railway enthusiasts about. As we work almost adjacent to Bristol Temple Meads and have a fine view of the lines out towards Bath and Paddington, we quite often see steam or diesel-hauled excursion specials.

One bright spark last summer said, on looking out of our window and in facetious mood, said, tongue in cheek: "Oh look - there's a green class 4563--295/K Mk2!", to which one of the experts replied without even seeing it (but after craftily having looked on the net to see what was expected that day): "actually no - that's GWR 4-6-0 No. 6024 King Edward 1 - could tell 'er anywhere by just the whistle".

That sort of response tends to shut up the amateurs...

Ash

It's the same at college, some of our classes are right next to the ELR ski jump so every so often(when either a yellow thing or some mid week running/midweek engineering work or mainline move is done) everyone looks out the window to watch the train go by when the duke passed a few months back on an FXP one of the lads said "thats a beautiful train" I couldn't help but snigger....

[BenBlairL]

I've gotten a lot of flak for this in school, since kindergarten. Then again, where I lived it wasn't really train territory, where I live now it's better because trains played an important part of building up the town.