Saturday 24 January 2009

What's so bad about being a railroad/model railroad enthusiast?

I encounter this question a lot. Both from myself and from others who have sometimes had the misfortune to come across someone who is intolerant of railfans and model railroad enthusiasts. I use the American terminology here because I find it less cringe-inducing, and I use it in lieu of other names like "people with a train set" or "someone who likes trains". I think you should understand where I'm coming from here if you yourself are a railfan or model railroader! ;)

What I find interesting is the relative similarity between model railroaders, railfans, and enthusiasts of other subjects. What I find more interesting, is how society chooses to accept or reject enthusiasm based on the subject. For instance, a classic car enthusiast is somehow more acceptable and regular than a railroad enthusiast. This poses the question of why exactly that is the case.

My point of view, is that it's all down to a matter of familiarity. A classic car carries a sense of nostalgia and heritage that many people will be familiar with; because many people own a car! It's no great mental leap to justify an interest in cars, because it's often in our best interests to have a working understanding of cars, their manufacturers and the many models available. Even if they don't know much to begin with, an eventual veteran car driver will know quite a bit from researching car purchases and having their cars repaired. This level of knowledge is only one step away from a beginner enthusiasts knowledge of a subject.

Now take a locomotive. Not only does it have a make and a model, it also has a year, optional extras, horsepower ratings, different paint schemes, and vintage predecessors going back a further 100 years compared to cars. But how many passengers are likely to encounter that information? Even fewer still, are the number of passengers likely to find themselves interested in researching this information. From this perspective, it's easy to understand why people don't understand railfans or model railroaders.

People can relate to cars, gardens, homemaking, DIY, food, drink, music, etc. because they are things that they frequently encounter, and have a working knowledge of. When relating to an individual, knowledge is everything - you cannot relate to what you don't know.

Interestingly, I find football enthusiasts repulsive, because I cannot relate to them on any level. I find it utterly impossible to empathise with someone who has such an intense, narrow and all consuming interest in what, in my opinion, is such a trivial game. We are probably not too different when it comes to enthusiasm for a subject, but we are a world apart in terms of taste.

In short, there's nothing really all that different or bad about people who find trains interesting compared to people who do not, so in my opinion there is no good reason that they should be considered "bad" or "boring". I have never encountered another like minded railroad/model railroad enthusiast who fits the "trainspotter" stereotype, except maybe a couple instances (out of hundreds) involving people with autism. And I'm pretty sure that an autistic enthusiast of any subject could bore someone regardless of whether they were interested or not. In fact, most railfans and model railroaders I know really defy the stereotypes - everyone from hardcore skateboarders with piercings and tattoos who got interested in trains by painting graffiti onto them, to football jocks turned hardball army men who started out in the hobby by building a layout for their kids!


No comments:

Post a Comment