I went to a train store a few years back, and yes there was definitely a "trains are serious business" vibe about the place.
Maybe it's because most of the customers have white hair and extra money.
Thing is, it's hilarious how seriously trains are done!
You buy a DCC locomotive and it has lights that light up in the direction of travel. The engine spools up with a delay like a real locomotive with sound increasing, the air brakes releasing and only then does it move. And they have 20 horns to choose from - pick the right one for the regional line you're simulating. Sort of nuts.
I was talking to another customer though and he balanced it all out. He said he had too many trains. He told me it was really relaxing to go downstairs after dinner with a glass of wine and run his trains or work on his layout.
Growing up, I knew a guy, friend of my Dad's, who had an incredibly elaborate train set in his basement. It's clear he had thousands of hours invested in it. I never got in to trains, but I do have a hobby video game coding project, and I'm struck by how similar it is to a model train hobby:
* I work on it exclusively in the evenings after the kids are asleep
* It relaxes me and gives me something to daydream about during work meetings
* It'll never make me any money and it'll never be done
The funny thing about my Dad's friend was, he hated showing off his trains. Very few people knew it existed, and even fewer had seen it; he only let me see it once, and my dad was his best friend for 40+ years.
Back then I thought he was secretive, or afraid I'd break something. Now that I have my own pointless hobby, I think I understand him better. It's embarrassing to put so much time and thought into something and to have someone see it and say, "Neat! So, anyway..." I guess it's more valuable as a private solace than as a conversation piece.
I think it's nice, maybe even necessary, to have something that you enjoy, and maybe you're even good at, but you don't have to care about and doesn't have to become a responsibility.
I had little hobby projects, and people were like - you should make this into a product. And I had to fight this sort of "am I too lazy to do it? am I afraid?" but really, I just needed something that didn't have a point.
I also think there are a lot of things I didn't "get" as a kid. I remember trying golf as a kid, and I thought "this is so totally boring, why don't these guys ride bikes instead?" And it's only when you get (much) older do you realize people have so much responsibility that getting outside and walking around is a treasure. (of course it could be other things)
> people were like - you should make this into a product. And I had to fight this sort of "am I too lazy to do it? am I afraid?" but really, I just needed something that didn't have a point.
I like the freedom of not having a point. Some programmers are accused of trying out new ideas at work and messing up the product. It's nice to try new ideas at home on throw-away projects that only live for a week.
Maybe it's because most of the customers have white hair and extra money.
Thing is, it's hilarious how seriously trains are done!
You buy a DCC locomotive and it has lights that light up in the direction of travel. The engine spools up with a delay like a real locomotive with sound increasing, the air brakes releasing and only then does it move. And they have 20 horns to choose from - pick the right one for the regional line you're simulating. Sort of nuts.
I was talking to another customer though and he balanced it all out. He said he had too many trains. He told me it was really relaxing to go downstairs after dinner with a glass of wine and run his trains or work on his layout.
I think the best train guy was Gomez Addams.