erastes

I'd been attempting to research model trains for weeks in a half hearted fashion. In the end I took

gehayi's advice and decided to find a Group somewhere and ask for help, like I did with Transgressions and the English Civil War.

So I joined this model train Yahoo Group and nervously introduced myself, and surprise surprise, the 400 members are all men, as far as I can see. I had a nice warm welcome with a TON of detailed information that left me spinning and then suddenly someone said: I wonder if anyone else checked the web site to see the nature of Erastes writings ?? Is he looking for a special link between the model railway hobby and a fashionable alternative lifestyle choice, or is there some genuine interest in model railways ??

I replied professionally and calmly and tried not to get angry about "fashionable alternative lifestyle choice" and assured them I was truly only interested in their trains. Plus, I added, Junction X is based in 1962, and homosexuality wasn't fashionable. Or a lifestyle. It was fear.

My web hits went slightly mad for an hour or two while all the train geeks rushed to look at the mucky website.

Then a lot of other train geeks went and stood up for me, in a very reasonable and liberal manner. I squirmed in my seat quite unnecessarily. They applauded me for wanting to get the details right and they say that it will be a different view of the train collector/modeller than the rather odd serial murderer image that they usually get.

So, basically - they'd rather be portrayed as sexy gay blokes than sad blokes who wear anoraks and live with their mothers! *giggles*