Oh Well, it's a way to meet men, I suppose

[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*

Comments

[elisa-rolle.livejournal.com]

Oh! So now I have to see to my brother like a odd serial murderer? or a sexy gay blokes? I don't know... when we were children, my brother collected model trains and we have a huge plastic for trains, with little houses, little station and little mountains around it and also a little lake... better, my brother had it, because I was not permitted to play with it. Now he is married and live in another house, but he is tormenting my mother because he wants back his model trains; they are packed in boxes in an spare room and he want to put them in sight in his new house. BTW if you try to find information, I can tell you that here in Italy we have a very old toys company (about 100 years old, I think), named LIMA, that produce beautiful model trains, for the most handmade. ciao, elisa

[erastes.livejournal.com]

heh. It was a craze that past me by. And it's confusing enough in England without using european trains!

*G*