What's wrong with our hobby?

[Bananarama]

"Small minds talk about people, average minds talk about events, and large minds talk about ideas."

That needs to be a T-Shirt!

Buzz's quote is slightly out of order:

"Great minds discuss ideas.
Average minds discuss events.
Small minds discuss people." - 1931

...evolved from and based on:

“Men and women range themselves into three classes or orders of intelligence; you can tell the lowest class by their habit of always talking about persons; the next by the fact that their habit is always to converse about things; the highest by their preference for the discussion of ideas.” - Henry Thomas Buckle - 1901

The words were later reassigned to Eleanor Roosevelt. However, there's no evidence that she ever uttered the quote.

...and yes, there is a t-shirt.

[buzz456]

Buzz's quote was from my high school graduation speech given by our high school principal on about a half hour notice when the guy that was supposed to give it was delayed by bad weather. He probably quoted it from memory since it was obvious that a lot was ad lib. It was one of the best speeches I ever heard.

[Chacal]

There's a cultural factor too.
Cars and trucks are central to the USA's culture today, trains not so much anymore.
It is OK to have cars has a hobby, it is considered manly.
It is the opposite in the UK.

[BNSFdude]

There's a cultural factor too.
Cars and trucks are central to the USA's culture today, trains not so much anymore.
It is OK to have cars has a hobby, it is considered manly.
It is the opposite in the UK.

Why not both?

20170530_140057.jpg

[ex-railwayman]

There's a cultural factor too.
Cars and trucks are central to the USA's culture today, trains not so much anymore.
It is OK to have cars has a hobby, it is considered manly.
It is the opposite in the UK.

This country is full of petrolheads, as we call them, cars as a hobby, and still the dominant mode of transport in the British Isles, has never diminshed since the 1940s, I'm unsure where you get your information from???

Cheerz. ex-railwayman.

[PennCentral670]

Well last Saturday the 19th, I railfanned in Peekskill, NY and it wasn't a good experience for me. I was called by some idiot in a pickup an "annoying ** moron" for crossing the tracks quickly at a crossing while the gates were sort of malfunctioning to catch a better view of an Amtrak before it came. In regards to that, I feel the same as Berkshirefan765, I tried not to look ridiculous going all over the place to catch trains from different angles in Peeksill. I would just stand still for a while and mind my own business and not have my device out as much. I was also brought a lot of attention that morning but it wasn't as serious as what that $$$$$ in the pickup did to me. I learned a lesson but will keep railfanning just not in Peekskill for a while. Since I was brought a lot of attention and tried to not look stupid in front of others, especially the commuters who were just wanting to get to their destination. And Mr. Berkshire, I'm glad you posted this at the right time since I feel the same as well.

[FoodMonsterGuy]

One time I was waiting for a train to pass. Across the tracks on a small road a pickup drove by and the guys in their kinda looked at me and were talking about me. Ignore these idiots.