This is a long response, so please bear with me.
I am 24 years of age. I tend to keep my train hobby to myself, mostly because of the negative reactions that I have gotten from most people that discover that I am a model railroader and collector (no layout as of now, but working on a design for next winter). My parents and sisters have told me on multiple occasions that not only is it a waste of my time and money, but that it is downright stupid. Every time that a box arrives in the mail, they assume that it is another train that I have ordered and start giving me flak about "wasting my time" on a dumb hobby. The last locomotive I ordered off of eBay (ATLAS O Trainman Santa Fe RSD-4/5 with TMCC) nearly a year ago got me a lecture from my parents about my wasteful hobby. It is frustrating, but I am used to it.
It took nearly a full year for them to stop giving me a hard time about each issue of Classic Toy Trains that arrived for me in the mail. Not sure how they will react when they start seeing the first issue of my two-year subscription to OGR arrive in the mail in the next few weeks. Assuming it will be like what they did when I started getting CTT in the mail, looks like I will have to put up with their displeasure of my interests again.
Unfortunately, this same mindset is shared by nearly everyone that I know in my neck of the woods. They give me a hard time about being a fan of model railroading and real-life railroads in general, saying that it is "an old person's hobby or something for little kids". People in middle school used to tease me for liking "baby trains" and would crack off various Thomas the Tank Engine references at me, even though I had not watched that show (it ran on PBS as part of Shining Time Station) since I was 7 years old. 
I only know four people who also share the same love of model railroading and real-life railroads, and they work at a model train store. That is why I tend to keep to myself about my hobby but with several excellent forums online to be apart of with like-minded people, I can finally be myself regarding my enjoyment of the hobby around others. I am glad that I found this forum so I can interact with others who share my passion of not only model railroading, but trains in general. 
