APPROPRIATE RESPONSE - What would you say?

It’s hard to win an argument with a smart person, but it’s **** near impossible to win an argument with a stupid person.  Relax.  Breathe.

Hi Joe, I'd be curious to know how you responded to this person.

My response would have been something along the lines of "I have trains for fun and fellowship, why do you have trains"?

Of course in my mind I am asking him a completely different question...

Paul

There are folks like this in all hobbies.  Cyclists are the ultimate snobs. The best way to deflate the egos of others is to simply agree with a hint of sarcasm.  Something like I know but don't tell anyone, that would be rude.  Once disarmed they have no recourse.

Appropriate response? "Well, I like it and it works for me".

Some people just cant get past the third rail, no matter how realistic the rest of it looks.

Some people are just rude and clueless.

What is an"active adult community"? I am not familar with that term.

HO is half O

That Person is just mad they can't build a reverse loop as easily as you can.

An "active adult community" is a retirement home for us old folks. I can't print here what I would have told him.  The center rail is part of the power system, not the rail system but these kind are too stupid to know that.

Where my Dad has lived for the last 18 years is a "active adult community" comprised of single family homes with nice big yards. Anchored by a huge "club house", pools and other amenities it is a nice way to live without having to do a lick of any yard work, snow shoveling or outside maintenance.

Prior to my Mom  passing last year, they met some of the nicest people and developed very strong friendships. One couple, the husband was a Lionel Operator and had me over to see his two layouts in the basement of his home. A very nice gentlemen who just enjoyed sharing his trains, as most of us do.

Paul

I wouldn't waste my time responding to him. He's just a miserable person. To heck with him.

Wow! I would have fired back but that's me and I defend my hobby. How rude! But.... there are people within our own community that can be just as rude. Example; I used to be a member of the local Lionel club here in the San Francisco bay area. I was running trains one evening and had problems getting a MTH engine to start up and one of the board members came up to me and saw I was having a problem. He said "MTH trains are only good for running into a wall or filling a trash can".  I never went back.

On the other hand a good friend of mine is in the local HO club and I go with him to work nights and the such. I have talked to a lot of the members about how I do 3RS and they are genuinely interested in my trains and often comment on how they will eventually switch to "O" if their eyesight keeps going down hill. 

Proof that people don't think before they speak!        Paul

"Opinions vary" is my standard response for situations like that.

He is just jealous he still is missing sound. And I would not be surprised if he is still using rubber bands!

Model railroading is essentially a creative art form similar to painting, quilting, ceramics, music, etc.  Hobbyists who participate in all of these endeavors create something for their own enjoyment and the enjoyment of others.  Some people like their art to be as real as possible and others find "modern" art more their taste.  Some like classical music and others like modern music.  Who is to say which is better than the other.

A photo taken at track level of a model 3 rail scale train can be just as realistic as a photo of any 2 rail model train in any scale.  Your friend is probably ignorant of the 3 rail scale modeling.  Many 3 rail scale modelers create model railroads that are equal to and in most cases better (from a scale perspective) than most 2 rail layouts.  Rich Batista's Black Diamond Lines, Eric Lungren's  railroad, and the Duckunder Railroad come to mind.  

Your friend does have a point if he is referring to a traditional Lionel layout with signalman who are taller than the trains and the trackside buildings are much smaller than the trains (and the signalman).  Traditional Lionel layouts are more akin to "modern or impressionist" art than a realistic painting.  Both are enjoyable but a "traditional Lionel layout" is not intended to be scale.

I would invite your friend to run some trains on your layout.  I think he will find that operating a good 3 rail layout is just as fun as running any 2 rail layout.  It might be be more fun because the trains are so much more massive.  Most of the visitors to my 3 rail layout find that they quickly forget about the 3rd rail as they run the trains.  

Everyone has different tastes and everyone enjoys their hobby's differently.  The hobby is about having fun and fellowship.  Nothing can beat that.

NH Joe

Someone like that is best ignored.

I think I agree with C.W. I probably would have just smiled at the guy with deliberate pity in my eyes and a shake of the head, and gone about my business. It's possible he was lonely for conversation and figured his remark was a way of guaranteeing a response/conversation. I don't think any reply by you, no matter how caustic or reasonable, would have affected his mindset at all.

My Grandmother runs HO  !

Not sure what he would think of me...  I gots  HO,  O  as well as N.  

My response:  "**** right!"  With a great big happy smile...

Jon

Have fun and enjoy YOUR hobby.

Brent

Upon further thought, I'd go with KOOLjock1's reply. I like his answer better than mine (maybe, without the expletive, though. Maybe.)

I had the opportunity to attend the Chicago O Scale show last year. I had no problem letting two rail guys know that I was a three rail O guy. I let the O scalers know how much I admired the level of detail and craftsmanship I was seeing at the show.

i still had to endure the "pizza cutter flange" and  other pejorative remarks about our "genre" of the hobby. My best response was " if you had not received that Lionel or American Flyer train set many Christmases ago you probably would not be here today." The O Scale guys always smiled and agreed.

Our numbers may be dwindling and gray hair is everywhere, but we all still participate in the "World's Greatest Hobby."  

Richard

Joe, I would not lose sleep over what the person said about your layout, maybe he was jealous of your layout or always is condescending, who cares as long as you enjoy the layout, just consider the source, all of us have had the unfortunate "pleasure" of meeting people who would be unhappy even if they had everything they wanted.

Richard Gonzales posted:

I had the opportunity to attend the Chicago O Scale show last year. I had no problem letting two rail guys know that I was a three rail O guy. I let the O scalers know how much I admired the level of detail and craftsmanship I was seeing at the show.

i still had to endure the "pizza cutter flange" and  other pejorative remarks about our "genre" of the hobby. My best response was " if you had not received that Lionel or American Flyer train set many Christmases ago you probably would not be here today." The O Scale guys always smiled and agreed.

Our numbers may be dwindling and gray hair is everywhere, but we all still participate in the "World's Greatest Hobby."  

Richard

Now, that's a positive and productive response and outlook, Mr. Gonzales. I'm going to remember that one, just in case I ever need it.

One time a real idiot cut me off in his BMW.I Was driving a 500hp sleeper street rod. After some serious words I admitted to liking the styling of his BMW  I said it reminded me of the clunker post WW2 Packards. Left him with about 200 feet of real american positraction "PROOF"

Joe,

Although the comment ruffled your feathers (rightly so) I would just shrug it off as somebody's mouth working before engaging their brain.   

And remember this - There is just no cure for stupid.  

BTW easy for me to say.  I would be just as ticked off as you are. 

Ed

I don't even know that I'd gratify that with a response.  The person who said it is narrow-minded and ignorant, and odds are they're not going to see reality no matter what.  

I honestly don't get the whole "my scale is better than yours" thing, or that whole attitude in general.  Just because it isn't YOUR thing, doesn't make it wrong.  Ignorance at its finest.

Ed Walsh posted:

Joe,

Although the comment ruffled your feathers (rightly so) I would just shrug it off as somebody's mouth working before engaging their brain.   

And remember this - There is just no cure for stupid.  

BTW easy for me to say.  I would be just as ticked off as you are. 

Ed

Actually, Ed, there is a cure:

O gauge three rail has all the dynamic features--- we have it all. When we want we can darken the center rail.

Bob C.

There is toy train collecting and there is model railroading.  That's why there is a TCA and an NMRA.  Some folks like one, some folks like the other, and some folks like both.  It's your money and your time and you should do what you enjoy with it and not waste time or energy with folks who take issue with you in any dimension.  My response would have been "whatever".

El Classico,

Now that is funny and I needed a laugh.

Thanks,

Ed

Sad that would still happen that late in life(mine is bigger than yours). I think i would ask to operate his HO milk car, coal car, log car, icing car, satellite car, helicopter car, brakeman car, cop and hobo car, cattle car, horse car, rocket launch car, walking brakeman car, giraffe car, or barrel ramp car.  Or challenge him to a contest of equal size layouts, who in the audience would prefer to operate and use, (especially if you could include their grandkids).  Might have gotten pretty quiet then.  If you want realism that bad, go work for a real railroad.  My experience as I have gotten older is that older people have less of a filter on their mouth as they get older, me included.

Never argue with an idiot.  They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.

It's been correctly said already here; there are snobs in EVERY hobby.

I personally am not into 3-rail as it's just not my thing. But I'd never think that those into 3-rail aren't model railroaders. Here's my take of any model train:

• It's a model
• Of a train
• On track

Therefore, every scale is a model railroad.

Find a photo of a poorly-done HO scale layout, with TYCO stuff, horn hook couplers, no weathering on anything and the chicken wire showing on the sparse "scenery" for moments like this. We all have seen those types of layouts.

If someone pulls this again, pull out that photo and ask, "Oh, you mean HO scale like this layout?"

That should shut 'em up.

The prison's over overflowing, so some of those that can't make it in society are still loose.  They are a hazard that is hard to avoid, but can be pitied.

In the South it is customary to say (choose any/all appropriate): 

• "Well bless your little heart, isn't that just so special".  
• "It's just a cryin' shame that you can only afford half of "O".
• "You're always welcome to run my big-boy trains"

I would love to have been there.   I think I may have said HO is half of O however O is twice the fun.  Then I do a  Sheldon Copper on his Pompous butt.

Back in the early nineties the NMRA held a meet in Pittsburgh. The members of the local H.O. train club in this area opened their homes two days, for the members of the NMRA to come and see their layouts. The local club ask me, if I would be willing to show my Lionel layout. I said sure. The night, they had the dry run, my layout was the only one that didn't encounter any problems. Every members home we went to encounter problems. Being that we were on a time limit at each home, they didn't have to much time to fix them. On the two days that the tour bus came, my trains ran flawlessly. I would of said, whatever I have, I sure do love it.

When I was younger I would of gone nuclear on him and used allot of words mama always told me not to use. 

Today I would of just told him to put his real train models where the sun don't shine, then laugh. 

I guess it's a good thing I have mellowed all these years later. 

necrails posted:

There are folks like this in all hobbies.  Cyclists are the ultimate snobs. The best way to deflate the egos of others is to simply agree with a hint of sarcasm.  Something like I know but don't tell anyone, that would be rude.  Once disarmed they have no recourse. 

I am a cyclist, so by your definition I am one of the ultimate snobs. Thank you for enlightening me with your great wisdom.

I believe the entire point of the original poster is that it is not appropriate to make generalized statements of a derogatory nature about other people based on stereotypes and incomplete information.

My wife was in top management at a large retirement village and had no illusions about older people. Like she said,"Just because they have gray hair and looked cute doesn't mean a thing. Some were jerks when younger and they still are". I had to bite my lip more than once instead of telling them off. I did threaten a lawsuit for a comment once and they negotiated a public apology.  It does feel good, though, to tell off a jerk once and awhile.