Lets have some fun with this one....

I generally do not take offence at what folks say. Most people do not intentionally try to insult of demean me. And if they do, I at most will say "Thank you for expressing your opinion. I will give it all the consideration it is due." Which is of course no consideration. I believe getting upset with other's comments tells them they have some power over you and that what they think is important to you. I avoid such negative people as there are plenty of positive people out there to associate with.

I give folks the benefit of the doubt and assume they just lack good social communication skills.

Paul Goodness

I don't ever recall any of my visitors asking me how all my trains or the home layout cost.  Having said that, I've already got my canned response ready in case they do, which would be "less than the city's annual budget."

Learned the hard way that except for kids -- typically the best audience -- I don't invite people to see the layout unless they ask first. This has cut way down on stupid questions and comments or in-laws who set their beer in the middle of the train table. People either get it, or they don't. People who get it usually relate to the art and details or did modeling of some kind growing up or have an attraction to trains or powerful memories of trains in their childhood. For the people that don't you might as well be showing them a stamp collection.

Homeowners Association 

     Each year the Homeowners Association, where I live, puts on several progressive dinners called "Crawl". Each "Crawl" has a topic, three years ago it was a "Man Cave Crawl". Each Man Cave was based on a topic. Well guess my topic - Lionel Trains.

     The other six homes were things like Golf, Sports Teams, Hunting & Fishing. Since there are Adult Beverages being served, they have a lot of golf carts to move the guests to each home.

     This being my neighbors coming to my part of the "Crawl" for Wine & Cheese and to see the Lionel Man Cave - The questions were not out of line at all.

      Below is a photo of my street sign for the "Crawl" and all my other Model Railroad - Open House.

Outside of family members, only two have actually seen the layout and collection and been in the train room. One of the two is a fellow "train guy" and the other wasn't totally a "train guy" but had some interest and asked if I'd have him over one day. 

No insane questions, they know I'm nuts....

At National Capital Tracker events, I've heard plenty. I actually had one guy get somewhat irate when I told him none of the stuff on the tables was for sale. He thought we were a "store". Plenty of "how much does this cost", usually pointing to a $1K+ steamer. I'll tell them the truth but quickly steer the conversation to "but a basic starter kit runs about $200 - $500" and mention my favorite (and best) LHS in the area to pick one up at. The cost question really doesn't bother me. It is the people that feel like they have to touch everything that does...

A few years ago a coworker stopped by because I offered to help him do a bit of work on his truck. When we were done, I invited him and gave him a quick tour of the place while we worked our way to the bar in the basement. Eventually we made it to the train room (near the bar) and I showed the layout, expecting to hear a bit of heckling or perhaps a half hearted "that's cool" at best. After looking at the layout for a few minutes, he turned and asked "Do these run?" He spent about a half hour or so running an MPC era SP Trainmaster (he really liked that one I think). The next day at work he was telling anyone who would listen that I had the coolest basement in the world.

As for the comments that make me cringe, I really don't like when parents repeatedly ask if it's alright if their kid runs the train after I show the kid how to do so or when they nervously tell the kids to slow them down. I think those not in the hobby just see all the stuff as dollar signs and they get scared that junior is going to mess up that Scout set that I am letting him run the wheels off of.

J White

It hasn't been mentioned where a scale model railroader sees your layout and to him a layout has to represent a certain area with as accurate as possible modeling of the town and buildings and the layout has to have a purpose in train movements, and all rolling stock has be what the road your modeling had at that time. and so on.

No NYC one minute and Southern Pacific the next allowed.

Hilarious reading!

My little layout is in the living room so anybody in the house can see it. Some people go over and look while other seem to ignore it.

Questions usually are about the age of the trains (vintage stuff with lots of "patina" on some) or if the trains are mine from when I was kid (no, they were bought recently during my second childhood). Mostly it's positive comments and questions. If the "how much does it cost" question comes up I tell them most of the engines were under $50 each, which is true since most are fixed up old Marx locos!  LOL

Folks are generally very complimentary, but on the rare occasion that someone asks "How much?", the best answer I've come up with is "If you have to ask...".  The "you probably can't afford it" is left unsaid, but the point is made and the subject gets changed.

My layout covers several rooms on the first floor, and through several living room areas.  The trains usually follow the baseboards with a few crossing areas.  No one has ever asked me a question that bugs me.  In fact, I enjoy educating folks about the hobby.  I regularly swap out sets, so there is always something new to see.  I even let the young ones run some eco-locos.  The older ones get to run the nicer ones.

The bottom line is that there was a point in time where all of us knew very little about the hobby and had LOTS of questions.  Someone had to spend the time to help all of us with those questions.  I say we should pass it on.  Each of us can be an ambassador and advocate of model trains if we choose to be.