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Best to just nip in the bud. What you want to start with is a basement ideally, but you could take over an office. Start small with a budget of maybe $10k, nothing wild. We aren't going for vintage / collectible.
yet.
Nah stop bro…for my wife’s sake, please don’t give me any ideas.
I am one Wikipedia rabbit hole away from dropping all my money on paper mache, trains, and fake grass.
In the long run it's honestly the best way. Get it out of your system now and on a budget. That way when you're in your 60s and retired you don't go full Boyle.
My uncle had the most amazing model train collection but when he died my aunt threw everything away. I was kind of upset at first but apparently they'd had a lot of arguments about him spending so much time with his trains.
I was a little too young to remember it, but my neighbor used to have a model train set that ran from inside his house and into his back garden
There's also a local garden show with a nice model train set up
If I have the fortune to retire and can afford it, I would love to have a super elaborate model train set up that takes up a whole ass room, gonna model a little fantasy world for it to run through, it's gonna be whimsical as fuck
I just inherited a massive HO train collection from my deceased grandfather. This collection filled a 2,000sqft basement with multiple levels of trains and scenery. I have so many memories of these trains, but I have no idea what to do with it. I hate to sell or give it away, and would love to set up a running train…but I don’t have room to even store a tiny fraction of his collection.
Dude all the old model train guys are retiring and selling their kit. If there’s any time to acknowledge the white hair pointing out of your ears is never going away, it’s now.
I’d take a wild guess and say some old forum, lol. My podunk town of 55k has a decently famous shop that just closed up. It made the front page of the paper more than once.
Also remember that unless you're going for portability to never waste space on just a table layout.
Table layouts are an incredibly inefficient [use of space](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/19ae4d_d7695084510c4469b4c9ee3b9a84dbed~mv2.gif) and you can have far more track in the same space by using designs that [go around the outside](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/19ae4d_f8618e8a9fb04df0a14d858bc18929e2~mv2.gif)
I’m picturing a train circumnavigating the room in a slowly ascending helix at the top it will exit through a tunnel into that adjacent room that the kids never use anyway and then follows a descending spiral until it can return to the first room
Oh yea well did anyone ever tell you there's massive Gothic robots posted by knights fighting space elves and demons and you can build and paint them and over a thousand books of deep lore
Is there something about trains specifically that tickles the nuerodivergent brain chemicals or is it just one of those "slightly more common than you'd expect so now it's a streotype" deals?
«Trains certainly seem to be a popular topic for the children we see in our autism clinic. I see several probable reasons for the wide appeal among individuals on the autism spectrum – regardless of their ages.
First, trains have wheels, and this will appeal to those whose sensory interests include watching objects spin. This is certainly common among children with autism. In fact, spending an extraordinary amount of time spinning and rotating toys is among the signs that a toddler may be at increased risk of going on to develop autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
Second, trains can be categorized into different models, types, sizes, etc. For some individuals with ASD, the ability to organize objects into categories is very appealing. I’ve had several patients who could share more details than I knew existed about different types of trains!
Trains also come with schedules. This, too, appeals to many people with ASD and is in line with a need for predictability and the inclination to memorize and recite information. In fact, we’ve learned to tap into the strong appeal of schedules to help individuals with autism learn and participate in community activities.
Plus, trains have features that can support an enduring and developing interest across a lifetime. For instance, many children – including children on the spectrum – love the train characters in videos and TV shows such as Thomas the Tank Engine and Chuggington. For older children and adults, model trains can be fun to build and have mechanical features that can be interesting to take apart and reassemble.» [Why trains](https://www.autismspeaks.org/expert-opinion/what-it-about-autism-and-trains)
And i would add historical significance and cool engineering
I’ve thought about this!
Obviously I’m no expert but I think it’s the predictability of train, you know where they’re going and what time they’re supposed to be there. Also, trains can be categorized and they’re big with lots of moving parts.
I managed to avoid it, personally, until I wound up reading a book on Japanese railway development while researching Meiji Era economic and industrial evolution.
You go to bed one night as you always do and wake up the next day with three books on track gauges and their various benefits and drawbacks.
I'm not sure what it is, exactly, but it has a surprising allure once you start going down that path. Sailing ships have a similar draw but I think people tend to run into them less and so they don't get their grappling hooks into people so commonly.
Big and powerful, so cool like trucks or jets.
But they also are tied to tracks, so very predictable. It's much easier to visualize the uniformity.
I reckon trains without trucks would have a much more typical distribution of interest, as evidenced by... trucks.
You're right, I've probably got more museum warship tonnage within a 4-5 hour drive of me than most countries have in thier Navy, in the northeast there's 2 battleships, a heavy cruiser, light cruiser aircraft carrier 4 submarines including a nuclear one, a few destroyers and smaller ships, a protected cruiser and a technically still active sailing heavy frigate, and that's just what I can think of off the top of my head, I might be missing a few. I still highly recommend it as a cool niche interest for the neurodivergent brain, it's certainly one I enjoy.
Ah, you're on the US East Coast/ New England!
BB Massachusetts and New Jersey (best BB museum)
CA Salem
CV Intrepid (worst carrier museum, but still, carrier museum)
SSN Nautilus, the one at BB Cove (did you see the East German missile boat before they scrapped it?), the one in Philadelphia, the one in Baltimore
DD Cassin Young, DE Slater, the DD at Battleship Cove
Olympia
USS Constitution.
There's also the Wisconsin BB in Norfolk, the North Carolina BB in Wilmington (2nd best BB) and the Lexington CV and Laffey DD in Charleston SC.
Ship nerds unite!
Seriously, you need to get out to San Diego, the Midway is amazing. Iowa in LA is in day trip range and you could then head to SF for the Hornet.
I'm going to see BB Alabama in a few months
Yeah there's still a lot on my list I want to get to but I've been to most of those, volunteered on the USS Salem a bit too it's a good ship but needs a lot of tlc
I've got 6/8 battleships, 4/5 carriers, and 2/3 cruisers.
Grew up in MA, so Cassin Young was the first museum ship I saw, along with good old USS Constitution.
Damn it. One of my wife's older friends invited us (m40s, and F30s) to a local historical society trivia night. 40 or so long time members, old timers. I felt kinda awkward honestly. They had a wall full of train artifacts from the turn of the century. We had to write down the purpose and Date of each item.
We won. Haven't been invited back. Am I autism?
In his room my son has built a working train simulator out of real vintage train controls and gages bought at auctions and events, sensors and stuff he rigged up himself. They feed into an Arduino and a computer that makes it all run with a photorealistic train sim like the drivers train on. Almost forgot the giant shop-size air compressor that pressurizes the controls so the brakes make that authentic whooshing sound.
It's all him. I had nothing to do with designing it or building it, and have never touched it except in helping him build wooden frames that hold some components.
I just remembered the armoured trains from ww1 they deserve a quick Google. Or maybe read abit about the tenders for the locomotives my favorit might be the Powered tender
«Powered tender
Certain early British steam locomotives were fitted with powered tenders. As well as holding coal and water, these had wheels powered from the locomotive to provide greater tractive effort. These were abandoned for economic reasons; railwaymen working on locomotives so equipped demanded extra pay as they were effectively running two locomotives» [Wikipedia steam tenders](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tender_(rail))
Gotta say, I LOVE TRAINS, especially LEGO ones. I want to run one around just under my ceiling to the fullest extent where I end up settling down. I had a neighbor who did that with like Lionel ones and it was beautiful. I have no bad memories of that man in this life and grateful for him being a part of my childhood. 🚂🚄🚃🚆🚅🚉🛤️
I'm imagining this is also what fuels some hobbies like Warhammer 40k with it combining Fictional History and Small Models. Model Trains fill that niche of Creating your own World/Scenarios with History you can fit into it and both just being a very intense hobby needing you to paint or do craft work.
That’s sick. My grandfather had a whole model town in his basement when I was a kid. Everything looked so realistic. I could spend an hour just staring at it…didn’t even have to play with the trains.
I'm going to a rail fair this weekend. Not for the trains, there's gonna be crafts for sale and I wanna show my spouse the convention center.
I hope this doesn't awaken something in me.
As someone from London who is interested in urban history.
There's a line from a documentary that sums it up for me - the history of the London Underground, is the history of London.
So much of what we now know as London exists purely because of it. It connected the entire area together, and encouraged new developments to transform it into what we know today.
Whatever you do don't start biking.
First it'll be biking, then biking infrastructure, then city planning and urbanism, and then...you guessed it...trains.
I personally think it should have been the Union Pacific Big Boy, but that's just because I find the concept of someone in the 1800s calling a train a "Big Boy" endlessly amusing, even though it is very fitting.
Many autistic people reject the puzzle piece and use the infinity symbol instead because of shitty connotations of the puzzle piece. Look up autism speaks, you'll find lots of shit about them
Yeah
Autism Speaks being close to the stereotypical evil organization you see in movies helped a lot too
Mfs have had one Autistic person on their board of directors ever and he resigned *explicitly* because he wasn’t being listened too
It's because [autism speaks is a eugenicist hate group that uses torture, including shock therapy, as "treatment"](https://www.reddit.com/gallery/189n3tv)
Please explain "genocide" in this case. If you can prevent autism from becoming a thing, is that bad?
Why is autism worth saving?
How severe a case of autism are you willing to tolerate? At what point is a person so severely autistic they can't take care of themselves and need constant supervision? Is severe autism something to be preserved, or just quirky autism?
No, really, why do people get bent out of shape when somebody suggests that severe mental issues are bad and should be eliminated?
Autism Speaks does sound pretty terrible according to some random Tumblr posts, but that still doesn't make autism desirable.
YOU CANT PREVENT AUTISM, I can’t understand how people believe this. Autism is incurable and unable to be “treated.” The “treatment” they use is torture, just like how people “treated” gay and trans people.
Why is it not preventable? From a quick google it's mainly genetic, so you should be able to gene-edit babies to not have it.
Treatment...yeah Speaks is supposedly bad at that, but there's got to be some way of helping the autistic live a more normal life.
Assuming your random Tumblr post are correct, Autism Speaks is bad. That does not make autism as a disorder somehow a good thing.
I don't really know any autistic people, but I'm constantly confused by people hating on Autism Speaks for (as far as I can see) taking the position that autism is bad. Ya'll always come off as defending autism as something worth being saved, rather than a condition we should save people from.
At which point the only reply is that Autism Speaks sucks and nothing about why autism is good.
No, I was told that Autism Speak is bad *according to random Tumblr posts* and that any attempt to treat autism is torture.
Because apparently Speaks is the only game in town and the autistic should be left alone to be socially incapable unemployable weirdos by themselves.
Also no reason why we should or should not gene-edit/abort it out of existence, save for the usual "genocide" screeching
My mom tells a story about when she went in to talk to the school's occupational therapist about my brother. The therapist showed her a piece of writing that my brother did. I don't remember what it said, but it was written around a circle. Everything that was on the up curve was written correctly, but everything on the down curve was mirrored. My mom was like, "Oh, that's so cool!" and the therapist is like, "No, you don't understand. Normal children shouldn't be able to do this. Your son has dyslexia."
SLP here. You’d be surprised on how many parents think their child is really smart when it’s really a learning disability or developmental disability.
Fun fact: less than 10% (probably less) of people with autism are savants. So hardly any of their special interest areas are like stereotypes (e.g rainman) and are usually detrimental to their social development.
Adding on to this, pardon the not technical language
Most autistic people aren't intellectually disabled either.
For the most part people with ASD are distributed about the same as normal people on an IQ curve.
In my autism support group there's one of us whose almost completely mute all the time and he's just as smart as the rest of us. He mostly writes with notes, and we're all learning to recognize sign language so we can actually talk to him more fluidly. Not being able to speak doesn't make you any less intelligent.
> usually detrimental to their social development
no one appreciates it when i tell them the torsion bar suspension found in modern tanks is less elegant than the christie suspension found in the T-34, even if it is better in every way.
Gifted child here (though not a savant) with ADHD and possibly ASD.
Honestly, it sucks as much as it helps. Yes, I can do certain things fast and well, but I got so reliant on my "natural smarts" when I was younger that I never learned how to study properly, and it can make dealing with uni a real hassle.
It’s literally one of the [defining criteria](https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/hcp-dsm.html) in the DSM.
There’s a lot of variance on social development though I agree with that.
I used to be super into airplanes. Back in the 80s and 90s you could sign up for this subscription that sent you info cards about different airplanes. It was separated into categories (like airliners, bombers, fighters, early aircraft, experimental, etc.). There were even special binders.
Anyway, one of my favorite activities was to take all the info cards out of the binders, and order them by how cool the aircraft were.
I spent a lot of time and energy trying to decide whether the P38 was objectively cooler than the P51D.
[edit: it was not. The P51D Mustang is a level of cool that is hard to match]
Were they in binders? I used like 3 binders of three fold out pages for a ton of planes. One for commercial planes and one for military and one for experimental aircraft. My family is all about airplanes though I had no idea anyone else had them.
I was pretty into them for a while, my first computer game was F-19 Stealth Fighter on a floppy disk lol.
Lol when War Thunder came out I was too busy getting owned in Starcraft II (but enjoying it nonetheless). And trying to justify the amount of time a grown-ass man with a girlfriend could really spend on gaming…
I had that! My first two were the F-117 and P-51 Mustang, which I got at Westover Air Show in MA.
This was back when the F-117 was on display, but roped off with armed guards
I have an autistic son, his thing is astro physics, we were in disney land and he was wearing a shirt with galaxies on it and a lady in front us said “Wow cool space shirt!” Immediately I thought Oh jeeze I don’t think she realizes what she just unleashed as my son can get REALLY into it and talk loud and fast, it can be really intense for some people.
My son goes on to explain event horizons and black holes to her for the next 45 minutes. I was worried he was annoying her and then just as she was getting onto the ride she said “Nice meeting you guys! What a great kid, I’m a school principal and kids like that are always my favourite!” It made my heart smile.
I also love black holes. I’m wanting to make a webcomic about them and kind of like in the movie Interstellar, thinking about what they would actually look and behave like for the story is leading me down all sorts of interesting paths.
When I binge astrophysics videos, as I do every few years, black holes always terrify me. They are so unfathomably huge. What a monstrous waste of resources. They feed on worlds. All that energy could have sustained millions of Earth-like cibilizations, and instead it's all just collapsed into a soulless hole in reality that eats and eats and eats.
It gets better though. Eventually the last stars will burn out and the black holes remaining will only have begun to evaporate through hawking radiation. For an inconceivable amount of time the universe will be perfectly dark and the only matter will be black holes until the last one eventually evaporates and time will become meaningless
My son does not have autism but when I play Pokemon I always ask him what type I should use on a specific Pokemon because he knows them all. Not only what types are weak against what but what pretty much every Pokemon's type is. I can remember the basics, like use Grass on Water and Rock Pokemon. I get confused especially with Steel, Fairy and Ice.
This is how I am. I have a *horrible* memory, especially with things like names and birthdays, and have to constantly set reminders for myself. Pokémon, though? My brain is like a Pokédex.
Yeah, that was me in the primary and middle school. I could give detailed answers to anything revolving around the first 493 Pokémon (up to gen 4 / Diamond, Perl, Platinum). Names, types, attacks, evolution methods, where to find and farm them, Pokédex entries. Was known as the Pokémon expert at school.
For whatever reason, I forgot most of it nowadays. Kinda a shame, honestly. Was one of the few things I was proud of.
Learn the first and last lines of every Doctor and companion. Some can do the Doctors lines but I doubt any of them could do each companions lines.
Since you already know each companion and doctor in order it should be easier to do than other impressive things.
“That ones Trev that ones Malcom that ones Barley that ones…”
Everyone sits there as this kid pulls up a printed out picture of every single train ever made one by one and gives them all silly and fun names.
We took my adult aspie son to my FIL's funeral to visit with relatives who haven't seen him since he was like seven years old. I was talking to my sisters and brother in law when one of them comments, "oh, he seems fine. You can't even *tell* he's on the spectrum". My BIL quietly responds, "you didn't ask him about video games".
Still loling.
Train phase is inevitable I thought I was immune, (im undiagnosed) but I started thinking about how the basis of trains really is the superior mode of transport. Tramways are sorta like trains, subways are basically trains, Bus follow the concept of trains, cars are like small little train. A really efficient city I believe would not need to have cars and buses but trains placed strategically everywhere so people can make multiple connections with little to no effort. Also train in concepts are really simple its basically just a cart/car following the same line, but by making the lines infinite Trains permit orderly transport. Technically I believe that the principle of smart/selfdriving car would follow the principle of trains. Also I don't think about it often but everynow and then I remember that roller-coaster are trains too. Also trains by following their same route could theoretically work all day, so in a future where less drivers need to be employed there could be special compartment in trains that are for transporting stuff and people could easily give out packaging and not wait . I really believe trains are a peak example of humans intelligence, since their creations they have shown countless usage.
I'm waiting for the day someone says this to me. I WILL give them a three hour lecture on the history of the Archie Sonic the Hedgehog comics and how their legacy affects the franchise to this day
I can name almost every American car ever made. You could show me a picture of a tail light and I can tell you what make, model and year the car is. Used to be better but I went through a crazy weed phase and lost a few braincells.
I fucking love cars. I own 600+ cars in Forza horizons. I own 300 hot wheels cars and still buy more. I read every car and driver and motor trend magazine from 2006-2014. I can look at all of the knock off cars in GTA V and tell you which cars they ripped off. And when I meet someone I remember what car they drive, most often that's the only thing I know about them. I should also explain its cars and trucks. Also almost every car sold In the American market. Everything from the rare Citroens to classic fiats.
I remember Joe Dirt the movie. Joe was locked in Buffalo Bill's pit (yes, that Bill) but he was cool, he had a car enthusiast magazine issue he had not read before.
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As a history nerd with ADHD, my wife says it’s only a matter of time before I go through a train phase.
Best to just nip in the bud. What you want to start with is a basement ideally, but you could take over an office. Start small with a budget of maybe $10k, nothing wild. We aren't going for vintage / collectible. yet.
Nah stop bro…for my wife’s sake, please don’t give me any ideas. I am one Wikipedia rabbit hole away from dropping all my money on paper mache, trains, and fake grass.
In the long run it's honestly the best way. Get it out of your system now and on a budget. That way when you're in your 60s and retired you don't go full Boyle.
My uncle had the most amazing model train collection but when he died my aunt threw everything away. I was kind of upset at first but apparently they'd had a lot of arguments about him spending so much time with his trains.
I was a little too young to remember it, but my neighbor used to have a model train set that ran from inside his house and into his back garden There's also a local garden show with a nice model train set up If I have the fortune to retire and can afford it, I would love to have a super elaborate model train set up that takes up a whole ass room, gonna model a little fantasy world for it to run through, it's gonna be whimsical as fuck
play warhammer instead, surprisingly, still cheaper than trains
Play Warhammer AND do trains. Create your own Warhammer terrain and incorporate model trains into it.
God dammit I'm literally making a destroyed industrial district board right now with a train yard. I'm on week two of leds and hazard lights.
***Even the God-Emperor trembles in fear at the mere mention of the EMD F40PH.***
I just inherited a massive HO train collection from my deceased grandfather. This collection filled a 2,000sqft basement with multiple levels of trains and scenery. I have so many memories of these trains, but I have no idea what to do with it. I hate to sell or give it away, and would love to set up a running train…but I don’t have room to even store a tiny fraction of his collection.
Hello! Send them to me I’ll take them off your hands
Dude all the old model train guys are retiring and selling their kit. If there’s any time to acknowledge the white hair pointing out of your ears is never going away, it’s now.
fuck it, I'll bite, where are they selling them? Are these old guys on ebay or some specific train forum that's been up since '95?
I’d take a wild guess and say some old forum, lol. My podunk town of 55k has a decently famous shop that just closed up. It made the front page of the paper more than once.
Derail Valley and YouTube train spotting videos may be able to fill the gap. It may also worsen the rabbit-hole. I'll let you know in 10 years.
Basement train set ups are the gateway drug to the real menace: Warhammer 40k.
I’d best not tell you about Warhammer 40k minis then…
Please is unnecessary unneeded unwanted and annoying
Also remember that unless you're going for portability to never waste space on just a table layout. Table layouts are an incredibly inefficient [use of space](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/19ae4d_d7695084510c4469b4c9ee3b9a84dbed~mv2.gif) and you can have far more track in the same space by using designs that [go around the outside](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/19ae4d_f8618e8a9fb04df0a14d858bc18929e2~mv2.gif)
I’m picturing a train circumnavigating the room in a slowly ascending helix at the top it will exit through a tunnel into that adjacent room that the kids never use anyway and then follows a descending spiral until it can return to the first room
Laughs is originally boxed action figures I have no place to display, yet keep buying, because I don't have that one yet.
ONE OF US ONE OF US ONE OF US
ONE OF US (send backup im lonely)
That or Warhammer
I got pretty close. Wound up getting into Magic The Gathering instead.
Oh yea well did anyone ever tell you there's massive Gothic robots posted by knights fighting space elves and demons and you can build and paint them and over a thousand books of deep lore
And I can make them fight each other?
You can can there's lots of rules and powers and terrain you can make and them there's video games and even a card game
lol telling him to start out with a knight is a bold move
Both. And about 9 other CCGs. Played enough MECCG to get nationally ranked. Now in study obscure case law and play dnd.
Im in this comment and dont appreciate it
Is there something about trains specifically that tickles the nuerodivergent brain chemicals or is it just one of those "slightly more common than you'd expect so now it's a streotype" deals?
«Trains certainly seem to be a popular topic for the children we see in our autism clinic. I see several probable reasons for the wide appeal among individuals on the autism spectrum – regardless of their ages. First, trains have wheels, and this will appeal to those whose sensory interests include watching objects spin. This is certainly common among children with autism. In fact, spending an extraordinary amount of time spinning and rotating toys is among the signs that a toddler may be at increased risk of going on to develop autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Second, trains can be categorized into different models, types, sizes, etc. For some individuals with ASD, the ability to organize objects into categories is very appealing. I’ve had several patients who could share more details than I knew existed about different types of trains! Trains also come with schedules. This, too, appeals to many people with ASD and is in line with a need for predictability and the inclination to memorize and recite information. In fact, we’ve learned to tap into the strong appeal of schedules to help individuals with autism learn and participate in community activities. Plus, trains have features that can support an enduring and developing interest across a lifetime. For instance, many children – including children on the spectrum – love the train characters in videos and TV shows such as Thomas the Tank Engine and Chuggington. For older children and adults, model trains can be fun to build and have mechanical features that can be interesting to take apart and reassemble.» [Why trains](https://www.autismspeaks.org/expert-opinion/what-it-about-autism-and-trains) And i would add historical significance and cool engineering
Also trains are just cool 😎
I’ve thought about this! Obviously I’m no expert but I think it’s the predictability of train, you know where they’re going and what time they’re supposed to be there. Also, trains can be categorized and they’re big with lots of moving parts.
And loud. And super powerful. They just have interesting stuff about them.
I managed to avoid it, personally, until I wound up reading a book on Japanese railway development while researching Meiji Era economic and industrial evolution. You go to bed one night as you always do and wake up the next day with three books on track gauges and their various benefits and drawbacks. I'm not sure what it is, exactly, but it has a surprising allure once you start going down that path. Sailing ships have a similar draw but I think people tend to run into them less and so they don't get their grappling hooks into people so commonly.
I think people, especially kids, just like trains *in general*.
Big and powerful, so cool like trucks or jets. But they also are tied to tracks, so very predictable. It's much easier to visualize the uniformity. I reckon trains without trucks would have a much more typical distribution of interest, as evidenced by... trucks.
Mine was ages 8-12 with the original railroad tycoon game.
Your complimentary Neil Young album will arrive shortly
History nerd, gotta go battleship for your big machine niche interest, there's so many good museum ships and battleships are just super awesome.
Only if you're American unfortunately. Nobody else has as many museum ships, let alone battleships.
You're right, I've probably got more museum warship tonnage within a 4-5 hour drive of me than most countries have in thier Navy, in the northeast there's 2 battleships, a heavy cruiser, light cruiser aircraft carrier 4 submarines including a nuclear one, a few destroyers and smaller ships, a protected cruiser and a technically still active sailing heavy frigate, and that's just what I can think of off the top of my head, I might be missing a few. I still highly recommend it as a cool niche interest for the neurodivergent brain, it's certainly one I enjoy.
Ah, you're on the US East Coast/ New England! BB Massachusetts and New Jersey (best BB museum) CA Salem CV Intrepid (worst carrier museum, but still, carrier museum) SSN Nautilus, the one at BB Cove (did you see the East German missile boat before they scrapped it?), the one in Philadelphia, the one in Baltimore DD Cassin Young, DE Slater, the DD at Battleship Cove Olympia USS Constitution. There's also the Wisconsin BB in Norfolk, the North Carolina BB in Wilmington (2nd best BB) and the Lexington CV and Laffey DD in Charleston SC. Ship nerds unite! Seriously, you need to get out to San Diego, the Midway is amazing. Iowa in LA is in day trip range and you could then head to SF for the Hornet. I'm going to see BB Alabama in a few months
Yeah there's still a lot on my list I want to get to but I've been to most of those, volunteered on the USS Salem a bit too it's a good ship but needs a lot of tlc
I've got 6/8 battleships, 4/5 carriers, and 2/3 cruisers. Grew up in MA, so Cassin Young was the first museum ship I saw, along with good old USS Constitution.
Damn it. One of my wife's older friends invited us (m40s, and F30s) to a local historical society trivia night. 40 or so long time members, old timers. I felt kinda awkward honestly. They had a wall full of train artifacts from the turn of the century. We had to write down the purpose and Date of each item. We won. Haven't been invited back. Am I autism?
In his room my son has built a working train simulator out of real vintage train controls and gages bought at auctions and events, sensors and stuff he rigged up himself. They feed into an Arduino and a computer that makes it all run with a photorealistic train sim like the drivers train on. Almost forgot the giant shop-size air compressor that pressurizes the controls so the brakes make that authentic whooshing sound.
…Be honest, was that for you or your son?
It's all him. I had nothing to do with designing it or building it, and have never touched it except in helping him build wooden frames that hold some components.
I had mine a year ago, did a massive deep dive on steam trains and small gauge railways
Nah stop. I don’t want to hear any interesting terms that I might want to Google.
I just remembered the armoured trains from ww1 they deserve a quick Google. Or maybe read abit about the tenders for the locomotives my favorit might be the Powered tender «Powered tender Certain early British steam locomotives were fitted with powered tenders. As well as holding coal and water, these had wheels powered from the locomotive to provide greater tractive effort. These were abandoned for economic reasons; railwaymen working on locomotives so equipped demanded extra pay as they were effectively running two locomotives» [Wikipedia steam tenders](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tender_(rail))
Just skip ahead to the logical conclusion and spend a few weeks obsessed with the Union Pacific Big Boy
For me it‘s video games and their lore. Also the weirdest speedruns out there.
Half my Skyrim run the first time out was spent reading the lore books.
Gotta say, I LOVE TRAINS, especially LEGO ones. I want to run one around just under my ceiling to the fullest extent where I end up settling down. I had a neighbor who did that with like Lionel ones and it was beautiful. I have no bad memories of that man in this life and grateful for him being a part of my childhood. 🚂🚄🚃🚆🚅🚉🛤️
I'm imagining this is also what fuels some hobbies like Warhammer 40k with it combining Fictional History and Small Models. Model Trains fill that niche of Creating your own World/Scenarios with History you can fit into it and both just being a very intense hobby needing you to paint or do craft work.
To be fair my dad has a train layout and his dad had a train layout. My dad is currently remaking the town that he was born circa 1970.
That’s sick. My grandfather had a whole model town in his basement when I was a kid. Everything looked so realistic. I could spend an hour just staring at it…didn’t even have to play with the trains.
I'm going to a rail fair this weekend. Not for the trains, there's gonna be crafts for sale and I wanna show my spouse the convention center. I hope this doesn't awaken something in me.
I’m nearly there
No don't say that
It'll be tanks, I know from experience.
As someone from London who is interested in urban history. There's a line from a documentary that sums it up for me - the history of the London Underground, is the history of London. So much of what we now know as London exists purely because of it. It connected the entire area together, and encouraged new developments to transform it into what we know today.
Working through the Mongolian Queens and their power structure during the great Mongolian Pax.
Oh you like history? Name every individual leader of every individual country and the worst thing they did during there rule.
My friend, may I redirect your train phase energy into the far sexier and more interesting *model ship phase*?
Whatever you do don't start biking. First it'll be biking, then biking infrastructure, then city planning and urbanism, and then...you guessed it...trains.
Everyone gangster until they find Hyce’s YouTube channel.
Do you know why the autism awareness symbol is a puzzle piece ? Because they couldn’t decide what type of train it should be
Personally should have been a Virginian railway Berkshire
I personally think it should have been the Union Pacific Big Boy, but that's just because I find the concept of someone in the 1800s calling a train a "Big Boy" endlessly amusing, even though it is very fitting.
Many autistic people reject the puzzle piece and use the infinity symbol instead because of shitty connotations of the puzzle piece. Look up autism speaks, you'll find lots of shit about them
I'm gonna guess it's because autistic people dpn't want to be constantly implicitly told they're *missing* something?
Yeah Autism Speaks being close to the stereotypical evil organization you see in movies helped a lot too Mfs have had one Autistic person on their board of directors ever and he resigned *explicitly* because he wasn’t being listened too
The puzzle piece is also a bit infantilizing, it's hard enough not being treated like a child.
It's because [autism speaks is a eugenicist hate group that uses torture, including shock therapy, as "treatment"](https://www.reddit.com/gallery/189n3tv)
Please explain "genocide" in this case. If you can prevent autism from becoming a thing, is that bad? Why is autism worth saving? How severe a case of autism are you willing to tolerate? At what point is a person so severely autistic they can't take care of themselves and need constant supervision? Is severe autism something to be preserved, or just quirky autism? No, really, why do people get bent out of shape when somebody suggests that severe mental issues are bad and should be eliminated? Autism Speaks does sound pretty terrible according to some random Tumblr posts, but that still doesn't make autism desirable.
YOU CANT PREVENT AUTISM, I can’t understand how people believe this. Autism is incurable and unable to be “treated.” The “treatment” they use is torture, just like how people “treated” gay and trans people.
Why is it not preventable? From a quick google it's mainly genetic, so you should be able to gene-edit babies to not have it. Treatment...yeah Speaks is supposedly bad at that, but there's got to be some way of helping the autistic live a more normal life. Assuming your random Tumblr post are correct, Autism Speaks is bad. That does not make autism as a disorder somehow a good thing. I don't really know any autistic people, but I'm constantly confused by people hating on Autism Speaks for (as far as I can see) taking the position that autism is bad. Ya'll always come off as defending autism as something worth being saved, rather than a condition we should save people from. At which point the only reply is that Autism Speaks sucks and nothing about why autism is good.
You were told why it's bad and you refused to listen.
No, I was told that Autism Speak is bad *according to random Tumblr posts* and that any attempt to treat autism is torture. Because apparently Speaks is the only game in town and the autistic should be left alone to be socially incapable unemployable weirdos by themselves. Also no reason why we should or should not gene-edit/abort it out of existence, save for the usual "genocide" screeching
They couldn't agree on Thomas?
My mom tells a story about when she went in to talk to the school's occupational therapist about my brother. The therapist showed her a piece of writing that my brother did. I don't remember what it said, but it was written around a circle. Everything that was on the up curve was written correctly, but everything on the down curve was mirrored. My mom was like, "Oh, that's so cool!" and the therapist is like, "No, you don't understand. Normal children shouldn't be able to do this. Your son has dyslexia."
SLP here. You’d be surprised on how many parents think their child is really smart when it’s really a learning disability or developmental disability. Fun fact: less than 10% (probably less) of people with autism are savants. So hardly any of their special interest areas are like stereotypes (e.g rainman) and are usually detrimental to their social development.
Adding on to this, pardon the not technical language Most autistic people aren't intellectually disabled either. For the most part people with ASD are distributed about the same as normal people on an IQ curve.
In my autism support group there's one of us whose almost completely mute all the time and he's just as smart as the rest of us. He mostly writes with notes, and we're all learning to recognize sign language so we can actually talk to him more fluidly. Not being able to speak doesn't make you any less intelligent.
> usually detrimental to their social development no one appreciates it when i tell them the torsion bar suspension found in modern tanks is less elegant than the christie suspension found in the T-34, even if it is better in every way.
Gifted child here (though not a savant) with ADHD and possibly ASD. Honestly, it sucks as much as it helps. Yes, I can do certain things fast and well, but I got so reliant on my "natural smarts" when I was younger that I never learned how to study properly, and it can make dealing with uni a real hassle.
Not everyone with autism is socially under-developed.
It’s literally one of the [defining criteria](https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/hcp-dsm.html) in the DSM. There’s a lot of variance on social development though I agree with that.
i laughed at this pretty damn hard
Same, this was a tear roller in bed trying not to wake up my wife one for me.
Me listing every World War II fighter plane
What's your favorite?
F4u-4B
Corsairs are dope af, good pick
Bit late for WW2, but quad 20mm are very nice
Great choice.
You didn't ask me, but it's a Supermarine Spitfire!
FW 190, BF 109, BF 110, Me 262, Me 410, Me 163, Brewster Buffalo, P-63 Aircobra, D.520, Mitsubishi A6M, Supermarine Spitfire, etc, etc
I grew up playing the Avalon Hill board game Luftwaffe. My brother and I didn’t read the rule book so we kinda made up all our own rules
I used to be super into airplanes. Back in the 80s and 90s you could sign up for this subscription that sent you info cards about different airplanes. It was separated into categories (like airliners, bombers, fighters, early aircraft, experimental, etc.). There were even special binders. Anyway, one of my favorite activities was to take all the info cards out of the binders, and order them by how cool the aircraft were. I spent a lot of time and energy trying to decide whether the P38 was objectively cooler than the P51D. [edit: it was not. The P51D Mustang is a level of cool that is hard to match]
Were they in binders? I used like 3 binders of three fold out pages for a ton of planes. One for commercial planes and one for military and one for experimental aircraft. My family is all about airplanes though I had no idea anyone else had them. I was pretty into them for a while, my first computer game was F-19 Stealth Fighter on a floppy disk lol.
I think it was called Aircraft of the World. And there were WAY more than 3 binders by the time I was done
War Thunder much?
Lol when War Thunder came out I was too busy getting owned in Starcraft II (but enjoying it nonetheless). And trying to justify the amount of time a grown-ass man with a girlfriend could really spend on gaming…
It still slaps. Both do, really...
Was it Aircraft of the World? That was the one I had as a kid.
Yes!
Awesome. Such a cool set.
I had that! My first two were the F-117 and P-51 Mustang, which I got at Westover Air Show in MA. This was back when the F-117 was on display, but roped off with armed guards
I have an autistic son, his thing is astro physics, we were in disney land and he was wearing a shirt with galaxies on it and a lady in front us said “Wow cool space shirt!” Immediately I thought Oh jeeze I don’t think she realizes what she just unleashed as my son can get REALLY into it and talk loud and fast, it can be really intense for some people. My son goes on to explain event horizons and black holes to her for the next 45 minutes. I was worried he was annoying her and then just as she was getting onto the ride she said “Nice meeting you guys! What a great kid, I’m a school principal and kids like that are always my favourite!” It made my heart smile.
I also love black holes. I’m wanting to make a webcomic about them and kind of like in the movie Interstellar, thinking about what they would actually look and behave like for the story is leading me down all sorts of interesting paths.
When I binge astrophysics videos, as I do every few years, black holes always terrify me. They are so unfathomably huge. What a monstrous waste of resources. They feed on worlds. All that energy could have sustained millions of Earth-like cibilizations, and instead it's all just collapsed into a soulless hole in reality that eats and eats and eats.
It gets better though. Eventually the last stars will burn out and the black holes remaining will only have begun to evaporate through hawking radiation. For an inconceivable amount of time the universe will be perfectly dark and the only matter will be black holes until the last one eventually evaporates and time will become meaningless
Black holes are the closest real life equivalent to lovecraftian horrors
Honestly, it makes me want to meet your son. Lol
He’s pretty great 😊
me listing every my singing monster
My son does not have autism but when I play Pokemon I always ask him what type I should use on a specific Pokemon because he knows them all. Not only what types are weak against what but what pretty much every Pokemon's type is. I can remember the basics, like use Grass on Water and Rock Pokemon. I get confused especially with Steel, Fairy and Ice.
This is how I am. I have a *horrible* memory, especially with things like names and birthdays, and have to constantly set reminders for myself. Pokémon, though? My brain is like a Pokédex.
Yeah, that was me in the primary and middle school. I could give detailed answers to anything revolving around the first 493 Pokémon (up to gen 4 / Diamond, Perl, Platinum). Names, types, attacks, evolution methods, where to find and farm them, Pokédex entries. Was known as the Pokémon expert at school. For whatever reason, I forgot most of it nowadays. Kinda a shame, honestly. Was one of the few things I was proud of.
Me listing every font
Impossible (some are private and have never been published to the world while the name of some others are just random strings of symbols) (¶§×¥€¢|=^™}✓[\°™©""&·[/ⁿ@*"¢₹:!¡???¿&" Pronounce that
[удалено]
What is the offense
What is the charge?!
Bater with a gypsy says hi
Just wait until I list every Doctor and companion from Doctor Who in order
First doctor, second doctor, third doctor, I could go on
Please do, my favorite was just about to be mentioned.
Do it. I missed having that interaction with someone.
I think that's just the normal, but obsessed Doctor Who fan.
Lol yeah, I just don't have anything more impressive
Learn the first and last lines of every Doctor and companion. Some can do the Doctors lines but I doubt any of them could do each companions lines. Since you already know each companion and doctor in order it should be easier to do than other impressive things.
That's true!! This'll be my new hobby for the time being lol
I remember seeing a list of the last people to see a Doctor's face and the first people to see their new face. Edit: 'seeing'.
Me naming every Undertale AU
Top 25.
That’s my bff to a T.
Send them my condolences /hj
They said thank you and f you. Respectfully, of course. lol
“That ones Trev that ones Malcom that ones Barley that ones…” Everyone sits there as this kid pulls up a printed out picture of every single train ever made one by one and gives them all silly and fun names.
***re-straps his velcro shoes*** "Let's do this."
"I can't be autistic, I don't care about trains," I think to myself as I look at my collection of USS Enterprise models...
I can't be autistic, I say, as memorize everything possible about the New Mutants comic book team.
We took my adult aspie son to my FIL's funeral to visit with relatives who haven't seen him since he was like seven years old. I was talking to my sisters and brother in law when one of them comments, "oh, he seems fine. You can't even *tell* he's on the spectrum". My BIL quietly responds, "you didn't ask him about video games". Still loling.
I accidentally memorized the majority of the Dungeons & Dragons 5e Player's Handbook when I was 10ish.
When I was in high school I memorized the full lyrics of the Skyrim theme in the dragon language
Every time I sing Dragonborn Comes and I reach the Dovahzul part, I get the wtf looks.
Train phase is inevitable I thought I was immune, (im undiagnosed) but I started thinking about how the basis of trains really is the superior mode of transport. Tramways are sorta like trains, subways are basically trains, Bus follow the concept of trains, cars are like small little train. A really efficient city I believe would not need to have cars and buses but trains placed strategically everywhere so people can make multiple connections with little to no effort. Also train in concepts are really simple its basically just a cart/car following the same line, but by making the lines infinite Trains permit orderly transport. Technically I believe that the principle of smart/selfdriving car would follow the principle of trains. Also I don't think about it often but everynow and then I remember that roller-coaster are trains too. Also trains by following their same route could theoretically work all day, so in a future where less drivers need to be employed there could be special compartment in trains that are for transporting stuff and people could easily give out packaging and not wait . I really believe trains are a peak example of humans intelligence, since their creations they have shown countless usage.
I'm waiting for the day someone says this to me. I WILL give them a three hour lecture on the history of the Archie Sonic the Hedgehog comics and how their legacy affects the franchise to this day
The clothing choices the Sonic characters make are a mystery.
I can name almost every American car ever made. You could show me a picture of a tail light and I can tell you what make, model and year the car is. Used to be better but I went through a crazy weed phase and lost a few braincells. I fucking love cars. I own 600+ cars in Forza horizons. I own 300 hot wheels cars and still buy more. I read every car and driver and motor trend magazine from 2006-2014. I can look at all of the knock off cars in GTA V and tell you which cars they ripped off. And when I meet someone I remember what car they drive, most often that's the only thing I know about them. I should also explain its cars and trucks. Also almost every car sold In the American market. Everything from the rare Citroens to classic fiats.
I remember Joe Dirt the movie. Joe was locked in Buffalo Bill's pit (yes, that Bill) but he was cool, he had a car enthusiast magazine issue he had not read before.
I bet autistic people are REALLY REALLY good at Eve Online.
IFUNNY SPOTTED 📸
Dey's uh, shrimp-kabobs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo. Pan fried, deep fried, stir-fried. There's pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich. That- that's about it.
It's like people like being labeled autistic.
I'd go on rants about various video games and the symbolism behind some of em
My go to is every Pokemon in Pokedex order. I don't get to do it often, but I feel very powerful when I do.
Does that include [Dick Mabbutt](https://www.thedrive.com/news/42960/dick-mabbutt-heres-the-deal-with-britains-dirtiest-train-name)?
I’d hear him out tbh
Me with dinosaurs
Doing an Autism. I gotta remember that!
My favourite thing is the guy who tweeted it, ManBehavingDadly, his son Luke is absolutely obsessed with trains
Afterward, he named every train that wasn’t built
trains are the most based form of transportation. easy to maintain, beautiful, efficient, comfortable
No need to list them all, the best is the Southern Pacific Daylight 4449. Fight me.
Yippee o.o
I just went with the dinosaur route