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Melbourne man discovers extensive model train network underneath house

(www.sbs.com.au)
402 points cfcfcf | 16 comments | 30 Jun 25 23:53 UTC | HN request time: 0.832s | source | bottom
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alnwlsn ◴[01 Jul 25 03:27 UTC] No.44430287[source]▶
Reminds me of an estate sale I went to one time. Unassuming place, one of those tiny postwar homes about the same size as the one in this article - but with at least double or triple the density of this train layout in the basement. The owner must have been a very thin person, as the narrow winding paths around the basement in places measured no more than 8 inches, and the widest parts were only about 2 foot wide. In a 900 sq. foot basement, there was probably only about 50 sq foot of floor you could actually rest your feet on. The rest was all layout and boxes of trains and train accessories of all sorts - hundreds of tiny pots of specialty paint, miniature trees, "grass powder", special linkages and wheels, and more. Probably most of it got thrown away at the end of the sale.

People have hobbies, but I can't think of any circumstance in which I'd convert my basement into a deathtrap. There was less room than those hoarder houses you see on TV (but much more organized). It was genuinely concerning that they even decided to hold a sale there open to the public.

Truly one of the more bizarre things I've seen. Also, the upstairs? Mostly normal - you wouldn't even know the guy liked trains.

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tenuousemphasis ◴[01 Jul 25 04:41 UTC] No.44430643[source]▶
Sounds like he was neuro divergent and his wife made him keep his obsession in the basement.
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1. specproc ◴[01 Jul 25 06:19 UTC] No.44431122[source]▶
Is there anything particularly "neuro divergent" about having a hobby?

Anyways, I doubt his wife's making him do anything. Totally normal domestic arrangement to have a space for one's thing(s), whatever it may be. Well-conducive to a happy marriage, IMHO.

I'm not fortunate enough to have a whole basement to play with, but my study's piled high with my books, electronics, painting gear, art and models. I'm thankful to have a space that's mine. My SO didn't tell me to keep my shit here, I was like "dibs" on moving in.

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2. latentsea ◴[01 Jul 25 06:59 UTC] No.44431306[source]▶
> Is there anything particularly "neuro divergent" about having a hobby?

Hyperfocus can make one take hobbies to fairly extreme levels.

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3. perlgeek ◴[01 Jul 25 07:01 UTC] No.44431319[source]▶
> Is there anything particularly "neuro divergent" about having a hobby?

No, but how obsessive the pursuit of that hobby is, that's the question.

There are some model train enthusiasts that, over their life time, spend several millions of EUR on their hobby, so they basically work to finance their hobby.

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4. stavros ◴[01 Jul 25 07:16 UTC] No.44431405[source]▶
I don't know why you're singling out model train enthusiasts. This describes many people I know, and an extremely large range of hobbies.
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5. rusk ◴[01 Jul 25 07:27 UTC] No.44431470[source]▶
Indeed. And such hobbies are a healthy and productive outlet for this kind of energy
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6. nandomrumber ◴[01 Jul 25 07:57 UTC] No.44431645[source]▶
Could be worse.

Could be working to barely scrape by, going to bed early to save on heating costs, unable to afford to save a deposit to buy a house, worry how you’ll afford the next dentist or mechanics bill.

Being able to afford a hobby is a luxury.

Welcome to Australia.

7. dkdbejwi383 ◴[01 Jul 25 08:11 UTC] No.44431724[source]▶
Isn’t that just normal life? I know that I, and almost everyone I know, only works to finance the things we actually enjoy.
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8. _Algernon_ ◴[01 Jul 25 09:41 UTC] No.44432174[source]▶
There are plenty of people that travel a lot. Some would say they work to be able to travel. Would you consider those people obsessive in the pursuit of traveling?

The reason why I'm asking is that my impression seems to be that there is a lot more acceptance for obsession when the obsession is considered extroverted and conforming to society's expectation.

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9. matkoniecz ◴[01 Jul 25 10:09 UTC] No.44432331[source]▶
> so they basically work to finance their hobby.

and what is wrong with that?

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10. sokoloff ◴[01 Jul 25 11:55 UTC] No.44432978{3}[source]▶
The "singling out" I read as because the topic of this article that we're discussing is model trains.

If this article was about $OTHER_HOBBY, there would be a citation of someone who spent a ton of money on $OTHER_HOBBY.

11. Cthulhu_ ◴[01 Jul 25 12:32 UTC] No.44433266{3}[source]▶
I'll admit I don't know many people but nobody I know has that kind of expendable income. The "worst" case spends hundreds a year on merchandise / collectibles though.
12. perlgeek ◴[01 Jul 25 13:15 UTC] No.44433603{3}[source]▶
> Would you consider those people obsessive in the pursuit of traveling?

Could be, depending on how much they give up for traveling.

> The reason why I'm asking is that my impression seems to be that there is a lot more acceptance for obsession when the obsession is considered extroverted and conforming to society's expectation.

Maybe it's also related to the accumulation of things related to the hobby.

If you see somebody's collection of model trains and their tracks, it's pretty visceral that they must have spent lots of time and money on this. Same for basically any other hobby that involves collecting this (that aren't tiny, like postage stamps).

If, on the other hand, you hear that somebody has traveled a lot, that doesn't hit home to the same degree..

Maybe another factor is that we tend to associate at least some forms of neurodivergence (autism and AD(H)D at least) with hyperfocus on a few topics, whereas travel exposes one basically automatically to many new experiences. Haven't really thought that through yet...

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13. perlgeek ◴[01 Jul 25 13:16 UTC] No.44433608{3}[source]▶
nothing, IMHO.
14. bluefirebrand ◴[01 Jul 25 13:33 UTC] No.44433765{4}[source]▶
> whereas travel exposes one basically automatically to many new experiences

Tons of people just travel to "destinations" that have resorts and beaches and are very sanitized to be completely not-new at all

Once you've been to one of these resorts you've been to all of them, it really doesn't matter which country they are in

15. latentsea ◴[02 Jul 25 23:58 UTC] No.44450136{3}[source]▶
That depends on what the hobby is of course. Also, it's not necessarily healthy. Being unable to switch your attention away from your hobby tends to cause problems in other areas of your life like neglecting the housework, your partner, your children, your health etc. That's part of the reason why these things are classed as disabilities.
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16. rusk ◴[04 Jul 25 06:22 UTC] No.44461650{4}[source]▶
These days the language tends away from “disability” towards “differently abled” - we can accommodate people with special needs and they can outperform “norms” in many fields.