What are your other hobbies beside trains

[Ploughman]

I would class myself as a "Transport Enthusiast"
As I take an interest in anything that moves from Diggers to Beach Walkers but most of my spare time is taken up with Rail related activities.
Other than that Theatre, Walking, Reading, Dogs and whatever SWMBO dictates.

 

[PeterY]

Railways first and foremost but I enjoy walking, cycling, music and being sociable.

 

[NY Yankee]

Not to be too melodramatic, but there are a million non-train related activities in London. You can jog in Hyde Park, have a glass of wine at the Tate Modern, watch a show in Leicester Square, and visit the myriad of free museums (Victoria and Albert, Science Museum, British Museum). And of course, there's Harrods. Even if you're not buying anything, it's fun to walk around.

 

[43074]

All things railways are my main hobby, but aside from that music is my main other interest - I play both clarinet & piano (not simultaneously, obviously...) and enjoy listening to most things, particularly 70/80s rock at the moment for some reason.

I'm also into photography, cycling, reading - mainly non-fiction - aviation, and I follow the political scene quite closely.

Well that's me anyway. The question is, do you have any other hobbies as well as trains, and if so, do you find that you're like me and tend to flick between them but struggle to enjoy them all at once (I hope that makes sense?)

I have to admit I often get really hooked on one thing - normally relatively niche - before moving on to something else, but the biggest problem (for want of a better word) is that my interest in trains verges on being obsessive at times and I haven't had much success in managing it either.

 

[DarloRich]

Apart from trying to repair and improve my new house (which is taking up all my time and money) I like football, cricket, rugby, f1, reading, history, photography, football manager, beer and women. Especially women.

 

[trainmania100]

Video games :P I take my nintendo 3ds everywhere I go and play it whilst waiting around for things

 

[GrimsbyPacer]

Video games :P I take my nintendo 3ds everywhere I go and play it whilst waiting around for things

Do you keep the 3D function off or on?
I always have it off due to a dizzying effect.
The best DS game I know of is Super Mario 64, I'd recommend it.

 

[me123]

For me it's a bizarre mix of video games and classical music, and I dabble in a bit of cooking and baking as well. My last Amazon order was a rather unusual combination of Fallout 4 and Mary Berry's Baking Bible

 

[telstarbox]

The main ones for me are music, politics, architecture, pubs and more recently cycling (the last two going well together).

I'm like the OP in that I can get interested in the minor details of all sorts of things. Due to having to look up all sorts of arcane things for work I've become quite a good 'researcher'.

Animals - I don't currently have any of my own (though my parents have a dog) but I love meeting them - I'm the kind of loon that takes great satisfaction over stopping to play with a cat in the street or giving dogs attention when I come across them on my trains and I love watching birds flying about. I can even cope quite happily with rodents scurrying around, seeing them more as cute than anything else!

Same here, except the rodents after living with some in the back garden and under the floors at a previous place...

 

[96tommy]

My other hobbies include Snooker, Football and Photography. I personally am not overly interested in 'trainspotting'. I love going to the likes of Doncaster, Barnetby etc for the day but without my camera with me, I would be bored to death.

Football has always been my favourite hobby. Being only 19, my earliest football memories are of the 5-1 demolition v Germany and the Arsenal invincibles. However, I am a 'two club' man with York City and Newcastle United. York are my local club so grew up watching them week in, week out. All my family are geordies so going with my Grandad up to the Toon to watch them play was also enjoyable and over time, I followed both. Through that time there were many ups and downs and well this season, it looks like both could be in trouble. From my house growing up I could see Ings Lane, the ground of Tadcaster Albion and can honestly say that going to see them is more of an enjoyable experience. Not only because they win but you see the same faces week in, week out and many a cold night has been had stood on the touchline at Pontefract or place further afield like Brigg watching the mighty Brewers.
Now living and studying in London, I have been able to get to nearly 50/92 grounds.

Snooker is one of those things I enjoy watching, then when I play I am lucky to get a break of over 10, how they make it look so easy I will never know.

 

[Bevan Price]

My non-rail interests include photography, buses, gardening (or trying to stop weeds & moss take over the entire garden.)

I spend too much time watching TV - I like sci-fi, westerns, & police drama (those without too many close-ups of blood & guts) - and also "nature / wildlife" programmes but avoid most soaps.

I used to watch St. Helens RLFC sometimes, and now listen to radio commentaries (pity they are not on free-to-view TV unless it is a RL Cup match).

I also like listening to rock music - mostly 60s style, or progressive / psychedelic rock, often from obscure bands . I sometime search youtube, but mainly to find out if it is worth buying a CD (rather than to "pirate" their music) I tried playing a keyboard in the past, but I am probably too clumsy to play anything worthwhile.

I also play some computer word games and "patience" style card games - no interest in the shoot / kill / destroy type of game.

 

[Blamethrower]

Trains are very much a "back seat" hobby for me. The reason for this is that trains are a passive activity. You don't really take part or do anything, you just pay your ticket, get on, enjoy and then get off. Only if you have your own model railway or are a volunteer at a preservation line, is your train hobby active

My first love is, and always will be music. I play the drums/guitar/bass/keyboard and I also sing. My last gig I was drummer and lead singer so it's fair to say that I can multi-task quite well.

Other than that I love most sports (Football, rugby, cricket) and recently I enjoyed some kabaddi!

I also love driving and fast cars. I'm interested in infrastructure and civil engineering plus the history of towns and cities and how they grew and renewed over the ages. My love of railways plays a big part in my love of history.

Absolutely, categorically HATE my job though. I've recently applied at Network rail, that will cure my hatred of testing surely?!!

 

[AJM580]

Hill walking - obviously not in Norfolk!! but usually in the Lake District. Did Scafell Pike last year and loved it. Also into buses, rugby union and music.

 

[Clip]

Football, fishing, records, trainers.

Not really in that order though

 

[cjmillsnun]

Football, fishing, records, trainers.

Not really in that order though

Records is also a hobby of mine, something I've recently got back into after years in the digital wilderness.

I take an interest in politics, and take an active part, in the past I have been a local councillor, and am currently a shop steward at work.

Aside from that I enjoy walking and am interested in engineering (I am an engineer in the gas transmission and distribution sector, although now office based)

 

[Clip]

Records is also a hobby of mine, something I've recently got back into after years in the digital wilderness.
)

I only buy digital if it hasn't been released on vinyl and theres only a couple of genres Im into where there may only be digital releases so its rather expensive(or 'Ive had that for years' if the missus asks )

 

[Aussie_Rail]

Scouting is a little hobby of mine, have been doing it since I was a kid and from that I collect Scout badges, particularly Venturer badges and Jamboree/Venture contingent badges. I won't say no to a badge.

 

[cjmillsnun]

I only buy digital if it hasn't been released on vinyl and theres only a couple of genres Im into where there may only be digital releases so its rather expensive(or 'Ive had that for years' if the missus asks )

Thankfully the missus is also getting dissolutioned with digital. I still have to convince her that an ortofon 2m bronze is worth the money though.

 

[newbie babs]

Got a telescope for Christmas and while I have not been on here I have been watching the Peregrines on the web cams all over the country, very interesting.

 

[steamybrian]

Outside railways my hobbies now are
Rambling and swimming.
Do I count visiting pubs and trying different beers..!

In the past I have undertaken caving/potholing, scuba diving and watching my favourite football team (Crystal Palace..)

 

[krus_aragon]

I thought Transport Tycoon was a brilliant idea. In my mind, the weakness was that in the game, people would always just take the first bus/train/plane that turned up, no matter where it was going. Unlike real life, they didn't have particular destinations they were trying to get to. That meant there was no advantage when playing in trying to build an integrated network of routes. One of my personal side-projects has been trying to write a similar kind of game but which is more realistic in that regard. At the rate I'm going, I'll probably be finished in about 500 years time

You may wish to take another look at OpenTTD, the open-source reimplementation of Transport Tycoon. As of version 1.4, it supports the option of passenger and cargo distribution, where you must transport goods to a particular destination.

 

[ryan125hst]

In the mobile phone section of DS there is a mobile phone expert who also posts here a lot with a similar username.

I think I know who you mean

And then, of course, there's trains. I could talk about those all day...

Only a day? I could talk about them all week! (much to my family and friends disgust )

Well my other long term hobby is home theatre and I dare not tell my wife how much I have spent over the last twenty years on this passion, regarding your comments on the use of film in cinemas it may surprise you to learn that we are only now (with 4K digital formats) just approaching the resolution that film could achieve, it's also interesting that some Hollywood movie makers are reverting to shooting blockbusters on film again and turning their backs on digital, for example Spielbergs 'Warhorse' was shot entirely on celluloid apparently.

Being the technically minded person I am, resolution of film is one thing I have read about online. I think (and please correct me if I'm wrong) that it was decided that, once the fact that the final print of a film isn't as high resolution as the original negative due to the intermediates used to produce and edit it, 35mm film resolves at around 2K, 75mm film resolves at 4K, and IMAX film would be around 6K, so their dual 4K Laser projectors aren't technically quite good enough yet. The original negative would resolve a lot higher in each case, but by the time you factor in the intermediates, scratches, dust, focusing at the cinema etc, that is about what you get.

I believe that all cinemas should have a 4K projector though as you can see the pixels on a 2K projector. Ideally, all films should be released in 4K really, and Digital IMAX should be shown at higher resolutions than it currently is (particularly the 2K projectors they use!)

partly a fascination with how things work in terms of engineering, operations and financially

Myself, I have an interest in most things technical, I guess. That's where my interest in rail really came from and I enjoy learning how things work

I have a fascination with how things work and, while some people are content with spotting trains or marking off the track they've been on, I enjoy learning about the technical aspects of it all, such as the how the signalling systems work or the ins and outs of the air conditioning or traction inverters.

 

[HMS Ark Royal]

Apart from trains, I have interests in buses, boats, radio, girls, cooking, astronomy, history, politics with special regard to North Korea, writing and singing

 

[brianthebrain]

I recently took up golf, didn't think it would be for me but a mate convinced me to play and I daresay I'm hooked