Why do we often love trains?

Post Reply New Topic

Why do so many people on the autism spectrum love trains?

I am obsessed about train maps and timetables....but I don't know why, I just love it so much.

Do you at least romance the trains a little first?

I think we need to rise above our station, and not just chug along full steam ahead with an on-rails relationship.

Ok, now for the serious answer:

I really don't know. Trains do seem to fall under that "stereotypical Aspie focus" umbrella(along with dinosaurs, video games, and robots), though.

I have this book: GB Rail Timetable

It has every single train map and timetable for the whole of Great Britain. It's fantastic

Its because most aspies are all about routines. Many of us need structure, we need things to be predictable. Trains and buses usually offer that. You can generally expect the same train to stop at the same station at the same time every day.

I was one of those kids who really liked Thomas the Tank Engine...I watched the show and had a couple of Thomas toys (Thomas and Percy). It never became a "special interest" for me, but I do think that the show was part of what started my intense interest in trains and automobiles that were anthropomorphized.

I do like Cars and the Cars movies from Disney and Pixar, though. But that's not the same thing, I know. I do know a couple of little boys (they're brothers and are NT as far as I know) who love both Thomas and the Cars movies.

No, that can't be the reason, because it's not a characteristic of trains but a characteristic of your culture.

Hope now the meaning is clear...

Last edited by Moondust on 14 Sep 2012, 11:22 am, edited 1 time in total.

I have a copy of a National Rail timetable from 2003 and I had so much fun as a child flicking through it and working out journeys. Like Bletchley to Falmouth Docks; where I'd need to change-over, how many different operating companies I'd end up using, finding out what rolling stock would probably be used, etc.
I think what I find fascinating is how everything in the railway system has some sort of structure. Everything is numbered, labelled, announced, co-ordinated...so orderly.

You've obviously never experienced the wonder of reliability that is the British railway system.

Maybe it's to do with lining things up, as well. That's one of the behaviours doctors look for in very small children. An NT child will line up things that are meant to line up, like train cars, but not things that aren't meant to line up, like balls and... (I'm having trouble thinking of toys that don't line up. Everything can line up, for one reason or another.) And a non-NT child will often line up everything, all the time, instead of playing with it the way it was meant to be played with.

And maybe it's to do with a fascination with details. Mechanically, trains have lots and lots of parts that also have lots and lots of parts.

Nope, I dont. But look at the member statistics. The majority of us are from NA and Western Europe. The Swiss and the Germans have timetables managed down to the minute, who else thinks they might have an aspie or two working the control rooms?

It's a stereotype that appeals to NTs as it makes us seem eccentric but essentially harmless

I have no interest in trains and I'd like proper statistics to see exactly how many aspies actually do - I bet less than half

This is an interesting newspaper article from 1993 that explains the origin of trainspotting:-

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/ho ... 05845.html

I didn't realize trains was an aspie/autie type of interest. I used to have maps of the NYC subway system posed to my wall when I lived in NY. Yes, I made a point of memorizing the routes. The 'A' train from the North Bronx to Mott Avenue in Far Rockaway is the longest route, etc.

Trains are just cool. They travel in a fixed direction, they have lots of mechanical goodies on them, the sensation of riding them is bliss, and traffic has to stop for them.

Everybody loves a train
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ms0VkzhJIi4[/youtube]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAOhBBEQwE8

This is funny

I've never been to Germany or Italy, but a good friend went on a rail trip through both. He found the contrasts hilarious. In Germany he said there was a ticket to stand in line for the train, another ticket for which car you would be riding in, and finally one for which seat. Now THAT's organized. He said Italian trains were just the opposite, it was all about the food and drink vendors and the trip was quite a party.