Trains: Socially acceptable again

摘要

"At a dinner party, you can confess to all manner of tilings and no-one will turn a hair, but if you say you like trains you can see a palpable disquiet among your fellow guests." So says Andrew Cross, a rail enthusiast and artist who has been commissioned by the National Railway Museum to produce an art display centred on the hobby, which opens in York on September 26. There is no doubt that he has a good point. Few readers will not at some time in their lives have experienced such narrow-minded and frankly ignorant behaviour, but we have in recent years detected a maturing of attitudes and a growing acceptance among the general public towards the hobby.