What's up with trains?

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Like seriously, I got to ask. It seems like such a random subject, yet many AS seem so attracted to it.
I knew I used to like trains a lot even though it got less after I turned 11 or something. I still travel with the train with great joy.
Good thing my father was an artist who didn't like to travel by plane. So he took me all over Europe by train, that was so awesome.
Still, it seems like I can't explain why I like trains. Somehow its just fun out of nowhere. It seems like Im the only person in the world who doesn't mind if the train is delayed you know. There got to be a logical reason for this obsession that struck so many AS'sers but I can't find any.

maybe it is the "choo choo!"

It's not the choo-choo. Trains don't do that

I heart trains.

I used to like trains when I was little, but it wasn't like an obsession. It was just a general interest, and didn't make me stand out because some of the other children liked trains too. I wasn't as obsessed with trains as the other girls in my class were obsessed with horses. They used to play horses every playtime, without fail. I used to get bored in the end because they never wanted to play any other games, just horses, right up until they were about 8, then they started playing other games other than horses all the time. But while they played horses when they were little, I used to go off and play my trains game, where I found a dry, dusty patch on the grass and kicked at it so that the ash-y dirt would puff up like steam, and I pretended I was a steam train by doing that. Until one day a dinner lady told me off for getting dirty, so that was the end of playing that. But I grew bored of playing trains at school, so I either played horses with the other girls, or just played anything I could on my own (I didn't like playing with boys).

I am obsessed about trains. I have the Great Britain Rail Timetable book with every single timetable and map of trains in Great Britain. I know off by heart the whole of the First Capital Connect service maps, most of Southwest Trains and some of a few others. If I get the opportunity to travel on a train, I will take it, and my timetable book will come with me.

That is an excellent question.

I also had such an interest when I was very young, perhaps the fact that we also tend to grow out of it relatively early is a clue?

When I was 4 or so I was mystified by a train video that I watched daily. Now I still get artistic ideas from them. It is very odd, not sure if anyone can explain it.

I find steam locomotives hypnotizing! I love how all the mechanics are exposed.
Trains were my major obsession when I was a kid. I had an HO set that my dad made me and I made my own Z scale train set when I was 12.

I would sit down and run those trains for hours!

i live about 75 yards from a train crossing and absolutely hate trains. if i'm outside the house when a train passes the crossing and blows their horn, it's painful down to my bones and i have to fight the urge to cover my ears and run for the house.

i have also wondered why trains are always listed as an AS fascination. they're extremely loud even when not blowing their horn and the interest seems odd considering the sensitive hearing traits many of us have.

Well than Monkeyfoot, you lucky you don't live here were a train comes by every 2 minutes

we get about 100 a day, on average. about 1 every 15 minutes or so. the horns don't bother me as much when i'm in the house. our house is 130 years old, but the previous home owners installed better windows to block out a considerable amount of the noise. the basic noises of the trains on the track are something i got used to fairly quickly and can block out. it's the sound of them blaring their horns that gets me.

having a train every 2 minutes would send me into sensory overload quickly.

I saw a therapist for a time when I was around 5 or 6. Her office had a view of an elevated metro line, so whenever I heard the train coming, I would stop whatever I was doing and go to the window and watch the train pass.

To this day, I tend to be something of a transit geek.

Very good question about trains and AS. I do not understand the attraction, either. Personally, I couldn't care less about trains. I find them (and transportation in general) to be really dull. I'm also really interested to learn what about trains specifically captivates so many Aspies. The only train SI I have is trains on a roller coaster.

There is something unique and orderly about it. At least it appears that way on the surface to me.

Other travel experiences seem more chaotic. Like trying to drive a car through an unfamiliar city versus calmly watching the cityscape pass by from your train seat. Or if you have the money upgrade for your own compartment with a bed. It's like a traveling motel room. Or visit the diner car.

I suppose the only thing that might seem close to this is some forms of ship travel. Perhaps a few of the nicer ferry boats that cross lakes or take short cuts across coastline bay areas.

Planes just aren't like this..... unless it really is that much better in 1st class. All I know is coach and I think planes are cramped. Also from my limited experience going through the airport is more of a pain in the ass then boarding Amtrak.

Here is an eggserpt about trains from Dr. Leo's 1943 paper on autism: