Hi my name is Maureen Kathage. I’m the only female member of the Southside N-Scale Club.  I thought I’d write and tell you of my experiences with the club, seeing as being a train loving female is unusual.

HOW DID I GET STARTED :-

I am from a railway family - my mother is a station master, my father who died when I was young, was a train driver, as are two of my brothers and an uncle.  My nephew is a train controller, my grandmother was a station master and my grandfather and my step father were track workers.  I also work for the railways (Queensland Rail) as a station master.  I married into a Queensland Rail family - my husband John is a train guard, his brother Alvin is a station master and their father had worked in the Ipswich railway workshops.  There are other members of the family who worked for the railways but I think the above list tells you why I like trains.  I had Hornby "O" clock work before I went into "N" scale.  In 1990 John and I were just friends when he asked me if I would like to go with him to a club meeting.  I accepted.

WHAT WAS THE GUYS’ REACTION WHEN I WALKED IN:-

I walked in and there was silence.  I don’t know if it was because of me or it was because John had a female by his side.  They were even more shocked when I said I liked trains and had come to have a look and maybe become a member.

DID THEY ACCEPT ME:-

Yes - some straight away – for others it took a while.  They tried to clean up their language a bit but I got sick of them apologising everytime they swore or talked in a way that men do, so finally I became myself and showed that I was a tomboy at heart and didn’t mind the way they talked and acted.  I let them know if they went too far.  One of our ex-members tried to crack onto me - he wouldn’t back off so I threatened that if he didn’t leave me alone I would shove a track cleaning rubber up his nose so when he wanted to clean the track he would have to pull his pants down to do it.  I had no more problems with him after that.

HAVE I LEARNT ANYTHING BEING A MEMBER:-

Yes - that soldering irons get very hot when you pick them up by the wrong end.  The guys have taught me the same things that they would teach to new male members of the club.   Some things I picked up quickly, but things like wiring up controllers and layouts forget it.  I can solder though.

DID OTHER CLUBS ACCEPT ME:-

No - sadly. Some members of other clubs didn’t mind but I have been told that I have ruined it for the men and that my club was stupid for accepting me as a member.  I have entered the men’s only area where they go to hide from their wives and girlfriends, and I have now shared their secrets of model trains to the women.  I have been told that females can’t model trains and that we should only be allowed to hand out leaflets, make coffee and run the canteens.  Sad isn’t it.  There are a lot of women out there who would like to model trains and have the skills to do so but are turned off by these men’s attitudes.  It horrifies these men that I do know a thing or two about trains either models or the real things and that I can talk to them without them having to stop and explain what they are saying to me.

DO I DO MY FAIR SHARE OF WORK AT SHOWS:-

I do my share of the work even though I have slowed down a bit since I have had my son Luke.  I used to load and unload the trailer, carry heavy loads, crawl around under the layout levelling it up and anything else the men do.  The main thing that I do and love doing is to be at the front of the layout telling the public about N-Trak and how to do scenery.   I remember what it was like going to the Brisbane May Show before I became a member and looking at the layouts and thinking that I could never be able to do that - it was too hard.  Now that I’m a member of the club and found what I thought was hard is quite easy I want the public to know that it is easy as well.   I tell them how to get started and where to go to get their bits and pieces to do the scenery.  If I don’t know something I’ll send them to someone who can help.  I’ve been told off by some men for telling everyone how to get started but I feel doing this is the only way to keep the people interested in the hobby, otherwise they buy the trains, get to the layout part and because they don’t know how to do scenery they suddenly don’t like trains anymore.

MY FIRST WEEKEND SHOW :-

We all slept under the layout in the hall in Toowoomba.  You should have seen the faces on the guys from other layouts in the morning when they found I was there, suddenly men walking to the loo and showers in their underpants were running back to their layouts and putting shorts and shirts on.  Men - I have four brothers - I’ve seen men in jocks before.  Most of the regular exhibitors of small shows have accepted me now and are used to me being around.  Their wives and girlfriends and in one case a mother, have checked me out to make sure I’m not a threat to them.

DO I CLASS MYSELF AS A WOMEN'S LIBBER:-

WHAT WOULD I LIKE TO SEE IN THE FUTURE:-

More acceptance of female members.  With "Thomas The Tank Engine" becoming popular again there is a new generation of train loving girls growing up and they may want to do the same thing I have done and hopefully won’t have the same problems I have had.