Engineer Retires After 40 Years, Realizes He Has No Hobbies That Don't Involve Trains

Retired locomotive engineer Douglas Throttle has concluded, three months into his retirement, that he does not possess a single hobby, interest, or recreational activity that is not related to trains, a realization he describes as 'either deeply concerning or deeply satisfying, and I can't tell which.' 'My wife said I should develop interests outside of railroading,' Throttle said, sitting in his garage, which now contains an 800-square-foot model railroad layout. 'So I took up model railroading. She said that's still trains. I said it's a completely different scale.' Throttle's attempts to diversify his interests have been systematically subverted by his lifelong preoccupation with rail transport. A woodworking class produced a wooden train whistle. A photography course resulted in 3,000 photographs of locomotives. A book club selection of 'Anna Karenina' was chosen because 'it has an important train scene.' 'I tried gardening,' Throttle said. 'I built a garden railroad. G scale. It runs through the flower beds. My wife said she wanted flowers, not a switching yard. I told her the flowers are the scenery for the railroad. She did not agree.' Throttle's retirement schedule, which his wife had hoped would include travel, cultural activities, and 'anything that doesn't have wheels on rails,' has instead settled into a routine of operating his model railroad (mornings), reading railway magazines (seven subscriptions, afternoons), and watching railroad documentaries (evenings). 'He watches trains all day,' said his wife, Marian. 'Real trains for forty years. Now fake trains. He drove trains. Now he watches them. The content hasn't changed. The scale has.' Throttle has acknowledged the pattern but sees no need for change. 'People say you should have diverse interests,' he said. 'But why? I have one interest and it's deep. I know everything about trains. I know nothing about anything else. At seventy years old, I think I've made my choice.' He has recently expressed interest in taking up watercolor painting. His first painting, completed last week, depicts a locomotive.