I've often wondered what influences caused me to be a "airplane geek" instead of a "train geek." Trains (and train spotting) is a huge hobby in Japan and there are more train magazines than airplane magazines. Objectively, there's just as much "cool technology" to appreciate (and collect info on) with trains as there is with airplanes. Both have interesting histories. Both present scale modeling challenges. And both strike non-hobbyists as unimaginably boring and nerdy. And both seem to appeal primarily to middle-age (and older) men.

I look at the train magazines and can't believe that anyone would seriously be interested in that. Then I pick up my copy of "RC Technique" and "Flying Scale Models" and can't put them down until I've soaked up every little detail.