I've found quite a number of railfans are on the spectrum.
Myself included
And no, I don't like Sheldon, big bang theory felt like a geek minstrel show.

It's so nice to know you care...

Nobody expected you to "like" him. Certainly not the writers.

Throughout the history of drama and comedy (including television), the most famous, notable, and impactful characters have all been "flawed" or "damaged goods"--from Hamlet to Archie Bunker, from Ralph Kramden of The Honeymooners to Sam and Diane of Cheers, from James Bond to Luke and Han of Star Wars. Two of the most popular shows of all times--Friends and Seinfeld--are arguably solid casts of reprehensible characters. "Goody two-shoes" characters like Howdy Doody and Mickey Mouse are utterly forgettable. But TBBT has also spawned a couple books about not just the cutting-edge science research the male lead characters engage in, but also on the philosophies behind the show's characters, plots and relationships.

I have had wise people who have worked in other fields with bright people--entertainment, academics, engineering, etc.--remark about the show that, to paraphrase several of them saying the same thing, "We squirm at seeing Sheldon Cooper because we've ALL been to school with or worked with that very type of person--and not with the funny bits!" As one related, "The Sheldon Cooper I went to private school with graduated college at seventeen, fell in love, proposed to her, she turned him down, and he then shot himself...... THAT'S the part they're not showing us!!"

The fact is that there are a LOT of "Sheldons" in our field and others like it. Any of us who have "been around" in railfan and preservation circles no doubt cringed with recognition as the character of Sheldon was revealed to be at least somewhat of a rail and toy train enthusiast (and kudos to the Napa Valley Wine Train and Nevada Northern for grabbing the marketing tie-in opportunities!), and then probably crawled under a rock at last season's episode of Young Sheldon where the 12-year-old Sheldon volunteered as a docent at a local rail museum............ and was dismissed after one day for his overzealousness and smugly superior attitude. (I have seen volunteers at other museums similarly "canned" or pulled from public interaction for exactly the same behaviors.) As the saying goes, "A drunk on TV is funny; a drunk in the same room isn't!"

I will continue to stand by the assertion that sparked this side track: If you sincerely believe you need more reactions to your posts (and Facebook sadly rewards you for having a lot of responses, positive or negative), then make trivial errors in your posts, and the typical rail forum or magazine readers will scramble to correct you. Repeatedly. Or worse, ask you for the umpteenth time "when will u fire up 1361/reopen to Robertsdale/buy those cars from the circus/etc.?"
It's like buying newspaper/TV ads at the newspaper/station whose editorial philosophy you completely disagree with (or the one that airs Sean Hannity), or taking a donation from the MegaMart whose parent company you personally detest.

One other note to prove my point:
In about 13 hours, today's news from the Nevada Northern has garnered 254 "shares" on FB versus 371 views here (many of the latter no doubt repeat views).

Oh yeah, in the 80s there was a guy who was OBSESSED with steamtown at RRE meetings.
Very much on spectrum.
I know, very off topic.

Like it or not, social media is how most riders find out about tourist operations,
Especially post covid.

Take a gander at https://febt.org/fundraiser/ folks. The 2022 FEBT fundraiser is nearly towards its goal.... 2 months in! Consider donating today.

I have an immense respect for this new EBT effort! They have great project management and fundraising skills.

I think everyone in rail preservation should take note of their transparency on the fundraising amounts (and the regular updates on the progress), the allocation of the funds, and the progress on the projects that the money funds.

Great project. As I've previously posted IMHO it will be the premier preservation project of the decade at least. I have it in good authority that the sounds of steam will soon fill the air in EBT country.

I also encourage all who can do so to support this effort.

Merry Christmas, Ross Rowland

A December 9, 2021 article by Dan Cupper:
Full story, which appears to be outside the paywall: East Broad Top gets $1.1 million from state for restoring track, other projects

Grants like this make me wonder how long Messrs Posner & Co. worked on the business plan prior to the February 2021 announcement. $1M grants don’t happen overnight or in 18 months.
Congratulations all around.

Wesley

Wesley makes a good point. My WAG is that Messrs. Posner, Moorman & Levin agreed upon a master plan approach and a good educated guesstimate of how much capital it would take to not only acquire the property but bring it back fully as it existed in 1940.

Remember these 3 gents each have sterling track records as successful businessmen and they're darn good at this type of exercise. It's what they do.

There are multiple potential sources for grants for a far reaching, multiple discipline project like the complete rebirth of the EBT and I'm sure by the time it's all finished many grants will have been awarded.

As I've previously posted there's no doubt in my mind that this will be " The" railway restoration project of the decade and perhaps the century.

Onward and upward. Ross Rowland

And, smart enough to keep quiet about it until it became reality.

"And, smart enough to keep quiet about it until it became reality."

That is the ONLY way to succeed!

Just all around huge stuff going on in south central pa these days.

I’ve got a couple things that I still wonder about the future extension south.

The first thing is about safety. Less about condition of bridges or track or right of way but more about crossings and trespassing. The infamous Pogue bridge is located right next to a high school, and anyone here knows how high school kids can be sometimes. How do you stop them from crossing the rehabbed bridge, potentially hurting themselves or damaging it in the process?

There’s also the trouble of crossings. From the overhead maps, the tracks cross nearly a dozen crossings between Orbisonia and Saltillo. Two of which are over State Road 994. What’s the approach here? Just crossbucks or do you need gates?

And lastly, this isn’t a worry or anything but I’m very interested to see what the approach is with passenger rolling stock. I’d assume new built replicas of some of the old passenger cars (probably with roller bearings) will be in order at some point, and that would be pretty cool to see happen.

Let's think about this a little. While $1.1 million is a lot of money, the list of what they want to accomplish with those funds is lengthy. By my calculations, the number of ties required for that 7.8 miles is about 20,600. That does not, admittedly, include any switch timber. But, at a cost of $50 per, that alone will exhaust the $1.1 million. Now add in more track machines -- all custom-built -- the coal wharf/fire suppression work, improvements to Colgate Grove, bridge repairs, more ballast, rebuilding of those dozen or so crossings, etc., etc. How is this going to work?

If you've been there since the Trust took over and seen the amazing things they've done to bring the EBT to where it is now, you should have no worries that that they
won't be able to find a way to make it happen. Patience is required.