this post was submitted on 08 Mar 2026
838 points (95.4% liked)
memes
20456 readers
1720 users here now
Community rules
1. Be civil
No trolling, bigotry or other insulting / annoying behaviour
2. No politics
This is non-politics community. For political memes please go to !politicalmemes@lemmy.world
3. No recent reposts
Check for reposts when posting a meme, you can only repost after 1 month
4. No bots
No bots without the express approval of the mods or the admins
5. No Spam/Ads/AI Slop
No advertisements or spam. This is an instance rule and the only way to live. We also consider AI slop to be spam in this community and is subject to removal.
A collection of some classic Lemmy memes for your enjoyment
Sister communities
- !tenforward@lemmy.world : Star Trek memes, chat and shitposts
- !lemmyshitpost@lemmy.world : Lemmy Shitposts, anything and everything goes.
- !linuxmemes@lemmy.world : Linux themed memes
- !comicstrips@lemmy.world : for those who love comic stories.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
I feel strange being one of the few autistic people with little to no interest in trains other than as a means of transportation. That being said, I somehow ended up working in the railroad construction industry.
i doubt VERY much that there is any real connection between autism and appreciating trains. much more likely that its just a "funny" stereotype that influential people made popular.
in the last few years any remotely orderly and unique interests are equated to "autism". i think its obnoxious and really wish it becomes less common.
The most autistic guy I know is a literal train conductor for a freight line lmao. He always gives us a huge blast of the train horn when he goes by our house.
Other than that though, yeah autistic people rabbithole into anything and everything. The train stuff and related stereotypes, like "all autistic people are socially delayed and have photographic memory like rainman" are actually super harmful and contribute significantly to under diagnosis of autism. Especially for those who don't present as "nerdy white guy who builds model trains all day and can only see the world through the lense of advanced maths".
i appreciate your comment, but i just have one question. Is the guy actually autistic or just "most autistic" as in just stereotypes?
not at all shitting on your comment, just legitimately have to ask these days bc its so commonly thrown around.
Nope, this man is Actually Autistic ™️. The "most autistic" thing was also meant to be satirical, as you can't rank autism on a linear scale like that - each autistic person is just as autistic as the next one. Autism is not like a disease that can vary in intensity or be cured - it's a roundabout way of describing someone with a particular type of brain. DSM still refers to it as a "disorder", but a whole lot of people disagree with that because it's only "disordered" when compared to a typical brain under a zero sum system.
In that same vein, my train friend would often joke that he was "so autistic", all he had to do was walk up to the train yard off the street to get the job. It was automatically determined that, obviously, he will be driving the train.
It's not about trains, it's about hyperfixation on whatever. It just doesn't let you go, possibly a life long.
Very true. Though I have encountered many of the train lovers.
whats not to love?? lol
🙏
What about non autistics who have crazy train spotting, junkie scale, addictions? I know one bloke who is definitely a normie and yet has a massive model train setup.
Several in fact
Obviously they are ADHD with a train hyperfixation /s
I'm not into trains either. But there are other fields I can talk a lot about...
I think the link with world wars is much stronger
I picture myself more of a XB-70 kinda autistic.