How long after you build your layout do you get bored of it ?

[Anonymous]

I know this has happened to me so It may have happened to you. I never had a perm layout so most of my trains were in boxes. I set up my layout in the garage and at first it was very basic. It was just track on top of plywood at first. I slowly added landscape,scenery, buildings,autos, and operating accessories. Now it was finished and the trains came out of the boxes. The trains went onto the layout. At first it was exciting. Over time I went from running my trains every day to every week then to every month. So slowly the thrill went away. It is the same with video games,motorcycles,fast cars or new toys.This also happens with arcade games and pinball machines.
At first they are exciting. Once the newness wears off they get boring. I still love trains always have and will. I just want to know if anyone else feels this way. I still play with my trains at least once a week. I got played less with my trains after about a year.

[selector]

I am 52, retired, and a father to three girls. I have had a few intense interests, and as you say, they all lose their zip after a while. Truthfully, even our relationships with our wives don't have the same 'steam' that they once did. However, this is not to say that the realtionship has soured; rather, it has changed, matured, diversified, whatever. I still love my wife as much as when i married her, but the way I love her is different. I think of her in terms that a less mature buck did twenty odd years ago.

So, to answer your question, I think life will always present us with new ways of looking at the same thing if we keep an open mind, open ears, and sharp eyes.

As a suggestion, something I tell young people if they are interested, is to do less of what turns your crank...so to speak. If you like chocolate bars, but eat fewer of them than you might wi***o, each successive one will be that much sweeter and enjoyable. Likewise, if you build a new layout, think and dream more, but do less. Or, once finished, play with it only at certain times, no matter what. I think you'll find that the zip lasts a long time if you only get to it once or twice a week for 15 minutes, or so.

Keep it young by keeping it fresh. Remember, "Familiarity breeds contempt."

Just a thought. Hope it gives you something to chew on.

[Big_Boy_4005]

The thing about model railroads is they are never "finished". There is always more that can be done. I know what you mean about things losing their luster after a while. I'm guessing that you have consumed all of the available space for your layout. Have you considered changing the track plan? Just the addition of a couple of switches can make a big difference. When was the last time you bought a new train? That often helps get the juices flowing. New accessories have a similar effect. It doesn't necessarily take a huge financial outlay to spice up a train layout, but if you have extra to spend, it helps.[swg]

[csxt30]

Yes, all the above is true, & let me add that if you have or can find others nearby to get together with sure helps to. How about planning future expansions if room is available, or try building a new structure. I don't seem to tire of it maybe because of all the future plans down the road. John

[FJ and G]

macaste,

Very good question. As you mention, one can get bored with just about anything (well, there are a couple of "needs" I never get bored with).

There are actually several aspects to consider. First, how do you play with your trains?

Do you run them around in a circle and then get bored? Have you tried making up a train in the yard and then switching? Operating with friends? OK, still bored.

My interests are much broader than "operation." Operation, as I see it, is the reward for building and learning. Those aspects are why I spend so much time with model railroading, with emphasis on the "model" part.

Let's start with construction. Have you built your layout to allow for future change? Sort of like building sand castles on a beach.

My construction technique is very unique. I start out with 15 inch thick blocks of 8 ft long industrial styrafoam (you can duplicate this with layers of thinner type). I tried just now to access a nice picture I have of this but my photoshop has crashed).

Then, I carve rivers, mountains and plains and then lay track. The design of this allows me to later change the route of the railroad or even the rivers and mountains. In fact, that's what I'm doing today. I rerouted a river to make way for a mainline and will have to relocate the river or add culverts.

Even my sky backdrop will change. I repaint a different sunrise or change some clouds.

You see, the layout is ALIVE and dynamic, just like in the real world. I'm the surveyor and engineer.

Now, not only is the layout dynamic, but so are my industries.

Every industry I design on the route will be able to be lifted out and switched to a different one. Old industries, after all, give way to new ones.

I also experiment with scratchbuilding stuff. If you buy ALL of your trains and industries straight from the store out of the box, then you really are missing out on the joys of MODELING (remember that word, "model" railroading).

Animated accessories? Create your own with little gears and motors. Be creative. Learn. Share your projects with others. Post pictures on this forum.

I could go on and on but I've got some rivers to reroute and some mountains to resculpt. I'll share w/you and others as well.

Good luck, and don't get bored!

[FJ and G]

[FJ and G]

There, got the picture up. I can simply change land shapes using a drywall saw, then slap some paint and dirt over.

[cnw1995]

Good question. I never really finish a layout - there is always something to change or add or figure out or experiment with - sometimes ideas come from the darndest places - now I'm experimenting with battery powered rolling stock. And sometimes like during the warm weather months here in Illinois, it' s OK to walk away for a while...

[FJ and G]

Doug,

You got me curious now. Battery powered rolling stock?

Are you planning a hump yard. Or, running a train led by a dummy loco? You could then just make a battery-pow dummy

[Dave Farquhar]

Changing focus can help. I don't actually run my trains all that often, strange as that may seem. The collecting aspect drives me--finding pieces that I like, or better examples than the ones I have. Building does too. You can always build new structures, either to take up vacant space or to replace other buildings. The same goes for scenery, as Dave Vergun illustrated. I've read features where people concentrate mostly on the figures on a layout--accumulating hundreds or thousands of figures, painting and converting them, and then filling the layout with vignettes.

All of those can be fun aspects of the hobby, and it's unbelievable how much time they chew up. I imagine in 20 years I'll have a very enviable layout, but it still won't be where I want it to be.

[siberianmo]

At nearly 67, I've had lots of layouts along the way - from Lionel 0-27 when I was a youngster to HO as a father of 2, then 3 and now into retirement with 5 grandkids. Then there's the LGB trains (two sets - passenger and freight) that make their way 'round and 'round the Christmas tree. Oh yes, can't forget the Lionel Polar Express with the new FasTrack that is supposed to be delivered to me this coming week. So, I NEVER get bored with any of it. For me, trains provide so many different things to think about - whether they are running or simply waiting to run or within my three rather large wall mounted display cases.

My current story: I constructed the "layout of my dreams" in our basement. Built a trainroom around the layout - kind of backwards - but it turned out fine This layout features ONLY the trains that are running today - or have run since 1990 - and for the passenger lines - ONLY those that we have traveled on. That's the criteria. So, with most of our rail travels taking place in Canada, the scenery on this large layout resembles "snippets" of what we have seen from the dome cars enroute Vancouver from Toronto or Halifax from Montreal or Sydney from Halifax or Lilloeet from N. Vancouver in the RDC's, etc., etc., etc. The scenes bring back to life the MEMORIES.

I have a rather large Union Station complex with eight passenger train consists sitting in their respective sidings with covered platforms. That Union Station reminds us of Toronto, whereas the train platforms bring back pictures of Vancouver's Pacific Central Station. VIA Rail and Amtrak terminate at my Union Station location in my make believe city "somewhere/anywhere" in Canada.

My mountain run - located in the center of the layout - feautures BC Rail RDC-3's -making their way on a point-to-point route of about 35 feet - from a mountain town (could be anywhere in Canada) to a wooded depot setting at the other end.

I have a couple of structures that I can relate to as well - there's a great looking tavern, called the "Second Class Saloon," modeled after Wyatt Erp's place in Nome, Alaska. Well, I've been to Nome - but that was long, long ago and I just don't recall the place. Anyway - it's alive and well in my mountain town. Then there's another tavern located just outside a lumber yard, and it is modeled after an existing place right close to where I live - currently called the Train Wreck Saloon. These two structures are reminders of things I've done and places I've been.

So, getting bored just doesn't happen. I can spend hours just walking around my layout and looking at the scenes, all the while conjuring up memories of the past and wondering where those bears came from? How come I didn't see them in amongst over 4,000 trees on my mountain run!

That's how it IS for me.

[dwRavenstar]

I recall seeing an article in MR several years ago about the concept of building rotating scenes, ie three separate scenes on three planes that form a triangular assembly mounted on a central rod. In essence it would be like having three layouts in one. As I remember one of the things to keep in mind is the height of structures and other elements to assure clearance when the unit is rotated from one scene to the next.

On my previous N-scale layouts there was always some scene, some structure, some part that was acceptable but could have been done better. Ripping them out alleved some of my frustration and the rebuilding process provided the required therapy with the added bonus of having a "fresh" bit of real estate for the trains to pass through afterward.

Dave (dwRavenstar)

[AlanRail]

Make no small plans.

that's the secret to staying unbored.

[Anonymous]

My childhood layout was put up on Christmas eve and taken down the week after New Years, say up 2 weeks. When my brother and I were 10 and 8, we begged Dad to put it up one spring in the basement of our new house. It was played with for a couple of days and then sat there. In about 3 months Dad took it down, and apart and it was history. He kept the Marx 999 set and track and 4 switches and three of the buildings he had made.

My layout has existed since 1978. It was made complicated and interestinf for the kids and me on purpose with 27 switches, up to 5 trains and one trolley and a turntable from the start. It is portable and was built in Kingston Jamaica and has been is 5 different houses in 5 states. It is put on the floor after Thanksgiving and taken down no later than Easter.

Ideas to keep interest include:

Limit time up or use time (say no trains in the summer, time for grass cutting, water skiing, golf etc), the old "time out" stuff.

Have other hobbies too. I love water skiing, lived on the water as kid and only went on mondays in summer, and 4 -5 times a year after. Do not burn your self out at any thing or it gets boring. Also into photography, vintage audio, woodwork shop, car repair, golf.

Make it interesting, lots of action in switches, track , multiple trains
Add action accessories,

Keep adding and building and aquiring.
BUILD EVERY THING YOU CAN YOURSELF, GET THE SATISFACTION OF CREATING
Go to train shows,
Join train clubs
SHARE THE LAYOUT WITH EVERONE, ESPECIALLY KIDS

Start collecting trains and train stuff Used to think 5 engines and 20 cars was all I needed. But now I am into the hunt for different trains, even the silly space Lionel. Now have 50 engines and 300+ cars. But only one engine was bought new at $100 K-line GG-1. Rest cost mostly 20 to 40 and I have 2035's 2056 and 671 but it takes lots of looking and fixing ( I collect for operation only and no dumb boxes! They do not have motors)

Built shelves to display many of the trains year round. They line my halls.

See real trains on vacation, ride them, visit museums.

I am holding off building a permanent train only room as I may get burned out. Then again it gets old taking 3 days to set my layout up each year.

Hope some of this helps.

Charlie

[Anonymous]

Up till now I have been a floor runner, and when I started to get bored with a layout, I changed it. Likely as not, then I missed the old one, and rebuilt it. About the time I got on this discussion board I built my first semi-permanent layout, something that I have had as an ambition since 1950 at least. Till then everything had been associated with a Christmas tree, and when the tree came down (usually sometimes after Easter, seldom as late as Thanksgiving) the trains went back in the boxes until the next Christmas tree.

I totally agree that the secret to not getting bored is to make no small plans. I am running a four by eight oval with a smaller oval around an "X" inside it, with all the power and switch connections running under the board. I haven't really learned to run the inside oval yet; (switch control can be complex) but my ultimate plans for this layout is using it as one terminus of a much bigger simulation of the now defunct train service in my home town when I was growing up. Its function will be to turn the rig around and put it back on the main line going the other way. Meanwhile I am accumulating data to create a simulation of the siding and freight yard I grew up in. It won't be scale, the siding is five hundred feet long, and the freight yard was bigger than that. All sorts of projects associated with this, the warehouse on the siding needs to be scratch built. After a couple of very complex doll houses in the last ten years, I am probably up to that job, but it's gonna keep me busy. Then I am going to need to make forty or fifty inch and a half cotton bales so I can have something in my warehouse. Then if I really get ambitious I can scratch build a model of a Webb 80 steam driven cotton compress and a boiler and really have something in my warehouse.

So my case, it's not how long you stay interested after you build it, it's how long you stay interested while you are building it.

[FJ and G]

All of the above offer proof that it's impossible to get bored!

"impossible," that is if you are blessed with train genes. If you do get bored, you may simply not be blessed with the double-tracked helix train genes.

I first discovered I had train genes at age 3 in 1960, when I tugged and pulled at my mom, to let me stop and watch the New Haven electrics barreling down the 4-tracked mainline in the Bronx.

About a year later, I saw a layout in a storefront window and once again I tugged and didn't want to leave. I was mesmerized.

A poor unfortunate critter that don't have the double-tracked helix genes would just as soon pass a train without giving it a second glance. They just can't help it.

Case in point, a 65-year-old feller who growed up in Altoona Pa. His daddy worked on the PRR and so did many in his family and friends.

One day before Christmas, I brought about 90 feet of track to work and fired up a steam engine (2-8-0 RK). I turned up the smoke and rang the bell and whistle and off she flew. People from all over the building came to gaze at the wonder.

But ole Jim, poor ole Jim, who lacked the requisit genes, he just sauntered by giving just one quick glance. Absolutely no interest at all.

I would guess that about 90 something percent of the regulars on this forum are blessed with the train gene. We cannot help it that we go a chasin trains. It's in the blood. We were born and bred to ride the rails from cradle to glory.

[jimhaleyscomet]

I have always liked "finishing" a project (wether it is landscaping, layouts, waxing the car. or a box of cookies!). As a result I often rushed through the building stage. Then I get bored with my trains about a week after I "finish" a layout. Then I realized what I really like to do is build layouts. So now I am taking my time on a portable door layout. I used to hate ripping out anything that did not look just right. Now I realize that "creating" the space is what I enjoy. Any time I rip out something it means I will have more fun! I now take my time and enjoy just building the layout. I do not like the mess, but I do enjoy just "working" on the layout . I can not run the trains right now (track is taped for painting) so when I can run again I should really enjoy it.

Jim H

[cnw1995]

Boy, there's a lot of wisdom and sage advice here - I think I have the train gene!
I'm sorry I overlooked your question, Dave. I would like to experiment with one of K-Line's battery powered sets - I want to see how light everything is - what the wheels are like - the engine is run by 4 C batteries and there is an infared remote. I wonder what I could do with rechargable batteries. I'd like to see what the track is like - could it be compatible with 3 rail. Generally, I can run one train at a time on my track because of my wiring fits and the load on the R transformer - and my attention span - I can only keep active track of one thing at a time. I was wondering what it would be like to run this train on the same track as the track-powered train - or use it as you noted - as a switch engine - if it has a reverse - which I'm not sure it does. Anyway, since this is a want right now and not a need, I'll probably defer it a bit more (or succcumb to temptation and buy it today!). I know these sets are relatively inexpensive if they can found.

[pbjwilson]

Doug,
I've been thinking about getting a Kline set to take camping in the summer. Sit around the campfire with my remote and run trains! By the way are you going tothe train show at Harper College this weekend. I'm going to try to get out there Sunday afternoon, I hope. Lot,s of family stuff keeps me at home on the weekends.

[cnw1995]

It's this weekend? I've always gone. Do you remember the times each day, Paul?