what's the longest you've been away from model trains?

[FJ and G]

I suspect that for most of you, the fallow period is after high school while you are establishing a career.

For me, I was completely out of model railroading (HO, O, S, toy trains) from about 1975 to 1999. That is 24 wasted years!

Joined the Marines, retired, but always enjoyed riding real trains worldwide and occasionally I fantasized about a model train layout but the time and the gumption never materialized for this or that reason.

Now, I feel like a man in full, as Wolf would say!

[Anonymous]

I would say maybe 2 years, normally im away for 4 months becuz I still dont have a layout. My dad and i inteded to start about 5 years ago. But every since I have joinned the forums i have been with my trains much much more. But i still wish i had a layout. But i think it's more funt to build one then to play around on it.
Monto

[pbjwilson]

1974-91, In 91 bought our house with basement and built a HO layout. Then tore that down and built another HO layout. Tore that down and built a 3 rail O gauge. Added on several times to that layout before I took that one down. Been without a layout for about 5 agonizing years till I built my current and best layout to date. I'm very happy with it.

[Anonymous]

For me, it has been six years that I have been out of my hobby. And over that time I have missed out on alot of good things that Lionel and MTH have came out with over those years. Like Monto, I don't have a layout myself yet either, because I don't have much to work with. I have been very impressed with alot of the layouts that I have seen on this forum since I first joined on. I know my small scenic-less O72 oval I got down temporarily would sorely pale in comparison. I think once I upgrade to a better digital camera and have a layout that may be more worth of photos, then I would be able to contribute to the Sunday Fun thread.

But its really great now for me to get back into it after those years, because I am sure there will be better things in the future in the train world here.

Chris

[Anonymous]

Never.! I received my first train (Er...dad's) when I was 4 months old. While I may not have had a formal train layout at all times. My trains have always been around me on display with the ability to be run on the floor. I dread the day I'm forced to give my hobby up. Does anyone know for a retirement home for old toy train fans? [:)]

[lyle_styles]

I had a HO layout in my parents basement while I was in High School but after graduation the partying started and no time for trains.

I rejoined the hobby back in '02 with a Thomas the Train setup that kept growing from 2- 4x8 sheets of plywood till the current double deck version (23x17) that consumes half of our basement today.

I had built a 4x10 O gauge layout for my son for his 5th birthday in '04 but I guess it didn't cut the mustard for me so now it's expanded to a 10x16 layout that consumes the other half of the basement.

I always wanted to post some pictures of the Thomas layout for you to see but am not sure if this is the right place to do it.

Would it be offensive if I did post some pictures of the Thomas layout on the Sunday Photo Fun post?

Thanks,
Lyle R Ehlers

[dwiemer]

Lyle,
I think a number of us have Thomas sets for our kids and I for one would like to see it. As for the time away from this great hobby, I was away for about 23 years. Funny thing about trains, many of us start when we are very young and then leave for some time till we get to grow up and then we get back into them and they carry many a happy fan to the grave. At least I know that if the good Lord lets me live to retirement, I will have a great hobby to fall back to.
Dennis

[csxt30]

QUOTE: Originally posted by lyle_styles


I rejoined the hobby back in '02 with a Thomas the Train setup that kept growing from 2- 4x8 sheets of plywood till the current double deck version (23x17) that consumes half of our basement today.

I always wanted to post some pictures of the Thomas layout for you to see but am not sure if this is the right place to do it.

Thanks,
Lyle R Ehlers

You can post pictures any where, & anytime here, lyle !!
I'm sure most of us would want to see Thomas, I know I do & I had one of the bigger gauge ones. They're toy trains too !! Plus, they have helped get a lot of guys into trains over the years ! Looking forward to seeing yours !
Thanks,

[Anonymous]

Just face it.....trains will not go away, not now not ever! [:)]

Chris

[lyle_styles]

Thanks guys,

I'll get some pictures ready for posting soon.

Also had forgot to mention the I had been away from the hobby for 22 years.

So glad I am back in the hobby again. It is such a great way to relax and imagine.

Thanks again,
Lyle R Ehlers

[laz 57]

DAVE got you beat, when I was 12 was the last year we had the train set under the tree at Christmas. I later got back into it in December of 1999. I am 49 now, so that gives me 31 wasted years.
laz57

[Roger Bielen]

Around 20 years, though I did occasionally put a circle of track around the Christmas tree when the kids were young. The house/property we now have is the first with enough room that I could devote space to a year around layout. I'd say permanent, but we all no there is no such thing with layouts, they're a living organism that's constantly changing.

[IronHoarse]

About 46 years. I had a train as a kid and I did not get back into it until I was 55 years old. I think I am having more fun now than I did way back then.

[dbaker48]

In 1956-57 I had 1 truck, about 12 feet of straight track, a tower I made from a Gilbert Erector set, and would play with that for hours. Made a pully system on the tower and that was it. I really enjoyed it. Lost that in 1959, (family divorce), back into trains in 1974, thru 1981, collecting and operating. Re involved in 2005, now building a room and getting involved with DCS and TMCC. ITS BETTER THAN EVER NOW So most recent lag has been about 25 years.

[tgovebaker]

My trains got boxed up in 1983, when I was a sophomore in high school. While I still popped into a hobby store when I found one, I effectively forgot about how much fun they were. Then one day my fiance and I were back in Denver for Thanksgiving. We had spent the day registering for our wedding (which is much more interesting for the bride to be, I think). Late in the afternoon I randomly thought to visit Caboose Hobbies, a place I hadn't seen in well over 20 years. We popped in and within minutes I was hooked again, even bought a new diesel. That was November of 2003, so it was just about a 20 year lag.

[MartyE]

8 mos between Feb and November.[:D]

[prewardude]

I was only "uninterested" in the hobby for about three years - my last three years of high school. Had the babes on my mind. The babes crapped out, so I got back into trains when I was eighteen, and have been involved in the hobby off-and-on (mostly on) ever since. I started building a layout in 1997, but then the tinplate bug bit and my interest in O gauge became non-existant. Fortunately, the layout never got past the plywood stage, so I didn't have to rip anything up. UN-fortunately it's still in the plywood stage; I've been too busy buying tinplate and hanging out on these dang forums!

Regards,
Clint

[Jumijo]

Roughly 30 years. I had a Lionel set and some HO as a kid, but that was a long time ago. In 2004 I bought my kids a Thomas set and my sister bought them a NYC Flyer set for Christmas. I don't consider the time away as wasted. I was having fun doing other things.

Jim

[Anonymous]

There was a period in the 70's when I didn't own any model trains but that was short lived. My interest in trains goes back even further than my first American Flyer set in 1964. Growing up surrounded by real railroads ( CN mainlines and marshalling yard to the east, west and south ) the bug bit me when I was 4 or 5. In those early days CN was still hauling with steam. Consequently, the smell of an operating steam locomotive triggers a primal instinct in me. I had my first ride in a police car when I was 5 years old....the officer found me trying to cross the mainline overpass near my house on foot.

Since the early 80's I've dabbled in a number of scales, most of which I've kept displayed. None of them have held my interest as much as 3 rail O.

Bruce Webster

[cnw1995]

Good question. I had an HO layout on a pingpong table with my brothers - but that went away when my sister was born - then I discovered Model Railroader magazine in the local library about six-seven years ago... let's see, that's 24 years. But I've seemingly made up for it - built up a few N scale layouts; got rid of all that, read every single Model Railroader and Trains magazine in the library - that' was a decade's worth, started with a train set oval in O and now have half-a-basement... just a few trains and trolleys though. What a great hobby!

[Dr. John]

I remained active in an HO model railroad club through my first couple of years of college before studies, marriage, work, seminary, etc. crowded out trains. I made a purchase here or there and maybe attended a train show, but it was about 1986 before I got really interested again after an 8 year absence. Then, in about 2000, my interests shifted back to toy trains. I still have most of the HO, but it's packed away.

[yallaen]

I had two types of trains growing up..HO and O gauge Lionel.
We built 2 4x8 layouts stacked on top of one another..HO on top, O gauge on bottom. As a freshman in highschool in 1981, I took a Lionel sound unit (can't remember what it was, but it was a little shack, battery operated, that made engine sounds). Well, being the brainiac that I wasn't..I tried to get the sound to change with increasing the voltage...geez, you'd think with a father for an electrical engineer I'd have known better (which is why I went into the miltiary and later a cop). Uh, after almost cutting off my finger and losing my hearing for an hour when a capacitor blew up in my hand lol...well, girls began to take over for my love of trains. That was in 1983.

I gathered my trains from my Dad about 2000. My stepkids weren't impressed, being girls...but I had intentions of redoing a layout. I stored my items in boxes in the garage. Hard times came..sold some stuff..then a leak in the roof ruined a majority of the track and such. A hateful, bitter ex-wife destroyed the remaining :(

As I've mentioned, I left police work and joined the railroad. What started as "I'd like to buy an engine for display on my shelf next to my cop stuff" has started me on a quest to build a layout in our new home...lol...

Heck, I just decided to give up skydiving this morning...sold my rig..and have new plans for the money LOL LOL!

[Anonymous]

I was active with O-gauge trains in grade school. I kind of drifted away during high school although I dabbled with HO. When I left for college in 1972, I pretty much had no more contact with trains until 2003. When visiting my brother at Christmas time, he showed me his growing collection and I decided to get back into trains. I had been away for at least 31 years.

Daniel Lang

[andregg1]

I was 11 years away from trains.
from 1972, when I was born till 1983 when I star with my illnesss.
after 1983 never........
Andre.

[traindaddy1]

Hi! Well it depends! Got my first set, a Marx, in 1948. In 1955, the Marx set sort of got lost and I started with HO Varney and Rivarossi. In 2004, I re-discovered O guage, this time Lionel and packed away the HO (which I was finding harder to see and handle) So, the answer is 18 months from 'HO' and 49 years from 'O'. Thanks for asking.

[More to restore]

Well David,
For me it was from 1985 - 2004: 19 years....
I packed everything up when I left my old man's house for the uni.
And only started again after we have settled completely.
I like it better now: I can use the whole house, my daugther loves it and there is more ca***o burn on trains nowadays...

[MTsteamfan]

My dad had HO trains before I was born. My grandpa got me my first Lionel set at age 6 and continued to give me new stuff periodically until I was in my 20s. I probably stopped playing with the trains around 8th grade or so, and was out of the hobby until we started putting up our temporary Christmas layout at the store where I work, in the early 1980s. So I was out for around 8 years is all.

At this point, I'm out of the hands-on part of the hobby from January to October of each year. But I'm always reading CTT, looking at catalogs, shopping for deals etc. Mid October, we start putting up the Christmas layout and I become a kid all over again. (Although the toys have gotten more expensive!)