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Are you a train potato?

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  • Member since
    August 2003
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Are you a train potato?
Posted by FJ and G on Tuesday, January 6, 2004 10:23 AM
Do you sit and run your trains or walk around using your handheld?

What is the best seat? I'd say a bar stool to get high enough up. I walk the train but that gets tiring after a while.
  • Member since
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  • From: Philadelphia
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Posted by michaelstevens on Tuesday, January 6, 2004 10:31 AM
Depends on how high you've chosen to build your layout, doesn't it ?

My layout's at between 36" and 50" -- the controls are at 30" (above the floor) -- so the an old 30" high Craftsman stool works perfectly, for me.
British Mike in Philly
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    April 2003
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Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, January 6, 2004 10:47 AM
I'm one of those who likes to sit with the trains almost at eye level - gives the best perspective as it's a HO person's eye view of the train. Also means you can admire all the details you spent ages fitting!
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Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, January 6, 2004 12:06 PM
[:D] I'm a SITTER! My layout isn't tall and sitting down gives me the best views. It's also nice to have a soda (or glass of wine!) and manipulate the throttle while running the equipment. Ah, Heaven![8D]
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Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, January 6, 2004 12:54 PM
I put a CAT 3116 in my La-Z-Boy and i was set....
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  • From: Smoggy L.A.
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Posted by vsmith on Tuesday, January 6, 2004 12:56 PM
I have manual everything on my layout , switches, couplers, etc. So i HAVE to follow the little beasty around.

   Have fun with your trains

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  • From: Elgin, IL
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Posted by orsonroy on Tuesday, January 6, 2004 12:58 PM
I'm definitely a walker. Nothing gets my juices flowing more than operating on a REALLY large multileve layout with hundreds of feet of mainline. Walking along with your train, working distant towns, and tying up at a division point that's 15 scale MILES from where you started from is my version of heaven in the hobby. I also prefer eye-level benchwork, which generally precludes sitting down and watching trains roll by.

Ray Breyer

Modeling the NKP's Peoria Division, circa 1943

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Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, January 6, 2004 6:21 PM

Dono, my layout isn't finished yet [:D]

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Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, January 6, 2004 7:16 PM
most likey a sitter will see in time[:)]
  • Member since
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  • From: Whitby, ON
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Posted by CP5415 on Tuesday, January 6, 2004 7:18 PM
Stand & walk here! Most of my switches will be hand thrown so sitting will not be an option.

Gordon

Brought to you by the letters C.P.R. as well as D&H!

 K1a - all the way

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Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, January 6, 2004 7:54 PM
I'm a walker but i like the idea of sitting sometimes. My layout is too high, i can't find a chair tall enough and everything is manual so i have to keep doing things.

who has heard of remote turnout control and a 1926 Louisiana shortline anyway?
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  • From: US
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Posted by BNSFNUT on Tuesday, January 6, 2004 9:53 PM
I spend most of my operating sitting on a bar stool. My layout was built for operation while sitting. All the turnouts on the main and in the yard are powered. My legs will not take to much standing, but I operate my branch line while standing becauce none of the turnouts are powered yet and switching requires moving back and forth about 8ft. With only one train on the branch per session I do not have to do much walking.

There is no such thing as a bad day of railfanning. So many trains, so little time.

  • Member since
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  • From: Ozark Mountains
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Posted by dragenrider on Thursday, January 8, 2004 7:24 PM
Nope, I'm a stander! My layout is chest high with Caboose Industry switch stands. I walk with my trains and line the routes or switch the sidings. For control I use an Aristocraft radio remote control throttle. It's tied into two receivers for cab control. [tup]

With all this I can run two trains through my scenery at almost eye level! Wonderful as being there! [:)][:)]

The Cedar Branch & Western--The Hillbilly Line!

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Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, January 8, 2004 7:44 PM
My layout is designed so that you have to walk around and follow the train as it moves across the room up and down two peninsulas on a 165 foot mainline. The layout is 44" high on the first level and 58" on the second level, so you can't just sit and watch trains run. Most turnout must be operated manually, so you've got to walk with the train.
  • Member since
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  • From: Beautiful BC
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Posted by krump on Saturday, January 10, 2004 12:02 AM
I WANT to be...
for me if I'm following the train, I'll hit a wall sooner or later; some standing in utter confusion; and since my pre-schooler has outgrown the two-step-stool, that now works nicely as a high(er)-chair in the train.
I'm trying to picture JohnnyDash9's train room complete with La-Z-Boy chair (however that may be an assumption only) - great idea !!!

cheers, krump

 "TRAIN up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it" ... Proverbs 22:6

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  • From: St Paul, MN
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Posted by Big_Boy_4005 on Saturday, January 10, 2004 12:39 AM
No sitting during construction, and no sitting when I'm done. The sitting is done at the computer writing these responses.[:P][;)][:D]
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Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, January 10, 2004 4:30 PM
Nope, i have to stand and walk with the train as it traverses the layout be cause the minute my back is turned the damn thing will derail at some point usally the back wall where it is not so easy to get to but if i am watching it very closley it knows its being watched then it dont dare derail i usually hear it before i see it anyway not that it matters cuz soon i am goig to start building my portable modules as i live in a trailer and cant have a permanent layout but soon that will change foever

Regards

Larry

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