"Rust, whats not to love?"
I dismantled mine, due to it being in a garage, and the brother.
Luckily, I keep my equipment with the local MR club. They won't run my locos, but freight cars are open game.
Vincent
Wants: 1. high-quality, sound equipped, SD40-2s, C636s, C30-7s, and F-units in BN. As for ones that don't cost an arm and a leg, that's out of the question....
2. An end to the limited-production and other crap that makes models harder to get and more expensive.
Modeling the N&W freelanced at the height of their steam era in HO.
Daniel G.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
GAPPLEG wrote: When I finally retired in Jan. , I thought I'd really get going on the trains. No time !!! The wife had so many backed up to - do's I haven't touched the trains in 4 months.
When I finally retired in Jan. , I thought I'd really get going on the trains. No time !!! The wife had so many backed up to - do's I haven't touched the trains in 4 months.
Yea, wives do tend to think that now you are retired, you are their slave now. Mine thought the same thing, so I had to put her straight some. I didn't tell her it was my time for modeling, just told her I worked all my life to get to this point and I wasn't going to work full time around the house now that I was home. We worked it out so I put in about 20 hours a week for her things and the rest of the time was mine. I also started a to-do list for a couple of reasons. One was so I could see what was coming and could plan for them, and the other was so she couldn't slip things in and say "I told you about such and such awhile back". It's been three years now and things have eased off.
Hang in there.
Elmer.
The above is my opinion, from an active and experienced Model Railroader in N scale and HO since 1961.
(Modeling Freelance, Eastern US, HO scale, in 1962, with NCE DCC for locomotive control and a stand alone LocoNet for block detection and signals.) http://waynes-trains.com/ at home, and N scale at the Club.
When I finally retired in Jan. , I thought I'd really get going on the trains. No time !!! The wife had so many backed up to - do's I haven't touched the trains in 4 months. Also I want to strip all the wiring out and redo it for a change over to DCC. I want to redo the wiring because it's a rats nest. I know I don't have to do it. The duanting task of re-doing the wiring has also made me pause. I'll get to it. Actually summer is my best layout time when it's hot out the basement is cool.
Jerry SP FOREVER http://photobucket.com/albums/f317/GAPPLEG/
jeffrey-wimberly wrote:There are times that I don't work on the layout for months at a time. Nothing wrong with it, I just want to do other things for a while. The layout will still be waiting for me.
Well put Jeffrey.
I do the same thing and yes, spring fever probably has a lot to do with it. I'm now getting into biking season so the bikes need work. I just got my house in last fall so there's landscaping to do and gotta get those basement walls sealed!!!! Ugh!!! It's difficult sometimes to work it all in. Work, family, house, bikes, trains, beer. Not in that exact order, but those are the things my life revolves around. That's not to say that I don't get my share of beer and trains!!!!
Technically everyone puts it up for a while or takes a break sometime. When they sleep, eat or switch projects etc. Sometimes it's those little breaks that enable us to keep our sanity with our hobby. Some times it's good to put it up, crawl out of the trench and see if your still headed in a worthwhile direction or reestablish your perspective. When an artist works on a painting (especially a large one) the majority need to take a break and step back so they can see the whole picture and make sure it looks right. And model railroaders are artists, believe it or not? Our layouts are functioning works of art. Some layouts might be highly realistic while some may be caricatures. So, putting it up for a while may not be a setback or a stop in production think of it as a sort of vacation so your hobby stays enjoyable and not so much of a job.
Hi!
I've been playing with trains for many years, and have an almost "finished" 11x15 HO layout. As others indicated, it seems I am working on the RR with great intensity - or not at all. I've had several major distractions lately (family deaths, placement of mother in law in facility, etc., etc.) and they tend to take the steam out of me.
I am fortunate in that the RR is in a spare room - actually not "spare", for it is a dedicated layout room - and I can walk out and shut the door and all will be the same as I left it when I return.
One thing we all need to remember is that this is a HOBBY - not a job and/or obligation. And even though it is "the greatest hobby", sometimes you just have to put it on hold!
ENJOY,
Mobilman44
ENJOY !
Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central
No..When I start getting burn out I simply put my HO aside and work in N Scale.That's the beauty of modeling in HO and dabbling in N Scale.
Being retired I would go insane wasn't for this hobby and railfanning.
Of course I don't whack a little white ball and chase it down just to whack it again and then try to put in a cup that's buried in the ground..I can no longer fish because I have limited use of my right hand so,yeah its the hobby,railfanning or the insane ward.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
Sleeper--
Just getting back into it, myself. Three things happened over the past three years--I came out of retirement and went back to teaching, I gained too darned much weight and ended up with COPD, and to top it off, the garage got re-roofed while I was at work, and whoever they were, decided that the drop-cloth over my railroad wouldn't protect it from all the debris, so they removed it (and went to work, anyway!). When I saw what was left, I just said the H### with it. Grumped and muttered and felt very sorry for myself. Told myself, "Hey, you're just two years away from 70 and it's been fun, okay?"
This Winter I decided to start losing weight, my COPD improved, I went out into the garage with a whole series of brushes and vacuum cleaners, started getting the layout back into shape and I've been working on it on and off for the past three months and wow--it's actually starting to look like something. Dropped 20 pounds--only 40 more to go--I must be feeling pretty good, because my students are all telling me that I still yell at them a lot, but I'm more fun to be around than I used to be. Ran my first train this weekend in a LONG while, and found out what kinks need to be worked out--simple--and until the Summer Heat turns my California Basement (garage) into something probably unliveable come June or July, I'm going to be out there puttering.
But yes, there are times when you just have to look at the MR and say, "Be good, see you later."
The neat thing is, that you WILL see it later. And be all revved up again. It's kind of like Chicken Pox, you never REALLY get it out of your system, LOL!
Tom
Tom View my layout photos! http://s299.photobucket.com/albums/mm310/TWhite-014/Rio%20Grande%20Yuba%20River%20Sub One can NEVER have too many Articulateds!
tomikawaTT wrote:Sounds like a good time to cruise over to Barstow, park at a good viewing point and just watch trains. Bring along a cooler for the Gatorade and sandwiches.Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - in a Mojave Desert garage)
Sounds like a good time to cruise over to Barstow, park at a good viewing point and just watch trains. Bring along a cooler for the Gatorade and sandwiches.
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - in a Mojave Desert garage)
I love going to Barstow and watching trains. I always wanted to buy one of those little places in Newberry Springs next to the tracks with a caboose in the front yard, but my wife said If I do that, I'll be alone! Maybe thats a good thing.
Have you ever noticed that a 'portable' layout eventually reaches a point where it's only portable if you have a forklift?
That (or its equivalent) is what I do when my 'get up and go' gets up and leaves. It happens to all of us. Usually, a good dose of trainwatching cures me in short order - but repeat therapy is also a must. (Next week, I'll be hiking the roadbed of the rail link that carried Hoover Dam, one trainload at a time.)
Dr. Frankendiesel aka Scott Running BearSpace Mouse for president!15 year veteran fire fighterCollector of Apple //e'sRunning Bear EnterprisesHistory Channel Club life member.beatus homo qui invenit sapientiam