MisterBeasley Yeah, I'm a lone wolf. Mostly, I enjoy scenery. I like my trains to have a realistic stage. But, I'm not a true prototype modeller, at least not yet. I enjoy picking up information about how the real railroads did things, but it doesn't bother me if I can't comply with all the real rules.
Yeah, I'm a lone wolf. Mostly, I enjoy scenery. I like my trains to have a realistic stage. But, I'm not a true prototype modeller, at least not yet. I enjoy picking up information about how the real railroads did things, but it doesn't bother me if I can't comply with all the real rules.
I can relate to that, Mr Beasley.
I have fun with my models, planning, building, super detailing, scenery etc, but it's not always fun. Sometimes its the fun of satisfaction on overcoming what seemed like a huge hurdle to jump. But very often there is much that is not fun as most people would understand that word to mean. All the small accidents with parts and materials; a carefully worked part that took and extraordinarily long period of time to shape only to have it bust up and be next to useless. Parts that go into hiding in the carpet - never to be seen again - well not until you've bought or built a replacement - all the trials that are covered by Murphy's Law that can occure while building, painting models and scenery - these are surly not fun at all.
A sence of achievement at a completed project well done - something that works well and is visualy interesting - sometimes it's exciting - now that is fun.
Bruce
SilverSpike Short answer: "Yes!" Long answer: "Ask me again in a few years when I get the layout finished!"
Short answer: "Yes!"
Long answer: "Ask me again in a few years when I get the layout finished!"
I (and my layout) resemble that!
If it wasn't fun, I wouldn't do it. ("It," being, operate to the exact timetable used by my prototype in September, 1964 - with rolling stock that falls well short of museum-quality detail.)
Kind of reminds me of a comment made by the Master Mechanic of the Northwestern Pacific on the occasion of his retirement after a long and successful career:
"I never worked a day in my life."
Probably based on the theory that it isn't work if you're having fun.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - and enjoying every minute of it)
markpierce cuyama It's perfectly OK if you want to run your trains "just for fun". No need to look for justification from a forum. But there are also a lot of folks who find more formal operations challenging, rewarding, and fun. There's plenty of room in the hobby for all points on the spectrum. No sensible person would disagree. Nevertheless, I'd get more enjoyment from this hobby if Byron spent more time writing columns for his blog rather than spending any of his time posting on argumentative threads such as this. Mark
cuyama It's perfectly OK if you want to run your trains "just for fun". No need to look for justification from a forum. But there are also a lot of folks who find more formal operations challenging, rewarding, and fun. There's plenty of room in the hobby for all points on the spectrum.
No sensible person would disagree. Nevertheless, I'd get more enjoyment from this hobby if Byron spent more time writing columns for his blog rather than spending any of his time posting on argumentative threads such as this.
Mark
---then again, maybe some get into arguments because it is their notion of fun? OY. But the idea of being a rivet counter for some is an issue. I'm not so sure why a person being a rivet counter should detract from my having fun anyways. If they want to have OPS that date to Nov. 16th 1944 let them. I'd think it interesting to get into. A guy who can explain why a certain type of cylinder is more prototypical for another engine than the one it is on to me would be more informative than someone who just goes--'Gee--look at the pretty engines'. But then, that's just me babbling--what do I know
Any argument carried far enough will end up in Semantics--Hartz's law of rhetoric Emerald. Leemer and Southern The route of the Sceptre Express Barry
I just started my blog site...more stuff to come...
http://modeltrainswithmusic.blogspot.ca/
Ryan BoudreauxThe Piedmont Division Modeling The Southern Railway, Norfolk & Western & Norfolk Southern in HO during the merger eraCajun Chef Ryan
As the previous posts bear out, everyone's definition of "fun" is different and purely subjective. I happen to try to model and operate my layout in as prototypical a manner as possible, given my talents, finances, time available, etc. That said, I clearly respect others and how they get enjoyment from model railroading. I like to share ideas and try new things.
What really annoys me, on the other hand, are the ongoing, nitpicky Internet discussions about replacement part policies, defects (both real and rumored), trademarks and royalties, DC vs. DCC, etc.
They take a lot of the "fun" out of the hobby. Thankfully, there are not a lot of them on Trains Forums compared to others.
John Timm
Raised on the Erie Lackawanna Mainline- Supt. of the Black River Transfer & Terminal R.R.
I think Collectthem is just trying to twist the tail of some the "serious - rivet counters" who sometimes look askance at (and sometimes denigrate) the less sophisticated "fun" layouts.
Walt
collectthemWhat I mean is it seems like a lot of die hard train guys are so caught up in the “way the prototype does it” it takes the fun out of it.
collectthem I was wondering how many people run their trains only for fun. What I mean is it seems like a lot of die hard train guys are so caught up in the “way the prototype does it” it takes the fun out of it. I watch a lot of you tube videos and people leave comments like, that locomotive will never carry those cars on that mountain and things like that. I know my layout will be a horror to you guys but me and my 6 year old love it. I take the collecting cars and locomotives more serious than the actual running.
I was wondering how many people run their trains only for fun. What I mean is it seems like a lot of die hard train guys are so caught up in the “way the prototype does it” it takes the fun out of it. I watch a lot of you tube videos and people leave comments like, that locomotive will never carry those cars on that mountain and things like that. I know my layout will be a horror to you guys but me and my 6 year old love it. I take the collecting cars and locomotives more serious than the actual running.
Old saying: "If it wasn't fun we wouldn't do it".
Model railroading is a big enough hobby for the person who likes to mix and match and the person who likes the "what day in fall 1949" realism.
After a 20 year absence I am back into model trains. This time around I'm going DCC and running quality locomotives with a 50's theme. I love realistic scenery. But... on the other hand I surfed over the the Tyco collectors website and those guys seem to have a lot of fun with the RTR models from the 70's in all their brightly colored, unprototypical glory! I have to admit I spent hours and hours as a kid running my Tyco trains (and for ready to run, they took a lot of my abuse) on my 4x8 flat table with coloured sawdust grass, hornhook couplers and those whimsical accessories. Maybe I should set up two layouts-one realistic and one all Tyco!
Midnight Railroader collectthemWhen did the hobby evolve into such a complex hobby with the realistic sessions and people taking it EXACTLY as prototype? Minton Cronkhite was doing this in 1938. There's one starting point.
collectthemWhen did the hobby evolve into such a complex hobby with the realistic sessions and people taking it EXACTLY as prototype?
Minton Cronkhite was doing this in 1938. There's one starting point.
I remember that name from hearing a guy in Woodstock ON talking about him.This fellow went on with the idea, telling me this in the early 60's, of using Way Cards etc, and as he introduced me to this I liked it. It wasn't a matter of jamming it down one's throat, it was: how does this work now--fire up the curiousity factor. Thanks for reminding me of him.
Fun is for weak minded fools. Model railroading is a strict discipline, it requires wisdom and thought, not giggly smiles and "emotional well being". Fie and fifle, whimsey is best left to children, adults count rivets and get every single one correct or start over and do it properly.
Bah, fun. For 30 plus years that word has never entered my vocabulary. Hard work, that's what makes one a model railroader. Enjoyment, phooey; pleasure, humbug
The Dixie D Short Line "Lux Lucet In Tenebris Nihil Igitur Mors Est Ad Nos 2001"
personally, I just prefer to sit back, crank my stereo, and watch them run. I really could not give less of a dern about what the prototype did. Only real thing I use from the real world is prototype pictures for weathering. otherwise, I'll run it like I want.
Sawyer Berry
Clemson University c/o 2018
Building a protolanced industrial park layout
In and effort to nudge this back onto topic, this, unlike some pastimes, is not a spectator sport. Drag racing comes to mind - it has the various participants, but no less important in the dynamic is the non-driving public in the stands who appreciate it for what it is. Similarly, there are aspects to this hobby that one can observe and appreciate, but not actually practice. Just as no one goes into the stands and harangues the viewing audience to get involved in rebuilding engines or bleaching the tires at the start line, I have yet to read a post on this forum where anyone has insisted, to the point of getting cross, that unless one uses car cards and only a switcher in a properly constructed yard to classify trains and make them up, he is not really in the hobby.
The hobby has many faces, as many as those who claim to be part of it. Each face brings an orientation to the hobby that is just as valid as any other. It is only in specifiying a particular orientation that we can begin to compare the efforts of the various members who profess to share that orientation. Generally, we have done that informally to "operations" and roundy-round. Those are two gross characterizations that leave a lot to be desired if you ask me. But the point is few of us are on the tails of the distribution. The vast majority of us are in a huge bulk under the apex of the Great Curve bisected by an undefined mean. (Apologies for resorting to statistical terminology, but those who have a rudimentary background in the subject will understand me). Translated, there are many, many of us who group around some ambiguous way of enjoying the hobby, with some falling more into an appreciation for "operations" and some finding that they are perfectly content to just admire their trains winding around their track system with nothing particular to do.
-Crandell
Alex
BRAKIE Kindness can go a long way far better then unsolicited negative comments that can hurt to the bone..
It is certainly true that sugar usually catches far more flies than vinegar, but it is fairly irrelevant in the context of this particular thread.
If you choose to take part in public forums, you will sooner or later get unsolicited negative comments on something you post. That's a fact of life. Happens to all of us occationally.
Your two main options when that happens (if we disregard the option "run away") are these:
Totally up to each one of us what approach we choose.
In any case, I hope everyone reading this are having fun with their model railroading.
Grin, Stein
Unfortunately, I haven't had fun running trains in a little while, thanks to not getting to my railroad in a while... so the track is all dirty and the connections are loose.
However, I do have fun just reading some old MRs and dreaming up track plans.... that and talking to you guys
OB
"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." - Jim Elliot Visit my blog! http://becomingawarriorpoet.blogspot.com
...have fun?
Ya gotta be kidding, right.
I operated my trains yesterday for several hours, built & painted some scenery, worked on a structure kit, tried out a new hot wire foam cutter, and never once had a derailment! Now, THAT 's fun!
Midnight Railroader steinjrMy advice would be that if some person knows that he or she has a personality that is such that he or she cannot handle receiving comments or suggestions, then this person should seriously consider not posting stuff in places purposely designed to solicit comments from others ... Exactly. But you know that most people who do are really just looking for validation from others and don't want to hear criticism of any kind.
steinjrMy advice would be that if some person knows that he or she has a personality that is such that he or she cannot handle receiving comments or suggestions, then this person should seriously consider not posting stuff in places purposely designed to solicit comments from others ...
Exactly. But you know that most people who do are really just looking for validation from others and don't want to hear criticism of any kind.
Some times its best not to reply with a negative comment even with good intentions unless asked..
Why?
On forums we have no idea who the poster is..He/She could be-well shoot-handicapped.Many may recall I have limited use of my right hand but,I still manage to get by while others may not...I seen modelers with one arm,I seen modelers that stumbled along using the very basic modeling skills as well even tho' they been in the hobby for years..
Kindness can go a long way far better then unsolicited negative comments that can hurt to the bone..
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
My layout is designed for operations, but also has a cutoff that allows for continous running for those times when visitors stop by that just want to see trains run... and yes, for those times when I just want to watch trains run. It's usually easier to accommodate fun running on an ops oriented layout than vise versa.
...and by the way, since someone brought this up,
Those are actual magazine covers scanned from early 1950's editions and reproduced in N scale by Max Magliaro, who is a regular poster over on the Atlas forum.
Thought you'd enjoy that...
Lee
Route of the Alpha Jets www.wmrywesternlines.net
I have fun doing it my way. I lay track, wire and complete scenery my way. I think there are some that wouldnt like the methods I use but there are others that use the same methods. Only way to sum it up is to each his/her own. To answer your question, I am having fun cant you tell. (Kidding) LOL.
Yes, I have fun with trains. I am lucky in that We have a huge Ho club layout here in town. We have work nights, & play nights too. Then We have formal OP sessions when We use radios & operate just like a real railroad. Variety is what this hobby is all about. I enjoy setting up the lionels at christmas & just watching them run around the tree. Once the season is over,they go back in their boxes until next year. Toys ? Yes,Yes,Yes!!! Why bother if it's not fun ?
collectthem some take it so serious, and they force their type of “fun” on others like the video I mentioned.
Nobody is forcing people to post their words, pictures or videos in a *public* place that is *designed* to encourage others to comments on what is posted.
And nobody is forcing the original poster of the video you mentioned to read and follow any unwanted advice they may be getting in such a place.
My advice would be that if some person knows that he or she has a personality that is such that he or she cannot handle receiving comments or suggestions, then this person should seriously consider not posting stuff in places purposely designed to solicit comments from others ...
Of course we all have our hobby desires and one size doesn't fit all..
Now then...
As for me watching a train run endless circles gets boring after the first few laps...I perfer prototype operation using car cards and waybills on ISLs..
Well if you separated out model railroaders with one extreme being modelers who make sure the magazines in their N-scale lounge cars are correct for the month and year they're modelling, and the other being guys sitting on their frontroom floor running train on an oval of track going round and round, most of us are somewhere in the middle.
In my case, I'm interested in history (railroad and otherwise) and like things to look as correct as possible whether they're based on something real or just a "could have been" freelanced item. I also like trains to run smoothly and operate well at slow speeds. Being able to create a realistic facsimilie of a real railroad and it's operations is fun, though maybe "satisfying" would be a better term.
Right now my layout is a shelf switching layout, and I find I enjoy picking up and dropping off cars quite a bit. I'm sure I'm not doing it exactly like the prototype, but I think it's reasonably close. Of course, what I have now is only "part one" of a fairly large basement layout that will always have industries and such to switch, but will also eventually offer the option of setting two trains running on a double-track mainline and just sitting back and watching the trains (especially passenger trains based on real trains of the past) run.
collectthem Wow, I love all you guys answers. I understand now. I guess what I’m saying is, some take it so serious, and they force their type of “fun” on others like the video I mentioned.
Wow, I love all you guys answers. I understand now. I guess what I’m saying is, some take it so serious, and they force their type of “fun” on others like the video I mentioned.
I've been involved in lots of operating sessions, some more formal than others, but I've never seen anyone "force" another person to do so.
collectthem When did the hobby evolve into such a complex hobby with the realistic sessions and people taking it EXACTLY as prototype?
About 50 years ago (longer, if you consider Frank Ellison, but he was a pioneer). It's been a part of the hobby for a long time. As more information has become available over the years on how the prototype works, and as more real-life railroaders come into the hobby, folks have refined their understanding of operations. And some choose to put that knowledge to work in creating purposeful operating sessions.
collectthem I also understand the different levels of fun, I don’t think I can find the “toy train” look fun, you know the type with all the Christmas shacks, huge loud operating buildings and things like that.
I don't understand what you are saying. For example, O Gauge trains are a very active part of the hobby and many people in that segment of the hobby enjoy running their trains with operating accessories and the like.
It's perfectly OK if you want to run your trains "just for fun". No need to look for justification from a forum. But there are also a lot of folks who find more formal operations challenging, rewarding, and fun. There's plenty of room in the hobby for all points on the spectrum.
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