Ever lose yer cool on your RR?

[Anonymous]

I've found, both in the real world and in the modeling world an intersting law of nature. If something is totally not working, it's a 50 cent piece or 15 minute fix (ie: broken motor wire), if it's just annoying, then its a bunch of money and hours of tinkering!

I think I most lose my cool when after spending hours trying to figure something out, making every conceivable tweak that I can think of, regaging wheels, rewiring a turnout, cleaning the railheads, resoldering the motor leads etc . . . . it ends up being that the power wasn't plugged in (and I'm the guy that laughs everytime I see in a 'trouble shooting' section of an instruction manual "make sure the power is plugged in."). Of course I end up apologizing to my poor models that have taken such a verbal abusing by me. But you know what? They don't hold a grudge . . . but I swear I after the power incident one of my engines said "Dave, your such a dumb *****."

[railman]

Yep. The famous start out to fix one thing and six hours later, there I am, dirty, discouraged, and bleeding, and the ballast still isn't poured. Happens to everyone.

[on30francisco]

Many years ago I had an AHM loco. It would keep stalling every time I ran it on on the cheap brass track that was available back then. Every time it stalled I would pound on it with my fist yelling "wake up! wake up!" I finally hit it too hard and the shell cracked.

[Anonymous]

Whenever I get sick of dealing with some imperfect junk I bought from a manufacturer I throw it against the cement wall of my basement. It never creates a problem for me again. Then I never buy that brand of product again!

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by NightCrawler

i never had patience as a kid. it still suprises me that i can actually build all the locomotives that i do, and add all the tiny parts.

but every once in a while, i just want to throw one, but then i realize how expensive the thing is.

but the cheaper items arent so lucky. i had 2 boxcars that just would not owrk. they would not glue together very well, they wouldnt track very well, and overall, they looked like crap. so, one got 3 M80's twisted together and shoved in the door. not much left of that car. the other one got set up on a fencepost i the back of my 10 acres, and used as a.30-06 target. i hit the *** on the second shot from 100yds.

kids, DO NOT try this at home [:D][:D]

My technique is slightly different, I take them out on the lawn and set them in the grass. Then I start the 18hp lawn tractor, lower the mowing deck to the "Lawn Scalping" setting................ and my kids like to see how many pieces one train car can be made into!!
[:D]INSTANT GRATIFICATION[:D]!!

[Sunset Limited]

12 years ago I got back in the hobby and did'nt have much space at the time, so I decided to go with N-scale, I purchased 3 locomotives, one Model Power, Life Like-before they improved and Kato. Now Talking about loosing your COOL!! The only thing that ran perfect was the Kato! Also I jump into it by starting off big and those dime a dozen switches! Man I was killing myself. Well I decided to switch to HO and made a smaller layout, it was small, but It ran great! You can't beat Athearn. Now I want to go back to N-Scale and try again, I have better equipment now, Atlas, Kato, Improved Life-Like proto 2000. And start small and simple! Better Switches! [banghead]

[philnrunt]

vsmith- Logic of the higest order worthy of Spock himself..

[vsmith]

How does the old saying go?

If it Jams, Force It..
If It Breaks, Well, Now You Have Replace It Anyway....

[philnrunt]

Mrlove- Only a model railroad layout...ONLY A MODEL RAILROAD LAYOUT!!!! It's dreams, hopes and fantasies,
at times better than sex and ice cream and hot joe, at other times it's the Hell Central, SATAN'S OWN SHORTLINE!!!!!
Only a model railroad layout??? It's a perfect world where there are no lawyers, people still stop and talk to each other, the cars don't play music loud enough to wake the dead in your tasteful cemetary next to the church with the newlyweds in front (childhood sweethearts, happily ever after).
Bosses suggest, wives agree, and children listen.
Oh NO, Mrlove, if it is only a model railroad layout to you, then you have reached that special place in the sun reserved for those who have hit the highest spiritual plane. You are a lucky man.
For the rest of us, we will try to control our anger when good layouts go bad, but don't expect to see us up there with you anytime soon!

[Anonymous]

I took the nail remover part of a hammer to the side of a boxcar, when it caused the derailment of a whole train, knoking the engine right into the other parked engine parked on the siding. took me a wile to repair the handrails of both locos.

[Anonymous]

I took the nail remover part of a hammer to the side of a boxcar, when it caused the derailment of a whole train, knoking the engine right into the other parked engine parked on the siding. took me a wile to repair the handrails of both locos.

[michealfarley]

If you must get violent..............

Find something with a "shield" on it, and test it's "armour" against your wall or floor. That way, you relieve aggression, and tell them to stick their license fees at the same time.

Just think of it as another form of "kitbashing".

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by BNSFNUT

The splat mark on the back wall was a box car.

[bow]PRICELESS![bow] This really got my day off to a good start! [(-D][(-D][(-D]

[Fergmiester]

QUOTE: Originally posted by BNSF9838

Read my lips,say it with me.....IT'S ONLY A MODEL LAYOUT!
BNSFfan.

NO, No your wrong

It's my life!!!!![:D]

Actually it isn't, however sometimes the rate of return is less than the net worth of frustration compounded by the level of interest.

I know "walk away from the table and put your hands where we can see them".

[Anonymous]

Read my lips,say it with me.....IT'S ONLY A MODEL LAYOUT!
BNSFfan.

[Fergmiester]

QUOTE: Originally posted by CP5415

YUP!

I cut the same piece of wood three times & it was still too short! [;)]

Gordon

Oh how I hate that!!!! If only they would make a measuring tape that measured properly!!![:(]

[CP5415]

YUP!

I cut the same piece of wood three times & it was still too short! [;)]

Gordon

[Fergmiester]

QUOTE: Originally posted by dano99a

I have/had a boxcar with wings once.

Now days, I made one out of foam and even glued a wieght and some trucks and wheels on the bottom of it.

When things go off the deep end I run for that thing and throw it at the wall useing a few choice words. Multiple times.

Hey, beats buying something twice.

Nerf RR'ng! Ya know there might be a market for this product!

[philnrunt]

Tho it beat you and it flayed you,
by the living god that made you,
You're a better man than I am, Gunga Dan!

with all apologies to Mr Kipling.

[sparkingbolt]

'Member I said I'd probably have it back together by the end of the weekend? I gathered all the rail pieces of the #4 left, and used them to rebuild. worked well this time. Also got the linkage to work well. And as to the rest, the damage wasn't as bad as I thought, could'a been way worse. Total monetary cost in damage: $1.50 So it's almost done and back to operatin'. [8D] And i'm goin to work on it now some more, with a better attitude. Dan

[philnrunt]

macguy-you are absolutely right, it is just a hobby. But, ya know, it's when those UNEXPECTED problems come up that it drives me crazeeee!
If I go in knowing I've got a fight on my hands, I can work on the problem for a long time before I shake my head and walk away, in my mind I know I'll come back and solve it.
It's when your favorite loco is rolling along with your finely tuned cars and suddenly on a section of perfectly laid tangent, it goes into a power slide, kisses the wall and bursts into flame! THATS when the madness begins! By the time your done, you've pulled up track down to the neighbor's house and decided to fill the layout room with cement because that is the only way to seal EVIL so it will never get free!!!
But you're right,it is only a hobby, now if you could just convince the guys over on the UP vs the world posts!

[Roadtrp]

I about got there once. I FINALLY had my track laid so that my train ran around it forwards and backwards with no stalls or derailments. In fact everything had been running pretty much perfectly for a couple of weeks.

Until I decided to lay some more track and a couple of more turnouts. All of a sudden NOTHING was working. Sections of track that had worked flawlessly were now giving me unbelievable problems. I didn't throw anything, but I started swearing like I hadn't done in 10 years.

My wife came in to the room and said “Jerry, this stuff is supposed to be fun. Stop for tonight.” It was harder than the devil to walk away from it, but I did. I knew my wife was right.

I sat down a few nights later to resume where I left off. I will never figure it out if I live to be 100, but I swear to God that sections of track that were giving me fits two nights before now worked flawlessly. Yes, there were still problems with the turnouts, but I had them resolved within a couple of hours.

Why did all that track that was giving me problems suddenly start to work? I don't have any idea. I'm just glad it did. [:)]

[dano99a]

I have/had a boxcar with wings once.

Now days, I made one out of foam and even glued a wieght and some trucks and wheels on the bottom of it.

When things go off the deep end I run for that thing and throw it at the wall useing a few choice words. Multiple times.

Hey, beats buying something twice.

[Fergmiester]

As an officer I don't swear I just use some colourful marine lingo! though the odd ocassional rail car might sprout wings and fly!

Thus proofing the theory for every force there is an equal and opposite force.

[Anonymous]

Ya my last locomotive I threw up agenst the wall......later did I realise I called it...Amtrak[:D]!

[BNSFNUT]

The splat mark on the back wall was a box car.

[Anonymous]

[}:)] I did when I made my first serious effort at building a layout. It seemed like I had invisible gremlins thwarting my efforts. If you stacked the number of expletives that roared from my mouth on top of one another they'd have been as tall as a 30-story office tower. And this was a small layout! But in the end I learned from my mistakes and had a good laugh or two with friends about my trials and tribulations. Starting over, I've learned to just take it s-l-o-w...that there's no rush...and to enjoy every single facet of the process as much as possible. [:)]

[Anonymous]

Try and not get to ramped up folks, it's just a hobby.

It's supposed to be fun.

It can be hard at times, but when something isn't working right and I have been at it too long I take a break and do something else for a while.

Another good strategy is to get a friend or family memeber to look over the problem and get a fresh mind on the scene.....sometimes the problem is more obvious than we realize.

Remember --
If you're not having fun, then why are you doing it?

[sparkingbolt]

Sheesh! It's like reading letters I may have wrote! I even have this mystical ball peen hammer that has been used to put other tools that did less, or perhaps more , than theyr'e 'posta out of my misery. Only when I go get it, I'm no nonger mad, it's a controlled step of bringing closure to the process of officially not trying anymore to make something work. Kinda cerimonial even.

I once very calmly and without anger took a mid-priced airbrush and got the hammer out, set up an anvil and went to work. I had 2 of these, identical twins, with identical problems, they came to identical ends, because I wanted a better one and knew I'd never get one as long as I had these.

One thing I do know, and I now obey this rule strictly: When I am already seriously stressed by life outside the hobby and need a vent, don't go near ANYTHING model related. Including operating the trains.

Brakie: I hear ya there.
Brit: Actually I do walk away the vast majority of the time. I had just fused when I posted.
Phil: Philzilla? that's great!
Nightcrawler: Yup, gotta admit, cost plays a factor in how long something can persecute me. Oh, and good shot!
Everyone else: Thanks for the replies. It's no excuse but that I'm not alone sorta helps. Dan