I did know a guy who was very much a "I see that I want that" type who even though his layout had an era and a prototype, would end up with anything from a Civil War 4-4-0 to a L&N E unit if he saw one on someone else's layout or at a train show. His out of control spending eventually cost him his marriage, and to this day a friend of mine has boxes of his trains that he offered to "hide" at his house so the guy's wife wouldn't find them. The guy has long since disappeared or is maybe too ashamed to claim his trains (or forgot who has what).
I agree that we all must fight these urges. Nonetheless I did buy the Bachmann Spectrum F40PH in Amtrak colors back when it was new just because it was neat, and a lucky find of the Wisconsin & Southern 25th Anniversary unit while railfanning made me purchase the Athearn model even though it fits in with nothing that I model.
I fortunately am able to be strong while watching YouTube videos -- if I didn't I'd not only have a bizarre dog's breakfast of model trains, but likely would have a porcupine as a pet (search for TeddyBear the talking porcupine on YouTube and you'll see what I mean).
Dave Nelson
alco_fan I do not understand why people buy things they cannot use for their era or railroad and then the same people complain in other threads about how prices are too high. If they would just avoid buying stuff they will never use, it would be found money.
I do not understand why people buy things they cannot use for their era or railroad and then the same people complain in other threads about how prices are too high. If they would just avoid buying stuff they will never use, it would be found money.
as for the second part, I believe the OP is an N scaler and those Price complaint threads are usually done by one post wonders that stir everybody up and disappear.
SP&S modeler, 1960's give or take a decade or two for some equipment.
http://www.youtube.com/user/SGTDUPREY?feature=guide
Gary DuPrey
N scale model railroader
I love watching trains on the internet and videos with also reading about them in MR. It helps me a lot when (if) am modeling Conrail and CSX (87-89), Burlington Northern (late 80s early 90s), Santa Fe (1993-95), and Union Pacific with BNSF during 1998-2007. A little after UP yellow reflector strips on diesels. It really helps me id freight cars and locomtives during those times to make premise model layout. Also pictures help too when buying equipment to be more prototypical railroad era.
Amtrak America, 1971-Present.
I went out searching for a Central Michigan U23B after seeing an episode of "Rescue 911." The paintscheme just simply caught my eye and it looked unique. I got it for a great deal and now this locomotive is very hard to find.
I got this locomotive after seeing many videos on Youtube with this locomotive in it. This locomotive sparked up my interest in the Soo Line. Thankfully, this locomotive is still in Soo Line paint.
-Khang Lu, University of Minnesota Railroad Club
I get more inspiration from watching model railroad videos then the desire to go out and purchase what I see. Like a fellow poster wrote above, 2014 is the year of terraforming for me. I need to focus on improving my landscaping and scenery realism. I see pictures of what other folks post here, in the magazines and online and it puts mine to shame. But I must admit, I do see some equipment in videos that does look very tempting....
Happy modeling all!
"Ladies and gentlemen, I have some good news and some bad news. The bad news is that both engines have failed, and we will be stuck here for some time. The good news is that you decided to take the train and not fly."
TracklayerI don't think about the bad things that were going on at the time but rather focus on and enjoy the better parts of it
I suspect the good was the second generation locomotives like the GP30 and U25B and all the 40' boxcars in various road names that are now fallen flags and we still had smokng Alcos.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
I have been inspired to improvise, and "re-purpose" some equipment and kits that I have collected, from watching videos, which is what gave me the "bug" to put together a trash container train. The east coast variety, with 4 special containers on special flat cars, would have required purchasing a lot of items, some of which are now hard to find, as Atlas hasn't released a run of their trash containers since 2009, but the container trash trains that run out of the Seattle area would use stuff I already had, well cars, and undecorated 45' container/trailers, and high-side gondolas, and some use re-purposed wood chip hoppers. I tried to post a video of my trash train run-by in the "User submitted Videos" section, but MRR hasn't posted yet.
Mike.
My You Tube
BRAKIE No..While I enjoy watching videos on my 60" TV I do not rush out and buy new locomotives or cars I recall the decaying years and I don't really care to model any Eastern railroad in the 50/60s. However.. I always wanted a Santa Fe passenger train pulled by warbonnet F7s and I'm slowly building a short 7 car passenger train like I recall from the 60s.There will be 4 mail storage baggage cars and three passenger cars..I might add a snack car.
No..While I enjoy watching videos on my 60" TV I do not rush out and buy new locomotives or cars
I recall the decaying years and I don't really care to model any Eastern railroad in the 50/60s.
However..
I always wanted a Santa Fe passenger train pulled by warbonnet F7s and I'm slowly building a short 7 car passenger train like I recall from the 60s.There will be 4 mail storage baggage cars and three passenger cars..I might add a snack car.
As for the Santa Fe train you're working on, I've actually seen them like that in old video. In fact I recall just recently seeing an all mail car train that didn't have any passenger cars at all.
Tracklayer
tomikawaTT In September, 1964 I was an Air Force 3-striper with a Japanese wife and two preschoolers. At my wife's suggestion we visited Agematsu, on the Kiso River in Nagano-Ken. Since she is from a forest area (up-country Tokushima-ken) the natives took her and our kids to heart. They were amused by the squirrely gaijin with clipboard and camera who was all over the local rail facilities - JNR (with DMU, coal burning steam and a few new diesel-hydraulics) and Kiso Forest Railway (762mm gauge, four-wheeled diedel 'critters' and about a gazillion disconnect log bunks.) We got to ride the Kiso Rintetsu into the then-roadless forest - fascinating! I had also acquired the massive September, 1964 timetable... I had already started accumulating 1:80 scale Japanese prototype rolling stock. That visit gave me a place, and a purpose. Everything I've done since has built on that foundation. Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
In September, 1964 I was an Air Force 3-striper with a Japanese wife and two preschoolers. At my wife's suggestion we visited Agematsu, on the Kiso River in Nagano-Ken. Since she is from a forest area (up-country Tokushima-ken) the natives took her and our kids to heart. They were amused by the squirrely gaijin with clipboard and camera who was all over the local rail facilities - JNR (with DMU, coal burning steam and a few new diesel-hydraulics) and Kiso Forest Railway (762mm gauge, four-wheeled diedel 'critters' and about a gazillion disconnect log bunks.) We got to ride the Kiso Rintetsu into the then-roadless forest - fascinating! I had also acquired the massive September, 1964 timetable...
I had already started accumulating 1:80 scale Japanese prototype rolling stock. That visit gave me a place, and a purpose. Everything I've done since has built on that foundation.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
Chuck,
I don't know about the squirrely part, but being an ''outside person'' I probably would have gone the same route.
Frank
In September, 1964 I was an Air Force 3-striper with a Japanese wife and two preschoolers. At my wife's suggestion we visited Agematsu, on the Kiso River in Nagano-Ken. Since she is from a forest area (up-country Tokushima-ken) the natives took her and our kids to heart. They were amused by the squirrely gaijin with clipboard and camera who was all over the local rail facilities - JNR (with DMU, coal burning steam and a few new diesel-hydraulics) and Kiso Forest Railway (762mm gauge, four-wheeled diesel 'critters' and about a gazillion disconnect log bunks.) We got to ride the Kiso Rintetsu into the then-roadless forest - fascinating! I had also acquired the massive September, 1964 timetable...
tomikawaTT In my case, watching videos of trains has never, ever inspired me to run out and shell out $$$ for new goodies. What it HAS done is given me some specific ideas for scenes I'd like to include - which doesn't cost much but will take time when I get there. That's one advantage of working to a master plan that's effectively carved in granite. When I see something that might snap my cap, it isn't, "Gotta have!" It's, "Did that run in Kiso country in 1964?" Since 99.99% of the time the question gets a negative answer... Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
In my case, watching videos of trains has never, ever inspired me to run out and shell out $$$ for new goodies. What it HAS done is given me some specific ideas for scenes I'd like to include - which doesn't cost much but will take time when I get there.
That's one advantage of working to a master plan that's effectively carved in granite. When I see something that might snap my cap, it isn't, "Gotta have!" It's, "Did that run in Kiso country in 1964?" Since 99.99% of the time the question gets a negative answer...
mlehman I've done that, but my needs are mostly satisfied at this point. So long as I keep watching reruns and don't buy any new train videos...
I've done that, but my needs are mostly satisfied at this point. So long as I keep watching reruns and don't buy any new train videos...
2014 is the year of sweat for me, not of spend. Lots of scenicking to do. Just did 6 signals (3 more about to go up). Lots of sculptamold work soon to be followed by paint work. making pretty JMRI panels. Laying track on a 2.5 x 20' table that is already built (Maithwaite ... Large city).
Going to keep me busy, and spending on the low side except maybe for some track and switches. Dont know if I will get all the way to buying a new 12-pack of tortoises. If I get close to that point I will just work on that swing bridge and a 90 degree tunnel through a crawl space ... My adolescent woodworking skills will keep me busy for a while just on that.
Well, that's the plan ...
Not so much train videos for me anymore but train books, "The SP&S Railway In Color Diesels of the Northwest's Own Railway" book that I bought and literally cannot stop looking at and reading made me realize that I may like Alcos even more so than I thought I did. these C424's may not have been everybody's piece of cake but they did look good on point of a long train.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
You're not alone buddy....in the past two weeks after watching all these model railroad layouts on Youtube and older Amtrak videos, I went ahead and bought several Walther Autoracks, several flatcars with lumber loads and a Amtrak GP9. I also bought a CTA bus in HO scale by Roadchamps which I had been wanting for a very long time but didn't want to pay the price they commanded. All in all spent like a couuple hundred dollars but I'm going to try and curtail for right now....but i still need decoders for several engines....Ughhh
Hey gang. Hope you're all doing well. I spent this past weekend watching old vintage train videos and as usual the bug bit me to buy engines that I saw in the videos. So this morning I got on ebay and ended up purchasing a blue and yellow Kato Santa Fe F-7 A,B freight set. This was after I had promised myself as one of my New Year's resolutions that I was going to clamp down on my spending and not buy anymore train related items for at least several months. Oh well. I've wanted these engines for a long time and after seeing them in the videos just couldn't stand it anymore and had to have them.
So is there anyone else out there that train videos have inspired to shell out their money ?...