Feel free to add your reasons. There surely has to be more than ten.
10. Model railroading is a refreshing diversion from everyday life and its problems.
9. Working on my layout is among the highest forms of relaxation and pleasure.
Alton Junction
Well said ! I could not have done any better than your list. People ask me what I do in my retirement ,between models and railfan outings my interest in history watching Red Sox baseball and getting together with my work buddies from Ma Bell the days fly by.Once in a while even working around the house.I just finished painting another side of the house and garage.
Ron High
None of that applies to me..
I love the hobby for two main reasons..
Reason #1. Simply put I like trains.
Reason #2..The enjoyment I get out of prototypically switching cars be it at a terminal or at industries.
Other then those two reasons I would not be in the hobby.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
Rich,
Surely you jest...
-G .
Just my thoughts, ideas, opinions and experiences. Others may vary.
HO and N Scale.
After long and careful thought, they have convinced me. I have come to the conclusion that they are right. The aliens did it.
galaxy Rich, Surely you jest...
C'mon, galaxy, where are your Top Ten Alternatives?
Rich
I love trains because no matter how beat up, worn out and old you are feeling, the trainroom is just steps away and that leaves me with a warm fuzzy feeling knowing that something I enjoy so much is still easily accessible to me. Trains were a huge part of my life before I spread my wings and went out in the world and I feel fortunate that Dad got me interested. I feel like I have come full circle.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
Not a list, but an observation: As many of us get older, the fact that we have a hobby which focuses our physical and mental resources is a benefit to our continued better health. There are numerous articles online which cite the benefits of maintaining an active mind with respect to senior health. I know that this hobby keeps my blood pressure down; it gives me something to look forward to each time I sit down at my workbench or on the layout.
The self-satisfaction I derive from being an active model railroader is enough for me, but I do appreciate the opportunity to interact with others on this and other forums- it is an added benefit.
Cedarwoodron
1. It is the only thing I do that I can control 100% of the time.
2. I like trains.
3. I like people who like trains.
I can't remodel the Southern Pacific in the 1990s because of the details of their diesels hasn't come in N Scale yet.
I always loved this hobby and I really love trains. Modeling the Union Pacific is the closest thing to Southern Pacific.
My first and only love is Amtrak. I saw pictures of it painted in Phase III F40s and Superliners traveling the California coasts.
Amtrak America, 1971-Present.
I like this hobby because it makes my relatives from across the country send me stories like this.
As a bagpiper, I play many gigs. Recently I was asked by a funeral director to play at a graveside service for a man who loved being a model railroader. He had lots of family and friends, and they wanted him buried by some railroad tracks at a cemetery in the Nova Scotia back country. As I was not familiar with the backwoods, I got lost and, being a typical man, I didn't stop for directions. I finally arrived over an hour late and saw that everyone had evidently gone . There were only the diggers and crew left and they were eating lunch. I felt badly and apologized to the men for being late. I went to the side of the grave and looked down and the vault lid was already in place. I didn't know what else to do, so I started to play. The workers put down their lunches and began to gather around. I played out my heart and soul for this toy train guy. I played like I've never played before for this man who loved trains. In the end as I played "Amazing Grace", the workers began to weep. They wept, I wept, we all wept together. When I finished, I packed up my bagpipes and started for my car. Though my head was hung low, my heart was full. As I opened the door to my car, I heard one of the workers say, "I never seen anything like that before, and I've been putting in septic tanks for twentyfive years!
Great thread Rich, glad you followed the complaining thread up with this one.
The reason why I love this hobby. Is I always looking forward to doing something. Weather its laying new track, creating a new industry, building a passenger station, and working on scenery.
But most of all the important thing here is. As Rich said it, its a diversion from the dificulties life brings us.
Michael
CEO- Mile-HI-RailroadPrototype: D&RGW Moffat Line 1989
I love is that there is so much more than just trains. Wiring, building buildings, weathering, doing scenery, researching full scale trains and railroads. And I can not play with my trains for a few weeks and then I can see my layout with a fresh set of eyes for what needs to be done next
I'd like to sum it up with this:
Model railroading, trains as a whole, are a grand and very good drug that gives me an escape from an often times unpleasant real world.
Mark H
Modeling in HO...Reading and Conrail together in an alternate history.
Ron High Well said ! I could not have done any better than your list. People ask me what I do in my retirement ,between models and railfan outings my interest in history watching Red Sox baseball and getting together with my work buddies from Ma Bell the days fly by.Once in a while even working around the house.I just finished painting another side of the house and garage. Ron High
This was a good summer for a Sox fan to hide in the train room. Don and Jerry ran out of things to talk about around the end of June.
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
Hmmmm. Just out of curiosity and as a break from counting my Fuji War Bonds, I see in the 15 hours since this thread was first posted, there have been 12 contributors. Yet in Richs “Top 10 Reasons Why I Hate This Hobby” thread there were 25 contributors in the same amount of time!!! I’m not sure what, if anything, this says about the members of this forum, but it doesn’t bode well to me. Cheers, the Bear.
Second of all, the apparent discrepancy is obvious. Twice as many modelers hate the hobby compared to those who love the hobby.
snjroyWell, I like miniature things that look real. That's hard to explain, it's just a feeling. Model railroading happens to be the most complete form, with scenery, movement, towns, etc.
There is something magical about a fully decorated and landscaped layout that even a casual observer can appreciate. A minature view of reality.
richhotrainFirst of all, Bear, it is Fiji, not Fuji, War Bonds. Get it right!
The first time I worked up in Fiji was at the height of the 2000 coup and the company that arranged the work also arranged that I was to be paid direct in NZ$ with the view that it would be safer than being paid in Fiji$. The strange and, slightly annoying thing was that for my whole stay the Fiji$ was worth more than the NZ$. Still I was paid well enough and apart from the difficulties in the last few days when the heavily armed soldiers guarding the airport access gate that I used every day were changed, things went surprisingly well.
richhotrain First of all, Bear, it is Fiji, not Fuji, War Bonds. Get it right! The first time I worked up in Fiji was at the height of the 2000 coup and the company that arranged the work also arranged that I was to be paid direct in NZ$ with the view that it would be safer than being paid in Fiji$. The strange and, slightly annoying thing was that for my whole stay the Fiji$ was worth more than the NZ$. Still I was paid well enough and apart from the difficulties in the last few days when the heavily armed soldiers guarding the airport access gate that I used every day were changed, things went surprisingly well. Cheers, the Bear.
richhotrain First of all, Bear, it is Fiji, not Fuji, War Bonds. Get it right!
Yeah!!!!! You hear that? Outlander. LOL.
Take Care!
Frank
When I got back into the hobby three years ago after a 22 year absence it was for three reasons, operation, DCC and sound. Operation is what I love most about model railroading. DCC and sound make the operation that much more realistic for me.
Have fun with your trains
Your model railroad layout is about your dreams, ideas, and vision, and; nobody can ever take that away from you.
In life, once you reach the pinnacle of your personal "fifteen minutes of fame" -- There will be many others who will have their big erasers -- Not so with model railroading.
Conemaugh Road & Traction circa 1956
Great replies, guys. Keep them coming.
I love crawling on my hands and knees under the layout, to retrieve locos that are stalled, and cars that are derailed at the back of the layout. At 73, I get to use muscles and joints that don't get used much. And I love looking at the maze of wires under the layout, and trying to remember where they all go.
I'm right there with you on all ten of your reasons for enjoying this hobby and workin' on the layout.
For ME I think one of the main rewards is (cue Barbra Streisand here) Memories!
In my formative years, the "Wonder Years" my dad would take me around to all the local freight yards and we would watch the operations for hours. One day at Collinwood, on the NYC just east of Cleveland, the engineer of a switcher (the 9512, ex NYO&W NW2) hollered up to me "Hey kid, you wanna ride?" Years later I got to fire a steam locomotive around Horseshoe Curve, I was a private car steward on quite a few trips across the country and Canada. I hung out with a bunch of Penn-Central and Conrail guys that would get me cab rides and occasional throttle time (do THAT today!)
Anyway, I'm rambling here, but for all these memories I have, I get to recreate some of them right here in MY basement. My days of chasing and riding trains are mostly behind me but there are times when I'm running trains that the horn of a GG1 or a peek inside a dining car as it passes by or seeing the signals reflecting off the stainless steel car sides just hits me just so... I get goosebumps!
I model primarily the mid to late 1950s but every once in a while I like to run the stuff that I grew up with. Filthy Penn-Central trains, the U-A Turbotrain, Metroliners and the beginnings of Amtrak. I do give a nod to more recent stuff if I think they're cool so I bought a pair of the Kato 40th anniversary P-42s with LokSound.
One day last week I had this pair running around the layout while I was occupied on something-or-other else and just then the Amtrak GEs came into view around the bend with ten Superliners, a private car or two and a handful of MHCs and as soon as they leaned into the grade I heard those GE FDL16s dig in, then the "whoop" of the air compressor, I tell you it seemed so real that it nearly brought tears to my eyes. As the train followed with just the right sound of wheels on rail joints... I tell 'ya, it just makes it all worthwhile.
What money I spend on the hobby would have gone to a therapist or intensive psycho-analysis anyway... so I'll take the train (s)
Thanks for the MEMORIES, Ed
Ed, this is a simply fabulous post on your part.
It really does seem that many of us got our start in modeling railroading because of our father's interest in the prototype. So many have remarked on these forums that their earliest memory of trains was a visit to a train yard with their father. Others lived quite close to a train yard or siding or mainline and often visited these sites on their own.
Great reply!
Top 10 Reasons Why I Love This Hobby
Reason number 23: No matter how expensive people "THINK" this hobby is, it is still cheaper than Fishing, Hunting and attending professional Foot Ball Games!
NP 2626 "Northern Pacific, really terrific"
Northern Pacific Railway Historical Association: http://www.nprha.org/
Great post NP2626! I suspect that a lot of folks complaining about the cost of this hobby haven't really recently looked into what other hobbies cost! I have two grown sons who are into Warhammer games/figures, and they're spending as much as I am!
I recently got back into the hobby after almost 18 years and the costs were about what I expected, twice as much as when I stopped.
Maybe it seems expensive to us because there is always something else we need/want? For my money, any hobby that can hold your interest for 50 years is a great hobby!
Tim
Hobo - I think you need help
My reasons :
Thats my ten reason. Of course there are more.