Looking back on 2018

[SeeYou190]

It is the turning of the year, and this is a time when people traditionally look back on the previous 12 months and take account for what they have accomplished and look at what has changed.

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I am actually going to look back two years. This is because I joined this discussion forum in January 2017.

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When I joined here, I was in a pretty bad place hobby wise. New editions were released for both my favorite wargaming systems, and I hated both of them. I had just removed my "spare bedroom" HO scale layout and trashed everything. I went through all my unfinished projects and stalled efforts and threw away everything. My two regualr wargaming groups became a bit fractured. Then, I was kicked off of all the wargaming discussion groups where I had been a regular for ten years.

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For the first time in my life I did not have a layout, and I had very little train equipment. I was going to be starting over almost from scratch. I had a fleet of Stewart F units I was going to keep, and about a dozen decent freight cars, but not much more.

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I was going to upgrade everything. No more garbage locomotives. All freight cars would be well detailed, and everything would be painted and decalled by me for ficticious roadnames. The house would be remodelled to give me an 11 by 22 train room. All this was a huge undertaking, and I feared I would lose interest.

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Well... joining this group probably saved this hobby for me.

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I found a new outlet for creativity in "Show Me Something" where I photograph my equipment on a poseable diorama. This has been amazing for me, and I have really been honing my photography skills.

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"Weekend Photo Fun" has kept my model building on track. Trying to keep up with something new to post each week has resulted in nearly 100 freight car models getting copmpleted in two years. My fleet is 2/3 done!

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Most importantly is everything I have learned. I have shared projects and received good input. I have asked questions and received correct answers.

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And... amazingly... I get feedback on my skills without having some annoying "know it all" in my layout room nitpicking my efforts. Thank you.

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So... while I look back at the previous two years, I have accomplished a lot:

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1) Collected an entirely new steam locomotive roster.

2) Completed most of my freight car fleet.

3) Finalized my new layout plan.

4) Collected all the structures and track for the layout.

5) Learned some new skills necessary to build my final lifetime layout.

6) Developed better relationships with some model railroaders.

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Thank you to Model Railroader Magazine for hosting this forum, and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

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-Kevin

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[Medina1128]

I had a rougher year. A lumbar fusion, followed by 3 months of intensive therapy. The biggest loss was that I wasn't able to work on my train layout in all that time. Now, with the coming new year, I'm looking forward to finally being able to complete a couple of projects; an abandoned grain elevator and a laser cut old style Pizza Hut building that a friend made for me.

 

[NWP SWP]

Looking back on 2018 and 2017 I'd have to say 2017 was one of my worst years, I joined in January, really didn't have real social skills and had a pretty wild imagination, I burned some bridges and was quite and idiot, I ended up leaving the forum for a few months, late 2017 I started straightening my life out and getting my stuff in order I joined the Midsouth Model Railroad Club and I've made some great friends. The best thing that happened to me was the Billy Joel concert in Miami, that introduced me to the world of indie music, a band called Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness opened, the new music I was listening to really helped get me out of my rut.

I graduated high school in May got my drivers license over the summer, got a job and started going to church pretty regularly, I've done a few modeling projects here and there, I haven't done all the crazy ideas I set out to do this year, I still intend to do them someday but I know that day is a way off.

Looking forward to 2019, I intend to finally ask a girl in my Sunday school class out, that'll be a first for me (I asked my friend Sarah out once but that didn't really count cause well she didn't get that I was "asking her out")

I also intend to finally get some more modeling projects done, I'm hoping to get a pair of locomotives painted in my railroads colors, perhaps try a small diorama or two and finally set up a website or blog for my railroad.

I also plan to do some hot rodding to my truck and start restoring my 69 stang.

I'll be taking the SAT and ACT this spring.

Most importantly I'm going to be getting a better job, my current job is a dead end job that has no chance for higher pay or more hours so it's time to move on. And also I'm going to be applying to colleges, and trying to get scholarships.

Looking off into the far (but not too far) future I plan to attend college in the spring of 2020

[Harrison]

I started my layout in September 2017. This is what my layout looked like in November 2017, when I started my blog.

When I joined the forums in April 2018, I had two questions: Ballast or scenery first, and how to make this work:

For the ballast and scenery question, I decieded to do both at the same time.

Fast foward to now: I have started scenery, and expanded my layout from a 4x8 with a 12-foot wall exstenion.(Getting more space was hard, as I don't own the basement)

This diorama will become part of my layout.

And looking into 2019: Get the train area CLEANED UP AND ORGANIZED, start operating sessions, and do more scenery.

[SeeYou190]

Harrison, I have really enjoyed all of your posts, queries, and especially "show me something" & "weekend photo fun" pictures you have shared.

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Your enthusiasm and interest in model railroading is truly a breath of fresh air. It has also been really fun to watch your layout grow and get scenes completed.

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Keep it up.

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-Kevin

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[Tinplate Toddler]

Well, 2018 has been a year I have very mixed feelings about. On the personal side, my wife have and I have been attacked and injured, were subjected to harassment and threats and our car has been damaged.

Not good!

On the model railroading side, I sold my Swiss NG layout, which is the best I have built in my "career" as a modelrailroader.

I am just glad the layout got a new lease of life in a good home.

Due to illness, I had to change my MOD to building simpler layouts, which meant going back to my childhood days of Marklin tinplate HO trains.

Construction of the layout begun in May this year.

I have reached a point, where only a few details are missing and the wiring has to be completed.

 

[BRAKIE]

2018 was a bad year because of being hospitalized four times and now I am residing in a rest home.

Its not all doom and gloom.

While the HO benchwork for Slate Creek will soon be dismatled I am planing a portable 1'x6'  N Scale ISL that will be set in the late 50s or early  60s for my room.

[mbinsewi]

BRAKIE

While the HO benchwork for Slate Creek will soon be dismatled I am planing a portable 1'x6' N Scale ISL that will be set in the late 50s or early 60s for my room.Thumbs Up

Excellent Larry!  I guess old railroad men never quit!  I hope you can hold onto your health, and find a community that's close to the tracks.

Mike.

[chatanuga]

Wasn't too bad of a year for me.

Starting with the very end of last year, I got the first of the two Athearn SDP40Fs in Amtrak Phase I and Phase II paint, the first new locomotives that I'd gotten since Christmas 1997.

Also got a couple more Accurail autoracks: a second partly enclosed bilevel and an open trilevel, which add variety to all of the enclosed autoracks that I already had.

This past spring, after a series of derailments on the layout, I got proactive instead of reactive to issues.  I cleared all rolling stock that I could off the layout.  I then went over all track inch-by-inch and checked all rail joints and fixed any alignment issues that I found, some of which were vertical alignment issues that became noticable after converting my rolling stock to Kadee couplers a couple years ago.  I then took a voltage meter and checked all track for any electrical issues, testing each of the six cabs on each block.  I then went through each of my locomotives, tuning them up and cleaning them.  Needless to say, things are running a lot smoother now.  Only issues I've had recently are a couple of couplers needing adjusted.

Kevin