Like I suspect many of you, I watch way too many model railroad videos on YouTube. I am always impressed when I see a nicely done layout and the owner proudly states that he finished most of it in just a few years thanks to his friends and their help.
I have been working on my layout since 2017 and now have all the benchwork done (except for the stagging area), the track work is 90 percent done, most of the wiring is done, and I am now building structures and planning for the installation of my turntable and roundhouse. I still have to do the scenery and the control panels. I am making progress, slowly, but I am doing this all on my own.
I have no friends helping me. That is why this forum is so important to me. I post a question which I think is difficult, and I get back some amazing and helpful answers. I really appreciate all the help I have received. It is my hope to eventually be able to answer the questions of others as I become more experienced.
I should add that I did belong to a wonderful club, the South Oakland County Model Railroad Club, near Detroit. However, I now live in a different area and the nearby clubs do not impress me as much as the club I once belonged to. I was spoiled by a well-run and well-designed layout that inspires me to this day. I am still in contact with members of the club, but I cannot expect any of them to drive out to help me.
Just wanted to say thank you and express how valuable I find this forum. I assume others do as well. And yes, I also find great value in YouTube and Trains.com videos.
This forum is very important. It has provided me with answers to specific and unique situations that the printed press could never cover.
It is an excellent compliment to Kalmbach Media's traditional offerings.
I hope Kalmbach Media finds a way to gain from the importance of this forum, and get more involved with it.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
I second the motion (if there has been a motion) or I vote "aye" if the motion has already been seconded.
I will say that these Forums will be much the poorer if, as they have warned might happen from time to time, photo hosting issues prevent Dr. Wayne and others from contributing so many article length (and publication worthy) postings and examples of fine modeling, or even worse make prior postings devoid of content. Dr. Wayne in particular could have pocketed a nice amount of coin had he submitted his postings to MR or other magazines for publication instead of posting them for free for us.
The photo hosting issue has always been and remains the Kalmbach Forums' biggest area of vulnerability.
Irritating but not fatal is the way the system deletes the identity of a posting person who has dropped their account. Sometimes one can guess who "anonymous" is but not always. Perhaps there are systems issues which mandate it but it somehow just seems a little petty and peevish to me. It can also complicate searching for an old posting that you know exists, and remember who posted it, but cannot recall the title of the posting.
Dave Nelson
September 30, 2007. I was a happy man getting started but knew it would be a slow process between work and all the hours at the Hockey rink with the kids through the week and all day Saturdays.
Here is where I am now 14 years later, I am not bothered by the slow progress and I am happy to be where I am. If not for the good people on this forum through my journey I would not have gotten this far. I always had quick answers to my questions that allowed me to get on with things I would get stumped on. I will never be in the same league as most here But I am having fun with little frustration because of the great people here.
The video version.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwUK51KKyno&ab_channel=BATTRAIN1
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
It's been an inspiration to me. Weekend Photo Fun shows me that us Lone Wolves in our individual basements and attics can learn to do great things. That one series of threads has pushed me to be a better modeler and not settle for "almost good enough." I now know how good a job any of us can do if we take the time.
Also, it has helped over the years to know I'm not alone. The friendships with modelers around the world is encouraging.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
"It's the South Shore Line, Jim - but not as we know it".
I have always been a Lone Wolf and this Forum has been a great inspiration for me seeing pictures of other model railroader’s skills. It may have some technical problems now and then but never the less to me it is the best model railroad forum on the Internet.I feel closer to many of you guys which helps me get through bummer days as I grow older. Its not fun getting old and without the Forum it would be much worse. Mel My Model Railroad http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/ Bakersfield, California Turned 84 in July, aging is definitely not for wimps.
"Amen" to all of the above!
My first posts to this forum, some 18 or so years ago, concerned the MRC Controlmaster 20 power packs. Thanks to forum members honest evaluation, I bought two of them. And that was the beginning of my attachment to this forum.
To be very honest and open, if it wasn't for this forum I never would have built the second layout (2008-2020) and successfully installed DCC.
There have been a lot of terrific people come and go over the years (and a few kooks as well), and its been a godsend having them to draw from.
Thank you to Kalmbach and the administrators for putting up with me!
ENJOY,
Mobilman44
ENJOY !
Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central
Yup. As a "lone wolf" I work on my layout alone. As I think I mentioned in a recent thread, this is the only place I interact with fellow model RRers. WPF is always a nice little shot in the arm. So, for all the reasons others have stated I appreciate the hosts of this forum making it available too. Dan
Southgate 2Yup. As a "lone wolf" I work on my layout alone. As I think I mentioned in a recent thread, this is the only place I interact with fellow model RRers. WPF is always a nice little shot in the arm. So, for all the reasons others have stated I appreciate the hosts of this forum making it available too. Dan
This post accurately represents me, too.
Thanks, Kalmbach.
York1 John
I agree with everyone here.
It has to be said that any Forum is only as good as its host & contributors.
Thank you Kalmbach.
Thanks go to all the contributors for making a welcoming Forum.
David
To the world you are someone. To someone you are the world
I cannot afford the luxury of a negative thought
I would still be trying to figure out how to lay cork in turnouts without the help of people on this forum. And I would be building a layout that would not be as satisfying to look at and operate as the one I'm now builidng. My thanks tae ye, lads!
Returning to model railroading after 40 years and taking unconscionable liberties with the SP&S, Northern Pacific and Great Northern roads in the '40s and '50s.
I too have gained a great deal of knowledge from these forums, for which I am greatful. I also hope that some of the comments I have made to others questions have been helpful to them.
Currently I am at a bump in the road. My old layout is headed out the door and a new around the walls layout shall rise out of the dust. Ii should have dug in at the staart of the pandemic, but I didn't. Hopefully when the walls are painted and the drop ceiling is in, I'll get myself in gear and have a layout where I can run trains again.
These forums have provided me with a daily place to check up on the hobby and they keep reminding me of the fun (and challenges) I'm missing.
Keep posting your success and failures, questions and answers and remember we are like one family, each a little different, but all enjoying model trains on some level, be it a loop on the floor or a jewel that in photos can't be distinguished from the prototype.
Thank you all for your participation,
Richard
I visit the forums every day. Rarely is there a day when there is nothing to spark my interest.
I have asked too many questions to remember, and I have always received valuable and useful answers to those questions. I think these forums played as important a role as any member of my old club did when it came to building the new club layout. Likewise with my current under construction layout.
Thank you Kalmbach and the Moderators!
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Having an avenue to get answers/validate what's found elsewhere, and just being a community of support are three of many reasons to stay here. I appreciate all of you.
Throwing down this gauntlet: not having a forum post go un-answered. Even if the answer is merely that you don't know, at least you give the OP the warm fuzzy that you took the time to read his/her post.
As a newcomer to this forum I am happy to offer the opinion that it has been a tremendous resource of information with the planning and construction of my new layout.
All the above thoughts on this forum I completely agree with.
Long Live the MRR Forum!
(if they could only make the posting of pictures easier)
I wonder how many lone-wolf model railroaders live nearby and we just never meet except online? There is a huge turnout at the train show in Lansing, MI, every year. There must be hundreds of railroaders in Ingham county with layouts near me. Once my layout is more advanced, I would love to have an open house to show it.
JPD There must be hundreds of railroaders in Ingham county with layouts near me.
What is important about this forum is the help you get when you have a problem you have not encountered before. Helped a few times when moving from DC to DCC or forgot some simple task that has to be done in an exact order.
JPDThere must be hundreds of railroaders in Ingham county with layouts near me
I'd also like to use this thread to thank Kalmbach for hosting this forum. While I don't have a layout yet, I will be starting something, in some form, right after the holidays, and am looking forward to applying things I have read about here over the last few years. And hey, JPD, I live in Holt!
Given that I model in a bit of a desert when it comes to both model railroaders and hobby shops (closest shops are about 40 miles one direction and about 145 the other direction), the Forums are my best way of getting both prototype and modeling help. There are many items on my layout that wouldn't be there without the Forums. (Edit: 1800 posts as of this one so go from there.)
I read the Trains Magazine and Classic Trains forums daily, but rarely left time for reading the Model RR forum. I have been mostly an armchair modler, but that all changed when I found myself the leader of a youth model railroad club. It was a lifesaver to read about how other modelers did things, and to get questions answered on things I had no clue about. Also the Trains Mag forum seems to hit upon lots of controversial topics, so it's nice to come to the more relaxed tone of the MR forum. I hope the forum continues for a long time.
Just checked and realized I've been posting on this forum for 18 years! While the older software means some limitations like max post length and no local hosting of photos, having that huge knowledge base still online means that answers to a lot of common questions turn up in Internet searches from posts here (which may also be why sometimes a post from 5 years ago gets bumped upward when a new user who discovered that post adds a response!) I joined the forum not long after I got back into the hobby (as is the common pattern, a lot of model railroaders get the bug in childhood and drop it as a teenager, since playing with trains isn't "cool," and then pick it back up in their mid-thirties when we realize we don't give a hoot about being "cool" anymore and want to play with trains, often with our kids!) and note that a lot of the users from that era are still posting. In some cases they entered the forum as newcomers without a lot of knowledge who asked good questions, sought out advice, and applied those lessons--now they're the ones giving advice!
Having a worldwide forum is a powerful tool for a hobby that's relatively little known (or misunderstood) by the general public; sometimes if modelers are relatively close to each other it's not hard to meet up in the real world (I think a couple forumers here have visited my layout during NMRA tours) but it's just as nice to have long-distance "pen pals." As I recall, MR and other hobby magazines used to have places to post contact information for model railroaders in remote places seeking pen pals and connections! This is just a higher tech version of the same tradition. Technology has added new ways to enjoy the hobby (2D and 3D printing, DCC and animation) as well as ways to enjoy the company of fellow hobbyists!
The forum is a very nice way to recreate and talk about the subject of trains and model trains, but as a source of information, typically there isn't much information presented here that's helpful to my interests.
I model modern times, about 2010. And a shortline. Virtually no one on the forum does that, or seems interested much.
If you want info about trains and model trains that depict 1970s and earlier, its a great source of information. Lots of interest in steam era and transistion era trains and how to model them.
A lot of info about electronics and the complexities of designing and operating complex layouts. Great source of info if complexity is your thing. As someone who builds and operates a layout like a simple one loco shortline would operate it, and with no grades, discussions about how to fix problems brought on by complexity simply doesn't add to my knowledge base in a material way.
Lots of topics about models and trackwork that address problems with pulling power, sharp curves, and resistance. Again, as someone who runs 8 car trains, a lot of the information is simply moot primarily because my modeling style sort of nips those problems in the bud.
But I like talking about model trains. I like to contribute where I can, if only to offer a different perspective. I like looking at pictures of these fantastic results I see from other modelers who are kind enough to share their work with us. Is the forum important as a source of information given my interests and what I see as others' interests? Kinda meh.
- Douglas
DoughlessI model modern times, about 2010. And a shortline. Virtually no one on the forum does that, or seems interested much.
Russell
Yes, I recognize your moniker as someone who is interested in the modern era...and modern models. There are a few others too, but their names escape me at the moment.
Most of the convo is about older models or older era. I think the word "Varney" is still probably mentioned as much as the word "Genesis". Its fine, but there simply isn't much information about older models that is important to me. Love looking at the pics and I find the conversations interesting to read.
Doughlessolder models
I too really enjoy the forum. I love that answers also come very quickly!
I read every bit of info I can. Sometimes the info may not directly apply to me but there is also times when I find a gem I can use
- Bill Rutherford Lancaster, NH
Central Vermont Railroad