Edit post

Edit your reply below.

Post Body
Enter your post below.
I started off with Triang HO which I deliberately sold so that I could convert to Marklin HO. Then I left town and moved to a new location and over the next 5 years had no opportunity to build a MR. I was living in rental accommodation, had got married and a baby was on the way. No chance for trains, no space, no time, no money. So I sold it all. A few years later I was living in my own house which had a double garage and adjacent room suitable for trains. The family was growing up. I started building an N scale model railway. Lesson 1 learned so far: On the one hand I was sorry that I dumped the Marklin, I wished I had kept it as I was back in the train game within 5 years and could easily have stored it. On the other had it was an exciting new experience to get into N scale and I enjoyed the new challenges. The came a divorce and I sold the house. Learning from my regrets when I sold the Marklin set-up, this time I boxed the N scale stuff and stored it. It took 5 years to get back to where I want to be in life, which is: to be married and own a house. The second house was a difficult one, needed a lot of renovation and required much modification. I worked for 15 years on the house while the N scale sat in boxes. I drew plans and had a railroad on paper, but never built it. Then just when I was about to start after all those years, BAM - another divorce. Don't feel sorry for me - I got married far too young and the first marriage was a dumb mistake. So it doesn't really count. (Like Britney's) But the second divorce threw me off course. I wasn't sure what direction to take and had many options to choose from. Eventually I decided to stay on in the house, get married again and run trains. This is sort of my chosen life path - my karma, or destiny, or whatever. I seem doomed to keep repeating the same cycle of divorce and packing up trains over and over, like a Hollywood "curse" movie. But as I got myself established and was once again ready for trains, I found that I had lost interest in N scale and could not contemplate building it. The fascination had faded while it sat those 15 long years in boxes. So I cut my losses and sold it, and this time started from scratch with G scale LGB and I absolutely love it. I do not miss the N scale stuff at all. Lesson 2 learned so far: As things go wrong in your life and you suffer setbacks, you lose time. You get older and realise that half your life was wasted on things that didn't work out and that the remaining time you have is precious. You become more impatient and need to focus on what works, not waste time on what doesn't. I simplified my life and bought back time when I dumped the N scale in favour of G scale. It is easier and less finicky. So what's my advice? Based on the above experience, I would say that your first step is to evaluate what your personal feelings are towards model trains. If you don't feel much and don't really care one way or another, then sell the trains. If you love trains and are committed, then keep the trains initially. You can always sell later if you change your mind or, as I did, decide to use this opportunity to change scales. If you are keeping the trains in storage for 5 to 10 years beware of the virus that I caught, which was that (a) I lost interest and (b) the technology became old and obsolete. By that I mean that I was trying to run 1970's N scale Minitrix with 3 pole motors and they were absolutely horrible compared to today's offerings. If your storage period runs 10 to 15 years as mine did, you would be better off dumping it now and getting new stuff when the time comes. Do you really want to be running pre-digital 1990's locos in the year 2015? To summarise: 1. Store it while you analyse your feelings towards the hobby. 2. Ditch it if you don't have that much interest after all. 3. Allow for a maximum storage of 10 years. If longer, rather ditch now and start again. 4. Keep your interest up while the stuff is in boxes. Read books. Draw plans. Build small things. 5. Above all, don't lose hope. Don't give up the dream. If you really love trains you will find a way. I'm finally getting down to building my MR after nearly 30 years of storage, false starts, divorce wipe-outs, dumping and restarting. I never gave up. 6. And whatever you decide, don't give it to the stinkin' kid next door. Nobody gave me my trains. Good luck [^][^][tup]
Tags (Optional)
Tags are keywords that get attached to your post. They are used to categorize your submission and make it easier to search for. To add tags to your post type a tag into the box below and click the "Add Tag" button.
Add Tag