Since I Was Young, and It Was New, I have Wanted It.

[LensCapOn]

Alco C628, In ACL colors.

 

It was waiting for me at home in a fresh magazine, sitting in the snow at Schenectady waiting shipment. The photos have been often printed and most here should have seen them.

 

Now, a model is available at a price I won’t see again (Atlas N- really nice!) but it doesn’t fit my modeling and so would be a dust collector. Is passing on it a sign of adulthood, or a quiet surrender? (Lord knows I don’t need more stuff sitting and unlikely to be used)

 

Not that I’m the only modeler to face this.

 

 

Just venting.

[Anonymous]

You are not alone.

In my youth days, I always wanted to have a Marklin Swiss Federal Railway Ce 6/8 II, better known as "Crocodile". It was high up on my Christmas wish list, but as it was the most expensive loco in the catalog, Santa was not inclined to bring me my dream loco.

It´s not the most expensive loco anylonger, but to invest $ 500 into something that will just sit in a display case I don´t dare to do.

[EMD.Don]

I guess I see it as a sign of maturity in a modeling sense. You recognize that you still have an interest in the locomotive as well as fond memories associated with it, but you also recognize that from a modeling standpoint you really have no need for it and that your resources would be better served on item(s) that fit your railroads needs. I think many of us have been in similar situations at one time or another over the years.

Happy modeling!

Don.

[ctyclsscs]

When I was young I had the Revell Sand and Pump House. But like most kids, I did a sloppy job gluing it and didn't paint anything. I've always wanted to get a new one and build it the best I could. I found a brand new one at a local shop a few years ago. Now I am afraid to start it.  : (

Jim

 

[IRONROOSTER]

If you can afford it, buy it. 

Even though I'm primarily in S, I have a 6x12 layout for 3 rail O gauge and I'm planning a small HO layout and maybe a 2 rail O scale/On30 layout.

I am long past you can only buy things that fit your current scale, time period, prototype, etc.  This is a hobby have some fun.  I buy stuff that appeals to me.

Enjoy

Paul

[NittanyLion]

My first train set had a Fx (not sure I can, in good conscience, assign it any specific number) in Chessie colors.  Despite living on only two miles from Chessie (nee B&O) tracks, I never saw a Chessie unit in real life.  I've always sorta wanted a Chessie GP40.  

I've always had a strange lust for the Walthers Central Gas and Supply, yet have never been able to work that into a layout!

[tomikawaTT]

One indicator of fiscal maturity, when dealing with an object.

There is a spectrum ranging from, "Gee, I like that!" to, "Essential to survival."  The latter, obviously, can only be applied to a very few items - and only to the lowest-priced variety of those items.  Food means beans, not roast pheasant under glass.

All model railroad items are in the, "Gee, I like that!" category.  You can't eat, wear or take shelter from the weather in an HO or N scale model.  So a second spectrum now comes into play.  What other, "I like that" item(s) will have to be sacrificed to afford that, "I want that?"  Translation, you have to prioritize your wants - and then hold fast to the priorities.

A few years back Katsumi offered a DMU set that I really wanted.  It would have filled a legitimate place in my master plan (Trains 11M/12M.)  It also would have cost a full year's modeling budget, and come close to wiping out my, 'Fund for things I want,' account.  I still suffer a little non-buyers remorse - but I'm sure glad that I resisted the siren song.  The money was available when needed for some much higher priority non-model-railroad items.

Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - part of my life, not all of it)

[Burlington Northern #24]

Just wanted a train when I was a kid, now I have them. I've got my bases covered though by doing pre BN in N and BN(early) in Z.

[LensCapOn]

ctyclsscs

When I was young I had the Revell Sand and Pump House. But like most kids, I did a sloppy job gluing it and didn't paint anything. I've always wanted to get a new one and build it the best I could. I found a brand new one at a local shop a few years ago. Now I am afraid to start it.  : (

Jim

 

 

As a kid I had quite a few Revell kits. They ran from the early ones with glue globs on them to the late ones that used solvent based glues and were completely painted. (never got the base to my satisfaction) The basic skills were used again when I returned in my 30's. (1st rule: leave nothing unpainted that isn't a clear window. paint Everything!) They really were good(enough) at the end. Do some practice on kits you don't care that much about, then build the thing! Doing it right will make you happy in a way just leaving it won't.

[dknelson]

ctyclsscs

When I was young I had the Revell Sand and Pump House. But like most kids, I did a sloppy job gluing it and didn't paint anything. I've always wanted to get a new one and build it the best I could. I found a brand new one at a local shop a few years ago. Now I am afraid to start it.  : (

Jim

 

 

 

Pick a week this winter and mark it on your calendar and DO IT Jim.  Remember the Art Curren lessons that even the thickest and gloppiest plastic cement that oozes out between joints when they are pressed together can be dealt with -- if you let it harden and then simply cut the hardened glop away.  It is trying to do something about it when it is still "wet" that mars the surfaces and causes the disasters.

 

Dave Nelson

[ctyclsscs]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm just in a non-modeling rut right now. With so much rain this spring we're only just now getting a lot of stuff done outside.

I will put in on my list of things to do. You can bug me at Trainfest Dave to see if I've started by then.  : )

Jim

[softail86mark]

ctyclsscs

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm just in a non-modeling rut right now. With so much rain this spring we're only just now getting a lot of stuff done outside.

I will put in on my list of things to do. You can bug me at Trainfest Dave to see if I've started by then.  : )

Jim

 

Jim,

What is this rain thing of which you speak? (Northern California foothills)

But seriously folks, I built that sandhouse for my brother in law back many moons ago and it still looks great. He models the Yosemite Railroad and needed a place to display his brass passenger cars designed by Jack Burgess. A railroad on which we operated back those same many moons.

Good times.

MC

[softail86mark]

Sorry, I meant Yosemite Valley Railroad.

[ctyclsscs]

softail86mark

What is this rain thing of which you speak? (Northern California foothills)

I wish we could send some of our rain out your way. Everyone out west needs it and we had too much of it. We had rain almost every day in June. That was a little too much of a good thing. Has there even been a "rain train" hauling excess rainwater to where it was needed?  : )

Jim

[MidlandPacific]

Brass.  I first saw it, safely behind the counter, in rows on shelves at a hobby shop that must be long gone.  It was mostly steam, and what variety: sloped-tanked switchers, high drivered passenger engines with four wheel trailing trucks, articulated switch exotic features like deck-mounted headlights.  I didn't yet know much about modeling, but I knew this was something qualitatively different from the Tyco engines on the shelves I could reach, varying only by paint schemes.  A full-page PFM ad on the back of every MR introduced me not just to the variety of models, but of engine types and railroads: I think I first saw the name "Denver and Salt Lake" there, and just possibly Denver & Rio Grande.  

I can still see that store, as clearly as if I saw it yesterday, and I remember slipping away from the table when we ate at the restaurant next door, to go back and look some more at those engines.  I have a few of my own now, but something of that delight stayed with me, and I can still window-shop happily in front of shelves full of engines for hours on end.

[doctorwayne]

LensCapOn

.....but it doesn’t fit my modeling and so would be a dust collector. Is passing on it a sign of adulthood, or a quiet surrender?

For me, I think it's a quiet surrender to the fact that I won't have time to finish building/fixing/enjoying the stuff which I already.  In the past week I have graciously declined free structure kits, free rolling stock, and free locomotives, including a brass Berkshire.  None of this was junk, and much was still new-in-the-box...I just don't need it.

Wayne

[crhostler61]

 30+ years ago I wanted a Reading T1 (4-8-4) in brass...but couldn't afford it. I still want one in brass and/or a BLI...but still can't afford it.

Mark H

[TheWizard]

I recently bought a N&W J and 7 passenger cars. I'll probably never have a layout where a 9ish foot train would look realistic, and if I do, I would much rather model the southwest and run a Santa Fe Super Chief. But I bought it all the same. Because I'm an adult, and I always wanted it. What fun is it being an adult if you can't buy yourself nice things? Sometimes, you need to indulge, but I wouldn't make a habit out of it unless you win the lottery.

[E-L man tom]

Ah, yes! It was about 1994 or so. In Middletown Ohio there was a hobby shop that I frequented. It was a brand new release of the Kato GP35 and it included my favorite EL paint. At that time it was out of my price range (especially since I wanted not one, but a pair). Oh well, maybe some day I'll run across them again. One can only hope. 

[LensCapOn]

E-L man tom

Ah, yes! It was about 1994 or so. In Middletown Ohio there was a hobby shop that I frequented. It was a brand new release of the Kato GP35 and it included my favorite EL paint. At that time it was out of my price range (especially since I wanted not one, but a pair). Oh well, maybe some day I'll run across them again. One can only hope. 

 

Flebay

[E-L man tom]

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Flebay

Yes, but I'm hoping for still new, in the boxes!! :-)

[LensCapOn]

E-L man tom

 

 

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Flebay

 

 

Yes, but I'm hoping for still new, in the boxes!! :-)

 

And I thought my TRAINS were running in a fantasy world. 

 

 

 

Actually, a surprising amount of what I've found on eBay was new in the box.

 

DO.

 

NOT.

 

GIVE.

 

UP!