Paster Bob, boy I wish I had the time for a out door layout. But with the hours I work I get home after 9:45 5 days a week. But I do like running in the dark inside.
Got a little more cork down, had some problem spots I had to fix. Should have 2 more turn outs down Sunday and 6 more feet of track. Sorry Paster Bob.
Cuda Ken
I hate Rust
Have been in HO since late 1950's. Discovered garden railroad in 1989. Now have both. I notice I "start slumping" about this time of year as far as the HO layout, and I start getting the garden engines ready for service, cleaning, tuning up. In another month will be outside working on roadbed, etc, and making test runs. The cars are all stored outside in a building, so they will be seeing daylight again. The HO Santa Fe will become more dormant, while the Garden Santa Fe will spring to life.
In late September, the process will reverse as the leaves making running outdoors almost impossible. The HO, which will have seen minimum activity during the summer, will get a cleaning, plans made for first operating session, and the garden stuff will go into storage.
Actually working with two different gauges, and two different layout situations, keeps the hobby fresh for me.
Bob
Hi, I'm Jesse Red Horse,
I was reading through this thread and got caught looking at the pic of your cement plant, that is AWESOME work, you should be proud of the craftsmenship I can see in the pic.
Keep up the good work now I must return to this thread to find out what happens next.
Happy Rails,
Jess.
New section is moving a long but hit a small set back. Seems I may have to relay some of the crock in the center toward the moutains in the rear. Part of the the turns is 22" and part is 18". Hum, I was not enjoying the brew either?
Good news is the new section is DCC now! My E-7 PK2 is running fine around the out side loop. Reason that is good news? E engines with there long trucks are pickey! If an E can make it around 8 wheel drive steam should no be hard pressed.
Oh Brother, I've been there and the only fix is too do just what you did, log onto Trains.com, it never fails me.
I live In New England and have been buried in snow since mid December so the weather does have something to do with it I'm sure.
Chin up and Spring will be here in no time, best of luck.
Dave Vollmer wrote: My slumps come in two flavors:1. Other hobbies jump out front (like golf).2. Mired in a project that's no longer fun (like lettering a PRR X31a in N scale - "kitbashing" the dimensional data - ack!).Usually I get a sudden flash of inspiration that sends me running back to the layout room after a few weeks. Often times that inspiration comes from something in a forum.
My slumps come in two flavors:
1. Other hobbies jump out front (like golf).
2. Mired in a project that's no longer fun (like lettering a PRR X31a in N scale - "kitbashing" the dimensional data - ack!).
Usually I get a sudden flash of inspiration that sends me running back to the layout room after a few weeks. Often times that inspiration comes from something in a forum.
Yo, Dave. Here's some inspiration. Get back to work on your layout before we have to form a mob and show up at your house with pitchforks and torches.
Andre
Hey Ken,
I did do exactly as you were describing with a Bachman UP Gondola. It had the pop-on trucks with built in couplers. I pulled the trucks first off and pitched them. I then mounted #148's with new draft boxes. I had to go get a piece of 1/4 dowel rod to put in the holes where the trucks used to pop into. Perfect fit so far. I then drilled out a hole in the wooden dowel and mounted a set of trucks with metal wheel sets back on. Wa-La!!!! A very nice metal bodied UP gondola with metal wheels and KD's. The coupler height is a little off but not bad enough to come un-coupled, even on my poor track work. LOL I gotta say, I really like tinkering with the freight and changing these over, then when you get that sucker to roll nice it's a good feeling.
Altoon, to bad we don't have a section here to post iteams we don't want any more! I enjoy converting the old Tyco rolling stock to great and easy pullers.
1 Cut off the coulper boxes off the trucks.
2 Add kadee couplers boxes to the frame, the coupler boxes come with Kadee # 5's. (I do like the 148's as well).
3 Clean the boosters and add Proto 2000 33 inch wheel set.
4 Weight the rolling stock to NMRA specks.
Then you will have a car that will pull as well as a RTR Athearn and you have the fun of learing and working with your hand as well.
Right now I have the A, B and new C lines running and pulling around 120 cars. There are 20 Tyco's in the mix. I all so may have the largest collection of Tyco Old Dutch Hoppers around, 31 of them in fact.
Well it's good to know I'm not alone by any means. I did end up having a great train weekend, although I didn't get much accomplished scenery wise, I had all Saturday afternoon to play away. In the middle of that I wanted to go to the LHS to see if they'd buy some cars off of me, old junk that I just didn't want. (shhhh, tyco stuff ) So he gave me $10 for a bunch of tyco cars and resin kit cars. Bleecch!! Anyhow, I turned right around and spent that back plus a few dollars more and bought some metal wheels and finally broke down and picked up a few packs of KD's #148's. Had a blast converting a few of my cars and my GP-9. Which I needed to do because the horn hooks were getting caught on the front and pulling the next car off the tracks because they wouldnt' swing enough. WOW, those KD's ARE great!!! No more of that problem now. That was Saturday.
Sunday there was a model train show, a little one and I was kind of disappointed with the lack of HO vendors and too much Lionel, no offense. But I had the wife with me and no baby so we took our time and I ran into some good deals.
The one that brought me out of my slump????.....wait for it.......a Atheran GP-9 Dummy that I've been looking for for almost two years to match my PWD GP9 !!! Whooo hooooo!!! That made my day!!!!! I also invested in two Proto 1000 cars, a Conrail 100 tonner hopper and a 60' hi cube in PC green with CR lettering. !!! Niiiccccccccccceeee!!!!! Then I went home an had all the time I needed to play the day away!!!
Gotta Love this hobby!!!!! I should have posted pics but I'll try to do that later. That GP-9 head to head pulling 7 cars with KD's and metal wheels really makes the experience that much better.
PIC's coming soon.
SLUMP OVER!!!!!
Well, Altoona Railroader I got out of my slump this last 4 days and hope you can do the same!
Main things that keept me from working on the new section.
1. I have to many engines and rolling stock? They covred the new section to the poit I had no room to work. Finaly boxed them up so I had some room.
2. I love watching the trains, and brew makes it better yet! Stopped running the trains, so I was not watching anything so I worked! Brew you ask? Well there is only so much a married man can give up at the same time!
Spiking again, Cuda Ken
My slump lasted about six and a half years, and got me completely out of the Hobby for that time. It was a culmination of things, Marriage going south, relocating from North Carolina to Northwestern Vermont, remarrying having a couple Kids. But one good thing about our Hobby it has endured over the past sixty some years. I am now working on a new Modular layout in my basement, I have discovered a very friendly (even if they do think I talk funny) local Modeler community, and I have gone from a place where everyone pretty much modeled the same Road in different Eras (Southern/NS/C of G ) to being the only Guy that Models the Southern/NS in the state. Sometimes taking a break...even putting the hobby away for a bit can be the best thing in the long run.
I hope so too.
I have an older version, it has truck mounted couplers. Now that I think of it, it might be a Riverossi.
Mine came with Bachmann knuckel couplers, I replaced them with #5's or 148's. I have to pull a car to be sure.
Hope your's work as well as mine.
I find myself hitting a slowdown when the next task is something that will go on for a while, especially if I'm not certain of my plans. One way I deal with it is to do a side project that I can finish in a day. It keeps my hand in, but buys me a little time to think (and consult the Forums participants). I keep a few un-built Jordan Miniatures car/truck kits on hand just for these occasions. They usually take all day to construct, but at the end of the day I have something really nice to add to the layout, and it gets good reviews when I bring it in from the shop at dinnertime.
They work as confidence builders for me.
Phil, I'm not a rocket scientist; they are my students.
TrainManTy wrote: [rant] I'm in an operating slump of a different kind. No one is available for a session as far as I know, and even though I cleaned wheels 2 days ago, my trains are running like ! I tried ,aking another movie, and it just isn't going to work. The trains won't run smoothly at all, all this has lead me to think up a new motto for the railroad:Be prepared to push your loco halfway there and halfway back! [/rant]
[rant]
I'm in an operating slump of a different kind. No one is available for a session as far as I know, and even though I cleaned wheels 2 days ago, my trains are running like ! I tried ,aking another movie, and it just isn't going to work. The trains won't run smoothly at all, all this has lead me to think up a new motto for the railroad:
Be prepared to push your loco halfway there and halfway back!
[/rant]
TMT:
Try cleaning with alcohol and a rag. That works well for me. Tough deposits are rubbed off with a block of wood. I try to avoid all abrasives. I find I need 600 grit SiC paper for the initial recondition of used track (Gleam method) but after that I try to avoid even that. If absolutely necessary, I rub the track with 1200 grit crocus cloth, which is pretty comparable to metal polish in grit size.
If I run Masonite slide cars at intervals, I don't have to do full cleanings as often.
Altoona,
Trust me, you are not alone!!! This hobby of ours can go from intense participation to "not today" often over time. I too am now in a slump that has lasted a month. Before that I was changing out all wheelsets (to metal), doing major track cleaning, structure building, and some new wiring. I think my trigger to stop was the sudden passing of my Father in Law, and having to put my Mother in law in a private home. But sometimes its just the weather or whatever.
The trigger to start up again is often nothing more than a trip to the tracks, a ride in the countryside, or a visit to a friend's layout - or receiving the latest MR. Go figure.
My point is, don't feel bad, for everyone I have known in the hobby goes thru this.
ENJOY,
Mobilman44
ENJOY !
Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central
Train Man, you could start with one and at $13.95 hard to beat. Reason I use 3, like to get it done a little faster. I would use them at the front of the train. Each car pulls like 8 to 10 free wheeling rolling stock. At the rear one will cause you to string the rest of the train.
I pull my 3 by them selfs with a caboose. I use 1 of the engines, UP Dash 9, GE AC 6000 or a FP-45. I don't want to over tax my steam engines to hard to fix.
Besides my 8 amp booster, they are the best iteam I have bought for my layout!!!!!! Well maybe better than the booster, drity tracks will still stop the power of a good power supply.
Train man, pick up 3 Walther's Trainline cleaning box cars and I am 95% sure your problems will be over. They made my track life so much better after I went DCC. Before I bought them I spent as much time cleaning as I did runing. I have had them for around 6 months now, used my bright boy may 5 times tops!
If I have not ran a passing spur for sometime, I use one as a pusher and drag the other 2. To keep the main's clean I use all 3 has as a drag. At the start of each day I run them 5 times around the mains and have no problems with drity track. Plus I clean the wheels a lot less often.
When the cleaing plates get nasty, I use nail polish remover to clean them.
Part number is 931-752 for the CNX car. They have a UP car as well but I don't have the box handy.
It's gotten that bad! I'm considering starting over in a finished room, or at least building a small set up anyway.
I am in a slump as well..I am completely out of projects till next week when I bring several engines home from both HO clubs for routine maintenance.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
AltoonaRailroader, don't think it has anything to do with your posting! But, laided another 6 feet of rails, hooked up some feeders and now with in 3 feet of a complete loop! That will be the easy part, then comes the inter section where the B-line will run thought the C-Line (new section) but I hope to have the cork laid Sunday and rails laied Monday.
Then comes the hard part! Hooking the main bench to the section.
Just to give you a little how fired up I have became? 2 new Athearns engines, SD 50 and a Dash 9 still in there boxes I bought Friday. Will not open till I have the loop done!
Working again, Cuda Ken
Shayfan84325, it could very well have exacerbated or accelerated the effect, but the truth is that I was in the slump for some time before becoming a moderator. Good point, though,...it probably isn't exactly speeding my "healing".
As I said earlier, it doesn't bother me in the slightest. I have had two abiding interests in my life, and now both of them are on the wane. It must be natural. It's like eating a Coffe Crisp chocolate bar every day for lunch for six months...suddenly you can't bear the thought of eating another one. Six months later, the zeal and yearning has returned. I expect it will be the same. I still enjoy running the trains a couple of times a week, but I really would like to get some interest in developing the layout once more.
-Crandell
Autobus Prime wrote: AR:Life has its ups and downs, whether it's hobby interest or foam-block incline ramps. :)So how did those ramps end up working for you?I had to lay off railroading for a little while, in order to get my home rewire complete. Inspector came yesterday, everything passed, so now I can clean all the accumulated junk off the table. (I swear the guy checked a GFCI by sticking a key in the hot slot. Some people trust technology a lot more than I do.)As for boredom, I find that having something clattering around the main loop while I'm tinkering with other stuff actually makes it more fun...helps me remember I'm working on the railroad, not just another far-from-finished project. Often this is a track cleaning train, or something I'm trying to break in after repairs - the other day it was a $3 Tyco Silver Streak C430 with matching caboose from the train show. I asked the seller if it came with a miniature Richard Pryor and after a bad joke like that I had to make amends...and the cheese value is undeniable...
AR:
Life has its ups and downs, whether it's hobby interest or foam-block incline ramps. :)
So how did those ramps end up working for you?
I had to lay off railroading for a little while, in order to get my home rewire complete. Inspector came yesterday, everything passed, so now I can clean all the accumulated junk off the table.
(I swear the guy checked a GFCI by sticking a key in the hot slot. Some people trust technology a lot more than I do.)
As for boredom, I find that having something clattering around the main loop while I'm tinkering with other stuff actually makes it more fun...helps me remember I'm working on the railroad, not just another far-from-finished project. Often this is a track cleaning train, or something I'm trying to break in after repairs - the other day it was a $3 Tyco Silver Streak C430 with matching caboose from the train show. I asked the seller if it came with a miniature Richard Pryor and after a bad joke like that I had to make amends...and the cheese value is undeniable...
Ahhhh, HAHAHAHA!!! You're a funny guy ABP!!! LOL, seriously, that made me chuckle. I've made some progress on it here and there, (hence the slump) I got the fascia boards put up around to the other side and will probably do some more work this weekend and get some updated photo's. I'm SERIOUSLY re-considering what I"m attempting to do with the foam blocks for the beginning of the incline with the curve and all. I may just go to the WS foam incline. At least to get me started and up and around that curve. But then again, I've been working on it and why kill all that progress. Besides, you can take pride in doing something the wrong way as long as the end result comes out the same.
Thanks for asking, I'll post pic's in WPF later this weekend.
Thanks everyone, it's good to hear that this is also a part of the hobby and that "It happens to everybody" LOL. And that even though I will hit slumps from time to time, it's also good to know that if you have it within you to be a MRR, the passion will return at some point.
My slump began shortly after Christmas in 2006. It isn't a bad slump, but I haven't done anything substantial to the layout since then....not a single tree made or planted, no new buildings, no details. I did have to repair some track, but that was strictly utilitarian so that I could watch the odd train run around the layout.
I'm not worried. Life goes on. Maybe I'm out, maybe I'm distracted...it'll all work out in the end.