Generally if you're tired of a layout, there's a problem...it doesn't work right (bad tracklaying, poor maintenance) or isn't fun to operate (no switching opportunities, just going round and round) etc. I'd try to track down what you don't like about this layout and use that info in doing your next one.
BTW eventually you need to pick one scale, there's only so much you can do running two scales on one layout. If you tell your Dad you've decided to stick with say N scale, and want to sell your HO stuff to buy more N stuff, maybe he'd be more agreeable??
dstarr Model railroading is a multi faceted hobby. There is building rolling stock, operating, benchwork, tracklaying, electronicking, weathering, layout design, prototype research, structure modeling, scenicking, kitbashing, painting and decaling, DCC, model photography, computer control, scratchbuilding, railfanning, and doubtless others that will come to mind. Think about which parts have appeal to you. Try some of the ones you haven't tried out yet.
Model railroading is a multi faceted hobby. There is building rolling stock, operating, benchwork, tracklaying, electronicking, weathering, layout design, prototype research, structure modeling, scenicking, kitbashing, painting and decaling, DCC, model photography, computer control, scratchbuilding, railfanning, and doubtless others that will come to mind. Think about which parts have appeal to you. Try some of the ones you haven't tried out yet.
Ok lets see.... I've done (from your list) operating, tracklaying, a little electronicking, layout design (I guess what I've done counts as that), model photography (just my ho layout and locos), railfanning (I guess this site and swap meets count).
Ones I haven't done (with a reason of some sort).... building roling stock (do you think a 7th grader that plays foot ball has time for that???), benchwork (I forgot what that was this morning), weathering (i'm short enough on cars already), structure modeling (I move my track around to much, I'll give it a try), I'm skiping a few, DCC (I want to but I aint got the $$ .)
I finished my new track plan yester day, it is a loop with 4 sidings all conected, and I plan on adding oil idustry and a town.
agreed play sports, I play Basketball, baseball, and run track, balance my honors schoolwork, and some how find time to railfan, and build my layout
Concentrate on your school work. Once you've gotten that HS diploma in my book you've got enough to pass through life reasonably well. Read an extra book above and beyond your school assignments. Books about trains, books about planes, books about junk like Stephen King novels(want some? I've inherited a bunch of those) just don't let the trains get hurt. My original set is Lionel HO and I've got the entire thing including the original brass track. In fact, the train is getting it's own loop when my layout gets built just for show and since it can't be made DCC operable, it will remain isolated from the rest of the railroad.
Go out and do something! Play a sport. Go for a run. Connect with a local drunk and sneak into bars...oops, DON'T do that! Get a resonably decent camera and take photos. Until you have a "permanent" layout space, break out the trains now and then. Being a train nut doesn't mean that you have to ignor the rest of the universe.
BTW-reading alot will improve your spelling via immersion and we won't be harping on it as much.
EDIT: What's up with all those posts by me? I tried several times to post a message, but I got an error... Then a few minutes ago I got an email saying:
The post was approved and is ready to be viewed at the URL below.
Why do they do it to teens? I have no idea. Maybe they aren't afraid of offending us, or they simply think we don't care. That couldn't be farther from the truth. When this happened to me (a how-to video I produced on basic weathering was the provocative in this case), I was hurt and offended for a couple days, and I still have to work hard not to carry a grudge against a few specific posters, the worst of which suggested (for the second time!) I keep my work in Teen Model Railroader Place! Now that's definitely age discrimination!
Most members here are very good to us teens, treating us as equals, and not throwing us all into one catogory labeled "Teens" when looking at our work.
LillenI think you get some bad posts against you quite frequently just for being young. And your not the only young person in this hobby that suffers that nor is this the only forum that this happens in. Your spelling might not be perfect, but you are young. Some other people here has bad spelling to. I know that my English is far from perfect. But it seems to be more accepted if you are older for some reason. Or perhaps more correctly, it is less tolerated from "kids". I have often seen threads that has some pretty bad attitudes against young people. The "everything was better back then" crowd can get noisy.
I think you get some bad posts against you quite frequently just for being young. And your not the only young person in this hobby that suffers that nor is this the only forum that this happens in. Your spelling might not be perfect, but you are young. Some other people here has bad spelling to. I know that my English is far from perfect. But it seems to be more accepted if you are older for some reason. Or perhaps more correctly, it is less tolerated from "kids". I have often seen threads that has some pretty bad attitudes against young people. The "everything was better back then" crowd can get noisy.
Well said! I have seen all too many posts degrading younger members (including myself) because their work (photos, spelling, and weathering, just to name a few) isn't up to scratch with some posters. Is it because they're young? Too often, I think it is. Some of the bashed work is actually better than that of a few adult modelers, but those adults don't get degraded by the general populace (with a few exceptions) because of it. That's not to say everyone bashes the younger modelers in question, but unfortunately there are quite a few bad apples who do out there...
I'll second that, Magnus. Keep us posted BNSF!
LillenBut here is my real point of this post. I think you get some bad posts against you quite frequently just for being young. And your not the only young person in this hobby that suffers that nor is this the only forum that this happens in. Your spelling might not be perfect, but you are young. Some other people here has bad spelling to. I know that my English is far from perfect. But it seems to be more accepted if you are older for some reason. Or perhaps more correctly, it is less tolerated from "kids". I have often seen threads that has some pretty bad attitudes against young people. The "everything was better back then" crowd can get noisy.
But here is my real point of this post. I think you get some bad posts against you quite frequently just for being young. And your not the only young person in this hobby that suffers that nor is this the only forum that this happens in. Your spelling might not be perfect, but you are young. Some other people here has bad spelling to. I know that my English is far from perfect. But it seems to be more accepted if you are older for some reason. Or perhaps more correctly, it is less tolerated from "kids". I have often seen threads that has some pretty bad attitudes against young people. The "everything was better back then" crowd can get noisy.
Well said! I've seen bashing happen to many younger members of this forum (myself included) because their work (photo quality, spelling, weathering, just to name a few) were not quite up to scratch with some of the other posters' work.
The thing is, with some of these cases, I've seen other older posters with work of the same quality, and no one degraded them for it! Age seems to be a generalization of work quality. I've seen work by teen modelers that would put some older modelers' work to shame.
I wonder why the older members do this, do they think we don't care? When this happened to me, I was hurt, and now I have to work to not keep a grudge against those involved. You know who you are!
However, most people here are very respectful of us teens, treating us as equals and taking our advice seriously. Still, many of them, no matter how good their intentions, treat us a little differently than others. They end PM's with phrases like "Your layout shows much potential for someone your age" and such. Why does our age have anything to do with our layout potential? True, many younger modelers act differently than adults, but still, there's something to be said for equal treatment without any assumptions about age.
Don't get me wrong, the posters I mentioned have extremely good intentions, and I appreciate their advice, and they have almost achieved mentor status in my mind. It's great that veterans of this hobby can help those of us who haven't been around as long.
The teens here tend to band together, there are both a "Teen Railfan Place" and a "Teen Model Railroader Place" on these forums, which I frequent, and I also belong to a teen forum dealing with both model and prototype railroads. I count many of them as my friends.
I'll second that, Magnus, Keep us updated BNSF!
Stay in Model Railroading and only model in one scale.
Russell
BNSF,
I often read your threads. I got young kids my self, younger then you but still, I see a lot of the issues that you are facing with them. And as Stein put so well, sometimes we adults suffer from change of interests to often ourselves. I know I do.
So stick with this hobby if you like it. Change and change again. It's normal and OK. As long as you are having fun that is alright. Keep on posting and keep us updated on where you go.
Magnus
Model railroading is a multi faceted hobby. There is building rolling stock, operating, benchwork, tracklaying, electronicking, weathering, layout design, prototype research, structure modeling, scenicking, kitbashing, painting and decaling, DCC, model photography, computer control, scratchbuilding, railfanning, and doubtless others that will come to mind. Think about which parts have appeal to you. Try some of the ones you haven't tried out yet. Not all of them even require a working layout. For the rolling stock modeler even the simpliest layout allows him to watch his latest model actually run, as opposed to a mere static display.
As far as a "starter" set. Think of it as a collection of track (always usable) rolling stock (basis for kitbashing or repainting), a power pack (always usable). Plus, you will find the market value of used model railroad stuff is pretty low, hardly worth putting it in a yard sale.
David Starr www.newsnorthwoods.blogspot.com
Ok now to get to what I came on here for,
I redid the track and this time I think I'll add some building and scenery (other than a grass mat).
It's just a simple loop but I took yalls advice and added in a couple spurs, I branched of the main line, then I put a switch conected to the one connected to the main and it loops around and the origen switch goes back at a slite curve then straight.
twhite You said that your Dad won't let your sell your stuff--is it possibly because it was a gift from him to you, like a Christmas or birthday present?
You said that your Dad won't let your sell your stuff--is it possibly because it was a gift from him to you, like a Christmas or birthday present?
Well, 3/4 no and 1/4 yes on the answer to that question, I buy the stuff my self, because none of my family members knows what to buy, like scale, what the hecks a santa fe northern?, (still continuing) is it the right pain job? So I just ask for money for birthday and christmas and get the stuff I want but covers a little less than 1/3 of the stuff I have, most of it I bought with my own $$.
BTW: I do get all A's (well I have a 89% in LA which is 1% away from an A), I play football, I'm on on the chess team, I work on the farm and I mow yards, so dont't think I set around at home doing nothing but this.
Been Nothing Since Frisco (BNSF)I'll see if I can find that book, but right now I'm trying to figur out what to do. I'm wanting to go to n scale but most of my stuf is ho. I may disasemble all the track and completly rebuild the track plan.
I'll see if I can find that book, but right now I'm trying to figur out what to do. I'm wanting to go to n scale but most of my stuf is ho. I may disasemble all the track and completly rebuild the track plan.
Been Nothing Since Frisco (BNSF) I'll see if I can find that book, but right now I'm trying to figur out what to do. I'm wanting to go to n scale but most of my stuf is ho. I may disasemble all the track and completly rebuild the track plan.
It is perfectly normal for children/young teenagers to be impatient, to be very enthusiastic about their every new thought, not being very realistic about their own skill level relative to the difficulty of what they want to do, just wanting to dive in and start something without "wasting" any time on thinking and planning first, to want to make sweeping changes, and not being very good at finishing what they start.
Some of us adults still have trouble with quite a few of those things, too :-)
But it is also perfectly normal for parents to go "why can't you use what you already have, instead of starting over with something new ?". Often accompanies by the observation along the lines of "money doesn't grow on trees" and exhortations to "stick with it".
In this case, listen to your dad. What is the tearing hurry ? Why do you need to start over right now? What harm would it do to stick with the stuff you already have and improving that instead of selling everything and starting over ?
Also, you should take a break from building a layout to go read more and go look at more pictures of layouts.
In addition to this forum ("General Discussion (Model Railroader)", maybe you actually should go read some books on starting out in model railroading, layout design etc. Buy the books or borrow em from your local library - I am sure they also have interlibrary loans.
You apparently also need to think some more about what you want to accomplish and why. The "what" and "why" is usually more important than the "how" in pretty much everything you do.
Why do you want to build a layout ? What do do you want on your layout ? Why ? What limits to you have to stay within ? Why ?
Once you have taken the time to figure out your own honest answers to those questions, you can start figuring out "how to get from where I am to where I want to be ?".
You don't have to share your real motives or limitations with people in this forum, but you need to know them for yourself. Because if you don't have a reasonable idea about where you want to end up, it can be kinda hard to figure out which way would be the smartest to take to get there.
Grin,Stein
First let me say that some of the advice given here are great words of wisdom and a little that was out right rude, you need to figure out just what part of the hobby your tired with?, is it your layout design, is it your over all look of your layout?, is it lacking something, from reading your post it sounds like your tired with the whole layout?
Is it the scale you don't like?
I find it hard to offer advice when I'm not sure what part your tired of?
If it is the look of the layout try different paint jobs on your structures to breath new life into them, if your rolling stock looks boring, give the cars some life by re-painting them, if it is the track plan, redo the tracks and recycle the structures and kitbash them into new configurations?
If you can fine tune your statement about growing tired with your present layout please let us know which parts you are not happy with and we might be able too be of better help too you?
Hang in there with the hobby you'll get past this obstical and just may learn something about yourself along the way!
What ever you decide remember to have fun along the journey.
Best of luck to you, your a good kid and I'm sure your Dad is proud to have you as his son.
Your Model Rail Roading friend, Jess Red Horse.
Put your stuff away for now. Is it possible its just the type of layout you now have , there are many many types and different era's. If this is your hobby you have to find out what draws you to it.
Lynn
Present Layout progress
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/11/p/290127/3372174.aspx#3372174
Hmmm....
This offensive Etraitor character has had his account deactivated, but his posts remain. I guess something still needs to be done.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
BNSF:
Before you think about changing scales right now, you might want to go to your LHS and see if there are any books available about track plans for your size of layout. You said that your Dad won't let your sell your stuff--is it possibly because it was a gift from him to you, like a Christmas or birthday present? If so, being a Dad myself, we're kind of funny that way, we don't like to see something we have given with a lot of love being rejected after a while by our sons. We always hope that it will be a beginning for a love of a hobby. I know, I went through this with my own son quite a while ago. It kind of hurts us. But what I did was find out what my son really wanted and worked with him to get it. It all turned out for the best.
You say it's a 'starter' set. Well, we ALL have gone though 'starter' sets of one kind or another. I did way back when HO wasn't supposed to stay on the tracks--and a lot of times, it DIDN'T, LOL! What I would do is get a book of small track-plans from your hobby shop and take a look through them. There might be some that look pretty interesting. Show them to your Dad. Get HIM a little interested, too, so he knows that you're serious about the hobby. So maybe he can help you do some chores around the farm that will allow you to earn money to get some of the things you really NEED to keep your interest.
Hey, I've BEEN there, when I was a young man, also. You're not alone, not by a long shot. Look for a trackplan that you think will work for you right now to keep your interest up.
Okay, your spelling isn't that good--at 12 mine wasn't anything to shout about either--but I really ADMIRE your love of the hobby and your willingness to ask we Older Dudes about what you should be doing and looking for. I really wish you the best, and take a look at some other trackplans that might continue your interest in the hobby.
Best to you,
Tom
Tom View my layout photos! http://s299.photobucket.com/albums/mm310/TWhite-014/Rio%20Grande%20Yuba%20River%20Sub One can NEVER have too many Articulateds!
First off do not follow any advice coming from that idiot Jeff Wimberley! Second get a *** job if you are at least 16. Well since you are a dumb redneck go back to school to learn how to spell and get a little bit more education before worrying about building a train layout, THEN get a *** job so you can buy your own stuff. Stop whining too! Talk to your father about other alternatives this is not a mediator forum site! Your questions should read "How to handle my dad?"
Whne I was your age I would assemble one track plan after another until I found something I was happy with.
Dr. Frankendiesel aka Scott Running BearSpace Mouse for president!15 year veteran fire fighterCollector of Apple //e'sRunning Bear EnterprisesHistory Channel Club life member.beatus homo qui invenit sapientiam
TrainManTyWhen I was 12 I switched from that scheme I mentioned earlier (introduced to me in a MR book called HO Railroad from Start To Finish, by Jim Kelly) to my current car card and waybill system.
Well, I actually started out with a more interesting layout on a few 4 by 8 boards me and my dad assembled in a donut shape on sawhorses in the basement. That layout evolved to where it had about 10 stub end industries, all trailing point (behind the locomotive) switches, and a long track running into the wall as an interchange. The interchange was where I swapped cars from the layout with cars in an old bookshelf next to the layout. There was a rudimentary operating system consisting of old business cards saying things like "Hillside Chocolate receive 1 covered hopper sugar" (I did have a chocolate factory, and while the realism suffered (sugar really isn't received in grain hoppers) it sure was fun to have one!) which provided enough realism for me.
The scenery and realism really was lacking, but that layout provided countless hours of operating fun for me... Ah, the good old days!
So, my reccomendation?
Build some sidings, and write up some operating cards, and feel free to adapt the industries to whatever you like. Once you get used to it, it's a lot of fun. And when you feel you're ready to move on with the operating system, it's easy. When I was 12 I switched from that scheme I mentioned earlier (introduced to me in a MR book called HO Railroad from Start To Finish, by Jim Kelly) to my current car card and waybill system.
Don't give up! I started out on a warping 4 by 8 sheet of plywood on the floor, pushing the trains by hand until age 6 because I was afraid of the noisy 15+ year old power pack! My parents eventually realized what a great hobby it was for me, and now my layout takes up almost half of our basement. Hopefully your parents will eventually realize that a hobby like this is a much better way to spend your time than video games, or especially drugs, cigarettes, and other stupid things, as you get older.
Just my
(this measage has no sarcasum UNLESS NOTED)
Texas Zepher,
Thank you for pointing that out, I thought the scenic ridge would be a bit more complicated than that. I'll figure out something else.
Been Nothing Since Frisco (BNSF) Ok, I think I have an idea. Right now I have a 5 1/4' x 4ft layout that has an HO double loop and an N scale loop, what i plan to do is to *tear all that down*, get the scenic ridge layout kit from woodland scenics (I'll get the buildings later), what track is needed (I already have some snap track) set that up on the layout bord I have now, then later I'll **jack up** the scenic ridge layout 4" off the bord and run the HO around and under it. I haven't finalised the plan yet, I'll talk to my dad.
Ok, answer this question, "how is the Scenic Ridge layout operationally different from what you have now"? The answer is - not much. The Scenic Ridge railroad is basically a big loop with a single siding on it. If you connected your current two loops of HO track by raising one to cross over the other, and then add a turnout and a siding, you would have the same basic layout. I think you would go to all that work, buy the new one and be just as "tired" of it as you are with this one. I am not seeing a lot of thought going into what you want to accomplish with your pike.
In 7th grade drafting class is where I started doing serious layout design work. I had completed all the required work (with a grade of A+) so the teacher let me work on model railroading stuff.
Tjsingle If its because of money get a job, or save up.
If its because of money get a job, or save up.
Well........... I'm 12 but I work on the farm and mow the yard, I do have some saved, I'll see if I can figure somethinf out.
MrKLUKE Please take this advice from a parent of straight A students. You are very young and need to concentrate on your school work because you have a long road ahead. The world is getting tougher and tougher to deal with. Lay off the computer as much as possible. Spend most of your time either hitting the books or playing outside or playing an instrument or something more constructive than blabbing on forums. Also, don't even mess with networking sites...they are worse time-wasters than TV. That's my advice. Take it or leave it!! Good luck. Jeff (MrKLUKE)
Please take this advice from a parent of straight A students. You are very young and need to concentrate on your school work because you have a long road ahead. The world is getting tougher and tougher to deal with. Lay off the computer as much as possible. Spend most of your time either hitting the books or playing outside or playing an instrument or something more constructive than blabbing on forums. Also, don't even mess with networking sites...they are worse time-wasters than TV. That's my advice. Take it or leave it!! Good luck.
Jeff (MrKLUKE)
And as a parent and a straight A university student my self I say enjoy life, use the Internet to do all those fun things that are on it. But mostly, just enjoy your life and do what YOU like.
My Dad and I both share common intrests Basketball, trains, railfaning, and fishing. Jeez when I was railfanning he gets all excitied and steals the camera gets maybe 10 pictures of one train. If its because of money get a job, or save up. Me and him buy stuff together, or I'll will help him for example cut down the tree, when thats done when do something fun like going to work on my layout, railfan, play basketball, etc. Any insight why your dad won't help you out?