Is it to build the largest model railroad empire that has ever been created; or, create a model railroad that is so detailed it is impossible to tell from reality? Do you want to recreate a railroad from your childhood; so, as to sort of relive the past in miniature? Are goals even a part of the equasion and you simply wanted to enjoy yourself in the process of creating something with your own hands and put to use the creative portions of your brain?
What are your goals?
NP 2626 "Northern Pacific, really terrific"
Northern Pacific Railway Historical Association: http://www.nprha.org/
None of the above.My goals is a simple and one that hasn't changed in the past 60s years I enjoyed the hobby..Industrial or yard switching operation by following prototype practices..
The other goal is enjoying the hobby with my accepted modeling style that hasn't changed much over the past 60 years. In short I'm just as happy as a two headed woodpecker in a bucket of worms switching cars with my BB GP35 as I'm with my Kato GP35.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
I think that I am in trouble because I have no goal. I started building my current layout in 2007 with no other purpose in mind but to build a layout. Since "completion" in 2009, I have added several additions and made several modifications but with no other purpose in mind but to make it bigger.
I have spent an undue amount of time thinking about, and drawing plans for, a Dream Layout which would more closely replicate a portion of the actual prototype, but I lack the funds and the ambition to rip out my current layout and build the Dream Layout.
Right now, I find myself asking, what is this hobby all about anyway? I often wonder if lone wolf operators feel the same way.
Rich
Alton Junction
LION already *has* the biggest Subway Layout in North Dakota. It is not quite finished, but with the addition of a finished fascia the end of construction is in sight.
Not of course that construction will ever end, there will be details a plenty to add and add and add. The goal of the LION is to enjoy the hobby of him.
The goal of the railroad is that the LPP passengers will get to and from their work and appointments on time, with spare time to go out to Coney Island to enjoy the surff or a Nathan's Hot Dog. (Note to self: gotta build a Hot Dog Stand!)
All Bored!
RAOR
ps: LION ate the lone wolf.
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
BRAKIE None of the above.My goals is a simple and one that hasn't changed in the past 60s years I enjoyed the hobby..Industrial or yard switching operation by following prototype practices.. The other goal is enjoying the hobby with my accepted modeling style that hasn't changed much over the past 60 years. In short I'm just as happy as a two headed woodpecker in a bucket of worms switching cars with my BB GP35 as I'm with my Kato GP35.
Brakie, my suggestions were only examples, not a requirement that your goal should fit only one of those mentioned! Your post provided exactly what I was hoping to get: Stating what it is that you enjoy about the hobby!
My Model Railroading goals are to Share the model railroading experience with as many others as I can!
This is why I joined a Club to help in showing the General Public the FUN of Model Railroading.
That it is more of a Group experience than an Solo Lone Wolf thing.
In getting a group of Modelers together and having Operations Sessions on a regular basis - learning more about how real railroads operated and the friendship in a group setting.
Again getting like minded individuals together and taking long distance trips to just not see but attend a regular OPERATIONS Session at some of the more famous Layouts that have been featured in the Model Press.
Building a larger than average layout so that I too can host Operations and invite others to come share in the FUN of Model Railroading.
Helping others build their vision of a Railroad Model and eventually host Operations on their Home Layouts with a Group of fellow modelers!
BOB H - Clarion, PA
The only goal I ever had was to get the trains running. Having met that goal long ago, I have no master plan. My wife or I look at the layout and say "You know what it needs?"... And model railroading goes on.
Dave
Lackawanna Route of the Phoebe Snow
My goal- watch signals change as trains pass them per my signal plan everywhere on the layout while teaching my kids patience and a host of other things.
Just ripped out my entire layout (in progress 16x23 around the room) and about 2/3 of the bench work to build a new to improve radii and ops.
NP
As far as Model Railroading is concerned, what I wanted to get done (my goals) were pretty simple. I’ve been into hobbies almost my whole life and I have enjoyed these hobbies. Therefore my goal was only to have fun with the hobby! I have found that my interests were in the actual building part of the process and have determined the operating part was far less important to me. I am a lone wolf, only because I know of no other model railroaders in a 50 mile radius. I have no idea if I were to find other Model Railroaders in my area, if operations would become more fun to me.
I simply want to create a plausible freelance railroad from the mid-1950s in which both steam and diesel operated and passenger trains were still a large part of the equation. I want a realistic setting although I'm not into superdetailing. As long as it looks right, it's OK with me. My belief is that detail that is missing is not nearly as noticeable as detail that is wrong. For example, at present I have no signal lighting on the layout. Someday I may add those but for now, it is a detail I can live without. I want to operate my layout realistically although I'm not into doing tons of research to make sure I am doing everything correctly. My other core belief is that ignorance is bliss so if I don't know something I am doing isn't prototypical, as far as I'm concerned it is. I do have a large layout but I don't feel as if it is a comeptition to have a bigger layout than the next guy. I simply wanted a layout that would justify running a wide variety of consists from long distance streamliners to humble little mixed trains which will be part of my branchline when I add that piece to the layout.
As Kenneth Grahame said in Wind in the Willows (sort of)
"There is nothing — absolutely nothing — half so much worth doing as simply messing about in trains. In or out of ‘em, it doesn’t matter. Nothing seems really to matter, that’s the charm of it. Whether you get away, or whether you don’t; whether you arrive at your destination or whether you reach somewhere else, or whether you never get anywhere at all, you’re always busy, and you never do anything in particular; and when you’ve done it there’s always something else to do."
For me, this is a hobby and so I have no goals. Instead the above is my philosphy in the hobby.
Enjoy
Paul
My only goal is to have FUN. But I am kinda interested in that two headed woodpecker thing.
Modeling the Great Northern and Montana Rail Link with a touch of Burlington Northern in Western Montana in 50's-60's. Don't point out MRL did not exist then. I don't care. I am not tied to exact prototype and era.
I am also modeling the history of my family in the 22 years we spent in Western Montana. My major town is Helena, MT where I met and dated my wife. Last Chance Gulch will have the restaurant, movie theater and other places we frequented. A scratchbuilt model of the cabin I built when I moved to Montana will have a featured place. Also, the sleeping giant mountain north of Helena and the Gates of the Mountains have already found their place on my layout.
Layout includes Helena, Livingston (with maintenance yard), Bozeman Pass, Bozeman, Three Forks and Townsend, MT.
My goal was to build a railroad with a concept that continually inspires new horizons in my modeling. I feel the reason behind your railroad's existence -- real or imagined -- is key to finding that satisfaction. Part of my method is to keep things within reach, but also requiring a stretch, both literally and figuratively.
The layout is starting to look finished. I don't regret that at all and it was one of my sub-goals; a Plywood Pacific is OK for a few years, but you also want to see a finished landscape. A lot of my structures are stand-ins, but also good looking enough I'm a long way from replacing them at my leisure. New projects pop up regularly, inspired by what the layout has come to be, somthing not completely planned, but with a solid overall theme.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
Building a realistic model of a freelanced East end of the Wheeling & Lake Erie. My reason? Its a local road, and one very few people do.
(My Model Railroad, My Rules)
These are the opinions of an under 35 , from the east end of, and modeling, the same section of the Wheeling and Lake Erie railway. As well as a freelanced road (Austinville and Dynamite City railroad).
My dreams are... Finally finish a track plan that works with the modern era. Build it on a HCD. Power it up with DC or DCC (I don't know yet). Have fun!
The goals... I have a lot of diesels and freight cars to buy. Then getting track, structures and scenery.
The track plan is alright but it's missing a few industries, a diamond interchange next to a junction if that fits with 15" curves on a 36" door. A long main line train of 12 to 14 cars with a small local.
I model N Scale, Union Pacific and BNSF.
Amtrak America, 1971-Present.
Speaking of Woodpeckers, there is one pounding away on my steel roof as I type. If brains were dynomite he couldn't blow his feathers off.
After I got back to the hobby I really leaned towards the "making a scene look as real as Possible" direction. Getting my 4-4-0 chugging around the layout while I work away is most enjoyable. I hope to never get to the point where I am scratching my head looking for something else to do on the layout, but if I do I am glad I have room to expand.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
To learn, enjoy, and share a hobby with my wife of 30+ years.
Richard
To have fun?
I am now 68 years old, and I started my layout nine or ten years ago. It brings back my youth, taking me back to my boyhood. When I took down my teenage layout, I stored my trains, track and structures, and moved them with me from basements to attics as I made my way through life. When I came back to the hobby, my old friends were still with me and most of them grace my layout today. My layout brings back memories of my younger days in the 50s and 60s, with the trains I remember, the cars, the trucks and the advertisements. I put era-appropriate music on the stereo.
So, I guess my goal is to build a time machine. And you know what? That is fun.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
MisterBeasley So, I guess my goal is to build a time machine. And you know what? That is fun.
My layout has a Tardis. Will that do?
My number one goal is to have fun.
My model railroad is intended to simulate the Burlington Route in the 1950's through the early 1960's.
I grew up next to the Burlington in that era, and that is why I made those choices.
This era is when railroads offered quality passenger train service, and I miss that part of American history. Accordingly, I include passenger service typical of the CB&Q.
Freight service on my layout includes several industries at various locations on my railroad. Much of the cargo is shipped from one industry to another giving a purpose for the freight trains.
My layout design is sectional benchwork for an around-the-wall track plan. My method of construction is to build one section at a time and complete the scenery for it. That way, I did not get bored looking at just boards and track. Track is mostly flex track. Most turnouts have manual operations with Caboose Industries ground throws. Switch machines are only used in hard-to-reach locations.
The track plan is bascially a double track main line with a return loop at each end. There are various side tracks and branch lines along the way.
I have wirelss DCC, and the engineer walks with the train he is operating.
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
My goal has always been to live up to my inspiration: John Allen's Gorre & Daphetid Railroad. That layout had a wonderful balance of realism and whimsey. Reports are that it operated well and derailments were few. The layout was well crafted and there wasn't much plastic.
I'm realistic in that I cannot devote the time to my layout that John Allen did; his lifestyle was very different from mine. So, I'm not trying to do as extensive of layout, but his work is my measuring stick for character and quality.
Phil, I'm not a rocket scientist; they are my students.
SP&S modeler, 1960's give or take a decade or two for some equipment.
http://www.youtube.com/user/SGTDUPREY?feature=guide
Gary DuPrey
N scale model railroader
In a little more than three weeks I'll be 65. Am I one of the younger people on this forum?
NP2626 In a little more than three weeks I'll be 65. Am I one of the younger people on this forum?
Well first off I'm only 57......
My goals are simple, model a fictional, but believeable section of a large class one railroad in the early 1950's - a time before I was born - so it has nothing to do with my "childhood".
I simply like that time in history, the post war boom, the nature of railroading then, and the presence of both steam and diesel locos as well as the last of the glamorous passenger trains.
There are more specific goals - broad curves for good operation and looks, long trains, signaling and CTC, representing this Mid Atlantic region, and the fantasy of being the President of the Railroad (being a railroad engineer is secondary to the whole thing - I much prefer the dispatchers job).
And related to that is one important technical goal - to be able to operate the layout three different ways:
With a group of experianced operators with full blown CTC fast clock operation.
OR,
Operate it as a multi train display layout for non railroaders,
Operate as a lone wolf in a prototype manner.
I also want good scenery, but it need not be over the top detailed. Scenery is like many things in this hobby - very subjective.
These have been my goals for a long time - they have changed very little in more than 25 years now.
Sheldon
I'm 69. You're 65. AC is 57. That means you're middle-aged.
Tom
BroadwayLionNathan's Hot Dog. (Note to self: gotta build a Hot Dog Stand!)
Russell
Yes.
In 2 1/2 weeks (April 2) I will be 68.