Here is a short list of things people have said about my layout on their first visit,(note) some are not in the hobby.
1. Do you enjoy playing with your trains?
2.I think you have enough trains
3.How fast will they go?
4.Does your wife approve of your trains?
5.You have too much solder where you join the track
6.Why did your train derail over there.
7.Are there any fish in that pond?
8.Is it ok if I run your trains?
9.That chemical plant would get into trouble with the e.p.a. because you dont have enough berms around the storage tanks.
10.Did you build all the buildings yourself?
the old train man Here is a short list of things people have said about my layout on their first visit,(note) some are not in the hobby. 1. Do you enjoy playing with your trains? 2.I think you have enough trains 3.How fast will they go? 4.Does your wife approve of your trains? 5.You have too much solder where you join the track 6.Why did your train derail over there. 7.Are there any fish in that pond? 8.Is it ok if I run your trains? 9.That chemical plant would get into trouble with the e.p.a. because you dont have enough berms around the storage tanks. 10.Did you build all the buildings yourself?
Counters and additional comments
1. Yes and so does the rest of the family
2. Really? I think I could go for some more steam engines and steeple cabs. Care to donate to the cause?
3. As fast as I want them to. Scale is 23mph. With the hotshot being 45mph.
4. I dunno honey? Do you approve of my trains? (likely reply is...Yes, now stop bothering me this coupler is being sticky.)
5. You're welcome to come and help me solder. Critisms will be given gratis.
6. Probably because the trackwork buckled. Otherwise it was the evil eye and a bad luck. Do you center those, if you do there is going to be an excorsism. Grab that hammer, and drill. We've got an additional 4 feet of layout to get done to get rid of the bad spirits.
7. I'll get the rod and reel. You can find out.
8. Sure here's the time table. The hotshot has to be in Portage by 2:40 on the time clock. Make sure that you don't miss a stop either.
9. What EPA? The steam and overhead electrics aren't enough of a give away as to when the era is? Maybe the cars will help?
10. Nope. My daughter has built one or two, my wife a couple and one of my daughters friend a couple.
Questions asked.
1. Where's the overhead wire? snap comment...Ordered it hasn't arrived yet for instillation. Just imagine it there...I'm sure it will look better than I will manage.
2. Can you model anything more obsuce? I dunno, I just don't have the room for the zeppelin shed and airship.
3. Where's the generating plant for the trolleys? Right there in the wall. We've upgrade the outlets to three prong. The ground line is important.
4. Why do you model trains. Well it's either this or beer, and I'm pretty sure that my wife prefers this to the beer.
5. Why isn't there a tunnel? Because the Central Sands of Wisconsin has a surprising lack of tunnels in it.
6. How much did this cost? Ballpark or specific numbers
7. Couldn't you find a better hobby. What like your beer can collection...do you have one for the Portage Brewery?
8. Where are the diesels? Not invented yet.
9. Couldn't you run them? Sure but they haven't been invented yet.
10. You do realize that you've killed the resale value of the house? Why I finished the basement two rooms? Everything else is removeable.
The top 10 things my visitors say:
10. I need to use the bathroom. Where is it?
9. Why aren't the trains running?
8. I need to go upstairs and refresh my drink.
7. Why did you get more of the basement than Gail did?
6. Gee you have MR right back to the 1940s.
5. Gee you have a lot of Kodak slide carousels
4. You'll never finish this.
3. You must have bought most of your stuff in the 1970s.
2. Your layout covers up that shuffleboard court built into the flooring.
1. You haven't made a bit of progress since the last time I was here.
Dave Nelson
the old train man Here is a short list of things people have said about my layout on their first visit,(note) some are not in the hobby.
1. Do you enjoy playing with your trains? - they really ask this? No I have this hobby because I dislike having fun.
2.I think you have enough trains - LOL
3.How fast will they go? - That one must be asked by kids, am I right?
4.Does your wife approve of your trains? - asked by men, how many men have wives who disapprove of their hobby.
5.You have too much solder where you join the track - probably asked by other model railroaders - esp who have difficulty with the soldering iron.
6.Why did your train derail over there. - ah, wise guy!
7.Are there any fish in that pond? - asked by kids again right?
8.Is it ok if I run your trains? - asked by kids - don't do it, don't do it!!
9.That chemical plant would get into trouble with the e.p.a. because you dont have enough berms around the storage tanks. - probably a rare question - not that many are in that business, I used to be an environmental geologist but really - leave the work at home!
10.Did you build all the buildings yourself? - asked by a non-hobbyist as there aren't that many "RTR" buildings on the market are there?
-----
4. Why do you model trains. Well it's either this or beer, and I'm pretty sure that my wife prefers this to the beer. - My wife likes beer pretty well actually but mostly goes with the Merlot.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
May I add one........ When I was between wives, a well to do girlfriend's first words out of her mouth when she saw my room filling HO layout...........
"How much did all this stuff cost?"
Oh, she lasted a week or two and she was GONE!!!
ENJOY !
Mobilman44
Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central
riogrande5761 the old train man Here is a short list of things people have said about my layout on their first visit,(note) some are not in the hobby. ----- 4. Why do you model trains. Well it's either this or beer, and I'm pretty sure that my wife prefers this to the beer. - My wife likes beer pretty well actually but mostly goes with the Merlot.
9. I can't leave it at work. I'm a geomorphologist and cartographer... Scenery that is out of place is painful.
4. She figures if I'm going to spend the money, I should do it on things she likes and the kids can help with....(we'll avoid the discussions of the kids helping with the beer thank you.)
I will add one that was asked of me 30 or so years ago by my sister in law when she looked at my N Scale layout..
Does Sis know you spend a lot of money on toy trains?
I don't know.. Ask her since she bought,painted and built all those buildings...
You're both nuts!
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
How many LIONS does it take to build a layout like this?
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
BroadwayLion How many LIONS does it take to build a layout like this?
Are you sure they don't say, "so this is what it means to be a monk, where do I sign up".
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
At Boothbay Railway Village:
Do you pack away when the museum closes for the year?Nuff said!
Where are the bathrooms?
You have been working on this for 8 years? when will it be done? Define done???
How many trains can you run at one time? Usually 4, 2 on each main line track; we have run 6
Can I have a go at it (he said, looking at the throttle)? No
Why do they run so slow? Prototype speeds, and we need to balance the speeds of the 2 trains on each track, otherwise we have 1 long train instead of 2 shorter ones.
I want to see them crash? Usually from a 6 or 7 year old; these locomotives cost $200 or $300 each, do you want to pay for the damage?
"Chugga-chugga choo-choo whooo whooo" from a mom or dad with a 1 or 2 year old in their arms
where are the bathrooms?
George In Midcoast Maine, 'bout halfway up the Rockland branch
1. How much do your "trains" cost!
2. How long have you been working on this layout?
3. Why are you running the train so slow?
4. When will it be finished?
5. How many train cars on the layout?
6. Does your wife like the layout?
7. How big is it?
Frank
10 years
14 miles
9 trains
53 switches
20 minutes
Down the hall... we call it the throne room.
Because it is a very large room with a toilet mounted on a platform in the middle of the room.
No there are no partitions, just a toilet in the middle of the room.
Well what do you expect from a throne room.
Nope it's the only toilet in this building.
Because, the rest of the building was never built.
Jerry Britton
Modeling the Pennsylvania Railroad's Middle Division in the early 1950s
http://pennsyrr.com
Top ten things people say
1. What is the tape on the tracks for
2. Why is part of your table green and some pink
3. Why is it so messy
4. You need some more cars
5. Where are the buildings
6. Where are the people
7. What are all the wires for
8. Why is there two storise to your table
9. It is too dark
10. How do you run these things
Ooh. Make them crash.
You should make it go under the steps and out to the other room, around the wall, and back again.
How many hours, how much $ spent?
My dad has some old trains in a box we used to play with, want 'em?
Let's build a ramp and jump them.
Why is it so slow?
That's it?
Can we go back upstairs now?
T e d
keystonecrossingsHow long does it take to set this up every Christmas?
Usually asked by someone visiting my wife over the holidays . Never see them during the warmer months (late March - mid November.)
Actually, there are very few visitors to the railroad room - which suits me fine. (I don't count my wife as a visitor. After all, she started it all with a gift brass loco kit 55 years ago.)
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
Mid Mon Valley Model Railroad Club top 10 list of things said
10. What Scale is this? (HO)
9. Where's the bathroom
8. How long have you been in here? (10 years)
7. What do you use to run (NCE DCC)
6. Do you guys take donated items
5. How much did this cost?
4. Who owns the trains? (Mostly cluhb members)
3. Do you run steam trains?
2. Why isn't Thomas running?
And the number one question asked is......
Do you take this down every year? (two levels, spanning four rooms with a four level helix hung from the ceiling. )
(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).
The number one question:.... "How much does it cost?"
Other questions: .... "How many engines do you have?" ... "How much time did it take?" ....
Not a question, but my model railroad layout is called a "train set".
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
tedtedderson Ooh. Make them crash.You should make it go under the steps and out to the other room, around the wall, and back again.How many hours, how much $ spent?My dad has some old trains in a box we used to play with, want 'em?Let's build a ramp and jump them.Why is it so slow?That's it?Can we go back upstairs now?T e d
Ooh. Make them crash.You should make it go under the steps and out to the other room, around the wall, and back again.How many hours, how much $ spent?My dad has some old trains in a box we used to play with, want 'em?Let's build a ramp and jump them.Why is it so slow?That's it?Can we go back upstairs now?T e d
Ouch (to all of the above). If that was my experience, my model railroad which be a best kept secret. What model railroad? I don't have a train hobby. ;)
When will it be finished?
How do these (the locomotives) work?
How fast can they go?
Can I run it?
Still working on your train set?
What do all those buttons on your remote do?
Should get a BNSF train
Or MRL
Check out my work here:
http://rmd-painting.weebly.com/
1. WOW!
2. I mean, WOW!
3. I didn't know you could do this!
4. Did you build it yourself?
5. WOW!
6. Do ALL of these trains run?
7. How many trains are on the layout?
8. Did you build this too?
9. WOW!
10. I bet there's a lot of money spent here!
When most people see my layout for the first time, they can't believe it. They never knew anyone with a 'train set' like this. And then all the questions follow. Some 'mechanically or electrically' inclined have a lot of specific questions and realize how much you have to be 'multi talented' to build a layout like this. It does make me feel like I have accomplished what I was striving for.
-Bob
Life is what happens while you are making other plans!
The best question, answer, and rebuttal I have heard was years back while visiting a well known layout with two of my rail buddies.
The builder is a devout born again Chritian in your face type. When asked if he built the entire layout by himself, his responce in all seriousness was..."Jesus Christ built it."
One of my friends rebuttal was classic....."I guess that explains the excellent bench work, as I hear he was a hell of a carpenter."
I gets better....not only with this visit, but with the incredible comments I have heard from visitors at my pike over the decades.
HZ
This thread made me realize that my layout almost never gets visited by other model RRers. Only kids seem to ask "Can I drive the train?" I do let kids, even little ones run the trains under supervision.
The most common remark is "I'd never have the patience to do this."
The funniest comment I ever got was when a younger gal said something like "Doesn't it make you feel like God looking down at all this?"
Kids have asked how fast the trains will go. I clear the main and show 'em! My track can handle a pair of Athearn BB GP-35s and a dozen or so freight cars going all out on a Tech ll 2400. I admit it looks pretty silly.
I just thought of the one thing that sets my layout off (and tends to set me off.)
"Where's your bullet train?"
For the record, in 1964 the original Shinkansen route, along the shoreline, Tokyo - Osaka via Nagoya, was the only Shinkansen route. The others hadn't been built yet. Even today, the closest HSR tracks are fifty kilometers and a couple of mountain ranges from the Upper Kiso Valley.
Chuck (Modeling a little bit of Central Japan in September, 1964)
The best is from my 4 year old grandson:
Can we go play with your trains?
Enjoy
Paul
Things I hear:
Kevin
http://chatanuga.org/RailPage.html
http://chatanuga.org/WLMR.html
This is really nice. Thank you.
Why is it going so slow? Because it's a train, not a race car.
Oh.
Does that one run? Yes they all run.
Is that new? No, I've had that since the 90s (or 80s, or 70s, unless it is new)
Is that an Amtrak? That is what it says on the locomotives and every single car.
Is that a commuter train? Yes. It is Metrolink.
Oh and I see you do have the control car too. Yes they call that the suicide cab because it is sure death for the engineer if you get in a train wreck.
Oh there are the piggyback cars. Those are my favorite. Trucks and trains all in one place.
The container cars are realistic too. Thanks. They are scale models not toys. That is the difference.
One I forgot: "What does this switch (or button or....) do?" Usually said before the switch gets turned on.
http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/showgallery.php/cat/500/ppuser/4309