SouthPennI'll start with the metal clip that Athearn uses to hold couplers on. They don't pop off very often, but when then they do, they can cause a mess
I would put this near the top of my list, too! I have been systematically sorting through my freight roster and weeding out some of my old "friends" — rolling stock that has been with me for over thirty years, so some of the Athearn BBs with the clips are being retired. Worse yet are some of the Atlas cars with the two-piece plastic couplers (I don't know the brand of these**, I don't mean the EZ mate or McHenrys) and the box cover is glued on so as NEVER to come free without destroying the draft gear! A few of the Proto and Accurail cars have glued boxes, too but seem to pry open and can be re-glued if necessary.
** edit: I looked them up, Accumate
Another thing that bugs me are, well — BUGS. I don't know how many of you have basement layouts, and my basement is nice and dry, well lighted, has a frame wall with drywall and insulation, carpet, ceiling and spiders! Every time I have to get under the layout, or even in an aisle, I'm fighting off cobb webs. I've used all sorts of sprays, vacuumed, dusted and broomed and still... they're everywhere. I even have little tan spots on my cars from some sort of insect "droppings".
Not quite as bad as Mark H with a black widow derailing a train, although I chased a mouse out of a tunnel once with a fast US Mail train!) AND like Mark mentioned, the gremlins that show up only when you have visitors. Happens to me all the time!
Like Guy, I also find parts along the right-of-way and I wonder where they come from. I found a couple of Accurail pegs... and still haven't found the cars they fell out of! I have a huge can of various screws that I've salvaged from old computers and lots of other electronic gear that I find screws that I can use in place of those poor fitting pins.
Some other manufacturer has a sort of "brake beam" made out of "slippery engineering plastic" that I keep finding along the r-of-w. It looks like a shiny black TV antenna. Fortunately they haven't caused any derailments that I know of... at least until I have visitors again!
For any Digitrax users, I sure wish they could design the throttle so you could keep the rechargeable battery in place and just put the throttle in a charging cradle... like my cheap cordless phone has. Sure, it only takes f few moments to put batteries in, or out, or back in again... I use four throttles when I'm operating. It gets old real fast!
Still, the pleasures of this hobby outnumber the hassles by 100:1 (I do have my beer, and a bathroom near the layout ) so I have learned to deal with the inevitable oops moments!
I'll remember a few other things to add to the list but I have to go look for my fancy wire strippers right now... I think I left them—no wait, maybe I used them in the garage? I'll get back to you on that.
All In Good Fun!!! Ed
To get something that is a roadname that isn't produced much and having to pre-order 3-6 months ahead of time
Having passenger cars cost more than $30.00 as I think passenger cars are over priced.
I'm going to add my votes to the small part conundrum - I'm good getting them off the sprue safely, and storing them in a small box so they don't vanish during construction, but still they can spring out of tweezers during construction. I have reduced losses a great deal by a) adding a small wall of styrene around the sides and back of the work area and b) adding a section of gutter (with ends capped) across the front of the work bench so parts propelled only by gravity (e.g. "dropsies") end up there. Still, I can't really build a roof for the workarea (I'm sure someone has do so for their workbench), so maybe I need to get an large floor mat with a color that will match no small part I ever would conceivable work with - maybe hot pink? Blue tape works for securing the parts when cutting them off sprue, but its too cumbersome to use when they need to go into position.Even though I clean, repaint, and keep my fine point art brushes stored bristle up, after a (too small) number of uses the bristles start going all over the place and I can't keep a nice point after that.
A model structure containing 24 window openings, 24 window castings and 23 pieces of glazing.
What davidmbedard said!
-Bob
Life is what happens while you are making other plans!
Have fun with your trains
BRAKIEAnd above all accidentally dipping my paint brush in my coffee!!! Bang HeadAngry
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Those Model Power "removable tanks" that keep showing up on ebay.
Just be glad you don't have to press "2" for English.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQ_ALEdDUB8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hqFS1GZL4s
http://s73.photobucket.com/user/steemtrayn/media/MovingcoalontheDCM.mp4.html?sort=3&o=27
Nobody has even mentioned ABSOLUTE ENEMY #1 (at least mine). Everything else mentioned, and yes, I can relate to many of them, all combined still pale in comparison.
The one thing I absolutely HATE in regards to this hobby is multiple metal wheels riding on all metal rails and somehow failing to produce a path of electrical conductivity.
That is far and away the single most annoying problem I face, and it alone has made me feel that if I had to start over, I wouldn't.
Yes, I clean my track and wheels fastidiously, and it works. For maybe a couple weeks. I live in a dusty area, and there is no way around it. And I pack weight into my locomotives to help.
My eyesight becoming blurry? Wear glasses. Coupler fails? replace with Kadee draft gear and "whiskers". Flinging tiny parts, I can deal with that. Losing that tool for 15 minutes? In 16 I'll be back under way. Derailments annoy, but the problem can be isolated and corrected. Snobs, know-it-alls and attitudes don't phase me the least.
Locomotive stalls? AAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRGGGGGGGGEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Enemy # 2, is following at a fair distance. As already mentioned, it is that the worst failures are when someone's watching. Often, that's because of enemy # 1
I probably have close to 40 locomotives. If I could somehow do so, I would trade 35 of them all for a magical way to make my choice of 5 that would just never stall. Or heck, anyone do the choosing, I'll take what I could get.
I run DC. If DCC absloutely guarenteed this, I'd switch tomorrow.
You asked. Dan
What really seriously irritates me those are those miserable so and sos who are so convinced that their blinkered narrow ideas are the only correct way to model railroads and then make it their duty to loudly disparage others.
Is that akin to complicating simple fixes or when HO modelers tries to answer N Scale questions base on antiquated knowledge or has no real time hands on experience?
Some of the complicated answers to a simple question really irks me as much as "its my layout" or "do whatever you want" especially in discussions on prototypical operations.
After all what does "its my layout" or "do whatever you want" have to do with a operation discussion?
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
SouthgateI run DC. If DCC absloutely guarenteed this, I'd switch tomorrow. You asked. Dan
I have found DCC/Sound is very touchy when it comes to dirty track so,if I will be using one of my DCC/Sound engines I break out the 91% alcohol,rags(actually I use 12 gauge shotgun cleaning patches) and bright boy before operation..No need for cleaning if I use the DC engines.
Not including what others mentioned, other things that annoys me in model railroading is inflation, and the time when you forgot to pretest the spray can for clogs/chunks. (I had to rebuy an expensive engine, because the shell was covered with paint that came out chunky/grity. )
Charles
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Modeling the PRR & NYC in HO
Youtube Channel: www.youtube.com/@trainman440
Instagram (where I share projects!): https://www.instagram.com/trainman440
'What really seriously irritates me those are those miserable so and sos who are so convinced that their blinkered narrow ideas are the only correct way to model railroads and then make it their duty to loudly disparage others."
BRAKIEIs that akin to complicating simple fixes or when HO modelers tries to answer N Scale questions base on antiquated knowledge or has no real time hands on experience?
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
Dan:
DCC is actually making big strides in terms of reducing engine stalling. The relatively recent developement of 'keep alive' technology is changing the 'stalling engine' problem significantly. My personal experience is with tiny two axle switchers (critters if you will). I love building them but in the past getting them to run consistently has been very frustrating. Every time I wanted to put one of them on the track I had to vigorusly clean the track or stalling was a given, particularly over turnouts. Then I decided to remove the flywheels and put a Loksound Power Pack in the space. The difference was amazing! Literally, there was no stalling. The critters would crawl through turnouts at speed step 1 without hesitation. One of them had code 88 wheels (since replaced) that caused the switcher to almost fall over as the narrow wheels dropped into the gap at the frog. Still no stalling even at the lowest speed.
Here are a couple of videos showing the switchers going through turnouts. The yellow boxcab has the keep alive. The CP 25 tonner did not have it installed when the video was made:
Maybe it is time to consider DCC. At least keep yourself up to date on the keep alive technology.
I have absolutely no desire to model three rail tinplate of any prototype, Swiss metre gauge, German Marklin, British OO, Lego trains, any scale other than HO, roundy roundy layouts and the Union Pacific.
I've seen a Lionel O-27 layout built on 36" x 80" hollow core door that featured Santa Fe trains.
Oddly that got my attention and should I ever need to change to a larger scale due to poor eyesight I kept that idea in mind..
steemtrayn Those Model Power "removable tanks" that keep showing up on ebay.
Dave,
I had to search eBay and see what these things were, exactly. Now I see what you mean! The silly things must be reproducing themselves. There's even a seller that has a flat car with a pair of them in a Walthers Proto box!
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Model-Power-Gulf-Gasoline-6225-with-Tanks-/121482520215?hash=item1c48ec2697
Too bad you couldn't use them for fishing bobbers...
Ed
"For any Digitrax users, I sure wish they could design the throttle so you could keep the rechargeable battery in place and just put the throttle in a charging cradle... like my cheap cordless phone has. Sure, it only takes f few moments to put batteries in, or out, or back in again... I use four throttles when I'm operating. It gets old real fast!"
Digitrax throttle battery covers. As often as you need to replace batteries, the cover could have been made a bit less fragile.
If everybody is thinking alike, then nobody is really thinking.
http://photobucket.com/tandarailroad/
My list:
People who do difficult things well without apparent effort. Especially if they are young. Grrr.
Being absolutely certain an article in an old MR exists and not being able to find it using the index. (Sometimes the indexing is at fault. Sometimes the article turns out to have been in the NMRA magazine )
Buying the same thing twice when I only need one. Bad enough with structure kits or rolling stock. Really annoying with books! And really really annoying when I buy the same thing more than twice.
Dirty track/wheels bring operations to a halt during operating sessions.
How-to articles which I read and re-read and still somehow cannot grasp what the author is trying to convey to me (happens most often with wiring articles). Related gripe: clinics where I simply am not understanding what the author is saying (again happens most often with wiring or DCC clinics, particularly where the clinician has an engineering background).
And somewhat related to the above - incoherent kit instructions.
Coupler draft gear boxes which seem to have been designed with the primary purpose of defeating the installation of Kadee couplers (admittedly this was more common decades ago).
Dave Nelson
Don't write those off so fast..You an make a decent looking septic tank cleaning truck with those tanks or if you model a farming area you can make a decent looking non-potable water truck.
BRAKIE steemtrayn Those Model Power "removable tanks" that keep showing up on ebay. Don't write those off so fast..You an make a decent looking septic tank cleaning truck with those tanks or if you model a farming area you can make a decent looking non-potable water truck.
Well, you could cut off the domes, repaint a bit, and start hauling Soy Sauce
Forumites that begin a post with "I've been modeling for xx number of years" and
thinking that anyone with less should never question anything they say.
"The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination."-Albert Einstein
http://gearedsteam.blogspot.com/
I consider myself friendly and cool headed, yet, one thing that really annoys me is whenever a visitor comes over..............sees a colorful piece of rolling stock or locomotive on my shelf...........and just HAS TO PICK IT UP! On two occasions detail pieces have fallen off.
I'm much more alert to the "gotta-grab-gotta-see!" syndrome, and immediately caution the visitor the split second I see a hand reaching towards the shelf.
In the old days when my fleet was 90% Athearn Blue Box it was no big deal since, both, rolling stock and the "wide boy" locomotives were virtually indestructable. But this is the day and age of $100-$200 priced rtr locomotives, $300 "high end" locomotives, $25-$80 priced freight and passenger rolling stock, and LOTS of thin, fragile parts. Strange wandering hands can quickly create a stress inducing disaster in just a few seconds.
"I like my Pullman Standards & Budds in Stainless Steel flavors, thank you!"
SouthPennWhat irritates you in model railroading?
Seeing an otherwise great looking picture in Trackside Photos, then seeing an unsightly rail joiner. As good looking as track can be--"it's a model itself" etc.--something needs to be done about rail joiners that are a scale 4' long and 1' thick.
When the little spring pops off the coupler.
Bounces around when it lands, and if you manage to find it, its hard to back in. Many times has one flung itself into oblivion while I am tring to slip it back in place.
-S. Connor
Dave, your videos most definately got my attention! I wasn't exactly bluffing when I said I'd switch, but the part about tomorrow, well I don't have the bucks today. But I have built some critters too, and want them to work like yours there. Bigger engines too. I am now willing to give DCC a very serious look.
The only problem this could create, I'll be at the workbench working on locomotives, running them, running them, running them...I'll never get my scenery done!
Thanks for the enlightenment. I will look into it. Dan
Dust on the layout. Cleaning dust off the layout. Even covers in a finished room fail to eliminate the insideous menace.
Buying enough supplies to start and finish a scene only to realize you miss calculated and your local hobby shop is out of what you need to finish the project.
davidmbedardTamyia glue bottle seal ring coming out. Running out of flex. Running out of cork. Friends who enjoy and process beans then come over to model. Shipping costs to Canada. Ebay sellers who refuse to ship to Canada. The C word. Atta-boys. People who expect an Atta-boy. A falling exacto knife hitting my foot. Detail parts that get lost in the carpet. Plastic couplers. Dull blades. Bad lighting. Not having a toilet in the basement. Dried paint in the bottle. Paint bottles that refuse to open. Being told not to bother because mfg X has announced the particular model. Mfg X producing said model and passing off a foobie as the waited for model. CA cement on your fingers. CA cement on the model where it should not be. Engineering plastic and it's inability to be bonded. Haters. Posers. Know-it-alls. Having to source out NOS to build a kit. People who buy brass and pass it off as their "work". MRC decoders. Tsunamis with no CV5. Factory light boards. Athearns use of bulbs. People who start a thread with a question and leave it unresolved. Trolls. Thin-skinners. Over weathering. Graffiti on RTR taking up room on LHS shelves. Loud furnace fan. Time flying by. Posters who finish part way through a wo
Ditto. Also add limited runs of products.
Mike
Receiving a birthday present gift certificate for your local hobby shop a week after it closes suddenly and without notice.
Lackawanna Route of the Phoebe Snow