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What makes your wife say You Have Got To Be Kidding Me?

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Posted by riogrande5761 on Friday, July 6, 2018 2:02 PM

I called my wife and told that purchasing the brass one is a good idea because it is so difficult to drill in the brown resin that Westerfield used in their old kits

"You've got to be kidding me!" was the response. I could have predicted that.

So when you get that response, does it mean you are pushing things with your wife a little too far?  I mean, why else would she say that?

EMD.Don

My wife doesn't give me any grief over my hobbies. But to be fair I don't give her a reason to get upset

Now my wife is from England and she gives me very little grief over the hobby.  But if she were to say something, it wouldn't be "you've got to be kidding", instead it would be, "you are having a laugh".

 

Rio Grande.  The Action Road  - Focus 1977-1983

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Posted by SeeYou190 on Friday, July 6, 2018 1:58 PM

Well... I did not buy the brass model.

I might try to assemble the Westefield kit next weekend. Now I am in the situation that if one of those brittle castings breaks while I am working on it, she might think I broke it on purpose just so I can buy the brass one!

-Kevin

Living the dream.

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Posted by EMD.Don on Friday, July 6, 2018 1:14 PM

My wife doesn't give me any grief over my hobbies. But to be fair I don't give her a reason to get upset as I am pretty good at not getting carried away with a lot of purchases. That and my son and I are equally passionate about our N Scale railroad so she likes that we share the hobby. I have recently been really into reading about the Pennsylvania RR, specifically their passenger services (I love the PA units in PRR russet and gold trim). Anyway, I found a great deal on a PA-1/PB-1 combo in my favorite PRR scheme that I purchased. There was also a set of PRR passenger cars that I passed on so as not to spend too much money at one time (I figured I would wait and buy some later). Well, my wife said "why didn't you just get the cars too?". Doh...by the time I got around to inquiring about buying the cars they were sold. Such is life...

Regards.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I have some good news and some bad news. The bad news is that both engines have failed, and we will be stuck here for some time. The good news is that you decided to take the train and not fly."

N Scale Railroader.
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Posted by wjstix on Friday, July 6, 2018 12:32 PM

I've had situations where my wife is in the frontroom watching TV and I'm in another room online. I buy something on ebay or renew a subscription or something and within 60 seconds I hear "NOW WHAT DID YOU BUY?" Don't know how she does it - voodoo? computer chip implanted in her brain? Who knows!

Wink

Stix
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Posted by SeeYou190 on Friday, July 6, 2018 11:57 AM

Well, I finally had another one.

I pulled the trigger and bought a Westerfield kit of the Union Pacific A-50-4 Automobile Boxcar. I love the way this car looks, and I have wanted one for quite a while.

This kit was only made (as far as I know) with the old brown resin that is brittle and very hard to work with. I paid about $35.00 for the kit in spite of this.

Well, today I got a "Watch List Match Alert" from Brasstrains that a brass model of the A-50-4 is available for the bargain price of $225.00!

I called my wife and told that purchasing the brass one is a good idea because it is so difficult to drill in the brown resin that Westerfield used in their old kits.

"You've got to be kidding me!" was the response. I could have predicted that.

-Kevin

Living the dream.

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Posted by Bering on Wednesday, March 7, 2018 7:42 PM

My long suffering girlfriend has trouble seeing the difference between the fabulous SP Bloody Nose scheme, and the dirty Penn Central scheme.  "They are both black with white letters" she says, I very much disagree with her.

Lost in the snow

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Posted by rs2mike on Tuesday, March 6, 2018 7:27 PM

everything i do gets that look and comment.  I cant win Stick out tongue

alco's forever!!!!! Majoring in HO scale Minorig in O scale:)

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Posted by SeeYou190 on Monday, March 5, 2018 7:42 PM

OldSchoolScratchbuilder
When I told her I was switching from HO to O

Ooof, that is a rough one.

I went through that 20 years ago when I switched from N to HO, especially since our available space was about 5% of what I had when I was in N scale.

Now I have 11 by 22 to play with. If I switch to O scale she might lose her mind!

-Kevin

Living the dream.

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Posted by OldSchoolScratchbuilder on Monday, March 5, 2018 5:19 PM

When I told her I was switching from HO to O. 

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Posted by Drumguy on Sunday, March 4, 2018 8:45 PM

I think all our better halves could argue it’s a fine line between tinfoil trouts and tinfoil hats. Indifferent

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Posted by moelarrycurly4 on Saturday, March 3, 2018 10:07 PM

It was the time she read in one of the issues of Model Railroader. Some one had an article where they had made foil trout for a stream. So I get the " are you going to make some foil trout?" which is kind of a " are you kidding me " statement. 

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Posted by Drumguy on Saturday, March 3, 2018 9:25 PM

rrinker

 

 
Drumguy

She won’t change her mind. Loves football, hates chocolate, wants plants in the ground instead of flowers that die, and is indifferent to expensive jewelry.  And she’s off the charts stunningly gorgeous. I am a very lucky man.

 

 

 

And she reads this forum, right? LOL Laugh Laugh Laugh

                          --Randy

 

 

I don’t know if she reads it :)  We don’t lock our iPads at home, no secrets. She doesn’t quite undestand this hobby we are all so into (sometimes I don’t, haha!), but at the same time, she realizes she doesn’t need to understand it for it to have validity. there are some aspects she finds really cool—like why I buried a rusted pipe here or “planted” some weeds against that building there; the dirt/rust stains I airbrush under window sills, etc. I don’t think she will ever have any interest in contributing to my endeavors, but that’s not really the point, methinks. 

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Posted by SeeYou190 on Saturday, March 3, 2018 4:42 PM

I just found a new one.

When she sees me rigging an AB brake system, and I tell her it is relaxing!

-Kevin

Living the dream.

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Posted by Ivorwatch Locomotive Works on Saturday, March 3, 2018 4:06 PM

I live in an 800-square-foot apartment. I have a 2'x10' Nn3 layout against the wall in the bedroom that's a work-in-progress, and recently took a break from college to start designing and selling ready-to-run Nn3 locomotives. My wife is incredibly supportive, especially given my above exploits, but her "you have got to be kidding" moment was the initial groundbreaking of the layout. Since then, she's been excited to see the new progress.

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Posted by ATLANTIC CENTRAL on Saturday, March 3, 2018 3:41 PM

Drumguy

A few months ago I was bent over sideways and backwards trying to tweak some wiring when my wife wandered in to see what I was doing. I tried to explain that the odd shape of the train room made a few areas difficult to work in (we designed our house with no square rooms, and my interest in the hobby was dormant at the time). After some discussions about minimum radius/ clearance etc, she says “Why don’t you just build a huge man cave attached to the east end of the garage and build whatever you want?” 

Hmmmmm. Wheels are a turning, but that decision is at least a year out and a discussion for another thread.

 

Over 20 years ago I restored a 4,000 sq 1901 Queen Anne Victorian house for my wife.

And she blessed the building of a 32' x 40' detached garage/workshop with a 25' x 40' train room above.

Sheldon 

    

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Posted by rrinker on Saturday, March 3, 2018 2:58 PM

Drumguy

She won’t change her mind. Loves football, hates chocolate, wants plants in the ground instead of flowers that die, and is indifferent to expensive jewelry.  And she’s off the charts stunningly gorgeous. I am a very lucky man.

 

And she reads this forum, right? LOL Laugh Laugh Laugh

                          --Randy

 


Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's

 

Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.

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Posted by trainsBuddy on Friday, March 2, 2018 4:26 PM
My wife said something similar when I first told her of my hobby. :D I took her to her first train show this past January and she appreciated the beautiful layouts clubs showed there. Still, she couldn't understand why an adult would spend so much time and effort on building model trains that have no practical purpose. She thinks it's something for very young or retired folk. She gave me examples of sports and traveling as hobbies she appreciates, but she always thought of model trains as toys, though her uncle did build a small mobile layout in Z scale as teenager. Don't have high hopes for her on joining me in making miniature trees and such, when I finally get to build my first real layout :)
"Thanks to the Interstate Highway System, it is now possible to travel from coast to coast without seeing anything." - Charles Kuralt
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Posted by thomas81z on Friday, February 23, 2018 8:52 PM

well i bought 2 aformentioned big boys during the blowout & they both showed up when she wasnt home sooooo. looks like i escape the " you got to be kidding me "

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Posted by jk10 on Sunday, February 18, 2018 5:52 PM

Usually whenever I come home from a show or order something online. We've been married two years. I didn't tell her much about my interest in trains until we were close to purchasing our house. That's also about the time she saw the collection of stuff I had purchased while in high school/college. Once we were in the house, I asked about possibly putting something up. This was also the time she saw a friend's layout which encompasses an entire basement and is two levels. My wife's response was priceless as she looked at me with her jaw dropped, "Do not get any ideas!"

Our main focus now is on much of what newlyweds focus on; home, cars, starting a family, our careers, and saving money. Now that I have all the track I should need to get the small switching layout going, I think she'll begin to be more accepting. She's said for quite awhile that the train items were "junk" because they just sat and never moved (on a layout). Well, tonight, I finally hooked everything up and began to run and switch some cars on my track only switching layout. I have one more piece of foam to prepare so that I can fully run trains on the layout. When I showed her, she was happy that I was fainlly moving something, but also got a chuckle at how little kid like I was while making those switch moves. It's a good feeling to finally have something to show. Few more pieces, and it'll be time to have fun.

I hope she becomes more accepting of the trains. I see her point in that they do take up a lot of space, and our house does not have much extra space to begin with. We have three bedrooms; master, dog/nursery, and the third is an office area/layout area/soon to be actual bedroom area. When that time comes, the trains will have to find another location. Until then, I better get building so that I continue to have something to show and keep getting the support. She has purchased me a few train items for holidays/birthdays, so that is a positive sign. 

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Posted by rrebell on Friday, February 16, 2018 11:57 PM

Drumguy

She won’t change her mind. Loves football, hates chocolate, wants plants in the ground instead of flowers that die, and is indifferent to expensive jewelry.  And she’s off the charts stunningly gorgeous. I am a very lucky man.

 

Funny, my wife loves football (49'ers) dosen't like fresh flowers, same reason but dose like chocolate.

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Posted by kasskaboose on Friday, February 16, 2018 11:23 PM

Perhaps I get less of the eye roll or nasty comments since we moved into a larger home that she wanted.  She even asks how things are going in the basement sometimes.  I learned from the first layout to try and reuse things and plan out more to avoid over-buying.

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Posted by Drumguy on Friday, February 16, 2018 9:02 PM

She won’t change her mind. Loves football, hates chocolate, wants plants in the ground instead of flowers that die, and is indifferent to expensive jewelry.  And she’s off the charts stunningly gorgeous. I am a very lucky man.

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Posted by thomas81z on Friday, February 16, 2018 1:14 PM

I just bought another big boy lol so now i have to watch the front door starting the 20th lol so i dont get the "ARE YOU KIDDING ME" LOOK  :)

Tags: Big Boy
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Posted by Medina1128 on Friday, February 16, 2018 6:31 AM

Drumguy
“Why don’t you just build a huge man cave attached to the east end of the garage and build whatever you want?”

Don't procrastinate here. She can always use her woman's prerogative and change her mind.

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Posted by NWP SWP on Thursday, February 15, 2018 11:01 PM

Has anyone considered that if your wife saw this thread she would probably say "you have got to be kidding!" ???LaughSmile, Wink & GrinWhistling

I'm just kidding around, although I don't have a wife, my mom gives me the "really?" Look every time I ask to go to the Hobby shop, which usually involves the purchase of a 15 buck Accurail kit, she has asked this question on more than one occasion "why do you need another car kit?" I politely say "to build a collection/roster." Then comes the bewildered look!LaughLaugh

I'm not even dating yet, but when I do I hope my girl shows at least some interest in my hobby as will do with her hobby(s)...

Happy model railroading...Smile, Wink & Grin

Steve

If everything seems under control, you're not going fast enough!

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Posted by emdmike on Thursday, February 15, 2018 10:40 PM

When she sees the credit card bill for my brass engines!  Dont have that many, but what I do have is really nice.    Mike the Aspie

 

Silly NT's, I have Asperger's Syndrome

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Posted by SouthPenn on Thursday, February 15, 2018 10:04 PM

I don't get that phrase, but when my wife saw me hand laying wood ties she remarked, 'have you lost your mind?'

South Penn
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Posted by rrebell on Thursday, February 15, 2018 1:07 PM

Mine says that with everthing train related, but then I feel the same about sports which she loves and has a clothing clolection for each team she follows.

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Posted by jjdamnit on Thursday, February 15, 2018 12:04 PM

Hello all,

Luckily, that phrase has never come up in regards to model railroading. 

I usually hear that phrase when talking about skis or snowboards.

Hope this helps.

"Uhh...I didn’t know it was 'impossible' I just made it work...sorry"

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Posted by thomas81z on Thursday, February 15, 2018 11:29 AM

SeeYou190

 

 
rrinker
rare mileage fan trip

 

.

Oh man, I forgot about this. About fifteen years ago the Seminole Gulf Railroad took out the tracks to the limestone quarries on Alico Road.

.

Right before this they had a "last run rare mileage fan trip" down the sidings and into the quarries. When I explained to my wife what a "rare mileage fan trip" was she said... "You Have Got To Be Kidding Me!"

.

Big Smile

.

-Kevin

.

 

man i got down here to late to make that trip

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