Okay. So, my current layout is about four years old, still a pinkboard paradise. It's running and running well, but the decision was recently made to undertake a major renovation in a year or two. The space the layout currently occupies will become a bedroom. I've got another larger space picked out for the next layout (score!) but it won't be available for trainification until the renos are done. There aren't any clubs within a feasible distance either; I'm a lone wolf by the circumstances, I'm afraid.
So what to do in the meantime? I'm honestly interested in how people scratch the train itch when working on a layout isn't an option. Hang out by the tracks?
Stu
Streamlined steam, oh, what a dream!!
Work on the new plan/plans , then look at the electrical side that will be needed, detail rolling stock, just 3 things to keep the mind & fingers active.
Hey, you are not alone. Many of us have been in a similar situation.
In example, I spent three years in Dallas w/o a layout, and a dozen years here in the Houston area without one as well. So what did I do?
- I collected and built an awful lot of car kits - ranging from Athearn BB to Silver Streak and Ulrich and Red Caboose, etc. I would build them, lightly weather, and wrap them in white tissue paper and store them.
- When I moved here in '81, I realized it wouldn't be too long before a room would be available for a layout. So I spent a lot of time scale drawing layouts. It really was a great pasttime, especially if you use quadrille paper, and adhere to scale.
- As I got closer to having an empty room to use, I began building structures that I new I would use. This can really take up time and give you something that will be used when the time comes.
- Lastly, I started to gather "stuff"......stuff that I knew I would use like ballast, ground foam, trees, and so on. I also picked up flex track if it was a good buy.
Anyway, while I lusted for that layout, the above kept me sane until that time.
ENJOY !
Mobilman44
Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central
Easy.
1 Enjoy the layout as long as you can.
2 Detail and weather structures.
3. Weather your rolling stock.
4. Plan your next layout based on your givens and druthers and based good LDEs-Layout Design Elements.. Learn from your mistakes on your currentt layout.
5. Buy the needed track and scenery material.
Options:
Choose a prototype and era.All steam? Transition? Moderern?
Freight and passenger or freight only?
Main Line? Branch Line? Protolance?
Think about modeling a freelance railroad and develope it..
Think about modeling a short line.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
It has been almost three years since I tore down STRATTON AND GILLETTE number 5 and began the process of getting ready for SGRR #6: The Final Chapter.
.
In that time I have:
Built, assembled, and custom painted over 100 freight cars.
Joined this forum and posted over 5,000 comments.
Built a 1:1 cardboard model of my future layout.
Collected all the items I will need to build the future layout.
Travelled as much of our country as I could.
Taken over 300 posed pictues on my 30 by 30 photo diorama studio.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
I am in the same situation, layout came down for a remodel, and until that is done, no layout.
I have been working on models, both assembling kits, and weathering them. Also have been doing detail and lighting projects on locomotives.
I also do spend some time trackside, and go to shows and museums.
Once the remodel is done, I already have a rough plan in place for the new layout.
Ricky W.
HO scale Proto-freelancer.
My Railroad rules:
1: It's my railroad, my rules.
2: It's for having fun and enjoyment.
3: Any objections, consult above rules.
Build something small - switching layout, small tabletop, etc. Use sectional track to get running quickly.
Doesn't even have to be your main scale.
Paul
+1 for assembling kits and weathering.
Also 3d designing for car models you want or future layout ideas.
I'm beginning to realize that Windows 10 and sound decoders have a lot in common. There are so many things you have to change in order to get them to work the way you want.
Like it said before. Mine are.
1.) Collect freight cars and locomotives for my era. Mostly 1980/90s-06 making sure that removing cars aren't necessarily. Easier to add new ones but older ones do get removed.
Seeing the types of containers on a train, since most railroads carry different kinds.
2.) Researching my favorite railroads. Looking at locomotive units to see which ones pull particular freights, so easier later on to mix and match.
3.) Designing track plans, structural plans for industries, streets, parking and landscape so it will fit like the real world.
4.) Working on my fictional railroad the Georgia, North Carolina, and Ohio Railway. I love modeling details of my line. I created a railway with over 75 years of history with reporting marks and past freight slogans. Including people, faculties, paint schemes, MW, vehicles, etc.
Example back in the day it was Georgia, No. Carolina Railroad Company G.N.R.C. Then a name change adding the line to Ohio. (As above to G.N.O.R.) I also have a trailer G.N.O.Z., container G.N.O.U., additional more cars G.N.O.F..
I had G.N.O.X. but it's been taken by a real leasing company. The weird thing was it was going to be my line of tank cars.
Amtrak America, 1971-Present.
Rastafarr I've got another larger space picked out for the next layout (score!) but it won't be available for trainification until the renos are done.
What timespan ere we talking about? Months? Years? Decades?
If we talk months, maybe up to a year, re-think your plan, make changes, detail the pln and build a couple of structures, if the time permits and you are not to busy renovating your future train room.
If we talk years, well, than may be it pays off to shelve your plans for the moment and build a micro layout, perhaps in N scale, just to keep the interest going.
If we talk decades, look for a different, less space demanding hobby or become a collector.
Happy times!
Ulrich (aka The Tin Man)
"You´re never too old for a happy childhood!"
Lots of interesting suggestions. I've been leaning in the 'buy more rolling stock and do stuff with it' direction, so it's good to have that reinforced. The 1:1 cardboard layout cutouts idea is an interesting one; are we talking yard setups? Curve templates? Both?
Rastafarr The 1:1 cardboard layout cutouts idea is an interesting one; are we talking yard setups? Curve templates? Both?
I built the entire layout out of cardboard.
This is the link to the original thread about the project:
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/p/262808/2962624.aspx?page=2
DRAT: It still is not clickable! I tried the "url" "/url" code, but it still did not work.
How do I make a link to a thread in here able to be clicked?
Mike.
My You Tube
Learn Guitar, Banjo, ect. or build some structures on small dioramas.
Harrison
Homeschooler living In upstate NY a.k.a Northern NY.
Modeling the D&H in 1978.
Route of the famous "Montreal Limited"
My YouTube
Thanks for posting a clickable link Mike.
Would you mind sharing the secret again? I am going to get this to work for me.
I agree with the suggestions to build stuff, buy stuff, plan stuff, detail/weather/repair/tune stuff, post stuff, and photograph real stuff.
To that I would add that if you have a sizeable collection, maybe it's a good time to examine and pare back the stuff you don't want. Trading and dealing can be a fun activity in itself.
Visit the Chicago Valley Railroad for Chicago Trainspotting and Budget Model Railroading.
SeeYou190Would you mind sharing the secret again? I am going to get this to work for me.
I'm trying kevin, but I can't get url and /url, in brackets, to show up in my post.
Copy the link, open a new window and paste. With the link in the address bar, add the url in brackets to the front, and /url in brackets to the end. Copy that, go back to your post, and paste where you want it, and DON'T use the "link" thingy, just paste right into the post.
I've been designing track plans, and working on electronics. The contractor is starting today to demo my basement and start making it layotu-ready (and I'm not there to see it....)
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
If you know the space you will have, you can plan and maybe even build a complicated scene that you want on the new layout. Complicated scenes take time and now you have the time, make something you can box up or hang on a wall.
mbinsewiWith the link in the address bar, add the url in brackets to the front, and /url in brackets to the end. Copy that, go back to your post, and paste where you want it, and DON'T use the "link" thingy, just paste right into the post.
Mike, I did not use the link button in my post.
I put "url" before the link and "/url" after the link, but with square brackets before and after the web address.
This is a picture:
What should I have changed?
I dunno Kevin. Did you highlight and copy the address after you added the url things?
mbinsewiI dunno Kevin. Did you highlight and copy the address after you added the url things?
Yes I did. Several people have instructed me for how to do this, but I just seem to be missing one crucial piece to the puzzle.
Maybe I should add this to my "What's driving you crazy right now" thread.
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/t/274301.aspx?page=6#3188655
OH MY GOSH... IT WORKED THAT TIME!
I can't explain what I did differently. This is a great day!
RastafarrI'm honestly interested in how people scratch the train itch when working on a layout isn't an option. Hang out by the tracks?
Actually, I think hanging out by the tracks -- a form of prototype research -- is a very practical and good idea. Prototype research can also involve internet searching (including these Forums of course), acquriing and reading the books and magazine articles that are relevant, and getting involved with the historical society of your favorite railroad(s). Hanging out by the tracks is also a chance to expand your photography skills. E.g. commit to spending an entire day out with the camera without relying on the "automatic" features, and really learn aperture and shutter speed and such.
Speaking of skills, being between layouts can also be a time to beef up skills "in the abstract" so to speak. Soldering for example. If you know of someone building or rehabbing a house, see if you can get the cutoff remnants of the copper wire - good way to practice soldering on the cheap. You can never be too perfect at soldering feeder and bus wires.
Bits of brass also if you can find them - leaning how to solder a brass detail part onto brass where there is already a detail part without unsoldering the first one is a skill that like any genuine skill is learned by practice.
So is hand laying track particularly turnouts and crossings. And many guys who have received NMRA Achievement Program recognition for track have done so with practice boards rather than layouts per se (also easier to take the board to the evaluator).
Airbrushing and weathering are also skills that can be practiced in the abstract. Even scenery and mastering the finer points of static grass.
If you have back issues of Model Railroad Planning magazine, or find them for sale at swap meets, I think some deep immersion in that magazine (right back to 1995 or whenever the first issue was) BEFORE commencing the new layout would be time well spent. Create an ideas file.
Dave Nelson
In the outline below, I've made the stuff you need to type as bold characters to clarify what's needed in order to create a clickable link that's more than a line of data. Do not type them in bold when creating the link, though, as such a link will not work.
First, right-click on the subject/title to which you wish to link, and then, on the menu which appears, select "Copy Link Location"
Next, type [
...followed, without a space, by url=
then "paste" the copied link location immediately after the = sign shown above, then following it with another ]
Next, type in the word or phrase that you wish to appear when you post your message. It could be literally any character that your keyboard can make, or if you really wanted to annoy viewers, several paragraphs on a topic about which no one cares. Follow that, without a space, with [/url]
When you click to post your message for all of us to see, the stuff you typed in between the ] and the [/url] is what will appear to viewers, ready to be clicked upon.
F'rinstance, Kevin's 1:1 cardboard mock-up layout
Wayne
Thanks Wayne, I was wondering how to post something other than the line of link data.
I'm having my right hip replaced in early February and I can't do much of anything right now. What I can do is work on my rolling stock while seated at my model bench. So far, I've looked over my HO stuff that's been in storage while working in S scale. Now that I'm back to HO, the stored rolling stock isn't without missing ladders, grabs, a few roof walks, and small detail parts. I also have two cars and one unbuilt kit that need parts and trucks, too. I may upgrade all of the couplers while I'm at it. It's the kind of work that I really would like to have out of the way when it comes time to concentrate on laying track.
Russ
Modeling the early '50s Erie in Paterson, NJ. Here's the link to my railroad postcard collection: https://railroadpostcards.blogspot.com/
Besides the numerous suggestions listed, why not join a local NMRA club?
RastafarrThere aren't any clubs within a feasible distance either; I'm a lone wolf by the circumstances, I'm afraid.
kasskaboose - does that answer your question?
I'm in your situation right now and I've been waiting for four years. Hopefully I'll be able to start my layout in about six months.
What I've been doing is reading everything I can about layouts (including Model Railroader Magazines going back many years). I've been planning what my layout will look like (in detail, including wiring). I built a very small N scale layout as a learning experience. I've been collecting everything I will need for the layout along with the locomotives and rollling stock. I've been going to all the local train swap meets (my wife goes with me if I take her out for breakfast). This way when the room becomes available I hope to hit the ground running!