Retired Canadian here. Our club shut down except for small groups to work on projects, so not much there. Started ops sessions two weeks ago with a limit of eight to ten people, weating masks.
Summer is yard time for me, plus my dog likes his two walks a day. We back unto a green belts with sports fields and a park nearby, so social distancing is no problem. If there is only two of you within 200 feet, talking at ten feet is no problem.
I miss taking part in area train shows, and we are worrying as restrictions are tightening in this area that our November show may be cancelled. Time will tell.
Gave my garden shed its twice yearly cleaning today.
gmpullman Hello, The "social distancing" mandate hasn't affected our lives very much. ... enjoy our solitude living at the quiet end of a cul-de-sac in a semi-rural area.
Hello,
The "social distancing" mandate hasn't affected our lives very much. ... enjoy our solitude living at the quiet end of a cul-de-sac in a semi-rural area.
Not retired but moved to a semi-rural area also, tiny town with a few developments around it. Mostly nice and quiet only disturbed but the now and then N-S or Amtrak train passing through.
So the "lockdown" hasn't made much difference in our activities. We both enjoy cooking delicious meals, some might say better than any restaurant fare. Train shows were becoming tiresome for me but I used to attend them because it was a time to get together with a few friends. I have years-worth of modeling supplies/projects but whatever need arises is easily met with on-line sources. The UPS, USPS and Amazon trucks parade to my house on nearly a daily basis. Regards, Ed
Regards, Ed
Hah hah. Pretty much the same here.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
riogrande5761Mostly nice and quiet only disturbed but the now and then N-S or Amtrak train passing through.
That kind of "disturbance" I could go for. The B&O branch that went through my nearby town was pulled up in '82. I can still hear the CSX (NYC) trains running along the Lake Erie shoreline when conditions are right.
gmpullman riogrande5761 Mostly nice and quiet only disturbed but the now and then N-S or Amtrak train passing through. That kind of "disturbance" I could go for. The B&O branch that went through my nearby town was pulled up in '82. I can still hear the CSX (NYC) trains running along the Lake Erie shoreline when conditions are right. Regards, Ed
riogrande5761 Mostly nice and quiet only disturbed but the now and then N-S or Amtrak train passing through.
We live near both the PRR (AMTRAK) and B&O (CSX) mainlines here in the northeast corridor.
Both run right thru the two nearby towns, we see and hear trains all the time in our daily activities.
Several resturants we frequent (not as often right now) have nice views of both lines as they cross the mighty Susquehanna River. Amtrak and MARC trains are moving all day.
Sheldon
I moved 170 miles in mid September. I am still looking for things. I threw away 4 hammers before I left, kept 3 and can only find 1.
It's a new house and there are all sorts of little things that need done, don't work or other complications, like getting the voice mail on your doctors office to transfer your medical records.I moved the two modules that I had built, but nearly everything else MR is still in boxes. I did not make a record of everything that went into each box, so every box will need to be unpacked before I find my Power Cab and rail joiners.
I also have room to significantly expand the layout, but haven't gotten around to planning what to do, like Mr B. analysis paralysis.
We have met a few people, walking in the neighborhood, but have only had longer conversations with our immediate next door neighbors.
My wife's niece and sister live here. We went to the nieces' home for her birthday. Her kids are close in age to the kids across the street and the two families eat dinner together every night. That family had an older daughter in the local college, who was Covid positive except no one knew it at the time.
AFAIK no one else has gotten sick.
I miss Timonium. I know people who have not left their homes since February and won't open their mail for a week and I know people who refuse to wear a mask.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
I'm 67, retired 2-1/2 yrs ago after 49 yr in construction, 39 yrs self employed. After retiring I finished my wood shop, just finished helping my oldest daughter build a house. I mow 2 acres and have 20 acres of fields to care for. I just started getting into railroad modeling. My biggest inconveniences have been two weeks quarantine this month after having to travel from upstate NY to Sarasota and back for prostate cancer check up (all good) and the fact that the Canadian border is closed so we haven't be able to use our camp. It's a good time to be retired. My wife is able to work from home and will retire next year. I can't imagine how hard and stressful this has been on people less fortunate than most of us here.
davidmurrayI miss taking part in area train shows, and we are worrying as restrictions are tightening in this area that our November show may be cancelled.
Hi David,
The Barrie Allandale Railway Modellers have already decided to cancel their February 2021 show. That means a huge loss of revenue but fortunately the club has money in the bank thanks to the efforts of previous members. They will be able to pay the rent for a while, and most of the money for their 'new' (started in 2017) layout has already been spent.
When I was the President of the club the Secretary and I put a motion forward to increase the annual dues by about 35%. Of course there were objections, but we pointed out that all we needed was one bad show and the bank account would be depleated seriously. They grudgingly agreed. Guess what?!? They are going to be short by about 75% of their 2021 projected income. The raised dues now seem like a bargain!
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
I have been retired for 16 years. I have a 14" x 18" basement layout that has been under very slow construction for 10 years. That is partly because I am also a woodcarver/woodworker. People want my woodcarvings, they are not interested in my trains. So when covid hit and shut down all of the shows that I would have attended to sell woodcarvings this provided me with more time to work on my layout. But I still managed to make 60 crosses, a carving of an elephant for my son, and 90% completion of a Santa for my daughter. But I am spending a lot more time on my layout, completing some buildings that were just shells before, making over 100 fir trees to cover a large hill. putting in some roads and laying down a lot of ballast. I pretty much only go out to buy groceries early on weekday mornings and to go to church (drive in style, never thouht I would see that). Ocassionally order food to pick up and then go to a park to eat it. Things are different for us but I feel grateful because I don't have to worry about going to work or school or sending my children to school.
wdcrvr
I am not retired just yet, a few more years to go. My work is busier than ever (non Covid related). Usually I slow way down on the model railroad in the summer months for all the obvious reasons. With the lockdown back in the spring (as an essential employee I still worked but stayed home when not working) I was glad to be able to turn to the model railroad.
While not back to normal life goes on, it seems I have stayed focused on the layout over the summer, I bought a couple of new locomotives and added sound so some enjoyable projects to work on. My LHS is 50 miles away but I have made the effort to get there more than I usually do this time of year. I also got my airbrush out and done a few long overdue weathering projects.
So no question I have turned to, or stayed with, the model railroad throughout the summer yet I did not make a concsious decision to do so. My wife too has been more involved in her hobbies.
My daughter struggles with her kids and the new school arrangements I feel sorry for her as the struggle between her work, kids, and their school is real. I also wonder what it must be like for those with no hobby to turn to.
As for Amazon, to say they come to our house frequently is an understatemen, they could easily justify stopping by to pick up the empty boxes.
It has affected my modeling a fair amount. My evenings when I do my modeling have been quite reshuffled. As a pastor I used to visit one or two evenings a week- I can't do that right now. (But I sure want to) I also used to be up at the railroad club twice a week. Our club has reopened but only once a week and a lot of the guys haven't gotten back. I haven't been nearly as much. In turn I have used a lot of these evenings to get some modeling in- doing a lot of scratchbuilding in my Blackhawk Colorado section.
As for purchases I did get a fair amount of parts for this off Ebay- our hobby shops in the area have reopened but anything for me is 1 hour 15 to an hour 30 in different directions. What I needed was more specific on these projects so I wound up ordering- but I did get a fair amount of parts from Little Choo Choo when they reopened. I really miss the train shows. There was one in Hickory NC in late July but everything else has been canceled (although I am really hoping for the one in Raleigh in November)
One strange side effect- we were not able to have our regular vacation Bible School this year at church. I wound up doing a virtual online one with a train theme (interesting that there was one that came out with that this year) I did video on my layout and the club layout and went down and filmed stuff around the roundhouse at Spencer NC for it. I actually had to get some things done on my layout to get it filmed. Good motivator.