Murphy's Laws of Model Railroading

[Anonymous]

Ed's Rule of Rolling Stock -

That piece of rolling stock, painted and lettered for your favorite line, you always wanted will be released only after you have kitbashed/scratchbuilt one for five times the cost.

[BR60103]

..and if you use post-it-note glue it goes into positon perfectly.

David

[mhdishere]

After a derailment, the most expensive cars hit the floor first and the cheap ones land on top.

Benchwork lowers itself as you crawl underneath (ouch!)

And Mark's first rule of home (or layout) repair, if you can't fix it with duct tape, it's really broken.

[dknelson]

Nelson's law: the ACC works best when you incorrectly placed the part to be glued

Dave Nelson

[Anonymous]

10th law... Every time you're engrossed in a super-detailing project that requires concentration and a steady hand, a voice will call out from upstairs..."Honey? Can you come here for a minute?"

[Anonymous]

7th law...light bulbs only burn out in buildings that are virtually impossible to lift out.
8th law...a side rod screw only backs out and drops the rod in a tunnel.
9th law...the cat never breaks a dummy Bachmann signal bridge, only a lighted NJ unit.

[Anonymous]

This law applies to all repair jobs as well as model railroading:
A dropped tool/part always rolls to the exact center of the layout.
(Known to never fail during auto repairs)
Eric from Doylestown

[BRAKIE]

4th law. When you run the layout solo all goes well,when friend come over and you run it for them,it acts up.
5th law.All you cars wheels and couplers matches the guage till you take them to a club for open hose and everything happens.
next giver of laws step up

[jwfoise]

I saw this on a science joke website....

Varley's Laws of Model Railway Operation (some rather specific cases of Murphy)

Zeroth Law: An engine will always derail at the least accessible part of the line.

First Law: Engines have two operating speeds: Too Fast and Stop.

Second Law: You only discover the loose fishplate after you nail the track down.

Third Law: The likelihood of an object falling over is directly proportional to the number of times you've had to stand it up again.