I may have a strange neurosis, but am I the only one? You be the judge!

[Anonymous]

Is it just me, or does anyone else ever get toward completion of a layout, just to turn around and start entertaining this dark little voice that says, "Tear it down! Build a better one! Who cares about operating when you just got a neat idea for a better layout?"[}:)] I find myself battling a terrible urge to take everything apart and start all over again: better tracklaying, better benchwork, better trackplan, better everything! [:p] Better send this before my wife sees it and takes away my bank card [B)]

[pcarrell]

Completion? What's that?

[Anonymous]

I'm almost 'done' with my layout -- i.e., ready to put trains on it -- but there are still a few final things that have to be done (paintin/ballasting track) to reach that point. However, I'm feeling too burned out to drag myself into the train room, so it sits there languishing...

[darkstar974]

Well I wish i was completing my layout. I have not even started it with no money and little support from the wife I highly doubt that it will ever make it out of the rubbermaid containers in my basement Oh well maybe someday

Dark

[Anonymous]

I am sort of like that.

I don't have the money to be tearing down and building layouts right and left, But It seems I finish a track plan I am excited with it for a week and I go on to design a new one.

I have one layout partially finsihed. I am not all that happy with it. But due to budget constraints I am going to go ahead and finsih it and fix the few things that I am not happy with craftsman ship wise and live with the design issiues that I am not happy with until I get a proper basement with a domicile over it.

[cmrproducts]

You will find (and this is after 20 years of model railroading!) that operations is the key to keeping interest in a layout. And you start operations just as soon as you have a few feet of track down.

Waiting to get the layout done and then run the trains around is a sure fire way to get burned out. I have seen so many modelers do it this way and then leave the hobby as they just did not know why they built the layout. They said is all there is (once the layout was done what was there to do just watch the trains run around in a circle) They never did understand the real purpose of a model railroad OPERATIONS!

We have introduced a number of new modelers to Ops and they have become much more enthused at the prospects of building their own layouts just so they could have operating sessions.

Others just never understood. If you have not tried Ops then ask around your area to see if there are other modelers and attend an operating session. It may take a few times but once you get bit you will never go back!

I host an OPTUD (OP Till U Drop – 12 hour sessions) about twice a year on my latest layout I am building. It is far from being done (as I have quite a number of cardboard industries) but I get modelers coming in from Erie, Pittsburgh, State College and Youngstown OH (I live about 80 miles in any direction) and have had a few from as far away as Cleveland OH. I usually have to turn some away. So they must have some fun at an Ops. And when I attend any train shows all I get ask is when the next OPTUD session is.

You will never know how much fun it is until you try it!

BOB H – Clarion, PA

[Anonymous]

Whats this idea of finished layout you speak of?

[%-)]

[cmrproducts]

darkstar974

Come on over to Clarion, PA and do some OPs.

BOB H - Clarion, PA

[joeyegarner]

Model railroading is not a destination(complete layout) it is a journey(never finished).

[jecorbett]

That was my experience with my previous layout but I am confident the one I am building now will be here to stay. I feel I madeenough mistakes on my first layout that this one is going to be successful. The reasons I say this is that I started with a firm concept and a well thought out track plan, one that I had in my head for at least 10 years before I put it down on paper on began to refine it. The problem with my first layout is that it wasn't planned so much as it evolved. Halfway through I ditched the original track plan and completely reworked the the layout, moving the main yard from the wall shelf to the penisula. I got to the point where I could run trains but because it wasn't well designed, it was not a lot of fun to operate. I sort of abandoned it and the hobby for about 10-12 years but always had it in my mind that I would build the next one the right way. I have made some new mistakes on this one already but nothing that couldn't be remedied. I've been working on it for two and a half years and am just now at the point I can start real operations as opposed to just making test runs which is all I have been able to do up to this point. It will probably be at least another two years before I am up to running the full schedule I have in mind but in the meantime I will be building up my rolling stock, finishing the scenery and begin doing some superdetailing. Will it ever be "finished"? Probably not but I doubt it will be torn down until I am carried out of this house horizontally.

[oleirish]

[:-^]I throught that is normal?????
Jim

[Big_Boy_4005]

QUOTE: Originally posted by cmrproducts

You will find (and this is after 20 years of model railroading!) that operations is the key to keeping interest in a layout. And you start operations just as soon as you have a few feet of track down.

Waiting to get the layout done and then run the trains around is a sure fire way to get burned out. I have seen so many modelers do it this way and then leave the hobby as they just did not know why they built the layout. They said is all there is (once the layout was done what was there to do just watch the trains run around in a circle) They never did understand the real purpose of a model railroad OPERATIONS!

We have introduced a number of new modelers to Ops and they have become much more enthused at the prospects of building their own layouts just so they could have operating sessions.

Others just never understood. If you have not tried Ops then ask around your area to see if there are other modelers and attend an operating session. It may take a few times but once you get bit you will never go back!

I host an OPTUD (OP Till U Drop – 12 hour sessions) about twice a year on my latest layout I am building. It is far from being done (as I have quite a number of cardboard industries) but I get modelers coming in from Erie, Pittsburgh, State College and Youngstown OH (I live about 80 miles in any direction) and have had a few from as far away as Cleveland OH. I usually have to turn some away. So they must have some fun at an Ops. And when I attend any train shows all I get ask is when the next OPTUD session is.

You will never know how much fun it is until you try it!

BOB H – Clarion, PA

Bob, you have the right idea. If you don't build a layout with some prupose in mind, what is the point. For years, I've been dreaming of larger and larger layouts. I had the layout plans drawn before the house was built. This will be my last layout, and will provide a challenge for years to come. When the track is done, there will be enough operating to keep a small army busy. When nobody is around I can run a few trains myself.

Yankeejwb, take your time and do the planning. Don't ru***he construction. I am constantly stopping to visualize how things will look when completed. Sometimes better ideas come along.

[BRAKIE]

I prefer to finish my layouts so I can enjoy the fruits of my labor and operate the locomotives and cars I have..[:D] If I wanted to work in wood I would have done one of two things..Became a carpenter or took up wood working as a hobby..[:D]

[brothaslide]

For some, the building is more fun that actually running. If the "inner voices" say build a new layout - Go for it!!!

I'll take your old layout off your hands[:D]

[cheese3]

yup i am like that, i am not even done laying track and i want to start over in a whole other scale!!!

[loathar]

I think that's your brain telling you that you like the modeling process better than the operating process. (Isn't that what makes people start a layout construction business?)

[rolleiman]

QUOTE: Originally posted by brothaslide

For some, the building is more fun that actually running. If the "inner voices" say build a new layout - Go for it!!!

[#ditto]

Jeff

[Eriediamond]

Yup, been there done that. Over the years (and there have been a few) I've built a number of layouts, none of them brought to the "finished" stage. I must admit though, that a few of them were due to moves and such. At present time my layout is in the dreaming-studying phase. I have a collection of HO rolling stock and locos and they are run on the club layout, but I'm seriously leaning toward N scale for my home layout due to lack of space and the operations aspect I want out of it. Will this one ever be "finished? I doubt it. When time and funds become available, my first priority will be to get the track down and completed, then worry about scenery. This may be drifting away from the original question, but sometimes I wish I still had all the old Lionel stuff I had back in the 40's and set up a layout on the floor like I used to. Changes were easy back then!!!! [(-D][(-D] Ken

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by pcarrell

Completion? What's that?

I'll have to agree with that one! [swg]

[Anonymous]

I had one just about has finnished as it gets, Operated every month the whole nine yards. Main goal was to get in MR, did, had cover and erverything. Well about 2 months later the hold thing came down. On my 5th or 6th revised, layout.none of the rebuilts have gotten as far as to operate. But you know i am enjoying myself alot more now ,got away the feelings of pressure on myself to have to have a project done in x amount of time! Sometimes I may not look at the layout for a week, other times i'll run trains for hours. I do what I want to do, not what I feel I have to do.
The layout i am working on now is the farthest i have gotten in the last 6 years.

[tatans]

No need to worry, just never start, keep planning, buy lots of crap, build stuff, collect things that will be needed. No worries, no neuroses, just keep a smile on your face and think how great this layout will be, planning is the key.

[Anonymous]

You know, I am probably going to be moving in a year, buying our first home (which will have either a garage spacious enough for the trains or a full basement), so that would be a great excuse to start fresh, which leads me to a second question...


Anyone ever move just for the sake of your trains???[;)] Did you let your wife know that was the real reason[?]

[frisco1519]

I have been working on my layout for over 12 years. I would never even consider starting all over again, but I do re-work cetain areas to add to them or change scenery. Completed? Probably not in my life time. Then what would I do?