I am there currently. I repeated what I did with my first layout construction last year. I worked steadily, day after day, until it was done. This time, because I was challenging my skills with spline roadbed and new bench construction, plus teaching and gardening, it became too much and I simply down-tooled on the layout. It has been six weeks...I think...not sure any more...and I am thinking more about continuing the construction. Fact is that I still have four busy weeks ahead of me, and I feel better about letting the model trains languish. I know I will be keyed up once more when my mind says I can deal with them in a more focused way.
The other gentlemen are right, Ken. Do some building maintenance (painting should bring back a fondness for trains in a hurry ), rotate some tires using a hand-jack, take a four-hour walk on a seldom used train track, visit your dentist, go to an opera production (seriously, no matter how your experience goes, it will give you a whole nuther perspective on things! ) or fix your bicyle and go for an overnight trip someplace with it....not on the tracks.
You'll be fine.
-Crandell
cudaken wrote:What was your learining cure in this hobby? I started in Feb this year with cheap LL set. Fast forward board is bigger with around 300 feet of track. It works great for a while, then nothing will not stay on the rails? I have up grade the axles, tuned the trucks, installed and un installed Kadee couplers, up graded the power, got better at laying rail, went to Athearns BB's then PK's. Will run great for a week or so, then it all goes to heck and cannot keep stuff on the rails? Last week or so it has been a MRR heck. Was pulling 42 cars with doubled headed PK's E-6's then a coupler let go. Not a biggie right. After that it has became a pain in the a-s on both main linees? Fun is just about gone, all I can do from throwing stuff. Tonight running well and enjoying them. 50% readyy to sell the stuff. Anyone besides me have felt this way? Ken
What was your learining cure in this hobby? I started in Feb this year with cheap LL set. Fast forward board is bigger with around 300 feet of track. It works great for a while, then nothing will not stay on the rails?
I have up grade the axles, tuned the trucks, installed and un installed Kadee couplers, up graded the power, got better at laying rail, went to Athearns BB's then PK's.
Will run great for a week or so, then it all goes to heck and cannot keep stuff on the rails?
Last week or so it has been a MRR heck. Was pulling 42 cars with doubled headed PK's E-6's then a coupler let go. Not a biggie right. After that it has became a pain in the a-s on both main linees?
Fun is just about gone, all I can do from throwing stuff. Tonight running well and enjoying them.
50% readyy to sell the stuff.
Anyone besides me have felt this way?
Ken
Carey
Keep it between the Rails
Alabama Central Homepage
Nara member #128
NMRA &SER Life member
Not about the trains. The car, the house, the job, the wife, yeah, but not the trains. Still, to each his own.
Do you have a plywood base and moisture problems, by any chance? That's something that will subtly distort your trackwork, no matter how well you did it to begin with. Of course, I can thank the car (for the train room above the garage,) the house (for the heat and air conditioning,) the job (for paying for this stuff) and the wife (for putting up with it) for having a stable place to put my layout, so I don't see this. I also use 2-inch foam for my layout base, which is more or less immune to thermal and humidity issues.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
I'm right there at the moment too, It's all sitting there in the train room and I havn't touched it for two weeks.
But it will come back to me I'd regret selling any of it. I have other interests too radio control helicopters and gas cars.
Take a break from trains, do anything else, it's a life time hobby!!
Enjoy!! Ken.
I hate Rust