Sue,
I model Great Northern and Northern Pacific. I also have an S, P & S caboose. I'm more interested in the actual layout building then in train operations which makes me different from most of the people on this board.
Do you go to any of the train shows in Puyallup? Are there any good ones in Olympia?
Christine
sansouci wrote:I recently went to an open house hosted by a retire couple: she does the scenicing, painting, tree making, building construction etc. whily hubby does the electronics and wiring. Good division of labor for the artistic vs the technical.
That is how I THINK our will workout. Neat when it works that way.
No rail time today I'm afraid had to give my sister-in-law a hand with my mother- in-laws house( we had to put it on the market to pay for the nursing home, she's in the last stage of her cancer all the can do is try to manage the pain), That will be my prority for a while. Anything I work on for a while will have to be scratch build. Between Helping with my mother-in-law and our own finacial struggles, we're stugging to making ends met, not enough $ for extras. Sorry for the pity party ,there is just a lot going on and I guess I needed to let it out.
Life is simple - eat, drink, play with trains!
Go Big Red!
PA&ERR "If you think you are doing something stupid, you're probably right!"
lisap wrote: No rail time today I'm afraid had to give my sister-in-law a hand with my mother- in-laws house( we had to put it on the market to pay for the nursing home, she's in the last stage of her cancer all the can do is try to manage the pain), That will be my prority for a while. Anything I work on for a while will have to be scratch build. Between Helping with my mother-in-law and our own finacial struggles, we're stugging to making ends met, not enough $ for extras. Sorry for the pity party ,there is just a lot going on and I guess I needed to let it out.
My family's prayers are with you!
Thank you everyone for prayers said, this situation is very difficult only made harder by the family lack of support, both with the work as well as the expences. Tom and I are the least able to help but, other than my sister-in-law, we're taking most of the burden. I'm glad to hear about all the progress everyone is making it all sounds great. I need to get my mind off my problems for a while so maybe I'll try to work on the train for a bit.
Take care
Lisa, I lost my Mom to cancer. She fought the dreaded disease for 10 years. She was able to care for herself until the last week, when she went into the hospital and died. She hired my brothers girlfriend to do chores around the house. It is so hard to see the bad days. Just pray for the good ones. Look in your backyard for landscaping supplies. You might be suprised, a little hairspray and ground foam can go a long way.
Sue
Anything is possible if you do not know what you are talking about.
My spouse survived chemo at the VA and is free (Ye never really free) from cancer. However it did make it to her Lymph system and we are living out our days together however many years we are given.
Cancer is very destructive, only way to beat it is to live free and on your terms otherwise ye are lost.
thank you all for your support especially those who have gone through it, it is becoming out of control the numbers of people I know who have it, I have 4 fam. members with different types but only my MIL is terminal.
Sue, I have been harvesting many likely plants from my yard, I have one bush(I have no idea what it is called) that gets these pink flowers in the summer, they look like a cross between Queen Ann's Lace and Baby's Breath but once the flowers fade the old stems look a lot like an oak or maple tree, I spay it and add some colorful "foliage" and they make great fall trees. I looked at some of the trees they had at the LHS and mine are better( not bragging, it's just the stems are perfect for trees)
Lisa, Often the trees that you see in the LHS are designed after trees that are local to manufacturer. When you do trees, your mind will want trees that are local to your area.
I have some preservative that I bought from a dried floral wholesaler several years ago. Honestly, it looks like diluted elmer's. When it runs low I am going to try that. Using it might make them tougher to dropping. Have fun.
Lisa (and Tom),
I'm sorry you have to endure your MIL's illness without help from your family. My Mother passed away 2 years ago after being diagnosed with cancer just 3 months earlier. Fortunately for us, our family pulled together to make Mom's last 3 months as good as we could. Mom didn't want to die in a nursing home or hospital, so we took care of her in her home.
There are no comforting words that I can offer you, other than to tell you that you are in my prayers.
On a lighter note, you AREN'T the only woman on the forum, but your question sure attracted a crowd!!
God bless you, and more importantly, may God bless your family. They may need the prayers more than you!
Darrell, quiet...for now
Christine, We will hit the Puyallup show in November. There are always some good buys there. There are so many great club layouts. It is so great to network with other modelers.
Joel Bragdon will have his geodesic foam scenery there. His workshops are very interesting. We attended his presentation at a Logging Model Railroading Convention in Sonora, CA, in April. We are converts. It is a lot easier to bend the rock into place.
The train show in Lacey, was quite small, with lots of N & Z ( no pun intended), also Lionel. It was at the Thurston Co Fairgrounds. There are very few enclosed buildings. Two hours allowed us to view everything.
How about you? Which shows do you usually attend?
ChristineM, I sit on your side of the fence completely, (well almost completely,there is usually a stray finger that hits a throttle control now and then), but my passion, (like yours I think) is in the creation, from an idea or a thought to the actuality, I love scenery and I am 'sponging' up as much info, techniques, methods and madness as I can, as well as 'reinventing a few wheels' of my own ....
Welcome MrsCrow, first post but you may have been a 'reader' I know, welcome either way and great to hear you and your grandson are having fun.... and letting imaginations run wild... imagination is what life is all about.
My thoughts are with you Lisa and your family through this difficult time, my words are futuile but my sentiment is true. Dont forget yourself in the stress, make time for you, take strength where you find it and lean on those who offer support.
Karl.
Welcome Mrscrow I am very glad you stopped in I hope you will feel welcome and come by a chat sometimes.
Sorry I didn't check in yesterday but had to deal with a problem ( someone broke my windshield during the night) and I was a little stressed over that and not being able to drive (especially when the police officer "tagged" my #plate(I could be wrong but I don't think that's a good thing). Any way enough bad news, I was able to do some work on my layout. We now have three homes in my mountains, my 8 year old requested it ( since it is "his" train I did it) , after I was done it looked like I had planned it that way, so" alls well that ends well"
Lisa, Great idea to get your 8 year old involved. It will just bring you two closer. What kind of homes did you build?
Simply put: A unit has cab; B unit doeasn't. Cab normally needed at front for driver (Engineer) to drive safely.
Eric Stuart
Lisa,
I hope that you have survived the holiday weekend. Maybe you found some time to work on the layout. Keep your 8-year old interested because it is much more enjoyable working with someone else.
I am hoping to work on the mountain in the back of the layout tomorrow. My rickety bridge has had a few setbacks, so back to the superglue.
Good evening, I survived the long weekend, it was extra long for me because Tom took Fri off as well, spend much of the time helping Tom's family. We did quite a bit of work on his mom's house and I am trying to help his sister get a business web site designed and she has very little comp. knowledge so she asked if I work work with her on this venture. I want to help her out because with her treatments she's unable to get a regular job so hopefully this will work for her.
Ed, thank you for the kind words and encouragement, if we keep our faith and seek to find the good in a situation we will always come out of it stronger.
Sue, The trains were ment to be Owen's(my 8year old) but he started to lose interest so I am very glad that his interest has peaked again, I need to be careful to let him do some things his way even if it's not done the way I would do it. My feeling is so what if his area doesn't look "professional" he's enjoying himself and he's learning by doing. James(6) and Trevor(4) both like to help as well. James is very talented and has some great ideas and Trevor likes to "drive" the train. so we have the start of a family hobby which I think is great.
If I missed replying to anyone I am sorry.
I'll check in tomorrow.
Have not heard from you in a few days. I hope that all is well. You are probably spending as much time as possible with your layout before the weather discourages you. These mornings feel like Fall. It was so foggy this morning that you could hardly see your nose in front of your face. That reminds me of a funny story. We were coming down Cabbage Hill in Oregon in the truck one night. The truckers were talking about the fog on the CB. One of the truckers said,"It is so foggy that I can't see my dash lights." We almost laughed off the road. I wonder has anyone ever tried to model fog?
I haven't had long work times on our layout, so I have been doing the boring RR tie painting. That seems to go on forever. Larry is still fussing with the turntable. If anyone can fix it, he will. We probably should have planned to purchase Walthers' ready to run one. The problem with that now is that we would have to do some major adaption to the bench work because it sits between two joists.
I hope that your boys keep providing help. They are probably thrilled when you apply their ideas.
http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=5959
If one could roll back the hands of time... They would be waiting for the next train into the future. A. H. Francey 1921-2007
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
you are not alone. my ex got me interested and i have a 4x6 layout. i was having so much trouble getting it to run correctly, too many rail connections, that i just took it all apart and bought flex track. i have been looking at layouts trying to get one i like and then i will start laying my track again.
i read these posts and feel so inferior. i'm not into dcc or whatever and all i want is a good layout and run the trains.
i must admit that i am more into building the models and creating scenes and most of what i see is about super running of trains on 90 levels etc. it's way over my head.
my last layout had a city- firhouse, apt bldgs, shops, school and then a suburb with houses, and a school. i also have a cemetary and somehow some of the markers for the graves got pushed down so we have urban problems too.
i use a lot of figures and hedges and flowers and fences etc. i love german models that i get from walthers and a friend goes to germany and switzerland on business and brings me back super stuff.
before i trashed my other layout i was starting to figure out how to wire my street lights. i tried two levels but it was really grade one stuff so on this layout i'm going to try to have my city a little higher. i saw some great postings on that.
i have a lot, well not really, of time because i just retired after 27+ years at harvard university and i do substitute teach in a great private school, grades K-5, to keep busy. i don't know how i ever worked because i seem to run out of time a lot. where does the day go and why can't i get my house cleaned, gardening done and layout started.
i've also been working on a political campaign like crazy. is it okay to say that. i won't tell you who it is.as much as i'd love to drum up votes for him.
so that's it. you are not alone.
anothergirl wrote: I read these posts and feel so inferior. i'm not into dcc or whatever and all i want is a good layout and run the trains. i must admit that i am more into building the models and creating scenes and most of what i see is about super running of trains on 90 levels etc. it's way over my head.
I read these posts and feel so inferior. i'm not into dcc or whatever and all i want is a good layout and run the trains.
First off, Welcome to the Forum!!!
Secondly, all I have to say is don't feel inferior. I have been active in the hobby since the age of 4. and Next monday is my 24th birthday which will make it 20 years of participation. As one could guess, I have accumulated alot of stuff over the span of 20 years. And even have some treasured "Goodies" Yet, for all my 120 locomotives 600 + cars, 250 + feet of track 75 buildings, List can go on and on, I am still quite novice in some areas. I was given a DCC system as a group purchase by my modeling freinds for Christmas one year, however, while I concede its advantages, I personally can't justify the expense of purchasing all the hardware needed to do a proper installation on my layout as well as buying decoders for all 120 locomotives. I did buy some "Duel Mode" decoders to put into some favorite engines of mine so I can run them on my freinds layout, But for the most part I mainly use Two Cab DC block control. Works good, been around for years, Parts are easy to find, and it bought and paid for.
As for being slow to get started, do not dispair, I have been working on what is now a 6'6" X 11' 5" T shaped layout for 11 years and still don't have it in operation. This is a combonation of many factors. Some were uncoperative parents. Some were because of lack of time while I was in college, and others are because I am such an uncompromising critic of my own work. It takes me years to get projects done some time. I am known in my area as a fabulous paint shop expert. But If you give me a piece to do expect it to take a year or two. Case in point. I have been working on a 50' Plug Door Box car painted GN Blue for almost three years now. Yet now that I almost have it back together I am thinking about stripping it down and repainting it because of a flaw I found on the endof the car, in one of the recesses, (A tiny hair or piece of fuzz that got stuck in the paint.) Its not noticeable unless you really look for it. and I bet 99.9 % of all of you would never even see it. But its a blemish in my work, and part of me is screaming "You simply can't stand for that!!!!!!" Perhaps I need tharapy?
Anyway point is. Don't feel inferior, we all have our strong points and our weak points. and its how you set one off against the other that makes for interesting and fun model railroads.
James Mitich
Obsessive Compulsive GN Modeler