This was the last day of work for Bill, whose office was across from mine at work. He’s healthy and financially secure enough that he’s decided to call it quits. We don’t have a mandatory retirement age, but he’s about where one would expect someone to retire.
So, what are your thoughts about retirement? Did your trains figure prominently in the decision? Did you start up the hobby for something to do when you didn’t have to get up every morning and go to work? Do you really have more time for railroading, or, as others have reported, are you just as busy now as you were before?
Retirement was (is) great for me. I did not get back to trains at first because the hobby that replaced trains (woodworking) still dominated. I had a great woodworking time. Three years ago I got back into trains. Best time I have ever had. I went back to work part time to support the good time. I would wish everyone as good a retirement as I.
Just as busy as when I was working, but doing different things! Model railroading is just one of my hobbies that I had many years before retireing 7 years ago. Don’t seem to get as much done as when I was working, but it’s not really a problem, after all it is a hobby.
I read a long time ago that things take longer when you are retired. When you’re working, time spent on hobbies is precious, and you try to do as much as you can when you can. When you are retired, you have all the time in the world, so if something doesn’t get done, there is always tomorrow. And as a result, many things get put off until “tomorrow” and may never get done.
I didn’t mind working when I did, but I like not working better!
i was a signal maintainer for the NYCTA for 31 years. retired 9 years ago. i never had the time to do more than begin a layout then forget about it. after spending all day around moving trains, live thirdrails and filthy smelly passengers i couldn’t keep my interest going long enough to complete even one attempt at a layout. since retirement i began the layout i always thought about, joined a club and have been able to travel to see many shows. my layout is progressing. i’ve got one working signal. but now outside interests have taken priority until the cold weather returns. i was only 50 when i retired so i still have a lot of time to go i hope.
I retired in Jan. after 38 years , I was ready. Was a modeler before retirement , now I have time , (when I feel like it) to work on the layout more. Finally went DCC right after I retired so that has kept me busy. I piddle around outside more than before though, I enjoy working on flowers.
Interesting question. Since retiring from the service I have gone to work for the railroad as a service rep for Plasser. So I guess the answer is yes, I have more time for railroading (I am paid to do so) but not model railroading, no I don’t get to sleep in, and yes railroading figures prominently in my post retirement-back-to-work-again plans.
I can honestly say that I am collecting a h*ll of a lot of information and photos…
At 43, my diabetes is so bad that I doubt seriously I’ll make it to retirement. [xx(] If I did make it 28 more years to retirement age, I don’t think my quality of life would be worth the trouble.
(not being pessimistic, just realistic…)
When I retired @ 52 four summers ago, I hadn’t the slightest inkling I was now going to have fun building a layout and playing with trains. I had a huge learning curve with the property I inherited which my father had run and gardened for 9 years by then. I had to learn the plumbing (deep well and septic systems), how to run a fenced garden 50 times larger than anything I had every tried living in military married quarters, and generally start painting, mowing the outer lawns, and so forth. If anything, I had hoped to resume an interest in astronomy that lay dormant by about six years at the time. In order to keep afloat with two daughters still in college, plus my newfound hobby, I approached the Military College about teaching part-time because I knew they wanted/needed seasoned and qualified instructors for distance education programmes at the undergrad level. I am still enjoying the teaching, now three years into it, and the hobby is sort of stalled…I’m purposefully not dealing with trains stuff to ensure I am keener come the fall.
My wife has warmed considerably to our situation and the property…it was left to us, and we had to jump, or rent, which my deceased mother asked us not to do. Even though she now enjoys our lives out here (ocean-side, about 3 miles from town), I still expect that we’ll look at each other one day and say, “We’re selling and moving closer to amenities and doing some traveling.” When that happens, I am pretty sure I’ll tear down the layout and deal with a new one once I know where we will live.
But I am happy, and as Bob says, busier’n a one-armed paper hanger.
retirement? I can’t even find a promising job right now. Retirement is a LONG ways away for me. The only thought I’ve really had about retirement was that I was going to have a nice layout and work on it much more than if I was busy with work, kids, etc, but then I thought why wait till retirement, start a layout sooner.
I retired at 59 1/2 and as others have indicated I’ve been on the run for the last 3 years. Kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids scattered all over the midwest makes for a lot of traveling (and a lot of fun).
As others have also mentioned, trains are there for when I want to work on them. I also have a 1971 Fiat 129 Sport Spyder, love taking pictures, playing golf, and bicycling. Yesterday I rode my bike for 12 miles and walked for 18 holes of golf. In the summer (and spring and fall) trains take a back seat to outdoor activities. I also like to read and watch movies.
I’ve been interested in trains since I was about 10 years old. I was an active modeler from about age 14 to about age 36. Then family events and work kept me busy until about 2003. The local hobby shop was going out of business and was selling everythiing at half price. I started buying with the intent of storing them until retirement which was originaly scheduled for 2008. Couldn’t wait that long. Started building the layout and have been having a ball. Then in 2005 the situation at work changed and I cashed out.
So, after having gone the long way around the block, the trains were already in place by the time retirement rolled around. I do have more time for trains. I’m in good health and finacially secure. I also have more time for my other hobbies, my wife, and my family. It just don’t get much better!
When I am at work the thought of retirement scares me because I quite like what I do. I do however get a lot of time off after 33 years of service and when I have been off for a few weeks I do not want to go back to work because I have so much to keep me busy in my off time. The benefit of being off for long stretches is you can do what you want to do when you want to do it. Having a good social circle is key to a happy/healthy and long retirement. I will hang it up in two to three years and I think it will be time. My kids will only be 8 and 11 when I retire and I will be 55 but because I had them late in life money is not an issue. I can spend what I want when I want in the train store and will have all the time I want to spend with my kids. However while they are in school it is TRAIN TIME.
Brent
PS: Misterbeasley you sound like you are contemplating retirement. How long until you close the office door for the last time???
I can’t wait to retire!..Just 6 more years and i’ll be 55 and 30 years with the company. i’m cramming every extra nickel and dime in my 401K and with a bit of luck, I’ll be out of there in Sept. of 2014. Had a job since i was 13 and i’m just tired of the day after day rat race. (The secret is to keep my wife working until she can retire at 61 1/2)…[:D] chuck
I retired in January of 2006 at age 66 and an important part of my retirement plan was to spend more time on my hobby. For the first 6 months I worked almost exclusively on my trains because I was asked to have my home layout on the NMRA Southeastern Region convention tour. At that time only about 40% of my home layout had scenery. At the time of the convention I probably added only 5% more. It was a lot of fun and I had maybe 60 people visit One was Sam Swanson who in my opinion is one of the best model makers in the hobby today. Shortly after the June 06 convention, my wife’s mother in NJ became very ill and up until the time she past away in late November 07, we spent more time in NJ than we spent in Memphis and little was done on my layout. I am hoping to get started again soon and find out what retirement is really like. I plan to go to the National Narrow Gauge Convention in Portland OR in September and then travel down to Mt. Shasta in northern CA to do some research in the area I am modeling. One of my favorite parts of the hobby is historical research and during the past two years even while I was away from home, I was able to keep up with this aspect of the hobby thanks to the internet. On previous trips and with the help of a local railroad historian, I was able to explore the ruins of an actual 30 inch gauge logging RR that was located in the same general area as my fictitious sawmill. The ties shown in the foreground of the lower photo were for duel gauge.
During the past two years when my hobby was on hold, I found time to do work with the our Church and did volunteer work with children with disabilities. This was very rewarding and provided an important balance to my retirement activities and I plan to continue with this work. Yes I am enjoying my retirement and look forward to finishing the remaining 55% of my scenery.
Well, I’m 61 now. My daughter is just 17, though, so we’ll be putting her through college starting next year. Actually, I generally enjoy what I do, and since it’s computer-based in a lab and office environment, it’s comfortable and not physically demanding. I think I have to learn to appreciate the good stuff and just ignore all the management, mis-management and general idiocy that goes with working for a big company.
I guess I figured I might work until as late as 70, particularly if I could arrange a part-time deal, but the reality of someone I worked with every day walking out with a smile on his face, headed to his new seaside home in Gloucester, made me think about other alternatives.
But gee, when “our baby” moves out, then I’ve got permission to expand my layout. It’s going to be tough to make that kind of progress if I have to go to work every day…
I plan to retire in a couple of years and expect to have the time to build a fairly large layout. But it doesn’t drive my retirement plans. Family and finances do that.
Retirement was to have been about a year ago, at 62 and 25 years at current company. Wife’s disability required purchase of an accessible home on very short notice; former house now in market for 13 months (30K price reduction so far, should have listed it lower to start[banghead]. 30K additional mortgage payments in last 12 months[:(].) Retirement funds have taken a BIG hit. Layout construction deferred pending sale and stabilization of finances, and sorting and hopefully disposition of MANY boxes of 27 years of marital accumulation of detritus. Have spent some time making rock molds and developing very inexpensive slo-mo switch machines, working on roundhouse/TT module (with operatind doors). Retirement will hopefully be shortly after July 1, 2009, at 64, and 28 years pension credit. Anyone want to buy a house? Gary
I’m twice-retired, and now fully retired - and involved in more things than ever!
Back when I was a wage-earner, if something came up around the house I’d call in the necessary craftsperson, then write a check to pay for the work. Now, the ‘honeydo’ list is my personal responsibility unless it involves working on the roof. Then, too, there’s gardening - not my thing, but definitely my wife’s. My contribution is mostly construction - raised beds, drainage - and trash removal.
We now take short trips (and sometimes longer trips) - each one eats up a week or so.
We’ve re-discovered some old interests that don’t so much burn time as they re-arrange our use of it. (The worst offender? Sumo. The bi-monthly Grand Tournaments mean fifteen days of midnight-to -two AM watching, with corresponding disruption of the diurnal cycle.)
Of course, we’re about to have a two-week period of concentrated attention on the goings-on in Beijing. I love the Olympic sports, so I’m looking forward to my once every four year fix.
Oh, yeah. I do work on the layout (and rolling stock) in between.
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - other activities permitting)
Before I retired from the Air Force people would ask me what I planned on doing with myself when I retired. “I’m going to become a novelist,” I said. For twenty years that had been my dream. I retired thirty years ago this coming 1 September. Ask me how many novels I’ve written in those thirty years.
This past weekend I made a decision to put my Seaboard and Western Virginia Rwy on a side track - which, incidently, is just about where it has been for the past eight years anyway - and make a conscientious attempt at writing that novel. I am going to continue to monitor the forum and I’m going to continue abreast of the hobby thru the hobby press and I plan on at least attending the 75th NMRA convention in Milwaukee in two years. I am hoping that five years of concentration will gitt’r’done.
My writer-in-residence at ASU twenty five years ago said that creative writing was really very easy: all you had to do, she said, was sweat blood!
Retirement -Ahh, what a nice concept. For me, unless I get lucky and hit it big somewhere, my retirement will start when the Coroner rolls me out of the office in a body bag.
On April 7, 2007 my job disappeared because the company I worked for closed its doors. I was then faced with the prospect of looking for a new job in a city that never really recovered from the last recession (NYC) and is losing jobs left and right.
I was too young to retire (and I am still to young) but finding jobs at my level (corporate CFO/Controller) are few and far between with 99% of them out of state. So my wife and I went through some tough economic times until I reached the age where I could start living off my 401Ks without paying any penalties. So as it stands now I am retired but not by choice.
That said, I can say that retirement doesn’t mean that you can sleep late and do anything you want. It still requires that you get up at a certain time each morning especially if your spouse still works as mine does. It also means that there are specific tasks one needs to perform each morning like making the bed, clearing and washing the breakfast dishes and then doing whatever it is that you do for the rest of the day.
In my case it’s finally cleaning out the train room that has been a repository for all sorts of junk that has been stored there beginning in 1987. It was originally a train room for an N-Scale layout that never had a name and was partially dismantled to allow the room to
