Hello gang. Some of you might recall in some of my past posts and comments as to how strict I was with my trains - like only running certain cars for certain periods and so forth. But in recent weeks, I’ve began to lighten up and do things I would have never done six months ago… Take for example the Santa Fe 4-8-4 #3780 that I spruced up a couple of weeks ago. Normally I would have re-decaled it into #3751 before painting the smoke box door medium flat gray, but I finally said to myself enough is enough, and went ahead and painted it anyway. I figure at one point in its existence the real thing probably had a gray smoke box door, but if not, oh well… But that’s only one example of my changing attitude about the hobby, and I’ve noticed that by lightening up, I’m having a lot more fun than I use to!.
That’s great. Theres a lot of minutia in this hobby and while it’s interesting it’s also easy to get caught up in the details and forget to have fun. It’s a trap thet I’ve fallen into and many others as well. For many years MR used to have Model Railroading is Fun on the cover of the magazine. I think that is better than any other slogan they have used.
Anyone remember the old Lionel ads with the smiling dad an moms and the kids? There is nothing wrong with serious modeling, just don’t get caught up in it so much that it becomes an overwhelming task.
I had gotten to the point that it was really starting to stress me out… I wouldn’t do anything unless I’d done research first and had proof that a certain car was run with a certain loco at a certain period before I’d put them on the track together. Every detail of everything had to be painted and just right. It had literally become an obsession. I finally reached a point that it wasn’t any fun anymore, so I said to heck with it, tossed most of the rule book out the window and started doing things my way as much as I can.
I always enjoy detailing when I want to, but having fun is the most important thing. If I didn’t have fun I would have quit years ago. Sure I’ll detail the heck out of one loco and do nothing on the next, work hard on a scene I want to do, but when I find I’m not having fun doing it, I step back and just play with the buggers.[soapbox]
Way to go!!! I am jealous…stuck in the building mountains and wiring phase of my 2nd half of the layout…sooon… sooooo soooooooon… I will get to run trains.
Although, I have to say I started making a new bridge and I am enjoying it immensely (although cutting the like 400 pieces off of the sprue is a bit, um, (yawn) tiresome and keeping me up late watching CSI! Hahahah
As long as nothing violates the overall “theme” of your layout, you should be good! Afterall, only a true Sante Fe fan would know about the smoke box color relative to cerain numbering series. To an Eastern guy like me it would still look right. Now, if that 4-8-4 were pulling a stack-pack train, I’d probably raise an eyebrow…
But I hear you loud and clear! I had a smiliar recent breakthrough. For me it was kitbashing Pennsy steam in N. There are only a few choices with which to work. Fortunately, Pennsy used a lot of standard components from one steam class to another. But after building a 2-8-0 and worrying about the valve gear, the rivet lines on the tender, and that the boiler rode too high, I had to stop and back up (literally). When taken as a whole against the backdrop of my layout, the engine still looked right at the head of a coal drag. Why? It had the essentials; a Belpaire firebox, the right smokebox, the right number plate, the right cab, and Pennsy paint/markings. It fit the theme.
Modeling the theme is very fulfilling. Modeling the theme is less stressful than rivet-counting taken to the extreme. The rivet colunting path, although rewarding to many, is a long one that would–for me–have ended up at Proto 1:160… a direction I was not willing to go.
So welcome to the league of happy modelers who enjoy the theme and have found the balance between prototype fidelity and child-like excitement!
Welcome to the enlightened side, Tracklayer. If you are not enjoying the hobby, you had better change the way you look at it, the way you do it, or leave it altogether.
I enjoy reading about the history of railroading, and I learn lots from those interludes. When I am running my layout, though, I only pay lipservice to real operations because that is not what I am in this to do. My goal has always been to construct and to enjoy what I have my way, and to keep my investments of time and money reasonable. At times I get bold enough, or something bothers me enough, that I tackle a slight alteration whose time seems to have arrived. These are interesting moments, and they work or they don’t. I don’t need to have it all right now, or I’d be looking at tennis by this summer.
The cool thing about trains is you can usually find a prototype to justify what your doing. Like a Mike in a consist with an AC 4400 on it’s way to a museum. If it was real work, they wouldn’t call it a hobby.
I think it’s possible to be VERY serious to your own beliefs and have fun with the hobby. Your posts have always led me to think that you have very high–and admirable–standards and have decided to stick with them because it works for you. Cheers! But I am a firm believer that relaxing standards a bit in the hobby CAN increase the enjoyment you derive from it.
I don’t know if this helps or not, but my profession–classical musician–is very demanding and I have to keep up VERY high standards, which means hours of detailed practicing, and a lot of research into various musical styles and eras so that I can present the music not only as Authentically as possible, but also imbue it with spark and interest to the listener. It’s pretty darned exhausting, but it’s my passion, so I’ve been doing it for years and years.
So I use the hobby of model railroading to relax. Not sloppy-relax (I hope), but just ease up a little and take away some of the stress of my profession. Example: I bought a Rio Grande automobile car a couple of months ago that had a builder’s date of 1959. Well, the latest year I model on my railroad is 1952. I looked at the car for a long time before I bought it, then said to myself, “Oh the heck with it, do you know how hard it is to even FIND a Rio Grande automobile car these days?” It’s now very happily running behind my Rio Grande steam, and it really doesn’t bother me, that much.
So, relaxing your standards a little doesn’t mean abandoning them altogether. And I doubt that you will. And if it means you’re having more fun with the hobby, then GO FOR IT!
Dave,Don’t rise that eyebrow to fast over a steamer pulling a stack train…There was a picture in Trains magazine some years ago(late 80s?) of a UP steamer(8444?) pulling a Maersk stack train.It was a publicity stunt as far as I can remember.
Guys,I changed my modeling style several years ago…I was loosing something…Enjoyment.
How about fleshing your story out for us, Larry. What was happening over time, what did you feel, and how did you deal with it? It might be useful to get a digest version of a modeler’s conversion. (sorry for the rhyming,…coudn’t help it.) [:D]
Who knows, every one of us may have to go through it at some point, and maybe we can learn from your self-discovery what to watch for.
Glad to see you back with us. After your outburst, I did not know if you would join us “common folk” again![;)]
Webster’s Desk DIctionary defines hobby as : N an activity or interest pursued for pleasure or relaxation.
Now, it may be that the rivet counters among us do indeed get relaxation while counting those rivets. So may have been you.
Recently there is a lot of news here about funding that could go to renovate a county building, or build a brand new building at the Community College. WHen they show the cardbord model of the new building, I think of you. That is because either architecture companies or the model maker companies they hire often build a represatational model that may not even be to any scale.
If they can do such, then so can we. In fact many people model a particular RR with say, 150 miles of mainline, yet have only 3/4 scale miles for it. I have often wanted to call those die-hard rivet counters on such! That 3/4 scale mile is only representational of the prototype, not exacting.
Have fun! Thats what its for! Very few will call it anything less than spactactular if you’ve done well. And if they don’t…well lets see what they have to offer. I bet no less![:-^]
I have a freelance layout specifically so I can do what I please. Maybe in the future I will stick to some details as it progresses.