"BAN" Lifted.1-10-22. Re Locomotive Projects

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

So I have a special enthusiasm for Locomotive projects. I love to build and improve kits, make balky units run smooth, add a few details to dud looking ones, heavily kitbash them. Both Steam and Diesel.

I know that makes me far from unique. Hi Darth, Mel! Everyone else! It’s my favorite default aspect of the hobby. Next in line is scratch building structures. Building and 'bashing vehicles is up there too. But the locomotive thing is the most alluring.

Therein lies the problem. I’ll go out to the layout room to work on scenery and see one of my pet loco WIPs, and start tinkering. Evening gone. The layout itself is suffering a lack of progress. Track is 100% operational. About 50% of the plywood is at least covered, with scenery in various stages of completion, but no area complete. None of the 8 major structures are done, much less the little ones. Ballasting is about 25% done.

And I actually LIKE to do this stuff, and when I do, it makes an appreciable diff each time. But… then… I revert to the loco thing. Like that recent tractive effort scale I made.

So on a rather impulsive descision, I packed up ALL locomotive WIPs, and related boxes of motors, details, NWSL components, all of it. And I made a list of them as I put them in a sizable box. I’m kinda shocked at myself.[:$] I’d have never guessed.

It came to 70 possible locomotive projects, half of which are close enough I’ll finish as planned. So I put that box in a corner of my layout room that’s hard to get to, gotta move some cabinets to get to 'em.

I think by removing them from easy access, I will be inclined to get on with the scenery, the idea being getting the layout complete enough that when a visitor comes in, it will look “finished” (yeah…) No obvious gaping areas of plywood, or white plaster shell, unpainted structures awaithing windows, cardboard stand-ins. Facia nice and uniform. Eno

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The groups are rarely very small.

I have been known to spend day after day working on a project that does not need to be done while I ignore the operational layout just a few feet away.

Sometimes I will ignore trains for a couple of months while I paint a new wargaming army.

Do whatever brings you pleasure. It is a hobby.

-Kevin

3

Kevin, you quoted one of quite a few sentences I edited out to make the lengthy post shorter! Well, at least I can see I’m not alone. And, for me MRRing is a winter activity. Last 2 summers I only went in the layout room to charge cordless tool batteries. Dan

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[(-D]

That happens to me all the time.

I will re-read a post, then edit it, just to find someone responded to something I removed.

Down here model railroading is a Summer time activity for me. It is so beautiful outside right now that is would be a shame to waste these wonderful days.

-Kevin

5

I find myself in similar situations and I’m also a “loco-junkie” spending hours on a project to make it layout-worthy. Sometimes I know I should be working on something else but for what ever reason I’ll find myself poking around on yet another engine or, sometimes I’ll dig out a freight car kit as sort of a “reward” in between other projects.

My “comfort zone” is sitting at the bench, something in the background, music, an audio book or a classic film or railroad DVD on the big screen. I can get lost for hours there.

I find that I have to get “in the groove” in order to concentrate on the layout itself. Yes, I DO enjoy that kind of work and when I have visitors (remember those days?) they seem to enjoy and comment on seeing the progress on the layout itself, not so much which particular engine might be pulling a train.

This alone is what motivates me to try to stay focused on making layout improvements. Over the past two years I’ve picked out places where I have had either bare plywood or simple green static grass as a “placeholder” for future development.

Here’s two examples:

Ready-track-east by Edmund, on Flickr

and more recently:

Turntable_lead-b by Edmund, on Flickr

One other spot:

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2jJ4b8M][img]https://

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What am I missing? I don’t see a problem here.

The layout itself is suffering a lack of progress.

It is? Isn’t tinkering with WIP locos part of layout progress? To me, “layout” means anything related to running trains on some sort of surface. So, that includes framework, track, structures, locos, rolling stock, electronics, ballast, landscaping, etc. Whether it be 1 year, 3 years, 5 years, longer, the layout will be done when there is nothing left to do. So, do what I do and work on whatever project suits your fancy.

That won

1 Like
7

Deciding the extent of a project can cause a sequence of delays.

A locomotive or car is a self defined project: open the box, assemble until complete, return to box.

A layout cannot be finished 100% ever no matter what you do.

I find it helps to tinker. View the whole problem THE LAYOUT as a piece. Then decide to begin, work on and complete a defined or described very small part and then set to and do it.

For me I start with the micro design. The big picture is drawn out. The modules are built to a point. The next step is actually fitting rails into the drawn out design as realized in the modules. This requires that the modules are complete enough to allow that final fitment to be completed. I don’t think you can usefully draw a layoit to be exactly as built. The reality always seems at least slightly different to the drawing.

My yard is 9’ long and begins the railroad. The exits from the yard are the critical point, located within inches by the overhead clearance required for the elevated crossing of tracks at 3.5" clearance with 2% grade 8 ft further down the mainline.

Project 1 was to build the yard modules and lay out the yard essentially schematically but with actual turnouts and track. Project 2 was to build the modules needed to reach the crossing point where the outgoing mainline passes under the return main line. Project 3 was run the necessary 2% grades (split between outgoing and return tracks) back to the turnout crossovers where the main line first accesses the yard entry. And so on.

The key I find is to decide on a quite limited but definite project forming part of the overall plan. Then do that.

Interestingly, I’ve found that projects interlace quite nicely as glue or paint needs to dry or I reach an unforeseen problem in the track alignment or module construction I need to have a think about. My defined projects tend to run concurrently.

Off to the hardware store to buy bolts.

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Yes Yes Yes!

My workbench is exactly the same. I love to spend hours there just working on whatever interests me, one of my favorite movies on the monitor, and the real world is not allowed.

-Kevin

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Well the “nice” thing about a self imposed ban on locomotive projects, complete with packing away the temptations, is that there is absolutely no consequence (other than twinges of remorse) to breaking your vow and unpacking the box. And unless you get in a confessional mood we’ll never know either. As Oscar Wilde said, I can resist everything except temptation.

When my parents both quit smoking in the late 1960s (when they learned a cousin we were all very fond of had incurable lung cancer), they took two opposite approaches to quitting. My mother threw all her unsmoked filtered cigarettes into the trash (actually she gave them to me; she smoked Lark brand cigarettes which had small bits of charcoal in the filter – the perfect size for HO scale coal. So I cut into the filters, salvaged the “coal,” and then threw the cigarettes into the trash).

My dad by contrast kept a pack of his beloved Chesterfields in his dresser drawer, on the basis that he had not really “quit” unless the cigarettes were right there and he made a continuous decision not to smoke them. That pack was there to the day he died. As he would say “I COULD smoke any time I want to. I choose not to.”

Dave Nelson

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I also much prefer to assemble a loco kit, or upgrade an existing loco, than doing trackwork, buildings or scenery work. My trackwork was completed a few months ago, and I’m almost done with the buildings. That required a lot of discipline - I alternated between fun loco work and other stuff…

I must admit that I find scenery work a bit intimidating. I have limited experience in this and I am affraid to wreck things. I’ll jump in this summer, when all of the buildings are completed.

Simon

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You really need to find people and share skills, I know, hard to do. I like to do scenery and can do other but would prefer to lay track and do scenery work, even like to ballast in smaller lots. Wish I could find a local that was a very good at DCC, can do it but just don’t enjoy it.

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What one person finds annoying, another is loving. DCC and ballasting are just some of those that pop in. There are plenty of others!

I hate to suggest it, but you might benefit from writing down a list of tasks. This way you can keep track of what to do. You also can focus on a project until you’re at a stopping point or done. Some hate lists b/c they see them as a “honey-do” list but they work for me. Also good to physically cross off a done effort.

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So true. I am the only person I know that finds ballasting relaxing.

-Kevin

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I dislike ballasting and the end result so much that ALL my track is HO Kato Unitrack. Problem solved.

I also do not enjoy tinkering with engines, and only due routine work that needs to be done.

My joy is railfanning my own trains…putting on an engine that I want with the train I want and just letting it roll.

John

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Dan

Two Bits says you can’t do it!

I most likely have more unfinished projects than anyone on this Forum as well as the messiest workbench.

It’s our hobby, who cares it’s part of the enjoyment of the hobby. What ever blows your skirt up.

I’ve been working on making castings of my new figures for over a week and everything is fighting me tooth and nail, again its part of the greatest hobby in the world.

I ran out of casting resin and decided to go with a different brand resin and the learning curve has just about finished me off. I think I figured out the trick of the new stuff after 6 sorrowful attempts.

Its all part of the hobby.

Mel

My Model Railroad
http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/

Bakersfield, California

I’m beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.

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Well, I don’t think that’s such a great idea.

If you can’t see them you’ll forget that they’re there, which will just result in you acquiring more of them.

17

And then you end up with two of the same road number…

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Ballasting isn’t my favorite thing to do but generally I don’t mind anything to do with scenery which is what ballasting track is. I can do it fairly quickly. Sometimes I need to touch it up a bit. Electronics is my bugaboo. It is my least favorite aspects of the hobby, especially when it requires soldering.

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That is a bold statement!

I am not in the running for this title. My workbench did get messy from time to time, but it was never nearly as messy as some of the pictures I have seen shared by others.

-Kevin

20

A few responses…

In general, anything I do on the layout is enjoyable. I’m just concentrating my focus for a while away from my easy, even lazy default. Also, the layout itself not huge, about 110 sq feet. And some of the proposed structures are pretty large and simple, not to get bogged down in superdetailing.

Richotrain: To me, Locomotive progress right now isn’t really Layout progress… There are already enough engines on the layout to keep the trains moving. My own eyes want to see Scenic progress.

Last spike Mike: Of course the layout will never be 100%. Nor would I ever want it to be. Just reaching for at least an overall pleasant appearance.

GMP: Yup, The comfort zone applies here. Pandora tunes mostly. Or CDs

DKNelson: Quite true about the no consequence thing! We’ll see about my self disclipline.

Simon: My scenery experience is limited too. Ive never gotten this far before, so progressing from here means breaking that ice. I think doing so will then result in gaining momentum, and being more enjoyable.

Kasskaboose: Already started the list. And I find I like ballasting now with that tool I posted about in layout construction.

Mel: I’m smart enough not to take your bet!

Maxman. I remember every locomotive I ever owned. Better than every friend’s names Ive had. Maybe that’s not good… But I won’t forget 'em.

John NYBW: My soldering skills are barely adequate. I avoid complicated electronics too. DC here.

Mel and Kevin. I can only function for a while with a messy workbench. I have to clean and organize regularly.

I mentioned that MRRing is a winter thing only. BUT! Two things have changed in my life that I haven’t experienced before over a spring-summer-fall, which may change that. I recently retired from night work, leaving that big o’l chunk of after dark time open now. I’m a ni