Well after I graduated from High School in 1988, I left the HO world behind, knowing it would only be temporary, but not how long temporary was going to be. The last items I purchased were two Rail Power Products SD60 shells, and two of their CF7 shells back in 1988 or so.
Well, while doing some cleaning in the basement two weeks ago, my 11 year old son found the old shells and an Athearn GP38-2 that I had painted and decorated as an Illinois Terminal Loco. He was very interested and it was awesome that he took interest in something I was also interested in.
Well to make a long story short, I just spent over 700 dollars over the last 2 weeks buying locos and other accessories on ebay and at our loco hobby shop.
All I can say is… HOLY COW!! I can’t believe how much everything has changed. It is as if I walked through a time warp. When I was a teenager back in the 80’s… Bachmann, Life Like, etc. were the bottom of the barrel and we snubbed our noses at them. lol!! Now we have DCC!!! That is cool!! We will be getting set up for that for sure. I still like the Athearn locos and other than 2 AHM E8’s that I bought, the rest are Athearns.
Nuff for now. I will be pilfering knowledge from all of you as the layout progresses.
[#welcome]BACK to the worlds greatest hobby. There are some great people ( and modelers ) around here that will keep you on the straight and narrow. 35 years around the hobby and still learning great tricks from some of these guys.
It has been 24 years for me, 28 if you don’t count the test oval I had in the rental house for three years before moving to Sunny Scottsale, Arizona.
I have renodeled my 2 car garage and getting it in shape to build a similar test loop, only double track this this time. I will need it to get all of the items that have been in boxes since 1984 tuned up and ready to go again.
I have arm chaired all of that time being a regular subscriber to MRR and RMC. I could never have kept up without them. This forum has been a great help to me, as I am sure it will be to you.
[#welcome] I’m kinda in the same boat but I’ve been back into it now for almost two years. I too graduated in 1988, and after some military service, some college, bachalor hood (sp?), then wife, kid and house, I was FINALLY able to rekindle my love affair with MRR. And I am soooooo glad I did. Sure it’ frustrating at times and the learning curve is pretty big to start with but it’s all in the name of fun. The best advice I can give you is read, read, read and read some more, and when taht does’t answer your question, the very fine people on this board are usually more than happy to help. Good luck and have fun.
About 30 years away before I got back into it in the middle of '06. Above advice excellent–read a lot–there are several of the Kalmbach books, both basic and less so that are very well written and informative–then if something isn’t clear or isn’t addressed–ask here!! Welcome and enjoy!
You can’t pilfer knowledge that’s freely offered on a non-copyrighted public forum. Remember, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery!
While I never really got away from model railroading, there were several periods where my only activity was reading my monthly magazines. Happily, I now have enough room to build the layout I always wanted - and the rolling stock collection has always needed.
Our resident staff of experts stands ready to assist. If you have questions that can’t be answered by a quick run at the search function, by all means post them. You WILL get answers. The only dumb question is the one that wasn’t asked when somebody needed information.
[#welcome], I had a 30 year absence from this great hobby, I have been back in the hobby for about a year now and I am in the process of building a 10’ x 12’ layout. The only advice I can give you is have patience. I love this hobby, I’m not very good at it,but i love it.
What are you talking about? 80’s Bachmann, Life-Like, and Tyco were far better than the junk available today! (Just kidding. [:D] You’d have to have read some of the recent discussions here to get the joke.)
You sound like the proverbial kid in the candy store. With the wealth of beautiful technology and equipment available today, you’ll often find yourself drooling on your monitor or hobby shop windows, unless you’re one of those lucky souls blessed with an unlimited hobby budget. Today’s state-of-the-art is something we could only dream about in the 70’s and 80’s.
Btw, I think Rivarossi produced a lot of nice models, but those E-8’s had 4 wheels powered out of 12 - not even an entire truck - and they moved at warp speed. What were they thinking? [%-)]
This forum and others on the internet give us access to information and feedback that was impossible in those dark pre-internet days. So welcome back, and don’t be afraid to ask questions, because there’s a wealth of information here, as well as an opinion or two. [:-^]
I am just getting back into the hobby, and am totally amazed at what is available also. I ditto the internet info too.
I even have a large, dry basement that has become the “train room” just like we called where our layout was when I was a kid.I have 2 boys that seem to enjoy operating the trains too. All in all a good time even though I took 20 years off
Glad to have ya back. Here’s my little story. First train set at Christmas 1966, Tyco set with the blue and yellow Santa Fe F7. Loved that engine! Discovered Model Railroader a few years later. Next came that good old 4x8 plywood layout in my bedroom. Teen years ended up moving up to the Sierra Nevada foothills. I should tell you now that I grew up in the SF bay area. Love my SP. Third layout up in the hills. going along nicely. Then. Sept 1988 some dummy started a tiny fire that turned into a major forest fire. To make a bad story short the layout was lost to the fire, along with the house, car, ect… How do you start over when all you grabed were a couple of the closest Athearn Loco’s. Well I put those engines away and tried something new. RC airplanes! To much repair time, crashes! Next came RC cars, this time you get crashes and dirt! Moved agian to Paradise and found a home with a nice 14x14 shed out back. Perfect for my beloved trains. So Welcome back to the best hobbie there is, and don’t worry you’ll catch back up, it’s like ridding a bike.
[#welcome] back to the hobby and welcome to the MR forums.
You will find that like yourself, I and many others went through a hiatus from the hobby. Same as you, after high school I went to college and then left the hobby from 1980 and got back into it again around 1991. Then stayed with it for a few years, and then got married and had children and boxed it all up again. Our sons are 17 and 12 now and I have been back in the hobby since around 2002 and have not looked back since.
This and other forums are a great resource for learning and picking up tips, I learn something new just about every day from the online community.
I am lucky that the Lord has blessed me with a great woman, and a good job! Since this hobby has been revolving around our son, and the father/son thing, she has not said a word about me spending too much money.
