When I was younger I was always in a rush to get the layout finished. Lately, after thinking about it I’m not so sure. What will I do when it is done? I think the trackwork is finished, I thought this two other times, but I can run trains. Just like to fiddle with the scenery & try different techniques, buy a car or 2 once in a while, shave off molded on details, weather or reweather rolling stock with no real motivation to ever “finish”. I really wouldn’t want to start over at this point…but I am enjoying the hobby. Are any others in this same boat? Jerry
No, but I would like to start it!
My trouble is that the more I get done, the more I realize I have to do! Build some scenery, it needs a road. Build the road, you need autos, get the autos, where’s the filling station?.. On and on…
And getting the trains running presents its own challenge… Roundy round begets siding, siding begets industry spurs, spurs beget a small yard, small yard begets engine terminal, engine terminal begets larger yard, all of the above beget staging… Then all those yard tracks need rolling stock!
It’s the dreaded snowball effect. That’s why I love this hobby. They say if you ever finish everything on your “TO DO” list, you die… I must be going to live FOREVER!!
Lee
Can’t imagine being finsihed. I figure it will take 5 years or so to get phase one done and I figure 3 phases with phase 3 taking 10 years or so. And that’s if I don’t move. I don’t have plans, but the longest I’ve lived in a house in my life has been 7 years and I’m on six in this one.
I would have to say that I’m in the same boat as you. I’ve only been modeling a short time now (little over a year) and already on my 4th layout. There was nothing really wrong with the others but as I learned of things in the hobby I just keep wanting to start over, start new. Now with this 4th layout i have taken my time and not rushed anything, applying the things that I have read and learned. And overall I’m so much happier with the results. But as for actually ever being done, I don’t think that I ever will be, and I’m glad cause I don’t want to be…
Norman…
“Finishing” a layout can be anticlimatic… On the other hand, assuming you planned and tested along the way, once it’s “done” you can focus on operations. If that’s not your bag (I wonder if it’s my bag…?), then yes, there’s the “what now?” feeling.
A layout is never 100% finished, however, because you can always go back and re-do scenes as your skills improve. You can also replace structures. And, if operations show shortcomings in the track plan, you should never be afraid to change the track around too. Sure, you might have to toss some track if it doesn’t come clearnly out of the ballast, but compared to starting over, it’s much cheaper!
I have plans to put in an additional crossover myself…[:-^]
I am now working on my second and third layout. I had one HO scale in a building out back and I was “finished”, there was nothing elece left to do. My parents moved to Dallas a little over a year ago and left me with the house, A three story with the upper story, a finished attic, to be the new train room. I have got a good start on the N scale, benchwork done and most of the track is laid. I am now in the process of building a mountain that will suit me. When the mountaim is complete, I will start laying the second phase of the track work.
I have another large room up stairs that will be for the HO scale when I come to a stopping place on the N scale. I haven’t got all the benchwork done on the HO scale and am still sort of in the planning stage of the HO layout.
I will probley never have both of them done but it will probley keep me busy for the rest of my life. If I live long enough to get them both done, I will probley start another one or re-do one of the layouts.
I do enjoy building layouts and like to run the trains around the scenery as I build them. I certainly hope I live long enough to get to start on the forth layout but it is doubtfull, I wish I had gotten into the hobby 30 years ago instead of 2 years ago. I turned 50 in Nov. and am disable due to a back injury. It is possible to get to build another one, just need more money and more time. If any of you modelers have more money or time than you need, please send me some. LOL. Mike
edit… I am taking my sweet time and not rushing anything, If I do something and find I don’t like it, away it goes and start again. Better to start over on something now as opposed to waiting until it is done and then deciding that I should have done it a different way. On the first layout I was in a hurry to get my first model built and knowing very little about what I was doing, I made a lot of mistakes. I am usin
Absolutely, positively, YES!!!
There is a saying that a model railroad is never really finished because there is always something that can be improved on and new products coming on the market that can be added on but if we define finished as a completely scenicked and operating layout, I most certainly want to reach that point. For the most part, there is little in the construction process that really excites me. It is a means to an end. I get the most enjoyment from operating a layout or simply running the trains back and forth through a realistic setting.
I am building a very large basement empire. I am guessing I am 2 to 3 years away from reaching my goal of a completely scenicked layout and when I reach that point, I have a large branch line addition planned which by itself would make an interesting railroad. I’m guessing that will take an additional 3-5 years to reach the finished stage. But that is the goal. It is the finish line that keeps be going through the drudgery of layout construction. I know some enjoy the process as much as the destination, but that is not me. I want to get to the finish line and the sooner the better. When I finally reach that goal, then I can take a step back and decide what enhancements I might make to what I have done. The difference will be that I will be doing things I want to do, not things I need to do.
Yes…
Of course I want to ‘finish’ it - Then I can start on a ‘new’ layout! Actually I am working to complete my present layout right now and get about 4 years of good operation out of it. When I retire, I do plan to tear it down and start on a new ‘dream’ layout. I have been buying code 83 trackage over the past couple of years in anticipation. With most of the engines/rolling stock painted/detailed/decoderized - I have time to work on the layout.
Jim
For various reasons I have nevered finished a layout. That’s okay, but I’d at least like to get another one to the scenery stage. That may not happen with the current one under construction since a move may occur in a couple of years, but then I’ll be retired and have more time.
Enjoy
Paul
No. The best part for me is building it. There is always something that can be changed or added.
Well for me the real enjoyment comes when I have car cards/waybills in hand and I am working the industries or yard after all that’s why I have thousands of dollars tied up in locomotives,cars,track,structures, figures etc.After all if I wanted a wood working hobby I would have taken up wood crafting as a hobby.Same applies to scenery…I would have taking diorama building as a hobby.
Nope…I want to finish my ISLs or branch line layouts and get down on operation.
I don’t know if anyone ever could really finish a layout. In my case, I started my first, any only one to date, without any background or experience - it was a 4 x 8. Since that time I have made many additions - it has grown like topsy - in an effort to make it easier to run, (I have 16 locos, half diesel and half steam) but I continue to want to do better. I have 43 remote turnouts that require much attention during operation to prevent derails. My big problem is where to store (park) the locos and running stock when they are not in use - I guess the answer is further expansion. I started and continue with DÇ (I do not anticipate converting to DCC). I have learned a lot from the posts over the years and continue to say “I wish I knew when I started what I have learned over the years”. An enjoyable, but sometimes a frustrating hobby, but what else to do during the winter months. Can we ever get a layout the way we want it?
Yes, I want to get it done; but then I’ll just find something else to do to it, or start another. There is an idea floating around in the back of my mind for when I finish my current n-scale layout expansion, but I don’t think it’ll be another expansion, and by the time I get to it, I may be past the age of dexterity and eyesight to work much on n-scale, so…
Too late. It’s been finished for a long time… Now all I want to do is run my trains, railfan, buy an occasional loco or piece of rolling stock and have fun.
Tracklayer
Ah, no. I am on my fourth iteration of my first layout. Most of this is caused because of poor planning on my wife’s part… err no just kidding, my part. I don’t think I ever will finish the layout. I would like to though.
Peter
It would be nice to “finish” it, to a basic level, then I could concentrate on detailing individual scenes.
Unless somebody develops an immortality drug, I seriously doubt that my layout will ever be finished, done, throw away the tool box…
For that matter, just check how many times a, “Finished” prototype railroad either constructed an entire new route or seriously rebuilt an existing one. (I remember when the track through the Powder River Basin was single - and virtually unused.)
Even if I get to the point that the layout is fully operational and sceniced (sooner than my 100th birthday, I hope) there will always be little (or big) things to rework, improve or add on to. I still have a long way to go just to complete my basic benchwork!
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - sooner or later)
My current Santa Fe is “done”. Was started in 1988, virtually complete, scenery and all by 2001. It will be my last. I had 4 larger layouts before it, and then my 4 by 8 in college. I enjoy operations, I do rebuild small areas once in a while, scenery, structures and even a siding or too, but the railroad is done. I must have done it right as I enjoy it as much today as I did when I started.
Bob