I’m sure that for the most part I’m preaching to the converted, but after reading 3 threads in as many weeks by the same individual tettering on the edge of leaving the hobby, I thought I might get a bit philosophical.
First, I don’t quite understand quitting. It’s not something I’ve ever done (except one crappy summer job 13 years ago). But then, I’m a veteran, so I don’t expect things to be easy. I expect to have to fight for what I want. Quitting is weakness.
Model railroading, perhaps more than most other hobbies, just isn’t right folks out for instant gratification. Sure, breaking in a DCC and sound-equipped engine right out of the box is a great feeling, but you had to do some work to get there, from the benchwork to the trackwork and wiring. More so if you have scenery. The harder you work on a project, the more reward it should give you. Like those folks out there who handlay track or scratchbuild trestles; how great they must feel! I’m not there, but I do my own fair share of hard work from scenery to kitbashing to match prototypes, and it makes me feel good. I suspect it does for most of you.
I will almost never, ever encourage somebody to quit something, especially this hobby of ours. But if someone doesn’t have the patience to troubleshoot and put some mental power into his/her hobby, perhaps it’s not for him/her. Remember the great truth that “MODEL RAILROADING IS FUN.” It should also read “AND A LITTLE HARD WORK.”
Not much else to add here, but I do remember a quote that my high school music instructor used to tell us all the time: “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” His point was this, when you reach an obstacle or hurdle the best course of action is to do your best to overcome whatever is holding you back.
I am not saying that model railroading is a tough thing, but sometimes anything can get you stumped. The point here is having a positive mental attitude will get you farther than knowing how everything works. I have also learned that in most things you do in life it is 95% attitude, and 5% apptitude that gets you through.
It used to be 99% perspiration and 1% inspriration. I guess inflation takes it’s toll on everything! LOL
I don’t quite understand why someone who faces a small adversity wants to quit in disgust. What was that old phrase: “I met a man with no shoes and felt sorry for him until I met a man with no legs.”? There seem to be a few ‘shoeless’ people on the forum who need or want sympathy.
The new forum changes have gone reasonably smoothly, less so for Mac users, apparently. It’ll take time to work out the kinks in the system. Those who want to quit because they aren’t getting everything their way probably need to find another outlet for their energies. This forum is provided free of charge. Having to re-learn a few things is a small inconvenience.
I visit and post on other forums. Every forum has it’s problems and differences. It’s part of life that you have to put up with some inconvenience to gain the most benefit in the end.
I’m not sure I agree with some of what you guys have written here, but you know what they say about opinions.
I don’t advocate completely quitting, but walking away and taking a break. However long that break may take, it is worth it. Go do something else for a day or week or month. Whatever it takes to get a little distance and perspective.
This hobby is supposed to be fun and we all have plenty of stress in our day to day lives, but when the hobby starts to stress you out, it’s time to step back.
Everyone has their own level of tolerance and patience. Some have the patience of Job and can watch continental plates drift. Others can’t wait the time it takes a hummingbird’s wings to beat twice. Most of us fall in between. And other things in our live’s can get us to that edge and that turnout that has been acting up just pushes us over the edge.
So my advice is never quit, take a break, but don’t pound your head against the wall. It’s bad for the wall.
I think it is a wise person who understands his limits. If one’s personality and talents don’t lend themselves to a particular pursuit, and the pursuit is strictly voluntary, I see no reason why the person should not try something that gives him pleasure and challenge, concurrently.
I tried to learn the guitar many years ago when my parents thought I should have one for Christmas. I think I managed about four lessons, and then told my folks that I was not going to play the guitar. Take karate, go to choir, become a psychologist, join the military, run marathons, and many other things, but ixne on the uitarge.
How many hours of sleep do you suppose I have lost over my choice in the interim?
I agree with Mike & selector. A change of direction may be necessary under certain circumstances if one is to eventually succeed at something.
I’m not talking about quitting because a project is difficult…hardly. But there are times when someone finally realizes that whatever it is they’re pursuing is just not meant to be. I find it ridiculous when someone continues to beat their head against the wall for the sake of “never giving up”. That eventually becomes a convenient excuse for non-performance which in my opinion, is just as irresponsible as quitting when things get tough.
I remember once about halfway through Boot Camp, the drill instructor said a special memo had been sent granting immediate discharge to anyone wishing to quit The Corps. Several idiots raised their hands.
For them, the last 6 weeks made the first 6 weeks of Hell seem like a stroll in the park. There are just some things you never quit
I think there is also an issue with people confusing their abilities and their ambitions. It is very easy to read 999 Model Railroaders and look at the achievements of others, decide that you want that and race into it. Even trying to keep up with some of our forum members is beyond many of us.
The reality is that most of the people featured are talented artists (I know, don’t go there)and experienced modellers, and you rarely see a first layout featured. There is a reason why experience can only be gained by time and I know I have had to pull myself up as a relative rookie when I was unhappy with an outcome… my ambition is to have a MR feature standard layout, my ability and experience suggests a reality short of that point. Maybe in time, as my experience grows, I will develop something better, but for now, I can only improve, experiment and TRY.
This hobby has steep learning curves across multiple disciplines, it takes time and patience to advance any one of the disciplines, let alone adavance and master them all. Very few of us ever will. It really is the decathlon of the hobby world.
And forget the “little hard work”…it is a “lot of hard work and a lot of time”
NOT model railroading, but whatever particular thing it is you’re doing that you get stuck on.
This is one of the good things about model railroading as a hobby. It involves so many different facets of talent, art, and skill that there is usually something you can feel confident about doing. And that is what you should do when you hit a temporary dead end.
Do whatever it is you know you can do and want to do, relax, take a few deep breaths, etc.
I’ve been stuck on something on my layout many times and simply switched gears and done something else. Eventually, whatever it is you can’t figure out will clear up, or you’ll talk with a friend and solve it, or you’ll post it to a forum like this and get help, or you read the next issue of your favorite mag and find a solution.
In many hobbies, if you get stuck at a certain point and can’t get past it, you’re through. Like climabing Mt. Everest, skydiving, drag racing, etc. The beauty of model railroading is that you can turn your attention elsewhere, get revived and usually come back and fix whatever it is that was giving you fits – or at least find another way to do it.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
Didn’t somebody once define happiness as the opportunity to work long hours at a difficult, challenging job to produce a satisfying result? I personally welcome the physical challenge of proving that age and arthritis haven’t robbed me of the ability to produce a satisfactory model, and the intellectual challenge of solving the myriad puzzles that fill the four-dimensional flow chart with an empty garage at one end and a believable slice of Japanese railroading (in a believable setting) at the other.
As for quitting - When the going gets tough, the tough get going. Some day, I know, I will stop being a model railroader - assuming there are no model trains in Hell.
Exactly. When you get to that point. Walk away. I work on mine about an hour a week. Doesn’t sound like much, but that’s 52 hours a year. I figure that way, not only do I get stuff done, but I also have far less chance of fling things across the room. That’s just stupid.
I don’t remember who to attribute this to but I keep thinking it is George Carlin; whomever:
If at first you don’t succeed, GIVE UP!!!
About a week ago when the individual whose frustration is getting the best of him first began to threaten to quit the hobby I tried to give him encouragement and I - and several others - advocated that he take a break until he felt like coming back to the hobby. This has always worked for me; there were times when the pressures of writing programming code would chase me out of the office and into the basement of the building where I worked. I always kept a small stack of late issue model or history magazines in my desk and I would sometimes sit there for hours just reading. My boss was a programmer and he knew the stress level involved. Sometimes - often, really - that few hours was all it took to refresh my interest and I would call my wife and tell her I would be late and sometimes “late” was two A.M. in the morning. No, there were no blondes in my life - but my second wife is one and there ain’t no word “bleach” preceeding “blond”. I thought he was going to pull himself out of his doldrums; guess I was wrong and Stamp Collectors Monthly just acquired a new subscriber!
Personally, I enjoy the hobby and the bumps in the road are challenges to be overcome. If it wasn’t fun I would quit, but having to learn a new skill is part of the fun and challenge. When I want to veg out I turn on the tv - no skill required.
Enjoy
Paul
“If at first you don’t succeed, then parachute jumping probably isn’t for you.”
“When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping”
But for me, the key here is patience. My Dad was always amazed at the patience I showed as a young boy making models. Now that I’ve returned to the hobby, I find that my patience is growing, both in my modelling and in other parts of my life. But, some people just don’t have it, and that’s fine.
Last night, I unpacked Model Power’s “Baldy’s Barber Shop” structure kit. This thing has a godzillion parts, all the way down to individual window glazing and a hair dryer. It’s going to take a while, so last night I spent a half hour just planning what I would attack first. It’s going to be almost October before this thing is done, but I’m OK with that. It won’t be my only train activity, but it will be the one that I can do when the train room is occupied by teenage girls watching the tube, and I’m confined to the basement.
As a newbie, I have no illusions how easy it’s going to be when I get started on my plan. The poster who’s been frustrated mentioned that he’d worked 3 months to get trains up and running. That seems awfully quick to me!! My guess is, I’ll be lucky to be up and running trains in at least twice that time, given that I have a full time job with fairly long hours, wouldn’t surprise me if it ends taking close to a year after I’ve started. Patience isn’t just a virtue in this hobby, it’s a neccessity!!
I’m almost always thinking about model railroading . But I’m usually not working on my layout. I’m terribly undisciplined when it comes to that. However the layout is always there and there are periods of hours to weeks when I work on it diligently. Other interests, mostly modeling, woodworking or art projects come and go but model railroading has always been there and I’m 62 this month.
I’ve lived in my current house for 6 years. I started planning the current layout (my third) the same summer I moved here, and I just finished laying and wiring my track last fall. Spent the next 8 months applying scenery and ballasting my track. I could probably run trains on it now, but first I want to install metal wheelsets on all my leftover plastic-wheeled rolling stock so my trains will perform better.
I’ve reached the point now where I actually enjoy doing most of the ‘prep’ tasks required to create a good-looking, well-running layout. Anticipation is a major part of the fun for me.
I have been involved in Model Railroading for over 50 years and still enjoy it as much today as I did when I started. Sure I have had a bad train day or two but it never prompted me to quit the hobby. This is a great hobby and is very relaxing the majority of the time. It takes a great deal of work to build a layout as you are all aware but in the end it is very rewarding. Model Railroading is not as popular with the younger generation today and that is such a shame. I remember reading the letters to Santa in our local newspaper and I see very few young boys and girls asking for an electric train. It is all computers, game boys, cell phones etc. I hate to think someday that finding someone with a model train layout will be very difficult. I have a son and two Grandsons that I cannot get interested in this hobby at all. Oh well, I will just keep at it and enjoy my hobby until I cannot do it anymore. Hopefully that will be for many more years but you never know.
