As model train enthusiasts, I’m sure we all have different amounts of time that can be set aside for our great hobby - actually the Worlds Greatest Hobby ever! [;)]
As a parent of two pre-teenage children, my weekends and weeknights are loaded with chauffeuring them to and from basketball, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts and many other activities of theirs.
Wouldn’t it be great if CTT Magazine would once or twice a year select a hobbyist, who just never seems to get time to build his/her layout, and send out a crew of layout builders to build a layout for that individual. CTT could photograph it and then publish it in their magazine.
I’d like to put my name in that hat.[:D]
And of course - we’d all have to shout “ENGINEER, MOVE THAT TRAIN”!
Interesting (and expensive) idea. I’ll tell you something though. For the last two weeks or so, I’ve made a point of spending 15 minutes working on my layout. On weekends and holidays I try to get more than 15 minutes in, but I don’t stress if I can’t. Some nights I’m able to stretch my sessions out a few more minutes.
Of course 15 minutes is only enough time to do one or two little things, and at the end of it, that doesn’t look like much. I’ve tried to concentrate my early efforts on the most visible areas of the layout so I don’t get discouraged.
While the daily progress is small, it adds up quickly. After a couple of weeks of doing this, it’s amazing how much progress I’ve made. If I can keep this up, I do think that at this time next year I’ll have something I can be proud of. And, maybe most importantly, instead of feeling guilty about my lack of progress (I started building the layout about three years ago and never got far beyond having Life-Like grass paper down under the track with a few buildings scattered over the top), now I actually look forward to my 15-minute sessions every night.
Great idea, but I’m not sure it would work in the model train realm. That ABC Makeover show is very profitable. It’s cheaper to build a house, evan without donated material and free labor, than to pay for sitcom star wages.
Time is hard pressed for all of us. My wife an I are semi empty nesters, one daughter keeps dropping in during college breaks. It was not till this point we’ve really had the time to roll up our sleeves and work on the layout. Seems Dave gave some great advice regarding time management.
Ever thought of how the young Boy and Girl Scouts could earn merit badges while working on the layout? And with troop participation, you might get some local retailers to kick in, maybe some media attention for the kids? Just thinking out loud.
I never thought about a modeler with arthritis or some other health problem. This could really be beneficial for a person in that situation. I suppose building a layout in a VA hospital or a children’s hospital may also be another clever use of this idea.
I guess the real underlying topic of this thread, for me, is time management. In my case, I have the material but just haven’t broken ground on my layout. I’ll try the chip-away approach so that I can make some progress. This will also show my wife that I am actually USING those trains that are “just sitting in boxes” in the back room!
Thanks for the encouragement and good advice everyone! I will try the 15 minute-a-day approach and I’m still thinking on the Scout badge project - maybe CTT can work with the Boy Scouts of America on the Railroading merit badge. Then the layout they build is donated to a Children’s hospital which ultimately encourages the hobby with younger generations … it’s something to think about anyway.