I made a trip today up to a hobby shop for an NMRA gauge so I didn’t feel that making a 70 mile round trip for a $12.00 gauge was a very cost effective trip so I stopped at one of the Big Box stores for a sheet of Homasote. I usually get the guy there to rip the sheets in half for me as they are a lot easier to handle when I’m by myself and it’s the only way I can get them to fit in my wife’s Jimmy. So I picked up a sheet and put it on the cart and waled it over to the saw. Two guys were standing there chit chatting as the store was pretty empty. I asked them if they could rip the sheet in half for me and the one guy looked up and said something tells me that your not using that for sound proofing. I guess the N&W baseball hat gave me away. The next question was what scale do you model bla bla bla. Well it turns out they were both Model railroaders and were talking about each others layouts when I walked up and interrupted.The one guy said sure no problem and ripped it in half. He said hey your using this for roadbed right what width you need. I told him I was using it for double track main line and of course a three way conversation breaks out on what size it should be. I told him well it has to match the two pieces already glued in place at 41/2 inches wide. So he sets his saw and ripped the whole sheet for me right there in the store. They got packing tape and bundled the whole mess together and I do mean a mess.In one of the other stores I couldn’t even get the guy to rip it in half never mind something like this. I offered the guys a couple of bucks for their trouble to go buy coffee but they declined. Ah we like helping out a fellow modelers and out boss is a jerk having us work today so call it customer relations.
Don’t know if you would get that in another hobby but I would hope so.
I was at my local Ace Hardware store about a year ago, at the outside chance they might carry 2-56 screws so that I could secure some trucks and coupler boxes on some rolling stock. As I was looking in the fastener section where all the shelf boxes were located, one of the employees walked up and asked me if I was looking for anything particular. I told him, “Well…I’m actually looking for 2-56 screws.” His next response floored me. “Are you a model railroader?”
After I picked my jaw up off the floor, I managed to mumble out the word, “Yea”. Turned out that this fella was an O-scaler and that he stocked 2-56 screws for the very purpose I was intending to use them for. After I filled my quote of screws, he pulls out pictures of his basement layout and we had a nice time chatting.
You never know when nor where you’re gonna run into another MRRer…
The guy that owns our local hardware store is a model railroader with one little problem every time he tries to start building his layout, he gets kicked out of the space as he puts it either one kid is moving out or moving back in. I told him he needs to get the biggest garden shed liek I have out back a 12’x24’ and make it his train world
Well I have had to give up my 12x24 shed for the purposes of making it a playhouse for my little guy. Being as I have taken over the part of the basement where the family room was and the rest in the not so distant future it’s not too much of a sacrifice. I did have the old railroad in there and it worked out great. Had full hvac, insulated it myself and installed lighting and a drop ceiling. We have a group of Mennonites not far from here that sell sheds and wood working crafts such as clocks and furniture not too far from here at of all places a Flea Market. This is one of those huge ones with permanent buildings etc.
These guys sold me the shed delivered it and put it exactly where i wanted it for far less then I could have built it. $3500. It has several options like the garage door, two entry doors, and four windows that are not conducive to model railroading but I just took one off the lot. If you check out Cliff Powers MA&G you’ll see he put his railroad in a similar building. Cliff has a 14x32 free standing building which houses the MA&G a world class model railroad. In my opinion if you have the room it’s a great way to go.