Years ago, a few model railrad friends of mine and I went on a trip to Switzerland. We bought a few lengths of Shinohara HOn3 flex track, some turnouts and a few Lima locos. Returning to Germany by train, the customs officer at the border asked us whether we had anything to declare. We truefully answered, that we had bought a few meters of track, turnouts and locos.
You should have seen his face! He just turned around in disbelief, and left us! Saved us quite a few bucks!
Yes, absolutely! And my 2-1/2 yo loves it. And he makes ‘Choo Choo’ noises too, and I love it.
Tell your brother to get over himself and blow the whistle!
I’ve got a Rolls…
A Rolls Canardly.
Rolls down one hill
Canardly make it up the next
[:D] [(-D] [swg] [:D] [(-D] [swg] [:D] [(-D] [swg] [:D] [(-D] [swg]
Sure, and not for nothing, I wonder how many people decide to model Southern Pacific or Santa Fe because of their colorful livery? Especially Santa Fe-- how many colorful train sets have been sold over the years that have gotten kids (or parents) hooked on the Santa Fe?
My favorite gripe:
Seems like EVERY time I would run one of my Great Northern articulateds 2-6-8-0…2-8-8-0…2-8-8-2
Someone asks…IS THAT A BIGBOY?
Use to explain the difference between road name and wheel arrangment,now just say No!
Boy you ain’t a kiddin’ there. It’s a bit of an exaggeration, but you almost have to weed through the Santa Fe’s at times to find what you want. Whether Santa Fe used it or not. ( I gotta admit, the War Bonnets are pretty cool)
Lionel is more realistic than HO
Hi!
The worst comment I ever heard came during a time I was “between wives” and had started dating a very well to do woman. When I showed her my layout, her first - and only significant - words were “how much did all this cost?” Needless to say, we lasted only a couple of months.
What bugs me - but I’ve learned to properly address - is folks that call everything on the track “a train”. I finally got my wife to understand there are locos, cars, and “cabeese”, and the definitition of a train.
What bothers me is how folks typically under 40 have no idea regarding the difference (other than color) between those “black engines with a coal car attached”, and those smooth sided multi colored engines. Ha, I’ve got three boys in their early '40s that are just now catching on…
ENJOY,
Mobilman44
When people ask my wife about the time I spend doing Model Railroad related stuff she simply says, Atleast I know where he is and what he’s up to… never fails to get a knowing nod of the head…
Tom,Check your pm box.
Maybe my comments should be added onto here as well (Hi all, I’m new here and finally getting into the hobby after years of putting it off). Here’s my question (feel free to add it to this current silly/funny pile). I am jumping into HO Scale and thur far have only had a chance to play with Soundtraxx and Qsi decoders on my Digitrax system. Most of my locomotives are either Athearn, Atlas or a few Proto series. Now the question I can’t seem to find the answer to anywhere is that I am interested in a few Marklin models, would I be able to run them on Digitrax? (Aren’t they only available as 3 rail locomotives? Do I absolutely need to use a Marklin controller or can my standard Digitrax 420D be sufficient?)
At a train show a woman was pointing to a waterway on my modules, made from Envirotex. She said to her son “Look, he’s even put real water there”. I think the most comments on my modules are about the water scenes.
Sometimes they ask me what is the water, I tell them its real water and it froze last night, as I tap on the surface!
Here’s one of my scenes they often puzzle over:
A friend of mine was once at my place and asked if my trains were “top of the line” models.
Kevin
“Can you crash them like Gomez Addams?” No.
“Do you have an engineer’s ‘hat’?” Yes. This is usually followed by either “cool” or “laughter”; nothing else.
“How big is your trainset?” Until they see my layout, then it’s “WOW!”
CB&Q:
A father and son were watching me back one of my Yellowstones down to its train, and as it pulled out with the train around one of my curves, the father said to his son, as they watched the first set of drivers articulate: “That’s a toy, son. The real ones didn’t go through curves like that.”
And people wonder why I sometimes blink a lot![:-^]
Tom [:)]
A fav of mine: do all those engines have an engineer? A friend of mine was asked that and he points to me and says " Hes a real life engnineer he can answer" So I said “Why yes they do! We get extra pay for the ones pointing the wrong way cause its such a pain in the neck watching in the mirror!” Yes I know I know special place in hell for liars lol.
My girlfriend ( Love her to tears)will ask questions cause she wants to know. She also bases her like of trains on the "pretty colors"She loves Milwaukee Orange and thats the color she wants for her next car ( if I can talk her into a black over orange scheme that woud be great!)
Funny that this topic comes up now, because my modular club was set up at our local mall this past weekend, and we got some good ones…
Q1: “where’s the Bullet Train?”
A1: “In Japan, of course!”
Q2: “Can you wreck them? That would be cool!”
A2: (smiling and pointing at each loco/car that passes) “$150, $150, $30, $30, $30…”
Usually by the third car, their eyes have gone wide and they’ve started moving away. [:)]
But the best one had to be a comment that a middle-aged man made to his son as they were passing and the son was showing interest in looking at the trains…
“That’s like a video game for slow people.”
My friends and I were stunned and stood there shaking our heads for a few minutes after that one. [:D]
I guess I have been lucky or more selective in the houseguests who have seen the railroad. Most have not seen a larger model railroad. But I did get a kick out of one couple, both sports car buffs. The husband has built some fantastic car models - in fact he was the one who really encouraged me to start using an airbrush.
They were appreciative looking at the railroad, but what really excited them were the vehicles! Spent more time on the cars than the trains. “Hey, look, here’s a 1949…” Me, I can’t tell you what they are!
George V.
In a Model Railroader article last year, Allen McClelland, while in the process of selling his home, sometimes had well-intentioned prospective buyers comment about his toy trains.
My most common question is, Does the gravel plant work? I tell them the workers are off for the weekend.
Pete