A recent post left me curious…wondering what the average time people on this forum spend each week on their layout. There’s probably a huge range, for all of us…completely obsessed, semi-obsessed, and newly obsessed.
I’m guess I’m way on way low side…I probably manage to squeeze in about 12+ hours per average week doing something on my new layout design, working it in between other family/business/home improvement obligations. Had more time during the winter, but spring is here and business is humming.
How much time do you have for your model railroad?
With a wife and two young boys (4 and 2) and in the depths of earning my PhD (on the military’s schedule, not mine!), some weeks it’s almost zero. I do run it several times a week because my boys love to play with “Daddy’s trains.” They have a healthy respect for their fragility and can use my Digitrax throttles quite well.
On a good week it can be maybe 4 hours. My latest project is photographing the layout for a magazine feature; that’s actually a very intense, slow process. My boys and wife are helping (lighting, backdrops, etc.).
Dave, for an accomplished hobbyist like yourself to spend about 4 hours, I guess I’m not doing too badly with my time then!
I think I’ve spent more of those hours planning my new layout and tearing up my old layout, and that free time I had in the winter is slipping away. And I guess once your layout is up and running and looking fine like yours, it’s more maintenance and running time rather than the time consuming building process.
My lady wishes I just spent 4 hours at it. Don’t tell her how much time you spend, ok? [swg]
I am a 24/7 caregiver, and whenever my wife is napping or watching TV I try to accumulate an hour a day on my hobby, working on eqipment or my Free-mo module(s). Plus, I also try to get an hour a day on the 'net with e-mails to read and follow up on, and the 6 forums I try to keep up with: MR, OPsig, GN historical, Digitrax, Free-mo, and Siskiyou Line. Some days I make both goals, some days neither. jc5729 John Colley, Port Townsend, WA
Can I count the time I spend on reading and answering this forum and browsing the links?? Also how about reading MR and RMC and the Gazette? Hmm ,maybe I’m just an armchair RRer.
Well, I’m counting time spent reading up on stuff…railroad books, MR books and magazines and stuff…and also LHS browsing. That’s a’'part of my planning process, takes some time and i think it counts…it’s a bunch of those hours.
In winter and if I can get to it easily in other words if the door doesnt have junk piled infront of it I usually work 5 hrs a day but thats because I take care of my mom for my dad so I get time to work on it if my mom needs me for anything she contacts me in various ways.
Spring usually a lot less and in the summer I barely work on it at all I may do some airbrushing. This yr however my brothers getting married the reception is being held here and theres tons of yard work to do. Ontop of that my dad picked up a used boat needs some work and picked up a used outboard i cant get running it pops but thats it. But between yard work and the boat with going fishing I dont have much time for trains.
Even with my medic schedule, 4 days off a week, (With kids, wife and other life obligations), I manage to get somewhere between 4-12 hours a week. Sometimes out of that I spend a couple hours a week just looking at the crazy thing, trying to figure out what is and isin’t going to work. LOL…
Not enough. Many demands lately on my time. Things are looking up though, when the girlfriend came over last night she brought several boxes of stuff and said it was something for her to work on when I had to work on the train!! [(-D]
Total time on MR’ing, including club activities, web discussion forums, prototype (1:1) research, kit assembly, customizing, trouble shooting and day dreaming - about 10 to 12 hours a week on average over the year. That’s without a home layout (part of the day dreams), only a DCC powered test track.
as much as possible. which is not enough for me. I don’t count reading mags or this forum because I can do this at work while waiting for another job to hit my desk.
I love being mostly an armchair RRer, but I’d rather have more time with the layout. During the winter when life was slowed down a bit, I could get in 2-3 hours a day. As of lately, a few hours a week if I’m lucky. This summer will have me doing a lot more MR’roading, probably 4-6 hours a day, trying to finish up the 15 by 4 and building the new superdetailed 4 by 8, I’ll be busy in a good way… School is killing me right now.
I probably average about 3-4 hrs a week actually doing something in the basement. Lately, that has been cleaning out part of the basement and getting started on benchwork for the new layout. Since this is a hobby, it comes after everything else and there’s a lot of else.
I started building my layout’s benchwork on 10 March. Since then I’ve been spending 2-3 hours most weeknights and about 6-8 hours a day on the weekends for the most part.
If added it up I’d guess I’m spending on average 20-25 hours a week right now on the layout.
This is my first large layout (15’ x 20’). It has two levels. The lower level is for staging. The upper level is for running the trains. I’ve almost got the helix completed between the two levels.
I have to admit it’s taking longer than I expected. I thought I would have completed the benchwork by now and be laying track. However, building a cookie cutter type layout has proved to be more time consuming.
Now that spring is here, camping / RVing takes top priority. And the better half has noticed how much time I’ve been spending on the layout so I’ll be cutting back soon.