Sorry guys the first post, just posted by itself before I had a chance to write any thing. Probabaly something to do with this old worn out lap top. Any way back to the subject. My wife took a dim view of my “Toys” and “Toy hobby” , so to turn her attitude into the favorable slot for my hobby. I started sharing the pictures and techniques shown in the model railroad Magazine. This got some interest going. Then I asked her if should care to build a couple of houses for the lay out. She responded “sure” . So off the the LHS we go and of course she picks one of the more expensive models to build. [banghead]You know the one that of course has the lights , extra details etc…Well last night I arrived home from work and she was very excited to show off the house she had built and detailed. Pretty nice job to I must admit.[tup] Now that she is on board , so to speak it is off to the next step. Expansion !!! [:D]
The only trouble with your story is she picked out the most expensive kit… that may cause her to think that everthing in the train room is that expensive…
That’s one of the reasons I don’t ask for any train stuff for holidays or birthdays… No need to instill sticker shock where none exists currently!
Lee
Mine used to love to paint buildings and people. She also enjoyed the time she has to talk to me while we are working on models. Surprisingly she soon started going through the catalog and picking out the more expensive models like Bar Mills and Art Deco.
-D
no way, Jose…
and it has been that way for 23 years…
I got as far as getting the kit my wife picked out - Campbell’s Iowa School House. 30+ years later it is still unbuilt. But she doesn’t give me any grief over the hobby and I go to antique shops/shows with her.
Enjoy
Paul
My wife pretty much hates any activity that involves me in any way.
My wife’s been involved in my modeling for as long as we’ve been married. It’s a great way to spend some quality time together. She helped finish the basement, helped build the benchwork, and has installed at least one sound decoder in an engine. She loves operating sessions!
Having her involved is a great way to bounce ideas for the layout around when we’re out having dinner or driving somewhere. We go to conventions together and also shows such as the Timonium show - and she usually manages to outspend me!
I love that she’s interested in the hobby!
Greg
My wife doesn’t participate directly in my addiction model railroad hobby. She understands, though, and will often send me down to the basement, or insist that I go get that latest item I’ve been drooling over.
My wife is hit or miss when it comes to my MRR hobby. She usually starts something, or insists on building a building just to put it together but then doesn’t paint it or decal it. And some of these building are a real PIA to paint the way you want them AFTER they’re put together. I think I would enjoy it more if she got just a little bit more involved so we could spend some time together around the layout.She likes Steam loco’s but the layout I’m working on now won’t run too much steam because of the tight turns.
But with a house, a job, a 3.5 year old and a 38 year old kid to take care of, sometimes she wants to relax!!!
My wife is “tolerant”. I have a shelf layout around the room that provides plenty of workspace for both her and I to work on our hobbies. Her new sewing machine sits directly under the shelf layout on a nice well lit formica table top I bought for her. She is satisfied with that, and if I have questions about scenery or structure placement she is more than happy to give her opinion. She does not however operate or build anything on the layout, although she is very good at painting and such.
I think her father ruined any chance of her enjoying a hobby with me.He was an avid RC plane modeler and glider pilot that literally ignored his family from day one to pursue his interests.Too bad.
Very much so. For starters, she has made most of the trees on the railroad, some while I was traveling on business by car and she rode along. One trip fromlKansas City to Denver and back, she made close to 300 trees both ways. She has also built some structures, paints most of the unpainted people, has painted several structures after I finished them, actually done some scenery on the layout, installed pleated curtains she made below the fascia board of the layout, helped lay the carpet on the floor of the train room, and has served as critic. She helps out with region and divisional events, chaired the non rail events for the NMRA National in Kansas City in 1998, and on and on.
Plus she critiques and pushes me to finish. And then there is the garden railroad in the back yard…
Bob
My wife is a licenced architect. I’m a builder who has moved into construction estimating. I get the “You can build that, and all you need is XYZ.” I get a pile of styrene, balsa, glue, and other misc. items. A set of plans on paper and off I go. She actually does a pretty good job of figuring out the “nuts and bolts” too.
My latest project is the RR covered bridge in Contoocook, NH. We drove up, with all my surveying equipment, and spent the day mapping the bridge. Another day or two of her getting all the info into AutoCAD, and we’ll have a very nice, to scale, representation of the bridge. In 3D too!
Pastorbob, could I borrow your wife for awhile? I need some trees! [(-D] Half a round trip’s worth should suffice…
Not every wife is like that. Mine as she doesn’t have time for model railroading or anything else that isn’t related to work. She, at best, tolerates my hobby, but I doubt she enjoys it. I know she would much prefer that I went to work so she could work fewer hours but that isn’t in the cards at the moment. Model railroading at this point in my life is about the only thing that keeps me from becoming a vegetable.
Irv
She helps when I ask. That depends on what I need. Shes tried weathering. That didn’t work to good. Like I said, it just depends on what I need help with.
She doesn’t hate the hobby, nor like it. I guess she has her reasons.
She does want to get in n-scale. Thats all her. I am into HO. N is to small for me.
Plus she gave me the basement for my hobby. I can say she did do that for me.
Mine doesn’t work on or operate the layout, but she likes it. She enjoys train stores and shows. She quite often says “Ooo Ooo We need one of those”. She is responible for the horse farm, the cemetary, the statue in the center divider in town, and the house with a dog sleeping on the porch.
So I guess she’s not “involved”, but she’s a fan.
Are u kidding me. My wife is on the road for 8 out of 12 months a year with the (MWSW) The Madieron Womens Studio Wrestling Show. She once completly picked me up and threw me clear across the room because I asked her to sit with me and watch some trains. [xx(] So NO, she is no way interested in my MRR interests.
Mike
More so then she would like to admit, I have asked her if she wanted to do scenery or maybe try her hand at some kit building etc. but she declines every time. However she finds me more train stuff on the Internet, yard sales etc. She found me my brass collection in a yard sale that some woman with a severe attitude was “selling her dead fathers junk” She had the audacity to call it stupid junk! So my wife played along and said yeah well it keeps him happy so who cares. She bought $4000 worth of old Japanese brass locomotives for $50.00 She has zero problem with me buying anything or spending any money on my trains. She also found our G-scale trains on Craigslsit for a killer deal. I came home from work one day to find her with my 5-year-old and my 15-year-old sons out in the back yard setting up a garden railroad.
As long as the mortgage and bills are paid and there’s food in the fridge she could care less what I spend on my hobbies. She has commented on occasion that she thought if I had a girlfriend instead of trains it might be cheaper… No she’s not into trains too much…
Dude! You married my ex!
When we were married, my wife just ignored my hobby, and me too. Since getting divorced, I’ve had girlfriends who said they would like to help, but we never seem to get around to it.
I took one girlfriend to a train show where I bought 2 brass engines that were underpriced and took her to a nice restaurant for dinner. I sold the engines on eBay for $200 profit and told her that I’ll spend that money on her Christmas present. I gave her a $700 diamond necklace for Christmas.
When she dumped me 2 weeks later one of the things she said was “I can’t believe that you spent hundreds of dollars on toy trains that day.”
I’m still trying to figure out what I did wrong.
A: You should have kept the brass engines or B: put the money in your pocket. I can say that now because I’ve done even stupider things if thats even humaly possible