Ok I know my bread ain’t half baked but am I the only one who stays up to all hours of the night and in to the early morning working on his layout? Even when I do finally make it to bed I lay there most of the time thinking I have to do this or I should change that. I have torn down and rebuilt this layout about 70 million times in my head. I don’t know if it’s just a quest to make it the best I can or is it just plain insanity creeping in.which by the way is more of an old friend then a stranger. I completed the bench work yesterday/last night for my new Lakehurst yard section. No model railroading revelation happening here just open grid with 3/4" birch plywood covered with 1/2" homasote, pretty much model railroading 101. So then I get to thinking while looking at the rest of the layout which is spline subroadbed topped with homasote then Homabed roadbed etc. No scenery to speak of so it’s the skeleton of the layout so to speak. Now I’m thinking to myself , self if I tear out all of the track work and put down plywood and homasote I can gain a lot more real estate for structures etc. or I can change the bench work and track plan by moving piece and making a longer peninsula and get some more mainline running room or maybe I can clear out one more corner of the basement god only knows where I can put all of the “stuff” the PG rated version of what I really want to say that seems to multiply on it’s own. More then likely nothing is going to change, well maybe nothing.
Ok so be honest am I the odd man out here or how many of you do the same thing, insanity loves company by the way.
I think all of us plan, dream and second guess what we should have done. But no ne will ever make a perfect layout. Part of what makes it a fulfilling hobby is learning to find the level of “good enough” so that you can come to peace with your mind about it.
When you find your good enough level, you know when you have achieved it and can move on. I’m not saying to set your sights low. Rather I am saying adjust your expectations with your skill level, available time, available money, and available real estate.
Perhaps the most important aspect of the hobby is there is always something to do. It is a process. If you treat it like a product, you put your satisfaction off until it is complete. So learn to enjoy the journey, and be happy with your layout right here, right now.
If you have learned from your efforts and want to improve what you have done, go for it. Only you can set your good enough standard.
Something I tried is picking up a second hobby. Rather than spend all of the time on trains I picked up a camera and some software and am using the hobby to learn photography. It also gets me out a little more photographing some prototypes and other things. Some is on my photobucket account in my sig.
Ah ok I see what you mean now, My problem is I have too many hobby’s that cost me money but we do like to go out and rail fan a bit I don’t have an awful lot to choose form around here but try and find things on the prototype that I can incorporate into my railroad. I spent an afternoon photographing track so I could study things like ballast shoulders and and right of ways a few bridges etc. I guess I think about what I want out of the railroad too much some times.
Nice thing about photography these days is the cost is minimal once you have the camera and tripod. With digital photography there’s no developing involved and you can learn a lot faster in the past. You can also share your work in the wpf and other threads here.
Im an insomniac also…its 3:26am and Im posting. Although I use the time working on trains, I also have several other hobbies too. I like to have several projects ongoing so I can move from one to the others. It keeps me from getting too ingrossed in any one project and keeps things from being boring too. Even though I’ve always tended to stay up late, the insomnia started around the time I graduated from tech school up until now. Not having a job and facing losing my house and everything in it might have something to do with it too. [:O] I really havent worked on the layout itself, because I dont want to have to ripe everything out to sell the house, so I have been converting all my rolling stock to metal wheels and kady style couplers,weathering, reweighting etc. I am pretty sure however I will find a job and save the day. Allegheny2-6-6-6, you sound like your a little bit overly obsessed with model RRing, but I can think of alot worse things to be obsessed with.[:)] Your not alone.Take a Tylenol PM and dream of your layout.[:)]
I don’t mean to state the blindingly obvious - but this helped me… especially with getting to sleep.
For some years I put a notepad and pen beside my bed. Settling down or waking in the night with my head buzzing with ideas I found that it helped to “unload” them onto paper.
I have been retired for two years now and bought my retirement home 4 months ago. I have stayed up very late at night working on the layout or a loco building project many times. I also build plastic model kits of planes and ships which splits my time nicely. So when I finally get out of rehab I will have plenty to do without leaving the house. At least until I can drive again
Many years ago I had the honor of meeting the late/great Less Paul. He did exactly the same thing and also kept a guitar by his bedside. I actually asked him if that was a true story or not and he told me that he still has his guitar and a notepad on his nightstand, you never know when inspiration is going to come to you
Well, it doesn’t prove you’re not insane, but I do that too. Maybe we’re both just kooks [:D] Wouldn’t be the first time for me… On my layout now, the one I’m in the process of building, I keep wishing I had a better space solution. And I keep re-juggling things in my head to see if I can do it better somehow.
I think one of the biggest problems (space challenges) in model railroading is the turnbacks. Any time the railroad has to make a 180 degree turn it becomes a challenge to figure out how to fit it in. Or at least do so at a reasonable radius (in HO).
I was looking at my layout last night wishing I could somehow keep the original turnback I came up with at the end of last year. My wife and I negotiated it away-- I get more railroad, technically, but it doesn’t feel the same and I don’t like the track plan as much. I’ve already decided if she doesn’t end up using her space (that she negotiated) sometime in the next year or so, that I’m going to reclaim it for the railroad and reinstate the original turnback. Even if it means tearing a bunch of stuff out, I’d like it better and I think it would work better.
Just don’t tell my wife I said that-- just our little secret, okay??
