We all know how great Model Railroading is, and that it can take over a lot of your free time, and actually “demands” time just because of its nature.
This hobby takes a lot of time. and there is only 24 hours in a day.
Now if you are wealthy with no family, you can spend a lot of time on your layout,
but who here is wealthy and with no family?
So where do we draw the line on time?
I guess I qualify.[:0][:I][:(][:)]
What’s important?? FREE time , that’s what it means, after all the other crap is out of the way it’s free time, what would you do if you weren’t choo-chooing? nothing?? or useless time consuming non productive tasks??, any time you spend now on a hobby will pay off in the future to prevent you from joining the bar fly club or sitting in the nursing home looking out a window for 32 years. everything in moderation, but do not neglect any extra-curricular activities, just ask the guy who tried to take up a hobby 2 days before her retired (he’s the guy at the bar)
I’m not in any hurry. I’ve been putting together an IHC Engine House kit for about a month now. It’s not a large or complicated kit, but it’s only a starting point. There isn’t a square millimeter that hasn’t been painted, some parts on both inside and out. The kit has no floor, but my model does now, along with a stone block foundation. It gets a siding off the main, and a wye turnout before the double doors.
Over this time, I’ve gone to work 5 days a week, taken 2 business trips, and gone skiing with the family 3 or 4 weekends. Tuesday nights I play ice hockey, and other afternoons and evenings I’m the Designated Driving Daddy for my young teenager and her friends.
What have I learned most from Model Railroading? Patience.
That’s my problem. See the quote after my signature. (Like father, Like son). I want to see it all done as soon as possible. However, MRR is slowly teaching me to take my time and enjoy the time I do get to spend on it.
Well… in many cases it comes down to priorities. I manage to put in time on the rr every day, but still spend plenty of time with my family, hold down a full time job (and a demanding one), have a good social life, read a fair amount, cook dinner about half the time, post here once in a while, yada, yada.
But there are things I specifically chose to STOP making time for too. I set priorities in order to have this situation described above…
Biggest impact in making ‘free’ time: I basically quit watching TV. Maybe once or twice a week we’ll watch a DVD as a family. I’m not one of those “TV is EVIL!” people, I just recognize the vast amount of time it can easily suck up. Once in a great while (usually when someone here alerts us to a train-related show), I’ll watch something and I do enjoy it… but it’s rare.
Other things I quit doing that saved various amounts of time? I quit following any professional sports. I work out over my lunch hour, rather than before/after work. Many other little things, but those are the bigguns…
Last issue… I was never a big phone person, so my wife’s single-biggest time sink isn’t one for me. But for many people, the phone is another huge time-consumer. Not that the phone is evil, but it’s a choice… In my case, to some extent, the wife’s phone fetish helps - when she gets geared up to go an hour with her sister, I head for the basement…
The point is that YOU decide how to spend your free time. If you don’t have time for model railroading, that’s a choice. Now, I’ll be the first to say, it could be the right choice… This is a hobby, after all… If you’re in a situation where it’s your family or your trains… By all means, take the hobby up again when the kids are grown!
But the reality is, most people I know simply fritter away huge amounts of time and actually can “create” free time through organization and prioritization.
Many model railroaders often say they’ll have all kinds of time to spend on their layout when they retire - no work to get in the way. When you are working, you cherish your “free” time, and usually make the most of it, working on your chosen hobby projects whenever you can. They are often a release from the cares of working.
But - when you retire, there is no urgency to get things done, as there is always tomorrow - you have free time most of the time. So things get put off and your work output is actually less than when you were working full time.
I’d heard this before I retired, but didn’t think it would apply to me as I’ve always had many projects on the go. I imagined I’d be working on and completing many set aside projects, and preparing articles to submit to magazines like I’ve been doing for many years.
Well it did happen to me, I retired five years ago and my modeling output has dropped. Oh, I’m keeping busy, but not at doing what I thought I’d be doing. My interest in model building hasn’t really diminished, it’s just been refocused in different directions. Like posting on this and other forums!
Anyway, it still is fun!
Bob Boudreau
I try and do at least a little something every day. Most days more than a little. It adds up.
I really must agree with you Bob! I’m retired five years as well and expected to see an increase in modelling output. Not! I have noticed though that I take more time on things I enjoy doing. There’s no longer the Sat. ru***o do everything or the quick hour of modelling before bed. Life is much more relaxed.
As I recently posted on another thread of a similar topic, I think the most important consideration is that if anything is sacrificed for my hobby the sacrifices are made by me, not my family. My wife and 3 young kids need my time and attention. I do most of my model work at night after the kids are in bed or on Saturday mornings while they are dowing their own activities. Even these times are subject to the needs and schedules of my family. Yes, I would love to spend more time on trains, but they are a hobby and my family is my life.
Ron
i just pick here and there. ite been a very slow process for me
For me the time works out great! Im not retired but i do a little at night when i get home cause the wife and kids are sleeping.so no loss there and my days off are during the week so i get to work on the layout for about 5 hrs then the wife and kids come home and its time for them …then back out to it after they go to bed .so it all works out for me.
Carl…
I hope it’s not true what is said about retirement from Bob and Tom because that was my plan… doing this hobby all day long when I retire in 7 years…I was looking forward to all that time in the train room…i’m not wealty, hold a job, but the family is grown and gone now, and i realized that i’m just going to have to stick it out and have patience with this hobby… yes, my days are still filled with the rat race of life, and time in the train room is limited, but then again I also realized that maybe I should be patient when working on the layout…the little 1 -2 hour sessions per day are turning out to be a blessing…I’m taking more time than ever to complete a task , but in doing so, the models, and work on the layout are coming out much nicer than if i try to get it all done all at one time in an all day session …the layout is not going to go up overnight and the sooner i realized this, the better my layout is going to look when I’m close to completion…in other words, the shorter sessions make for a better built layout…chuck
It can be very frustrating sometimes not having the time to model. Not to understate the importance of occasionally stepping out of the busyness, deadlines, & obligations of our daily lives, but in the end it is just a hobby, a passtime. I love my model railroading, but let’s keep things in perspective. If I had to choose (as I do almost daily) between time with my wife & kids and time with my Central Valley Truss Bridge kit, the bridge will lose ten times out of ten. It will always be in the house - my kids won’t.
I’m not wealtly but I am single and thus have a lot of free time to work on model railroading except when I have to work. Besides model railroading, I have other interests that take up some free time.
I’m married with young kids. That means I have little time and no money. Fortunately I got my layout operational before I ran out of money, so I have something to run trains on once in a while. Not sure how my involvement in the hobby will go in the future. Hopefully it will still be around by the time I retire – at 90 if things keep going the way they are!
I’m like an airplane that’s been on the runway of MRR’ing for over 2 years now (having done it as a kid also).
Just when I think I’ll have time for it, something else is taking up my time. In addition, I’m trying to achieve certain things this time around: handlaid track, smartly planned layout, etc.
It’s taking me time to get off the ground!
HI GUYS
In the last several months I have had a lot of changes in my life.
A new house,new job first grandchild, ma in law moved,gave up playing outdoor bowls,started an old dream( model railroading)
The one that had the biggest impact was the grandson(smilely boy)Life looks a whole lot better relax take what time you have or get and enjoy.
A comment my wife made to the other day was you haven’t done much on your trains
My reply was pen and paper at the moment it is a 20/30 year project. So enjoy what ever time you get spend with all of life joys
cheers womblenz
I found Bob and Tom’s comments interesting and very timely. I retire next Friday! (March 3).
I suspect I’ll find myself in the same situation, even though I have lots to do - a fixer upper house we just bought, my mrr business, triathlons, coaching, etc.
Perhaps it’s a matter of not NEEDING to manage your time as closely to do everything you need to do, so things slip a bit. It’ll be interesting to see.
Mike Tennent
I have a wife, mortgage, and dog. I happen to have a job where I work 40 hours is 4 days, and then have 3 days off. So normally, I have one day for the wife, one day for the house, and one day for model railroading.
I’m also a diabetic, and use my hobby as part of my theropy. Luckily, my wife is very understanding and supportive.
Nick