It used to be that I could not wait to get home and work on a layout or build a car or add dcc decoders to my engines, now i cant seem to get near the “train room” much less do anything productive if Im in there. recently at a high school craft fair for my sons band boosters i stayed overnite to guard the booths and i was able to build 3 cars( it was great, no distractions and i even talked up the hobby with the other dads) but something about “that room” where i used to find solace and enjoyment has now become just another chore and long lists of things i need to do. Im 45 and dont feel old, family issues arent a hinderance, and i still love trains( even after riding amtrack- thats a long story- never again) i am at a loss as to why i cant find the fire to stoke my modeling engine up to steam.
I gave up part of the room for a pool table( not really my idea- democracy rules) and the trade off was a longer main line running around the soffit , about 45 feet each way of main line-single track( i was planning 2 and a 3rd track for passing) I even designed a new helix idea built off a decagon center pole to create point to point operation for switching ( 2 yards and 3 to 5 towns ) ( the room is 12 wide on back wall and 25 feet to the north wall and 10 feet on the south wall. i have the tools the supplies and the interest but not the drive.
It used to be when i had the time i didnt have the money or when i hade the money i didnt have the time.
is this common? its been over a year. I had to take down the layout i started due to a freak basement flood that warpped the laminate wood floor. floor is back in trains arent
do i need a pep squad? a screaming boss? peer pressure? or should i take up stamp collecting??
i have 55 engines 20 have dcc, I have decoders for the rest(2 have factory sound 1 steam and 1 diesel ) about 225 cars and about 25 to be built / dcc is digita
Do you have “great ideas” when you cannot work on the layout? At work, driving, ect? Do you know what you want out of your layout? I at times go through those phases and make up excuses. Maybe you dont know what you want to do with your layout and need some inspiration. Maybe start in one corner and model a mian track and passing siding with one or two industries. 8 foot long max. Work small.
i know what i want. good point though. my last layout was in the whole room. (L shaped ==20ft on bottom and back of L ,12 across top ,10 and 8 on front of L, then down 10 on foot of L) I built the layout in 3 weeks and had point to pont and continuous main line run of about 40 feet for rail fanning friends. somethings changed and i dont know what it is so i can fix it
The biggest stumbling block for me was getting started. Its hard to get out of the armchair and get out the tools. Once you start you won’t want to stop. Working on something is the best way to stay motivated. Just keep working so that you always have an unfinished project in sight (Right now that’s exposed pink foam for me) so you will always have something to work on in your free time. Getting started on a new project is hard. Picking up where you left off is easy. Now get moving on building that layout![;)]
This really sounds like a case of a guy who has filled his plate with way more food than he can eat. You had what sounds like (TO ME) a huge layout design that you were all gungho to get at in the beginning but it sounds like you burned yourself out in just a year. Typically every model railroader goes thru dry spells where they stay away from the layout or do very little for a period of time until the hunger returns. I certainly may be wrong but I am guessing that you are tired of it and may very likely stay away from building a layout for a number of years and 10 years from now you will be posting a type of topic like “Model railroader returns to hobby after long hiatus”. If you are not feeling it well maybe it is a good idea to put it all in boxes, SET IT AND FORGET IT (RONCO) in the attic until it returns years later. Try not to sell them because you will may be regretting that move years later.
I have to agree with the other posts. I have really good ideas at work and can’t wait to get home to try them. As soon as I’m home, I don’t really feel like trying. I notice that I do this whenever I finish a project. If I start a new project, I’ll be fired up to work on it everyday until it’s done. Right now I’m waiting to buy a few more buildings for my town. I really can’t continue until I have the buildings built. At least that’s my excuse this time![;)]
I have never been accused of too much on my plate or not eating it all. if it were that simple i would take smaller bites and eat it all anyway. it is more of “something else” and i cannot identify what it is. ive been at this hobby too long to suffer from “too much to do” syndrome, I am the king of “2 foot-i-tis” and always seek improvements and new concepts. ill never sell unless my life or wife demands it. lol i a, just wondering if anyone else is suffering from my ailment and what they did/or do to get moving. thanks
It just seems like any time I get near the layout, it’s like a magnet…even if nothing else but look at it and think out some building or road move. Then I take the idea to the “boardmembers” and we talk and agree or disagree on it.
Sometime, I just go ahead and spring something on them…keeps them on their toes [:D]
Sometimes, for variation, I try doing without money and time at once, but so far I haven’t tried the last of the four combinations. Maybe somebody out there has.
Anyway, I agree that your case sounds like plain old burnout. It’s completely reversible.
Give it a little rest, scale back the plans, and try again. Don’t worry about building The Layout. Just build something small that you can have fun running. Don’t worry about following The Rules or emulating The Experts. You can do that later.
Sometimes, even my little railroad starts to feel like a job. I get too caught up in trying to do everything right. The other day, I was putting in an Atlas TT I bought at the train show, and caught myself worrying. I was thinking: Hmm, I need to plan for an ashpit and a coal tipple and a sand house and everything has to look right and…but then I realized: no, I don’t. I mainly want to turn engines around, and I can take care of that stuff later. SO I just put the plans aside, replaced 1 or 2 sections of track which I’d removed, and ran trains around the loop for a while. It was fun. I’ll get to the turntable again, later.
I built my first HO layout in 1958 after college and moving to Topeka KS to work for Santa Fe. Have had a layout ever since, surviving through an eventual move to Kansas City, two different houses, a career change, raising kids and seeing them leave to go on their own.
Now it is wife and I, with occasional contacts with grand kids. I found when I still had kids at home, they took a lot of my energy that remained after working and I often didn’t have the energy or time or inclination to work on the layout or even visit it. I suspect you might be going through that phase.
After the last of the kids left, I began the layout I have now. It was started in 1988 and is in a “finished” state, although I do little things here and there to improve or change. I retired early, then was talked into pastoring a country church by my denomination for “a short time” which has turned into a ten year pastorate, so I get to drive an hour each way back and forth.
Somehow though I have managed to keep the railroad going, and it is a large one, by not spending too much time doing the same thing. I get ready for operating sessions, I rework scenery, I change a track or siding, add a new industry, but I find my interest level is back to normal and I actually look forward to my “railroad time”. In short, I think we all do or will go through times in life when we get bored or tired, need new direction, whatever. “Let the spirit lead you” theological talk, and you will get your groove back.
This is an interesting conversation for me, because at times I find myself in a similar situation. I started in the hobby just a few years ago, and in short order I had a 4X8 (I call my practice layout) in place. I have my plan for a medium-sized layout, but because I’m storing my son’s “stuff” in my basement (he moved from Texas back to an east coast apartment with no storage space), my real progress has been delayed.
I’ve upgraded about 2 dozen pieces of old rolling stock (BB kits I did 30 yrs ago and then stored them), bought and built more rolling stock and structures and occasionally play with them on my 4X8. I can go weeks without going into the train room just because I don’t feel like doing anything. Then I force myself to do something small - sometimes just weathering a boxcar or working on a structure. This usually re-energizes me and keeps me interested for a while.
I don’t worry too much about this stop-n-start mode because I really enjoy the journey more than the planned destination. I’ll get there when I get there. Hope this helps.
Mr. Blackwell jr, take your sons stuff and put it in storage and walla!! you got your space. Go ahead and pay the storage yourself,its the modelrailroad fee.
Mr Galt. I don’t have an good answer for you, but first off I’m 63 and view 45 as just getting established.As far as motivation , you must discipline yourself to work on the layout if only for a few minutes on a regular basis say thee times a week. Once you actually start ,time will fly.Also like one of the posters said ,“a layout tour is good motivation”
I suffer from distraction. I tore down my HO layout to rebuild the basement to make it layout freindly. Then once the basement was 80 percent (carpet will come after the layout), I dove into ‘hundreds’ of ole lionel and S guage train sets my Dad had packed in boxes for 30 yrs. Had to get them up on the wall and make sure they worked (right)? they are part of the decore… it would be a sin for these to sit in boxes and rust away…
So now I have an around the wall type shelf layout 30 x 30 ‘L’ shaped that is a simple dogbone, no scenery, tinplate track up and the ole trains are running. This is not what I wanted to do but I am having a blast especially with the kids…
so next step I built the display shelfs, cleaned up all the old trains, got them running, bought some additional pieces to complete the collector sets… again no HO layout building…(nice conversation pieces though)
I drive an hour one way back and forth to work, constantly planning the perfect layout in my head, drawing plans, making sketches, but to no avail, I walk in that train room and plug in the ole ZW and 30 minutes goes by like a second, and nothing is done…I am having a blast, but I am not acheiving my goals…I ask too is this the curse of Model Railroading?
I use to have the same problem. I have a large workshop, a good size devoted trainroom (15’ x 24’) and another room just for modelling / train repair room. I couldn’t get motivated to get going on things if I had to spend the first half of the day cleaning and tidying up just so I could accomplish something. Now if I walk into my workshop it is ready to go. The same with the train room/modelling desk. I can dive right into the task at hand. I guess what I am saying is if the room is a nice place to be you’ll get more accomplished and want to be there. The same goes when your planning to build a layout. Give up a bit of layout size if you have to, but make it a comfortable place to be and you will spend more time there.
Actually that is called a slump…We all go through it from time to time and 99% its due to trying to build a over ambitious layout that usually over whems the majority of modelers…The best solution for me was to build a switching layout and run trains…You see all work and no play time equals a slump and maybe a departure from the hobby after all what good is 55 engines and 225 cars if they are no more then dust collectors? Build a simple layout and run trains and see if things don’t improve.
ive been through all the phases of “normal” railroading issues and have still felt the fire, this is different somehow. Its not depression, recession, or indigestion. its something bigger.
or smaller and all your thoughts are good but when i find that pebble in the shoe ill be able to get up and walk again. Somewhere there is someone who is or has been right where i am and when i hear their words i will rise up like the true john galt and state that taggert transcontinental will run again
I’m right there with you. My layout is up there in the attic, pining for my attention. I don’t think in my case it’s any kind of ennui, though. I’ve just been up to my eyeballs with “real life” issues for the last three months, and it looks like best case scenario, I’ll continue in that mode for at least the next three years. I have a modest expansion designed, parts of it already constructed, but those plans are on hold until I get another two bedrooms completely renovated, kids moved around, and while I’m at it, getting the outside of the house painted.
I’m working nights and weekends to make ends meet now that my wife’s job has been eliminated, and she’s trying to finish her degree so when she does go back to work, she earns enough to take the heat off of me.
Plus, right now I have one in elementary, one in middle, one in high school and one in college… my time is not my own. It’s very de-motivational to know that I can’t do anything serious to the layout to improve it for that length of time.
The good news is that the layout is functional, and I do have a quarterly operating session coming up next month, so I’ll have some things to do to prepare for it. The bad news is, I have no idea how I’m going to even work the session into my schedule.
BTW, I’m 43, still trying to get established, and just trying to figure out how to survive in many respects. From that standpoint, the trian room remains a pleasant diversion, even if only for a few moments…
Hang in there. Take a break, explore options. Go railfanning… Sometimes seeing the real thing in it’s natural habitat is all you need to get the spark again.
You may not have helped the OP, but I think that may be underlying my lack of motivation. Due to space constraints I can have my door-sized layout set up, but access to it is very limited. And there’s no good space for working on anything. As a result I have a hard time getting geared up to start anything new. Maybe I’ve been looking for the wrong problem and what I really need to do is look at rearranging my space.
i had something similar to what you describe last year, took 6 months off and did nothing MR related, then a month or so ago i started having ideas and im planning on startting benchwork this week… taking a complete break can often let you mind ease for a bit then you can get inspired again