The phone company sent a repairman out to our house today, yes I know on a Sunday of all days! Anyway he shows up and goes about his work, he needs to work in our basement and do down he goes. I leave him be as I will not watch over a man working. He comes back into our house and all is fixed. The he asks me " those trains are really neat, do they run?" then after I tell him yes he says " do you mind running them for a few minutes?"
So we headed to the basement and I ran the trains for him, it was really fun as he was so interested and had lots of questions, especially about weathering etc. He was really impressed with what DCC could do as far as momentum etc, I wish I had sound to show him.
So we spent about 15 minutes running trains, something I rarely get to do for anyone else beside the kids friends.
Maybe you’ve created another customer for your local LHS. Got him thinking anyhow. If he has kids, maybe even more folks will be introduced.
I showed one of my sons friends that was here picking up some stuff my little layout. He was interested in some of what I had done. Got the impression he did other things that include scenic elements. Today my son brought a box of older model rr stuff from him. Says there may be another box following. as the fellow is rearranging his space. Some of the stuff will be useable, other things are too far gone. Loco looks good, haven’t tested it yet. Nice of him to remember and not just put it in the trash.
When we share our hobby with others, we find a wide variety of interest levels. However, once in awhile you may start someone on a new venture in their lives. I’ve gotten two folks started through casual conversations. One has a plywood central and a lot of things he has purchased at shows and yard sales. The other almost immediately built a very nice small layout, did some basic scenery, a few buildings and bought a couple of nice locos, but stalled there.
LION was showing his layout ro some visitors today. The layout is no where near done, but all of the tracks are in and some of the bugs have been killed, A little more work on signals and on power, and then I can get back to the scenery.
They were most impressed, and they did not even notice that there was nobody controlling the trains.
I have shown mine to several professional people who were passing through my home. The conversation usually starts with: “Why don’t you put your cars in the garage?”.
Oh, I’m not ashamed of my layout or embarrassed by it. I just don’t need repairmen asking me to run my trains for them. But, the layout is there to see for anyone who goes down into the basement.
I’m with Rich, one of the water heater guys was just a little too interested in my stuff, then he walked around with a flaming map gas torch pointed at the ceiling, so I had to watch him the whole time.
Nothing would break my heart more than someone stealing my stuff and hocking it for 1/4 it’s value.
What would you guys think if a cable guy made a comment about the wife’s jewelry?
I’ll admit I hadn’t considered that possibility. I’m too much of a train evangelist I suppose (I even have ‘The Train Guy’ stenciled under my name on my apron at work; leads to some interesting conversations). I don’t have too many thousands sunk into my layout (yet) and seek to suck as many people as possible to our communal obsession.
Though I perfectly understand and support someone wanting to keep it to themselves. Now I’ll go away and do something else before this turns into a ‘future of the hobby/model trains are dying’ thread. Blech…
Dropping the whip and backing away from the equine carcass,
Gotta say, anyone that has come into the house has seen my layout and their response always makes me feel good. Ha, the only negatives I ever got was from a woman whose first words were “how much did all this cost?”, and from my old “entitled” son in law who refused to do the “duckunder” saying, “I don’t do that”.
When we had a new alarm system put in, Brinks had six workers here all day doing the installation. It was fun listening in on them talking about the layout as they worked.
The best part though was when they officially labeled that room the “Trainroom” on the control panel. I felt like I had finally made it.[(-D]
Nope, Alfred complained about the possibility of having to dust two layouts on a daily basis, so that got vetoed. Time for a new wife err I mean Butler don’t you think?
Suprised at your comment as I’ve never looked at it that way either. As long as they’re not on anything suspicious I like the attention. I just had three different sets of contractors down in my basement over the last two months and each set of them were in awe of the Amtrak/Metra/Norfolk Southern trains I have. Made me feel good. Women often think trains are for kids…and that more things could be done with the space I have and the money I put into the hobby than to spend it on some dumb trains so when I get to show and demonstrate to others what all goes into the hobby I feel a sense of satisfaction. The last crew had this one guy who literally wanted to watch the Metra train all day. He couldn’t beieve the amount of realism that goes into these models. And to that I will say…“Job well done” on my behalf
Different people will feel differently about such an issue. I am not fond of letting strangers in my house even if they are authorized repairmen. I want them to do their job and leave.
