Rerailing trains on hidden track even when cats don’t sneak in isn’t that much fun either.
At one time, I used four screws, but now I just use two screws, one diagonally to the other. That is sufficient to hold the Tortoise firmly in place.
Rich
Are you sure you don’t have those moments when getting out of the hobby completely sounds like a excellent idea?
I lost track of times when I had that thought on my mind but,a little walk away time spending a day fishing or railfaning and return the next day the problem was easily solved…
True, all too true, but…
I have way too much hidden track, so built it fairly bulletproof and maintain my equipment to a high standard. Cats are the source of most derailments, I am thankful to say. It’s a pretty rare occurence otherwise.
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Disassembling Atlas GPxx to install DCC.
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Re-work
There are ways to neatly organize this stuff so that it doesnt take up all of your space.
I favor totes or flat cardboard storage boxes stored in a walk in type closet.
My biggest frustration is with getting DCC configured the way I want.
Even with Decoder Pro it’s not easy. I should be able to input the type of decoder and select “set bell volume to X” instead of having to set multiple CVs for every volume change, for instance.
And this is somebody who’s been programming computers since 1972.
Ditto!!
Dave
Stepping on track nails while wearing socks in the trainroom, your wife calls you to supper while doing a delicate job like putting a spring in an n scale coupler,having a power failure in the train room while your having a bunch of visitors,losing a screw thats so tiny you have to use a spy glass to see it,and you lose it on a carpeted floor,forgetting to throw a switch til its to late,
.[:'(]
WOW, I never expected such a diverse list. It does appear, however, that track work (including ballasting), soldering, and wiring lead the list of most common issues.
I would like to call out three respondents and hope they do not take offense. First, richhotrain, who told me to start a thread like this when I mentioned it in another thread on another topic. Second, Water Level Route and Howard Zane who bent the original rules, however there is no possible misunderstanding about where they stand on their issues. In Water Level Route’s case it is soldering and in Howard’s case it is keeping cats off the layout.
It is also great that everyone approached this topic in the manner in which I originally intended, serious albeit lighthearted and irreverent in some cases.
Most hobby shops never had what I wanted in stock so I had to order and ordering always took longer than waiting for something to come in the mail when ordering from a vendor who does have it.
I don’t have any LHS’s in my area which carry what I need so I order from vendors and it usually arrives in about 4 days give or take. Thats not bad.
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The local hobby shop sucks. It never has anything I need except Evergreen styrene. They have a couple of Athearn items I might be interested but they keep them hidden behind the counter where you can’t really see them. The employees, and owners act like they hate being there. (Actually the owner died a long time ago. His wife and kids, grandkids, hate being there.)
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Dusting. It doesn’t take long before that white stuff starts piling up.
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That eBay burn, when you get ripped off buying online. Sometimes the only description is ‘see image for details’ and the picture is blurry or low resolution so you can’t see broken parts. Or when they charge you $4.95 for shipping and the postage label says $1.25. And don’t forget the old, ‘here is an old kit that is listed as new’ but when you try to put it together it is missing one part.
My policy to questionable items is pass it by there will be more.
One more thing I will add…
Getting down on all fours with flashlight in hand looking for a dropped part only to find it defied the law of gravity and landed several feet away.
Is it possible the apple that fell and bounced off Newton’s noggin didn’t fall in a straight line? [:P]
I get frustrated sometimes spending five or ten minutes looking for my glasses only to find out they . . . umm . . . weren’t really lost.
Robert
[quote user=“ROBERT PETRICK”]
I get frustrated sometimes spending five or ten minutes looking for my glasses only to find out they . . . umm . . . weren’t really lost.
Robert
Because you are wearing them?
Yeah.[:$]
Has happened more than once.
Robert
I need to add a 3rd
- People that proclaim the hobby is dying.
Paying premium prices and getting low end quality. Quality control among the manufacturers is pretty poor. That’s not true of every manufacturer, but there are far too many in the model railroading industry who don’t give the customer the quality he pays for. If I pay top dollar for a piece of rolling stock, I shouldn’t have to tinker with it to keep it from derailing. It should work flawlessly right out of the box.
I guess I’m lucky to be a dog person. The stairs to my basement are too steep for my two beagles. My mutt comes down once in a while but usually just sniffs around and then leaves. I did have to teach him that the train room was not a potty room.