I thought I’d turn Chip’s thread the other way. What makes you love the hobby? You don’t have to write a book. Just list maybe a few things that keep you interested.
Ahh, I have been waiting for this one, I love it all, even wiring although it is tedious I have learned alot, I didn;t post in chips because I dont hate anything about the hobby. Well there is one thing…some of the prices get out of hand but I have my price range and can find nice stuff in my range and that is one more reason to love this hobby.
hmmm
dont write a book, eh?
then ill say everything!
I enjoy creating large emergency scenes (such as hazmat spills and terrorist threats etc) in our little farm town of 15000 people.
Little at 15,000? We live seven miles out of a town of 2,200.
Things that I love about model railroading…
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Wiring
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Track planning
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Lifelike RDC Units (Still trying to understand my obsession with those)
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Anything made by Atlas (Especially my AEM-7)
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Anything made by Kato…which never look as good as they do in the picture because of all those little detail parts that I lose or mess up…of course, they do run great, which is the most important part right?
Things I LOVE about model railroading
Creating a minature world that I CONTROL [}:)]
Getting away from the world and into my own realm
trying to recreate details.
operations, operations, and operations…
Oh and operations.
The camraderie, the likes and dislikes, the discussions, the arguments, new models, old models, new techniques, old techniques…but the best thing is…
The Lifelong Friendships
The really true friends I have found thru the years are all in this hobby.
Remember guys a friend knows where the bodies are buried…
A TRUE FRIEND HELPED YOU BURY THEM!!!
You must be watching Good Fellas, I did forget, the forums are another reaon I love the hobby, I have learned more here, at Atlas and the countless others.
I agree with all of the above…but my favorite part is just watching my trains go around the layout! Kick back, look at the little world I’ve created, and watch trains. It’s a peaceful get away from the rigors of real life.
I do enjoy all aspects of the hobby, as I do with most of my hobbies. Building, painting, detailing, but most of all, running.
The one thing I’m not real fond of is wood working, i.e. benchwork. I don’t do real good with wood. I keep cutting, but it still ends up too short! [;)]
If we built benchwork out of steel, I could weld up the gaps! [8D]
Rotor
I just love the action of a steam engine. It could be a 3 truck Shay, or a 4-8-8-4…the action of the drive rods and wheels just does something to my mind. It’s too bad that one of the decoder companies hasn’t come up with a way to control SMOKE using a decoder function (…or have they??) We have power, we have lights and sound…WE NEED THE SMOKE…AND STEAM!!! Wouldn’t THAT be something!!
{ Course, it would probably increase the power demand at start up by .5 but who knows. Perhaps someone will solve this.}
Of course, interaction on this forum and at my local RR club are cool, learning new techniques for fixing things, painting things, detailing things…oh…and running trains![:D][8D][;)]
Let’s seeeeeeeeeee…
1:Bowser kits
2:Athearn kits
3:Running trains
4:Rivarossi
5:Bachmann
6:Keeping everything running well
7:Opening engines the moment I get them to see how they work
…
1,587,259:My Spectrum Doodlebug
1,587,260:trains.com
And the list goes on and on and on and on…[:D]
Reliably operating mechanism
Intricate mechanisms
believeable scenes
clever designs
beautiful scenes
When the works done, sit back, crack a brewskie, and enjoy the fruits of my labor![8D]
I believe Model Railroading is a team sport.
I like op sessions with 10-15 trains running and a dispatcher.
In such, I like running a yard and scrambling to get trains built and out of the yard fast enough to keep the inbound trains from clogging the main.
I like running a local and switching in traffic.
And on the other end, I like building–engines cars, structures, scenery, and making them look as real as I can.
I like arranging figures to tell a story.
Just about everything except glue strings, coupler springs, and the brass goodies that hold on handrails.
Intricate scenes.
Wonderful detailing.
The wonder of a tiny world
and the joy of childhood play in a ‘big boys’ package.
The things I love about model railoading:
That a hobby I first got into around age 7 or 8 still fascinates me 30+ years later…
The fond memories it brings of my grandfather, who helped set up my first train set on plywood…
The look of a steam locomotive in operation… ANY steam locomotive! Shay’s Heislers, Daylight’s, Big Boy’s, Allegheny’s, Beyer-Garratt’s, et al…
The new, better detailed and better running models available today, even if they are more costly…
The joy of building something with my own hands and bringing it to life, a joy which has served me well in my career away from trains (well, not really… you should see my office!!)
LOCOMOTIVES!!!
the trains the detail of my very own railroad that i see and touch…oh that is it for me!
I love double VISION!!!
Several have already said that there is something about a steam locomotive that sets them off. I agree. I am in the hobby mostly because of steam engines. Their bulk, their sounds, their mechanics. It is the same reason I prefer to fly on piston prop aircraft over jets; I like to see the works in action. That we have sound and DCC 44 years after my first train set makes it that much better.
Having the guts to pull the motor out of a brand new loco to see if it’s just a loose wire.
Putting it back together after some tinkering, not having any parts leftover, putting it back on the track and finding everthing is ok with the world ( I didn’t buy a lemon afterall)
Ken.