I not only like to run my train, also I like to perfoms maintenance schedule, switch cars, etc. So when I run my train I think about the age of steam and diesel maybe between 40’ and 60’. When the world after WWII start again.
sorry for my english I hope that you undestand what I mean.
Andre.
Andregg,
I understand. I am somewhat based in a similar era (1940 - 1960).
On the other hand, to take the title of your post literally, when I am running trains, I do not think much at all! [:D]
Regards,
Roy
Andre,
Very interesting topic and response.
I usually like to have some old music on too. The music takes me back in time to a memory and the toy train conveys me there.
Mostly I just sit and stare. My thoughts are just woolgathering. Odd-d
I think about what to build/ buy next. Hopefully, this will pass. My 2 month-old, small (5x8) layout / train table is short on “real estate” space, so I don’t ru***o fill it up. I also think about how my Grandchilren will react when they see the latest so-and-so I’ve added. Joe
And I think even less [|)]
“Please make it through the turnout…PUHLEEESE!”
My RR is basically a scenic/excursion type, so I can run any era engine with any era cars.
My biggest concerns are maintenance and how to make money.
After all, I need to preserve this bit of history for future generations.
My favorite thoughts come about when I’m running Standard gauge: “So THIS is what it was like to be a kid in the 1930s!” [:D] I just wi***hat I could still walk down to the tracks to watch the steamers run, and watch the hobos riding by. It must have been something…
My son and I enjoy watching our trains run on our SHAMOKIN SHORT LINE (not prototypical). He’ll deliver frieght from his SANTA FE to interchange with the PENNSY —(( SHAMOKIN ))— and we’ll both take turns on the local and spot or remove cars from the local manufactures. Or biggest customer is the local beer distributer.
Jim D.
a.k.a.SOCKO
I’ll add this post DRINKING BEER get it (look at my previous post)
Jim D.
a.k.a.SOCKO
Wow
I feel almost the same like us.
Glen Miller and the steam age is perfect to remember. but I’m 33 year old so I don’t have memories of those years.
And when I run my diesel I think about the development, progres, hope.
to run my train is for me a therapy for relax and think about peace.
Andre,
I’m only 36, so I have no first-hand recollections of the steam days, either. For some reason, though, I’m drawn to that era like a magnet. Always have been. I’m not talking about just the railroads of the time, but that whole era in American history. I can’t help but think that in spite of the bad economic times, it must have been a better time to live, in some ways. Then again, that’s just me. [sigh]
To those you mentioned that they were too young to remember “the steam days”…yes, today’s steam “tourist lines” are great (like Strasburg, PA), but nothing can compare to a steam passenger express running at 70mph. I used to watch them for hours on end in the early 50’s on the LIRR.
I’m the engineer. [:D]
I’m the conductor, telling the engineer what to do.
Usually, I have to do it myself, anyway, so I am thinking about the paucity of modern labor.
I play old time radio tapes sometimes so it sets a mood - last week, I listened to a series of Your Hit Parade broadcasts. I like to think about what it must’ve been like to ride or run a crack passenger train or how hard it was to work freight in the 1930s or 40s.
JIM DUDAS lady friends cutting grass.
laz57
Hello Andre,
I think like Chief Eagles…I am the engineer.
Buckeye I think you think even less than you think!!! [:p]
underworld
[:D][:D][:D][:D][:D]
My brain gets little shutdown time, so in the summer when I cut grass, I think about nothing but making straight lines. In the winter, I watch the trains on the layout going straight down the tracks. Those two times I can block out everything, & just concentrate on just what I’m doing and nothing else. It’s my “unwinding” time!
Dennis