A Friday afternoon musing… one of my better times…
Well I start out thinking about what I still have to do to get rid of the HO layout in the basement so I can run my Marx and newer stuff ( I’m a floor runner now) but it isn’t long until I’m remembering running a train on the floor of an old house on the west side of Cleveland about 47 years ago… and the people who lived in that house… most are gone now… but how they cared for me… and man those cold winters in Cleveland… but mostly the people in that house…the memories wash over me… most are pleasant but not all, but hey, this is life… I can watch that train run and see em’ all…an old German grandfather who drank like a cuss but was not mean (a truly amazing thing)… an uncle who never had a job but ended up caring for his mother and father when no one else could…they all liked my trains and liked the table on saw horses in the basement and using Christmas light to illuminate the houses…the pride my mother had in anything I built… no matter how poorly done… ah… mothers!! Anyhow, you don’t know me and I don’t know you but this is what I think about… and truly enjoy about running my trains…
My layout has grown far too complicated for my simple mind. So I worry about the trains not working or the DCS/TMCC giving a wrong signal and expensive engines speeding out of control crashing then falling to the floor.
Derailing… I think a lot about derails in switches; did I throw the right turnout??
I also think about how much time and effort I have put into building the layout and the rewards or return on my investment in time; akin to unrequited love, like being married for a long time.
I try not to think about the money that could have been better spent.
SH $ T I think I’ll just sell the whole mess and get on with my life.
I wonder how dizzy my passengers are getting going around in circles all day long. Then, when I unload coal at a coal loader, I wonder how this company makes any money by having coal dumped from one car then unload it right onto another car. I wonder when the track gang will come out to fix a little kink in my rails. With no way to walk from one car to another on the passenger train, I wonder how well diner service is doing. How annoyed is my flagman at having to flag a crossing…when there are no cars coming. What crew put up those flashing lights at the crossing? Those must have been some big big men.
Usually I let my mind go blank, although sometimes when I’m running heavy PRR steamers I think about how places like Altoona and Enola would’ve looked in their heyday, and I wish I could’ve been there.
I try to imagine how garden railroading would work out for me when the typical summer day is 115 degrees? Would my layout melt?
Then I thank my lucky stars for having my air-conditioned O gauge layout in my living room, my two train chairs that swivel, and a new ceiling fan that runs on remote. Yep, I am lazy…
Sometimes I think about a food train. Like filling the tank car with beer, putting a sliced up peanut butter sandwich on the flat car and some fries in the gondola. I think the layout might make a nice addition to the kitchen or even to the outside BBQ.
The outside BBQ train could bring in wet woodchips for the smoker and carry BBQ sauce in the hopper.
I think of the 1960s and running the trains with my grandfather. The trains are the last physical connection I have with him. We used to go to his house at least 3x per week and run the trains.
Lately, I’ve been having similiar thoughts when running my trains. My father passed away in February, and while he surely didn’t have the train bug, he did do a lot to get me started in the hobby. Being executor of his estate, I haven’t had much time to play with the trains lately, but even walking into the trainroom makes me stop and think of him. I think stuff like “I won’t ever have to lie to you again about the value of that MPC starter set you gave me 30ish years ago” (anytime I mentioned my layout to him, he’d ask how much that set was worth these days) or “I’m glad I never got rid of those trains he gave me”
At times when my friends ask me what I have invested I beg off and just say “I don’t want to know” but when I step back and really look at the big picture I see three things:
A really nice used Corvette or a new Harley.
Tremendous hours of enjoyment that my wife and I have had building this empire.
Lots of pride in sharing this hobby with friendly visitors.