What Got You, and Kept You, in the Hobby?

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

I just had a personal email exchange with a buddy and fellow modeler, and we got on the subject of what got each other into the hobby and what has kept us there.

He remarked that Atlas is what got him into the hobby and I agreed. We both started with Atlas turnouts and Atlas sectional track, later moving to Atlas flex track. My first locos were Atlas diesels before picking up a few Bachmann steamers. But Atlas was my first influence.

And, I would never have gone DCC without the guys at my LHS suggesting an NCE system after I had started out with DC and a few MRC power packs.

And, without the help and advice from my three LHS, now all gone, I would not be in the hobby today. Once they were gone, these forums kept my interest and kept me in the hobby.

How about you? What influenced you to get into the hobby, and what has kept you there?

Rich

2

After getting out when I was a kid in favor of other things (Hot Wheels, Nintendo and Sega games, Legos), what got me back in was a $5 Life-Like train set from a garage sale. To this day the Santa Fe GP38-2 is still a poor runner, but I don’t know when I would’ve gotten back into trains without it! And what keeps me in is that I find them interesting.

3

I am a relative youngster in the hobby, having started only a little over a year ago. For me it started with a visit to the San Diego Model Railroad Museum. I was working in San Diego and had some extra time before my flight home. Some of the guys I was working with recommended a visit to the museum, so my wife and I went. After the visit we thought this was something we could enjoy together, me with the trains, and Sandra with th scenery.

Honestly, the strongest influence on keeping me engaged in the hobby has been the regulars in these forums. I have received the encouragement and information necessary to keep me going.

4

My Dad was the biggest influence and my fascination with trains.

I really don’t know what has kept me interested…

By golly come to think of it, some times I feel like my Grandpa on my Dad’s side and feel like it was a misspent life but,on the other hand like my other grandpa I loved every minute of it and wouldn’t take a minute back…

5

Good Question,
As long as I remember, I was a train nut - real and model. I started with Marx and moved into Lionel in the mid 1950s. Having Lionel or Flyer trains back then (up north especially) was pretty common.

When I was 14, we moved and I eventually got a new friend, who had HO trains. I got hooked right there. He had Athearn locos and cars, Atlas track, and MRC power packs. And it wasn’t long before I traded in my Lionel for stuff from those same three companies. I suspect that they were responsible for a lot of folks getting into HO. Their stuff was priced right, readily available, and pretty much bullet proof operationally, and very durable over time.

Years went by, and in 1993 I built a room filling two level HO layout with DC operation. After 12 years I tired of it, and was even considering getting out of the hobby I had heard of DCC, and it sounded really good, but I was skeptical of the electronics stuff and frankly was suspicious of the whole idea.

It took about a year when I realized that DCC was “here to stay”, and that two companies - Digitrax and NCE - were the main players in the US, and had a pretty strong presence and following.

In 2008, I made the jump, and ended up with Digitrax controls, and NCE decoders. Frankly, without these two companies, I seriously doubt I would be in the hobby (at least not HO) today.

6

Guess I get to be the odd man out. It started with pictures of trains. Trains represented a romantic view of exploration, freedom, travel, and history rolled up into one thing. I could look at the old b&w pictures and imagine where the people were going, where the freight would end up, the lives of the old men in the road gangs. I wanted to know what they knew, and feel what they felt. Somehow that spilled over into wanting to make the scenes come alive for me. Then I added imagination, love for detail (I was a machinist and accountant at different times before becoming a computer specialist) and the electrical work which I like. DCC made it come together for me though. I let the hobby lapse for about 40 years and when my son got to be around 10, I decided to show him my old HO trains I still have from the 60’s, and to buy some new ones (that still ran) and do it together. He doesn’t have the bug as much as I do yet, but I keep thinking that someday he will pull old trains out of HIS attic and tell his son that these were grandpa’s…and maybe that cycle will continue.

7

I’ve long suspected there are generally two types of model railroaders, as far as how they got into the hobby. One group got a toy train set as a kid, and because of that, became interested in real trains too. The other group grew up near a rail line, or had a relative who worked for a railroad or was a railfan, and through exposure to the real trains became interested in model railroads. It would be interesting to research the two groups, see how their early years affected their layouts etc.

8

It was so long ago, somewhere back in the Eisenhower administration, but it was The Train Under the Christmas Tree. I never wanted to put it away, so it became a set of Lionels on a 4x8 sheet of plywood. Eventually, I sold those and moved to HO so I could have more of a model railroad and less of a train set. Atlas track, Athearn trains. When I finally graduated from college and moved away, and my Mom sold the house and did the same, I had to box up the trains and take them with me.

I kept them for 30 or 40 years, never opening those boxes, moving them from basements to attics as my life moved from place to place.

Finally, my wife suggested that I set them up, mostly because she was tired of seeing me in front of the computer screen all the time, wasting my time playing games. What she was expecting, of course, was The Train Under the Christmas Tree. It turned out to be a bit bigger than that.

These forums, my LHS (still going strong) and train shows have kept it interesting. Although I’m still a “lone wolf” modeler, I connect with others here, there and at those events. I get to see what’s possible, and what’s different. I’ll give a shout-out to Walthers, too, for giving us a single point-of-contact for many manufacturers. And, as a scenery guy, I really like the structures from Jim at City Classics which fit into my era so well.

Now, I’m close to retirement, and a probable move from this house where I’ve lived for 30 years. Instead of mourning the loss of the trainroom I have, I look forward to the trainroom I will have. There are mistakes I’ve made that are too much to fix in place, so I’ve got plans…

9

My dad was the person that sparked my interest…back in the early 60’s before kindergarten. He had built a very simple HO layout on a sheet of plywood and put it under the Christmas tree. After years of me getting upset that the trains were put away till next year, he finally set it up in the basement for me year round. That is when I consider my real time getting started in the hobby…when I did things on the layout without my dad’s assistance. That was 1971 and I was nearing 10 y.o. So after that I got to ride on a local freight train with him and his cousin…rode on a Reading Alco RS3 #448 from Topton to Alburtis Pennsylvania in a snowstorm.

There was no turning back! I was a train/railroad addict from then on.

Working for Conrail offered considerable inspiration. Was at Enola from 1988 to 1994.

I got back in to it actively 3 years ago when I started building my layout. Northern Nevada has little to offer for a non gambler who has more ‘cultured’ interests. I stay home on my days off…no where to go. I work on the layout while listening to classical music.

10

May I add…

I’ve been a member of this forum for about 13 years. Frankly, if it wasn’t for the Forum and some really helpful individuals herein, I suspect I would have “sold it all” 5 years ago.

Thank you!

11

Stix,There may be a third smaller group that was seeking a hobby and decided model trains would suit their hobby desires after watching a PBS TV program featuring model trains or by chance seen a issue of MR in their local library.

I knew a guy(haven’t seen him in 10 years or so) that got started in the hobby simply because he always wanted a Lionel train set when he was a kid and he simply fulfilled that dream.

12

Well, it was my Dad in the guise of Santa Clause, who sparked my interest in trains and model railroads. My Dad was a train nut himself all of his life, although he never built a layout of his own. As a lad, he used to take his bike to the railroad line a few miles away from his home to help the guard lower the gates at a level crossing instaed of going to school. Believe me, that habbit changed quickly after my Granddad - a teacher himself - found out! After the war, he read an ad from a Japanese train buff seeking contact to German aficionados. He wrote a letter to this gentleman - the starting of a lifelong friendship. Dad used to take us to the train station each weekend, so we could watch trains. He taught me everything I know about those staemers which were still the main traction in my childhood days.

With that firm foundation, it is no wonder I stayed in the hobby ever since that start 50 years ago. There have been times when my interest meandered to other things, like education, job, family, but the bug was always there. Even though staying active in this hobby has turned into a major undertaking due to to financial and health reasons, it´ll stay on until that loco is coupled to the train for the final journey. What makes it so important for me? Just one word - friendship.

13

As a kid I witnessed the end of steam. What kid isn’t drawn to steam when standing near a motionless N&W A and feeling the ground tremble under your feet just due to the massive amount of boiling of water and functioning of air pumps, the generator whine, the smells, etc. They are living machines, respirating like some giant black monster in repose.

Steam brought me to model railroading and it will keep me there, in spite of two 10 year lapses in the hobby since 1959. My relatively recent re-incarnation was due solely to fabulous narrow gauge R-T-R Blackstone products at prices that are truly affordable to a narrow gauge fan. DCC and Sound was also a deciding factor.

Model railroading has virtually been reborn in my eyes since I left it in the late 90’s. Time to get back in, I thought in 2010. I guess I’m here to stay now that I will retire for good in 20 days at 68.

14

Sometimes I wonder some as cars and motorcycles are my lifetime passion but hot rod cars really take a lot of time and model railroading sure is a lot easier work when your well into retirement age. I always liked mechanical things and trains are plenty mechanical.

When I 1st was getting into Ho there was a club, Foothill Model Railroaders that had a big, popular swap meet nearby every month. I bought a lot of stuff, especally over time, I know I have the colllector portion of the hobby and thats enjoyable too.

15

I modeled German WWII armor and one day looking at what was available at the store left me bored. I found an Athearn Amtrak dome coach that looked interesting for some reason and I bought it. Well one thing led to another i.e. more cars and finally something to pull them. I got out of the hobby and got married. My mother called me a few years later and said she was going thru the storage shed in the back yard and found the trains and was going to throw them out. I went over and everything was still imtact! I worked on a new module yesterday!

RMax

16

I owe my interest in this hobby to my departed dad, he was a major railfan and avid HO practicner to the point that he was permitted to build a 5 X 10 layout on his Navy ship! During our time in Japan in the late fifities we would frequent Tenshodo Hobbies for the latest offerings, I still have those early brass examples, probably 90% of them articulateds with no particular road being favored which he continued to buy new and used for the next 30 years, the so common of the times Athearn, TM, and others long forgotten comprised the remainder of the fleet. Upon retiring and several relocations, we built and operated numerous HO/HOn3 layouts including one that consumed the living/dinning room which pleased mom to no end! I had a Uncle involved in the hobby as well, he presented me with a Jupiter-119 set in a glass display case for my 10th birthday.

These memories keep me in the hobby, true many a moon has passed, but i’m considering HO for my next endevor and enjoying those memories while making some new ones to the fullest!

Dave

17

Both my parents had influence in my interest in trains.

Mother had traveled by trains around the country in one of her first jobs. She liked the real thing and had the foresight to take me and a friend on a short ride from Manchester to Rutland, VT on a regularly scheduled STEAM passenger train, knowing they were vanishing rapidly from the rails. When Lionel came out with their pink “girls train” she was appalled, “trains are black” she said. She also enjoyed going on excursion trains later with her grandchildren.

Dad didn’t live near the tracks, but they did run through town bringing feed and the like that the farm needed.

They bought a used pre-war Lionel 0-6-0 set with a 4’x7’ table that had a paint and sawdust scenery base. Over the years I bought/was given more to go with it, including a newer set with knuckle couplers, which didn’t match the older ones (a great disapointment for all).

After their divorce, mom would get me to get the trains out and play with them. I usually set them up under the Christmas tree, but found tinsle a real pain. When she bought a trailer and a piece of land with a garage on it, she mixed and poured the cement for a floor, so we could use it as a family room. Original table was set up and Plasticville buildiings joined the trains on the table. There were also other things in life, so never progressed much further with layout building.

Mom remarried and I got a room in an old chicken house that had a wood stove for heat. Added tables and kept getting things for Christmas’ but was still too busy with other things to do more than add space and track. Never got to reading magazines to get me really going on the scenery. Didn’t know of anyone with a layout to inspire me. Did get an older cousin in the remarriage that imported Japanese HO brass locomotives, but I was still a Lionel guy, much to his

18

Dad and I were into MRR since I came into the world. Also real RRs played a big part in our lives. Once I got into the real world my mind was set on making money and with only a high school education that meant long days of being on the job. I remember my longest day was 261/2 hrs once. 16 hour days were the norm. While a lot of my friends went north to work in the resource industry and paid cash for their houses after two years, I made similar money but got to stay in Vancouver. I worked hard and played harder, though all that time I always had MRR in the back of my mind.

At thirty nine I decided to sell my average house in Vancouver for a monster house out in the country, same price ( thinking large trainroom). At forty I married a drop dead gorgeous girl I had been good friends with for fourteen years and we had two great kids. She is a Veteranarian and she has a fleet of Golden retreivers to keep her busy and I have my trains. We are both retired, I am 57 and she is 52.

Extreme sports are far behind me now as I am so full of arthritis I can barely get out of bed some mornings. Other days are okay.

About ten years ago my son had his Thomas layout set up on a 5’ x 10’ sheet of plywood. He asked if I had Thomas when I was a kid and I told him about the electric trains his Grandpa and I played with. Well that was it, I made the long perilous journey to the farthest reaches of the crawlspace and Thomas disappeared, the old electric train was set up and the rest is history. I have my room sized layout with lots of space to expand if I ever get that far.[(-D]

My Dad told me to make as much money as you can when you are young because you never know how your health will hold up. I took his advice and now live a very comfortable life. I can’t even Golf anymore but at least I have my RR and I owe that to my Dad being a train nut. This forum gives me the social interaction to go with my hobby and I thank you all for it.

19

That is at the same time the easiest and hardest question.

As far as I know nothing “got me into” the hobby, I’ve always been here. Loved trains and had toy trains of one sort or another as long as I can remember, and even before (see it in home movies you know). I remember crying when my parents would stop on the over pass to see the train go by below.

I assume that same magnetic attraction to the steel rails is what keeps me here. I don’t need model trains as railfaning has the same attraction, but I think the models let me re-create or re-capture elements of the railroad history that I can’t go out and observe first hand.

20

22 years old, and have my dad to thank. I got a 4X8 layout plus a Lifelike GP38/Caboose for Christmas one year. I still have that layout. I also have a local club to thank.