My how time flies when you are having fun. It is hard to believe that I have been a member of the forum for a year.
It seems kind of appropriate, this being the end of the calander year, to take a few minutes and look back at what we have accomplished, in the last 12 months, from a model railroading perspective.
In the last 12 months, I have restarted the construction of my dream layout, a project that had been dormant for over 5 years.The benchwork is nearing completion, and lots of little projects have gotten done, including all of the trackwork for the hidden yard, and some of it’s wiring. The biggest accomplishment had to be building the 10’ diameter helix.
The railroad actually went dormant again during the summer, despite my best intentions of continuing to work on it. There were simply too many distractions, including a lot of train chasing, and a great ride behind Milwaukee Road 261.
It has been a great year. I have had a wonderful time here on the forums, meeting people, and sharing ideas and stories about our hobby. I look forward to more of the same in the year ahead.[^]
Second, I acquired a ‘core roster’ of new locos to facilitate my era change from 1960s B&O to contemporary CSX. Thanx to eBay, I was able to buy all the different types of engine models already painted - in earlier days I would’ve had to do all the painting/lettering myself. (Isn’t internet technology wonderful…!)
Finally, I built a portable modular layout measuring 18ft by 6ft when fully assembled - this is for a MRR presentation I will be doing to home-schooled children and their parents on Dec 17. At least 3 modules will be fully scenicked before Jan 1, so I think this item qualifies as an “accomplishment” for 2004?
In retrospect I should consider this to have been the MESS’s most productive year.
Turntable is 80% as opposed to no turntable a year ago
Ballasting is 40% as opposed to 0% a year ago
Learned how to paint brick buildings
Wiring is 65% complete as opposed to 15% a year ago
better track conditions resulting in a reduction of 95% trainwrecks
Trestle is 60% complete as opposed to 0% a year ago
3 Engines added to the roster
Logos designed and in print
and the list goes on
I posted an answer to this one on CTT.
I bought a few things,painted a few things,decaled a few things.[:)]
But I think I’m going to have to agree with krump and lupo,with the
blanks,meaning not much![:D]
Bought a few things on Ebay, sold a few things on Ebay. Built buildings, rolling stock, converted most of the remainder of the motive power to DCC, added fascia, continued with scenery. Mostly I just kept on keepin’ on! I’m not in this to get things done, I’m in it to enjoy my free time! However, having track down and the ability to operate does relieve the stress of having to get things done.
This year I got started seriously in the hobby. I picked out a track plan from an Atlas book, and now have about 2/3 of the hardware I need to put it together.
I bought a bunch of rolling stock from eBay and my LHS. Bought two locos from eBay - one steam and one modern diesel.
I decided that my future layout needed a decent bridge, so I (mostly) scratchbuilt a double-track Warren truss bridge by starting with 4 Atlas pier girder bridges. I’m about 80% complete and plan on finishing up in the next couple of months in my spare time. I took pictures of the process so I can post them to the web when I’m finished.
I also decided that the drive mechanism in my old Bachmann 4-8-4 sucks, so I wanted to improve it. By pure dumb luck, I stumbled across an old magazine article detailing how to repower these models with NWSL and Grandt Line parts. Just yesterday, I picked up the parts I needed from my LHS and began the process. I’ll take some pictures of that process, too, and put them on the web when I’m done.
We’re moving in a couple of weeks, and just bought a house with plenty of extra room for my first layout. I can’t wait to get started!
Hi Guys,
I’m glad the question was asked because sometimes we don’t feel like we’re making progress until we reflect back over the past 12 months. First and foremost, I finally invested in an airbrush, compressor and spray booth. I have found that airbrushing is great fun, especially when I see how great my rolling stock and engines look after some light weathering. I practiced for several hours on some stuff I was going to get rid of and they came out so neat that I decided to keep them.
My second noteable accomplishment this year was kitbashing two industrial buildings. I had always followed the instructions on the box and finally decided to try to make something different. It was amazing how easy it was to create a large, L-shaped building from the Heljan Brewery by simply using the back walls, which weren’t going to be visible anyway, and restructure the kit. I guess it was simply a matter of finally realizing that by taping the walls in different configurations and using a little imagination, something wonderful can be created.
All in all, I think it was a great year from a model railroading perspective.
Benchwork is 90% complete
Bought a new Bachmann GP38-2 and 3 pieces of rolling stock from a LHS
Bought 2 structures off EBay
Bought 4 more structures from an even better LHS
1/2 Sorted and filed my research material into categories each in it’s own labeled 3-ring binder for easier referencing
Most of my backdrop is panted and hung
and the list goes on…
JP
Krump & Lupo…I am glad to see you guys got so much done. When I was reading and saw your empty remarks meaning zip I busted out laughing. That was funny. I managed to at least get my switches all working, and a few odds and ends.
Some structures built, most of the wiring is complete and some scenery.But my hats off to BigBoy4005, anyone who can work on their layout and amass nearly 4000 posts on this forum has got my backing!
HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL AND YOUR FAMILIES.
Now I got to go and put the train up around the Christmas tree before my wife kicks my butt.
Since I started reading this forum, I finally have gotten back into gear at finishing my layout which had set idle for 2 years. Have started the scenery and checked out the track work and decided it can work the way I hoped just with minor redoing. Of couse I had to buy some new locos and cars too. Will post pictures later on.
I’ll represent those who didn’t do anything over the past year. My mother past away this summer and I went over to Vancouver Island to be with her in her final six weeks of life. This event took its toll on my enthusiasm for the hobby and it wasn’t until about about 6 weeks ago that I “revived” and re-entered back into the hobby.
I hang with a group of model railroaders who were and continue to be supportive during my time with my mother and after wards, all of them have lost one or more parent. Sometimes the hobby is supportive of people in ways that aren’t advertised in the press; the fellowship you receive in the “round robins”, the clubs, the home layout “club” and the what have you’s can be invaluable.
I guess as I write this, I didn’t accomplish much in the layout building end of the hobby, but I did develop a new appreciation for my friends in the model railroading community. Maybe in the end, that was more important this year in my life.
I purchased a newer 2002 BMW and I want to take it on a road trip some time with my son (1st year university at Simon Fraser University) and show him Chicago (we live in Vancouver BC) and Madison, Wis - both places I used to live many moons ago. Maybe we’ll stop in at St. Paul’s Big Boy and offer two days of free labour on your layout to help you get up and running. I’ve found that often in round robin building, I do more work in preparation for the guys to come over to help work, than I do when I’m alone.
I knew I would hit a procrastinating impasse when I hit the electrical portion of my layout, which is exactly what happened and tie that in with the passing of my mother and you can imagine the “wall” I hit in the hobby.
One of my friends has offered to help me struggle with the DCC wiring, adding PM42’s, etc so I can actually have some trains running on the track that has been laid for over a year now.
I didn’t sue anyone, either. But, this being my first year of ‘retirement’, I was able to get the track operating like it should (mostly, anway) a lot of scenery put in, build a big Microscale Tall Viaduct (still to be installed), acquire some nifty new steamers from BLI and Genesis, and get my signals sort of operating. Incredible how much time ‘little’ projects take when you start on them–and here’s one little hint: If you have large brass articulateds, ALWAYS test them out in your curved tunnels before you permanently install the tunnel portals. ALWAYS! WITHOUT FAIL (he said, grinding his teeth)!
Tom
well lets see, i have laid most of the plaster cloth i use for scenery, built about half a dozon buildings, scratchbuilt a couple structures, painted most of them, laid track, superelevated the curves, weathered my rolling stock and locomotives, uh what else, ya i guess thats it.
Well, I’ve destroyed the layout I’ve been working on for 4 1/2 years. [sigh]
And in the same room constructed an around the wall with duckunder layout. It meets some of my goals. Longer traveling mainlines. A large brige with track underneath. Curves a little wider than previously. More vertical scenery.
Also this year I’ve aquired more locomotives than any other year, ever.
And this year, I got acess to a digital cambra to take pictures and show them on the internet.
Oh yeah, and this year we finally got them damn holes in our house’s roof fixed. No more rain dripping in my room. [tup]
