I thought it might be fun to see how everyone is actually operating now.
I am am currently a Rail Fan operator, when I get the layout a little further along I might move to Engineer.
Enjoy
Paul
I was a rail fan until I pulled the thing to bits (again!!!) to make some extensions 8x3 and 4x4 now waiting on some funds for more track and turnouts.
Even when it’s up and running again I’ll have to learn more on the true operation of a railroad.
Ken.
I’m a rail fan until I get my warehouse district finished. I’m also working on a new 9x10 extension (if you will) after I tear down what to me has become a spaghetti bowl with too much hidden track and places so difficult to get to. This new area will have a scene divider with loadsin/out capability. And a helix[}:)] or simply a disappearing track into a tunnel for staging below.
Archie
I’m a rail fan until I get everything working the way I WANT it to (never, LOL), and then maybe I’ll start doing some dispatching. Until then, I run on whim. Whatever I want to make up in the yards or pull out of the drawers (storage unit, not my underwear).
Tom
[:I]
I have to actually get my layout built (track laid, at least) before I can call myself even a ‘railfan’ operator. Then, after I get a reasonable amount of scenery installed, MAYBE I’ll try learning to imitate prototype operations. But I can usually do that on some of my friends’ layouts. Otherwise I want to relax, keep it fun.
I voted for “Dispatcher”, because that’s what I do at my RR club. In fact, I am the Operations Committee Chairman, so I better know what I’m doing. [8D]
Here’s a pic of me hard at work in the Tower at said club:
http://www.ssmrc.org/PA250036.JPG
Now, at home, I’m more at the “Engineer” level, but since I’m the one that has to do all the paperwork…
Paul A. Cutler III
Weather Or No Go New Haven
You forgot one…
Damn the Torpedoes, Full speed ahead!!!
Love that BLI Doppler shift when ya lean on the whistle.
Fergie
I’m a railfan operator until I get my modifications done in about 2 weeks then will move upto engineer.
Definitely a conductor. Scads of paperwork telling me what each car carries and how much it weighs. The trains pretty well run themselves–keeping track of the paperwork is the challenge! Oh well, to each his own . . .
A poll like this might qualify as a new form of psychological profiling. No, wait, that’s kinda scary!
I’m somewhere between “railfan” and “operator”–I made some wheel-report forms, but they are all for the section of layout that is currently out of commission and don’t have any for my current module-under-construction. So I normally just switch cars in and out of sidings on a 1:1 basis, and not having a loop I don’t just “watch the trains go round and round” because, well, they just fall on the floor if I don’t switch 'em.
I’m a railfan, I like doing some switching but I also like to keep it low key, the layout room is mostly layout not alot of people room 2-3 tops[sigh]. If I want to get conductorish and anal with paperwork somwwhere in the HD is an old version of ship-it,but I do like watching the trains go through scenery the most. Rob
Hey Paul, how are you doing ? Good poll. I am a railfan as I in for the fun. The kids and I just watch the trains go around and around. As soon as I can find or make a double crossover, Will will convert our 4 x 8 into a 6 x 10 with a upper level. Then we can watch 3 trains go round and round.
Take care
Tim
RailFan. Anything more wowuld take the fun out for me.
Normally I’m a railfan but for the next few weeks I’ll be a civil engineer working with plywood and sheets of foam. Got a copy of TRACK PLANNING FOR REALISTIC OPERATION and the whole layout is getting a major rethink.
Well, I voted ‘engineer’, but I usually run as a ‘railfan’. I run a lot of trains as a ‘railfan’(while doing laundry), but wind up doing the next ‘job’ on the schedule
Railfan for now,but every once in a while like Fergie said damn the torpedoes, and let that baby scream.well actually more than just every once in a while.[:D][:D][:D] Terry
I voted for Railfan. When it comes to operating I generally like to just watch the trains run around the layout.