Sat back last night and looked at the progress I have been making as of late and felt very satisfied as I was starting to see something that actually looked like a the beginnings of a Model Railroad. I then asked myself
“So what’s the completion date of this thing?..”
After several minutes of being satisfied and thinking what was left. I realized I was another 8 to 10 years away from completion
Of phase 1[:(]
Hopefully I will still have the interest and desire then as I nromally switch hobbies every 10 years because of boredom. I’m now on year 13 of this one, probably because this is 4 hobbies in 1.
I am shooting to be done in 14-15 years. Well actually, we plan on selling our house when I retire (in 14-15 years) and buying an RV. Then it’s off to visit all the trains I can find. LOL Plus I’m going to try and build a small layout somewhere in the RV. Should be interesting.
My completion date is last Christmas. I think I’m about a third of the way there. (Well, you see, I’m modelling the 1960’s, so there’s this “time-reversal” thing going on anyway.)
I’ll probably drive my Golden Spike sometime in late 2007. As far as actual completion?? Probably sometime in late 9007. [:D] I doubt it will ever be complete. At least, I hope it isn’t.
Well, considering I plan to retire and move in 3 years, it’s probably somewhere around 2010 for the mainline and 2020 for everything else. But perhaps not.
Enjoy
Paul
Completeion Date? What’s that. A model railroad is never completed. There will always be something to add, change, or improve. I think if we ever did complete one we would get bored with it in a hurry.
Now if you want to ask when the track is laid and the entire layout scenicked, that is another matter. When I retired and moved into my new home in 2001, I thought with all the free time I have, I would reach that phase in 5 years. My planned layout will go all the way around my 48X24 basement with a branch line on a large center peninsula. As it turns out, I haven’t even begun the branchline, the mainline is only about one third scenicked, and there is still some industrial track to lay. I have found that retirement is a much busier life style than I imagined and haven’t been able to devote nearly as much time to my layout as I hoped. I expect to reach the “finished” phase of the mainline within two years and will then start on the branchline.
I used to have a colpetion date of August 2006 for my 4 x 8, er 5 x8, but suddenly it has been on hold for almost two months and it will be a t least a month before it moves forward again. plus I’ve decided to change a few things while it’s down…
So somewhere between August 2006 and the implosion of the sun. Then I’ll start the Redwood Empire.
When I complete a structure kit, a scenic area, a car kit, ballasting, solve a wiring problem or anything else it’s off to the local eatery with the little woman. [:D]
Most modelers think once I retire I can start on my layout. Well folks NOW is the time to start. You are still making lots of money and that is the time when it takes lots of money to build a layout, the beginning. I knew this and I figured that I had better get this going. Also you need the layout room finished and a drop ceiling, etc., etc. It is better to get the benchwork and the initial track and turnouts purchased while you can afford them.
Then as you begin to build the layout get into running it as soon as possible. This keeps up the interest as you see that if you complete the track into the next town you would have a few more industries to switch. This is the way it went for me, otherwise I would have never gotten 2700 feet of track and 150 plus turnouts down in 3 years.
Now as for when it is finished the day the put ME into the ground I am finished working on the layout. I will always be doing something to the layout and I figure I should be over 100 years old and still will not have all of the building I need scratch built!
when it starts to look like a model railroad?..probably around 2014 (September to be exact…the year of my retirement)…when i’m done with the layout?..when they pry my cold dead fingers away from the throttle in one hand and the hobby knife in the other…chuck
I quite often find that when I think I am done detailing a specific car, I find another detail or details that I just have to apply. The current passenger train I am working on has been going for a year and a half now for various reasons.
I am hoping around the summer or so? Just a guess-ta-mate[:D]. But hopefully since it is a starter 4x8 , by then maybe i will have better knowledge get a camera for pic to show all you guys and get all the neys and such. then actually be able to sit down and plan ( really plan) a new layout exactly how i want, in detail( not fly by wire like i’ve been doing ) [;)] , And hopefully figure out a way to con my wife into letting my put it in the house and not the garage[:p]
How cruel would it be to bunk kids up [:D]
Just kidding …hum, idea tho [:)] lol
Chris
Funny thing that I ran across this thread. Completion date? I’m still working on a “Start” date![:(]
While shopping for Christmas gifts for the grandchildren this year I came across some toy trains that rekindled fond memories of the American Flyer trains I had as a child.[:p] In turn, that prompted me to finish a section of the basement (13’X15’) for a train room. So for the past month I’ve been in the “building the room for the trains” mode.
Then this past weekend, after a discussion it with the “Boss”, she agreed to take the newly finished area when complete and give me the larger, already finished, rec-room (23’X19’). Not bad for an HO layout![:D]
So when talking about completion date I’m thinking about when the new room will be complete and I can START working on the layout! I expect the room should be finished in about a month then I can get started on the layout.[:)]
Completion date… Hmmm. I can give you two answers:
Fully operational and scenicked… No more plywood or foam showing, no more track to go down, everything wired, etc… by end of this year.
Everything I want to do done and nothing left but operating trains? Never. There will always be a scene to rework, a building to add/replace/weather better, a track to relay as I find an operational wrinkle… etc.
][%-)] the 12th of never , I guess.