I am 62 age old, I started “playing” with trains when I was 13. I learned electricity, electronics, mechnical and patience. Don’t get upset it is a normal reaction to any pastime activity trains, fishing, golf etc.
You can start very small, building small buildings, and even start an N gauge layout-2x4. Or join a local club (get out of the house), a small attendance fee will get you working toward your own layout.
I did not have a layout until 2002. I waited 50 years !!!
[:o)]
Neerie,I must go with Don on this one Renegotiate the deal…There are those you will meet in life that will ever understand the hobby and why we as adults “Play with toy trains”…Never let folks like that get to you after all most that criticize us for our hobby spends hours laying around watching TV .I could never live a life like that…My advice would be to finish your education and just build kits or detail engines until I move out on my own.Now when you do get that first home sweet home nobody but nobody can tell you not to do as you wish…Look I am a bachlor…I answer to nobody but to God and myself and that is the way I like it…[:D] Of course I was married for 22 years and lost my wife in a car wreck…Now I enjoy my freedom…BTW my kids left the nest at the age of 19(son) and 22 (daughter)…
Neerie,
I think that this just about says it all. Get on with your own life and do whatever you need to do to be self-supporting and get your own place. Then, and only then, will you be able to pursue your own interests.
As long as you live in someone else’s home they do have something to say about how you live and spend your time. When you start supporting yourself you can make your own rules, but even then there will be some restrictions of course.
Read and plan and when the time comes you’ll be better prepared to build your layout. The time will pass before you know it.
[:)]
Neerie: Don’t know if this will help or not, but I kind of went through the same thing when I was in my 'teens and 'twenties. Mom thought it was ridiculous that I ‘played with trains’ (remember, girls give up their Barbies at 11, men give up THEIR toys on their deathbeds). Dad just sort of ignored the whole thing. I remember when he gave me a power-saw for Christmas one year, my mother almost had a self-induced Hysterectomy because she was sure I was going to cut my hand off with the damned thing (I’m a pianist by profession). To make a long story short, with a lot of patience and sometimes just IGNORING the remarks, they gradually came around and accepted my hobby. In fact, before my dad died, he got so interested in it himself that I helped him build an N-scale layout in his workshop. Be patient, I didn’t build my first layout until I had my own home, when I as in my 'thirties. I’d spend the time now building kits and reading about everything that the hobby entails, so that when you ARE independent, you can approach your first layout with a lot of confidence. Hope this helps. I wish you the best, but I think you’ll be fine. Just remember, boys keep their toys forever, thank God!
I have a hard time imagining why someone wouldn’t want someone to learn how to use power tools. Most of the people I know over 30 are well versed in their use and plenty of people under 30 at least know how not to get themselves hurt. Heck, everyone I went to high school with knows how to use at least a bandsaw, belt sander, soldering iron, and a few other things (we still have mandatory shop class in these parts). Why someone would want to deny someone learning a very useful skilll is entirely beyond me. You can save so much money on things by being able to build them yourself, like how my parents install hardwood floors, built floor to ceiling bookcases in the living room, and my dad built, singlehandedly, a 10’ sailboat. To me its like saying you shouldn’t learn to drive because you could get killed in a wreck.
I had a conversation with my brother a few years ago that went something like this:
So, you still playing with trains?
Yes.
Aren’t you a little old to be playing with trains?
No.
Do you know how embarrassing it is for me to admit that my brother plays with trains?
No.
Are you ever going to grow up?
I did, a good number of years ago. Now I have a question for you. What difference does it make to you, living 1500 miles away from me, if I play with trains or not?
(No answer.)
Yeah, I agree…Just do it, and then expect the criticism. But so what. You got to do what you wanted and it gave you pleasure, so who cares when the criticism comes? You can almost guarantee it will anyway but you’ve gotten what YOU wanted in the mean time.
Your parent’s attitude sounds like my wife’s toward the hobby. At least you can look forward to the day you’ll be leaving and get away from it.
Indeed–one way to get them into it might be to show how model railroading teaches practical skills in the areas of design, electronics, art, woodworking, etcetera. And even if you don’t have much space you can work on some things–build a kit or two, cobble up a little 1x4 foot mini railway you can set on your desk (take a look at www.carendt.com for some inspiration), join a local club.
If they are really being that critical perhaps they’re just trying, in a screwed-up passive-aggressive way, to make you uncomfortable enough to move out. As someone who boomeranged back into my parents’ house at 24 (for two months) it can definitely be an uncomfortable thing to be an adult in an environment where one is sometimes treated like a child.
Perhaps rather than trying to defend model railroading, your objective might be to defend your own adulthood–telling one’s own child that they are stupid (even if their child is an adult) for liking trains is a fairly messed-up thing to do, as well as the assertion that “you will never be good at (insert subject here).” A lot of this sounds like the responses of some sort of family dysfunction. You are 24 and can make your own decisions about what you want to do with your life–even if you live under their roof, they don’t own you and have no right to decide your interests for you.
Quite frankly, the best possible thing you can do is get the heck out. Often not being in the house will greatly increase a parent’s opinion of their offspring, and vice versa…
Model railroading is a HOBBY.
Hobby’s are OUTLETS for energy -mental or otherwise.
It also can be be an ESCAPE from the world we live in to one we create…
I’ll leave it to you what YOUR needs are - (key) at this time in your life.
Neerie,
Some practical advice would be to get a game plan on paper for becoming self sefficent, getting out of the house and into your own place, etc. Look into getting an apartment with room mates. Finish getting your degree ASAP.
Once you have thought it through and have it down on paper, (budget, timelines, etc.) it won’t seem so overwhelming.
Good luck and keep us informed.
Curious - what is your major in school?
Neerie
Sounds like you are doing good in not spending much on the hobby now, especially before you decide on what you want to model. With only a year or so left until you can move out (if I read you correctly) you probably aren’t going to change things much at home. It may be just a matter of keeping a low profile on the hoby until you move out.
If it were possible to find a club in your area that might be a good idea, as it would allow you to get out of the house and socialize with other modelers. It’s not necessary to have your own rolling stock to participate in a club. Most are glad just to have more participating menmbers who are willing to work on projects.
Not sure where in Quebec you are, but the World’s Greatest Hobby website listed 7 clubs in Quebec Province. I’m sure there are more that are not listed. If there’s a hobby shop within striking distance you could inquire there regarding any clubs in the area.
There’s probably an unfounded but deeply rooted feeling that girls and power tools don’t mix, not to mention the surprise of many when they here that a girl is interested in model railroading. I’m sure you already recognize that it’s something you’ll struggle with for a long time.
Actually, when you do move out I suspect you will be looking at a small/normal size apt., so you’ll still not be ready to start on a model railroad empire. A good starter layout can be done on a hollow core wood door (that’s what I’m working on, due to lack of space) that requires no real carpentry skills at all.
Good luck
Ed
<<You are 24 and can make your own decisions about what you want to do with your life–even if you live under their roof, they don’t own you and have no right to decide your interests for you.>>
Sorry.
My House.
My Rules.
If you don’t like it, hit the street.
Edited to add…
I agree that parents have no right to dictate interests of an adult child, no matter what the living arrangements are. I just had a knee-jerk reaction to the tone of that post. I do believe in the my house, my rules thing though.
When my son was living at home I always wanted him home by 11:00 PM during the week. Why? Because I wanted to be asleep by then, and I didn’t want my sleep disturbed by the noise of him coming in the house. On the weekends, I didn’t care if he stayed out all night. I know it may seem unreasonable for a 24 year old to have a curfew, but I think it is also unreasonable to have my sleep disturbed on a week night. I never charged him any rent and I provided all his food. I figure putting up with a curfew wasn’t a bad trade.
[:)]
my parents are kind of annoyed by this hobby as well. they think its just a phase that i’m going through in life. my mom kind of likes it and my dad thinks its kind of stupid i think. like tonight i was talking to him about how i programed the scanner we have to a channel for the train line through town. i told him that if i hear something i’ll be able to hop in a vehicle and go down by the tracks and take some pictures. he just laughed. i told him that when we’re down in Milwaukee we can try and find a yard or something and take some pictures. again he just laughed and asked what am i becoming.
my mom doesn’t mind going to the hobby store with me. she thinks its cool to see stuff so small and then see if rolling through town in real life. and she’s into antiques so if she sees stuff used by train companies she thinks thats cool to. my dad on the other hand doesn’t say much. i show him something i put together and he’s like that wasn’t that hard was it.
i guess i can’t wait till i’m out of the house. i have one year of HS left and then i’ll be off to college so i won’t be around to bother them at all. i’ll still have my stuff at home because i know i won’t be living in an apartment or anything for awhile. once i’m done with college though i plan to find a job ASAP and get my stuff into a house or apartment. hopefully i’ll have found a wife by that time and we can settle down or something to the point where i can have my trains at one place and be out of the way of everyone. the only time i’ll be at home is probably during summers.
good luck with everything and hopefully it works out for you.
My parents have taken an extream hardline agains my model railroad. Well Actually its more my mom. My dad is a fellow modeler but since he wants a nice warm bed to sleep at night he has no choice but to go along. All last winter my layout was a continual source of hate and discontent in my family, as it was set up in the garage and was taking up most of it. But that was the the deal since they wouldn’t let me put it anywhere else. However, last year, my girlfriend, (Now ex) and a really tough spring semester kept me away from running anything or doing any work for prolonged periods of time. Mom decided I was done working on it and thus decreed that it immediatly be removed from the garage to make more room for her things. However. since there is no other place to put it, It meant outright scrapping it.
Of course I was totally against it. and they said they would rent a “Storage Shed” for it. Of which not only would my model railroad would go. But a bunch of their junk as well, effectivly barring me from a function model railroad. I fought stringently, nogotiated, re-negotiated, and threatened scrapping of her stuff. (We can all guess how that flew). In the end the layout was dismantled into componet sections. and put into a storage unit across town.
I am left embittered and somewhat angry at this set back and am now endeavoring to get the rest of my model railroad stuff ready for installation so construction, and set up can proceed more quickly once I am able to set my layout back up again.
So I say, to people with unsupportive parents. Build quickly, often, and operate frequently, as given the first sign of apparent lack of continued interest in it, It will be decreed that it needs removed to make more room for “family” affairs.
a slightly disgruntled
James
I guess I can’t really relate…my dad got me into model railroading in the first place, a hobby which my mom supported because it taught so many useful skills to the kids, as well as keeping her husband home working on the layout with my brother and myself.
Of course, she doesn’t want him to get back into model railroading now (she has insisted that he fix their central heat & air unit first) so he has to come over to my place and see my layout to get his fix!
Who cares what they think!!! If I changed everytime someone would give me “what a freak” or, “your weird”, “your a loser”, I would be changeing myself everyday (wait that sounded bad[V]), let me rephrase that, I would be changeing my personalyity, my interestes every week! I tried that for a while, then I got tired of it, and decided that if people don’t like me for who I am… F**K THEM, I am going to be me, not what people want me to be!!! (I have no regrets doing, takeing that attiude). As the Dr. Pepper comercial says …Be You…! As for still leaving with your parents…try geting a room-mate or a
boy-friend so you could maybe split the rent on the apartment. You should have a easier time finding a boy-friend interested in model railroading than I am finding a girl friend[:(]. I don’t know, it’s a try?
Hey I’m 45 and just returning to the hobby, and my Mum is on my case all the time about the amount of time I ‘waste’ on trains! Better get used to it 
Better yet, join the Navy and learn a trade. You’ll have a roof over your head, food in your belly, a paycheck, and you’ll learn a trade for when you get out.