I am currently between layouts. It has been almost a year since I ripped apart the “Spare Bedroom” version of the STRATTON & GILLETTE railroad.
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The house is going through a remodel that should be done in two years. The front “public” bathroom is the current project. Once that is done we move onto then kitchen, then the new master bedroom suite. Once Mary has her new bedroom and is happy, the old master bedroom becomes the layout room.
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So… I have been months with no layout, and I am years from starting the next one.
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I am building the freight car fleet. That is my main inter-layout project. I hope to have 150 freight cars ready when the layout construction begins. Of course, locomotives and cabooses are also in the works.
I have given up on my plan to build a layout in my garage because my back has become too painful to do the work and I can’t afford to have someone do it for me. Carrying the groceries into the house causes significant pain. I can’t imagine trying to handle a 4 x 8 sheet of 3/4" plywood.
I have turned my focus towards the new club layout. I was fortunate enough to have my plan chosen as the one the club will build. Generating the layout construction drawings has almost been a full time job over the last few weeks.
I have also chosen to put my name forward to become a member of the club executive. I have identified about 15 projects that the club needs to get involved in so that we can function properly and attract new members. The election is on Oct. 10. Two of us are going to share the President and Vice President positions, and since nobody else has so far put their name forward, it is probably fait accompli.
I have stopped building models, at least temporarily, because my modelling juices are just not flowing these days. Hopefully I will get over that soon.
I’ve been without a layout for about 3 years now. To help fill the time I’ve been working on “projects” (primarily assemblying kits) to keep my modeling skills honed and learn new ones. I also have a small piece of track to test my decoder installations on. Doing research for projects also has its own rewards - even if I can’t track down the information as quickly as I would like.
I’ll have to wait until I’m employed again before starting another layout. And that will be contingent upon whether I stay where I’m currently residing, or move to another location and/or city.
Almost 4 years without a layout - planning the new one, working on the electronics that will control the new one, and preparing my basement. And lots of reading.
If I do have the urge to run a train, I can go to the Club., but in reality, I have more than enough projects to keep me interested in model railroading.
In fact, I would strongly urge ffolkes who think they can’t be “Model Railroaders” without a layout, that there are plenty of things to do that can be used on a future layout, so don’t delay, start now! on Flickr
In the same boat about bein between layouts. The worst is I can’t work on any cars since they are packet up.
the way I cope is doing more research in designing my new layout. this includes applying lessons learned from the first one, but also working on sketching out the new layout. Fortunlately, onlynhave to wait 6-8weeks before i can work in earnst in the layout
First off, you should do the master bedroom first as it gives you a place to retreat too when things go wrong and they always do in some form or another, many times just minor things like something comes in damaged like a cabinet but that item was special ordered etc.
How do I cope? Almost the same ways that was posted before.
I design my future track plan with many, many alterations. That has to fit the theme am trying to do.
Collecting freight cars and locomotives for my time eras.
Watch videos on internet of modern railroading. It’s my version of railfanning.
Taking cars and locomotives out of the boxes and sit them up on a piece of track. Pretending its running on a layout or in the middle of country like a real train.
I recall the ten years that I didn’t have a layout. I would try various plans on paper until I finally decided on one I liked. I also bought a few pieces of rolling stock and a few locos when I had a little extra money to blow which kept me from abandoning the project. Building and all was a bit slow going and took about six weeks from the time I built my table until I installed the tracks and was able to run trains. I’m told that six weeks is nothing compared to others who take months or even years before they’re able to run trains. Anyways. Yes, I know what it’s like to be without a layout…
Macular degeneration in one eye and fingers and hands not steady at time, anymore. Knocked over to much, even at the club layout. Finally left.
Soldering, forget it.
Forty miles of rail trails in my area with a former station in my city and a Union Station about ten miles from me. I ride a bicycle about thirty to fifty miles a week.
A couple places still have the old end of siding stop made from welded steel rail. I sometimes tie my bike to one at the Union Station with a nice outdoor dining area.
Work out at local senior center.
Watch a couple MR forums.
DCC locos to LHS and being sold on consignment.
Gave rolling stock to a local recycle shop a friend maintains in my small city. It sells fast.
Gave 0-27 to a nephews son.
Thankful for many years of playing with trains.
Turning to seventy seven in a few months. Life is what you make of it.
I’m getting a divorce, selling the house and planning to move somewhere warmer. My girlfriend and I are already thinking about where we want to retire. We even look at real estate ads.
My layout has been completely packed up for some time now. I was able to preserve the layout and benchwork itself and pack all the trains and structures. Of course, it’s unlikely to fit as is in any new space, but it’s all in sections. I think that once the house sells, I will pull the one very large section out and demolish it. That one will be difficult to get into a new home, anyway, and if I can save it in pieces it will be easier to rearrange the rest of the parts into a new and better layout.
There are things in everyone’s layout that they would do differently. I’ve got a number of those, and I’m looking forward to them.
The GF is very supportive of my hobby and recognizes that our search for a home must include a train room.
I went from 1998 to 2006 without a layout. Although I wasn’t very active in the hobby during that time, I still found some very small projects that I could work on, notably a “scratch bashed” version of an Erie class N3A caboose that consumed much of that time as I took my time on it. I also scratch built a feed mill/grain elevator from a project out of a Kalmbach publication. That thing, working on it on-and-off, took upwards of a year to build.
I will be getting re-married next year, so I will be moving out of my present location next spring. My present layout is all tracked and wired without the scenery and most of the structures are already built, so they’re on it. In anticipation of the move, I will not be scenicking the layout. I moved in here last fall and reassembled the layout, as it comes in four bolt together sections. So, I can run trains, just can’t do the scenery. In the mean time, I will work on the remaining structures. The biggie will be a two stall engine house, the prototype of which is a Rutland RR structure, the drawings for which appeared in a back issue of NMRA magazine (May, 2011), that fits the bill for me.
Bottom line: there are plenty of things to do that are related, either directly or indirectly, to model railroading without having a layout.
There’s a surprising number of the more prominent (and long term) forum members here who are going through changes that are driving layout losses! [:O]
I’ve been in between layouts for several years as well, due primarily to my late wife’s terminal illness. It’s been nearly two years since her death, and I’m just now beginning to have enthusiasm for anything again - except for retirement, to which I’ve been looking forward for long time. My proximity to retirement (five months and seventeen days! Can’t wait!!! [:D]) and the move that will precipitate are now the main reasons I don’t have a layout. After I move (probably back to my house in NJ) and settle in I’ll start building again.
Meanwhile, I’m updating my prehistoric old CB&Q in Wyoming website (in-work update at http://mapruitt.com) and planning my last large layout project on the assumption that I will be moving back to my old house.
I am only an n-scaler without a layout. The 2 local n-scale groups are into modules and have no group layout. The group I belong to are mainly HO. Perhaps I should ask the HO group and see if anybody needs a building built? They have no group layout. I have the equipment including a soldering iron and an airbrush. No experience with the airbrush. I am also 64 with the shakes & cataracts. Perhaps a year from now, remove the cataracts. The shakes I’m stuck with. Perhaps I’ll work as a State employe till 70, 75 or 80.[|)] I live alone and may keel over in my abode while sleeping.[:$]
on Flickr