In the wake of last year’s Despatch Junction fire, I had my doubts that Stan would rebuild the shop. These are lean times for the hobby business, and Stan’s not as young as he used to be. To everyone’s surprise and delight, however, he did rebuild. My offer to assist with a new layout was accepted, and I’ve put some time in over the last two Saturdays, working on wiring. (more…)
The big night is here: you’ve invited esteemed members of the local model-train community to operate your new Basement Empire for the very first time. You’ve printed out waybills and switch lists, set out snacks and beverages, even swept most of the junk off your workbench. As the guests filter in, you show them around the engine terminal, gesture towards the bare plywood where great mountains will arise, and hand out the throttles.
“So, what era are you modelling?” asks one of them.
“My railroad is set in the mid-Fifties,” you state proudly, as you survey the mixture of steam power and first-generation diesels in your yard.
“But the ICC banned billboard reefers in 1937,” he says, pointing to your wood-sided beer car. “This car doesn’t belong here.” (more…)
Model railroading is not necessarily a seasonal hobby, but many people treat it as such. When the warm weather arrives, there’s a garden to weed, or a Harley to ride, or a reunion to attend. The trains sit ’til autumn. I generally keep at the railroad activity through the summer—it’s a perfect time for taking messy jobs outside—but this year, not so much.
For a few years now, I’ve been gradually descending into the morass of Micro-Trains coupler installations. This is not a journey for the faint of heart. There is much arcane knowledge to be acquired, and many pitfalls to be navigated.
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When it comes to sharing my love of the hobby with my non-railroading friends and acquaintances, I’m not shy about it. They all know where I’ll be on November Sundays. When an Amtrak crash makes the news, they ask me for details. They send me sympathy cards when a hobby shop burns down.
They also send their orphans to me.
I could, I suppose, claim that the tsunami of workplace overtime hours since late March left me with no time for hobby activities, but that’s not quite true. My evenings did become shorter, and so did my Saturdays. I had a choice: spend my remaining, precious free time working with trains, or writing blog entries.
Well, which would you have chosen?
Nearly two years ago, I made a video of the Z scale railroad I built for Lynn, and posted it to YouTube. It has just over 20,000 hits on it now—by far, my most popular video. I strongly suspect that the popular appeal of this video stems not from the railroad, or its electronics, or even the notorious “disco light.”
It’s gotta be the soundtrack, I swear.
I’ve been wanting a Baldwin Centipede in N scale for 30 years, and finally, there’s one coming out soon. I had the money in my hands, but let the opportunity slip past. I bought an oscilloscope instead.
Furniture Railroads 