Era separation seems to help. You see the modern industry everyday and it isn't as groovy as we hoped. I remember getting called to dogcatch a train and I was the third crew to get on it. I see two of my rail-nut pals get out of a truck to snap a pic so I go for a visit and explain the situation to them and they are shocked that it took 3 crews to get this train 130 miles. Fact is the reality of working on a railroad isn't at all like scale fun. Poor dispatching, gung-ho new hire trainmasters, pissed off customers or motorists, away from home terminal life, and such all take so much away from enjoying railroading as a hobby. For me it was finding something personal in my life to recreate in scale that kept me interested. Its "my" time in history and "my" experience and "my" interest in road names or whatever that separated the industry from the hobby. I learned that I can do anything I want because its M.I.N.E. mine. The duty of employment, marriage, fatherhood, or anything else slow down the hobby for many of us, just remember not to suppress your interest. I modeled "in cardboard" for years. Buying or building things and storing them for the day I could actually build a layout again. As a father of teenage daughters I'm grateful for having all that stuff already in hand. Point is, find a way to keep the hobby going in smaller or more managed aspects and separate work from scale. Or try building a Trainmaster/Dispatcher/payroll clerk cemetery. LOL Keep the rail shinny, Brian
I have found that separating the job from the hobby was essential, this was done by modeling an earlier time. I have put away my more modern stuff (not sold, yet) even to the point that I find myself backdating rolling stock, and modeling fallen flags like they never went away or were merged. Adding a bit of humor helps me too. I gotta find me an HO RFOE lying in the weeds with a radar gun, maybe have some bears sneaking up on him.
