Being an older MRR ain't for sissys. Part two.

John Moore Apr 7, 2012

  1. John Moore

    John Moore TrainBoard Supporter

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    Sitting in my dining room Wenesday evening reading a Clive Cussler book written around the Southern Pacific I noticed that I had a flash every so often across the corner of my right eye. Thought at first it was the ceiling fan being reflected in my glasses. However it persisted and turned into flashes like a small bright white LED being flicked across the corner of my eye. Got so annoying I finally gave up and went upstairs to bed. Told my nurse/wife about the issue and she checked my pupils, etc. Following her good advice I called for a emergency appointment with my eye doctor the next morning. Well it seems that in getting older, okay almost ancient, and having been put away wet and mildewed too many times in my life, due to career choices, my eyes are deciding its time to act up. Fortunately right now its just the one eye and would ya know dang it the best one out of the two. The good news is that I won't lose my vision and still be able to drive but the quality of my vision will end up being affected some. The other bad news is that the other eye is going to end up doing the same thing but again hopefully mildly.

    I had already decided that I had too many toys anyhow and needed to cull out a lot of older junk and have been slowly doing that and reducing my layout ambitions to a more realistic approach and less accessability issues. Think 30 inch wide benchwork. What I will be giving up are my narrow gauge ambitions that fortunately I have not invested heavily in. So in the next month or so I will be putting up my Z scale mechanisms and track and the Nn3 shells for them on Trainstore to go to a good home along with some Z scale boxcars that were going to be converted to Nn3 logging flats. I will hang with the N scale for awhile longer until the eye issues sort out but even then there are a few of the projects that were going to be done now won't be so I will be also selling off eventually, some of the steamers I have laying in the box for future projects also in the next few months.

    Being of a somewhat conservative and practical nature, and still loving my trains, I will depending on the outcome, possibly switch to HOn30. Gives me more railroading in a given space than HO and I can use my collection of N scale track and switches saving some $$. Some of the N scale mechanisms can also be used to power a few critters and HOn30 has a large assortment of critters which I have a fondness for. Most of my structures, if I have to make the switch, will also have to go on the block except for a few to use at the back of a layout for a forced perspective.
     
  2. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Wow. Sorry to read about this happening. Your N scale work is very interesting to follow. We'd sure miss it if you neded to change.

    HOn30 is a great little size. I enjoyed my dabblings in it. And the siren call of it's wonderful whimsy remains. Be careful. If you do switch, you could be a bad influence on me! :D My eyes have weakened a bunch since an illness in early 2009. Maybe I'll need to change some day, as much as I love N and my friends in this scale.
     
  3. mtntrainman

    mtntrainman TrainBoard Supporter

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    Dang John...getting old is h*ll...I agree....*grunt...sigh*

    Along with bad eyes...I have "Rice Krispies Knees" .....*Snap...Crackle...Pop*
     
  4. Hytec

    Hytec TrainBoard Member

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    John, sorry to hear your eyes may become a restricting factor in your life. I thoroughly enjoy your forays into complex conversions as they make for interesting reading.
     
  5. brakie

    brakie TrainBoard Member

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    I'm 64 and started using my glasses when I'm working on my N..I still don't need to wear my glasses while working on my HO.

    To be honest it makes one stop and think before plunking down moola for N Scale.
     
  6. bremner

    bremner Staff Member

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    growing old s*cks like a hoover...I'm 35, and I have arthritis that hurts like Hades...I am hopeing that it does not get worse
     
  7. Hytec

    Hytec TrainBoard Member

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  8. bremner

    bremner Staff Member

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    hopfully your eyes are ok, at least you have good health care at home!
     
  9. jdetray

    jdetray TrainBoard Member

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    John-

    Sorry to hear of your vision scare. It's no fun at all.

    Your description sounds like the ocular migraines that I get every few months that cause a so-called "migraine aura." Over the course of about 15 minutes, a small flashing spot in my visual field grows into a large shimmering zigzag shape that dominates the field of view, then gradually fades away until my vision returns to normal. My ophthalmologist says they are caused by a spasm of a blood vessel in the part of the brain that processes vision. Quite scary the first time it happened, resulting in an emergency eye exam, but apparently not considered serious, at least in my case.

    Even without the symptoms above, at 61, my eye issues required four modes of operation.

    1. Bifocal distance lens for most activities
    2. Bifocal reading lens for, well, reading
    3. Separate "computer glasses" for using the computer
    4. No glasses at all for doing close-up detailed work
    I tried progressive lenses and did not like them, so I switch glasses many times a day.

    - Jeff
     
  10. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    I have three pairs. TV watching, computer use and reading. I use the computer glasses plus magna-lite on my work bench. Always manage to set one down in the wrong place, then need to hike back out to that room and get them. :mad:
     
  11. mtntrainman

    mtntrainman TrainBoard Supporter

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    I bought mine at either walmart or kmart (along with all the other ailments I also have CRS (Cant Remember Stuff ). I just remember the magnifying lamp was cheap enough for me...LOL. I do use a CFL bulb in mine. More then once I have burned my hand when working...reaching under the thing with a regular bulb in it. YMMV
     
  12. Grey One

    Grey One TrainBoard Supporter

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    I wish you the best and have always admired your work and humor.

    I have dreams of a G Scale point to point replacing the Grey and Grandure V sometime in the ever so distant future.
     
  13. bremner

    bremner Staff Member

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    mine is a 2 rail O scale switching layout....just a big Timewaster so I can have a dozen or so uper detailed cars and a killer SP Bloody nose GP9
     
  14. Chaya

    Chaya TrainBoard Supporter

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    I know what you mean. I'm only 55, but I'm having a lot of trouble. Switching scales wouldn't do a thing for me, though. Now that I'm BOTH near-sighted and far-sighted, I can basically only see things at reading distance or far away. That means that I spend a lot of time working on my layout at just the right distance--which often means without glasses and about 5" away--but I can't just sit back at normal viewing distance to see if it looks right. I have to take photographs to see what I've done.

    :tb-wacky:
     
  15. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Wow. Sounds a bit complicated. :( But at least you have found ways to continue modeling.
     
  16. Chaya

    Chaya TrainBoard Supporter

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    They'll have to pry my pliers and tweezers and glue out of my cold dead hands. :)
     
  17. Grey One

    Grey One TrainBoard Supporter

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    I've considered that too and might go that way. One thing for sure it will be 100% DCC. I can only hope it is decades away.
     
  18. brakie

    brakie TrainBoard Member

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    I don't know..Chaya may be on to something since photos brings out the details-good or bad.

    I thought I did a excellent job on a detailed scene---until a photo showed me different.
     
  19. John Moore

    John Moore TrainBoard Supporter

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    Thanks gentlemen for the comments. I have been wearing glasses for years and bifocals for at least the last ten of those years. I have all sorts of magnifying devices from the extra arms with glasses to a newer LED lighting system with a magnifying glass and extra flipdown lenses. Also have had an optivisor with extra flip down lenses for about ten years now. Probably have enough magnifying power that if all lined up I could probably incinerate a distant planet on a bright sunny day. But even with all of that the handling of Z scale mechanisms is going to be out thus the Nn3 attempts are going to be history. The condition is not surgically correctable, my eye doctor is a surgeon, and not treatable by meds, unless the retina becomes detached or damaged which I have to be on guard for the next month as a side effect. That at least is treatable if it happens. My intention is to try to keep on with N but from this point forward some of the more ambitous stuff is out. I currently have some blurryiness in one portion of the affected eye which should work out by next month hopefully when everything finally quits changing and adjusting. The big unanswered question is when the other eye decides its time to join the first. I have to limit my computer time and reading time to avoid strain while things are still in a state of flux. The fortunate side of things is that I'm in between layouts and in the design phase which I will revisit now. Sort of glad this happened now before I'm setting in new digs and heavily into building a new RR empire. I'm putting off ordering anything more for now no matter how much I wanted it and I'm sure my regular supplier will notice a slight decrease in thier monthly bottom line. HAH!!

    In researching a possible switch in scales I've found that some of my mechanisms will work for my power like the MDC 2-8-0 with a HOn30 shell on it and the older GP-18 mechanism can be used for a few critters. Also the N Shay can be used to power the smaller versions in HOn30. Thus if forced to change scales the $$ impact will be far less. In layout design I have to allow enough clearance for the narrow gauge around structures etc. so if the time comes I should be able to just remove and plant another building and have room for the slightly larger stuff to clear. Landscape and trees will not be an issue since I would just have to include a few taller versions of shrubs and trees in with the N scale stuff. Of course all this becomes a mute point if things decided to go further south so to speak. So on May 4th when I walk out of the doctor's office, with pupils looking like nickels, I have my verdict as to whether I can plan and go on with N scale or Gasp!! have to think about possibly even full Horribly Oversized scale.
     
  20. Chaya

    Chaya TrainBoard Supporter

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    No kidding, Larry, those photos are invaluable. I can't tell you how many times I got all excited about a scene, took a photo, and realized that it was a mess. ;)
     

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