Sitting back the other day I had to do paperwork for my Model railroad. No its not freight car bills or future engine repairs for the shop its out of modeling paperwork. I absolutely despise paperwork at my job yet here I was going over the increasing number of reservations for products coming out up to a year from now and trying to keep them in order for my hobby. However once you fill out the reservation you have to constantly monitor it for changes in price, ship dates and total manufacturer cancellations. Then when you hear or see a new item coming up you first must check what is alreading coming out that month to see if financially if this is going to be a problem for the hobby funds. This takes away from hobby time and forces us to operate more like small companies than model railroaders. I think this could account for some of the frustration I sometimes feel and see in these forums. A hobby should be a release not a burden. All the clubs I have ever joined or looked at seem to be having this problem as well. Having way to much structure and not enough fun. One of my problems was I had fallen in the trap of buying into all this limited release garbage. Lately I seem to worry more about what is coming out and will it look a scale ½ foot better than what I have? There is always room for improvements but improvement sometimes comes to fast for us to keep up. Take scale track I have most of my railroad laid out in code 80 yet the new Atlas code 55 is going to be great. If I wait and redo my entire track in code 55 will it look better yes but I will miss what I most want just to run my trains. My scenery and 10000 small projects will never get done. Improvements are always welcome but we need to stop and prioritize ourselves. We all have reasons for modeling yet I for one am straying from what I like best and I found my biggest problem with my hobby was actually I! It all occurred to me when coming home from work in a bad mood and finding out items I reserved just went up $50 really set me off .I sat down and started tooling around in my yard and all this finally the light went on that this is what I liked best any every thing else was small stuff .I already owned more than enough to operate my railroad and all the detailing projects could wait .So what if everything was not done I needed time to enjoy myself more with my hobby. I was treating my hobby more like a competition, I even found myself talking like some of those people who call into AM sports radio stations completely rabid about there favorite team but not really enjoying the sport overall. I feel we are all steadily loosing something here and for some this is more of a competition any more. Hopefully my ranting will help some of those poor wretched souls like my self see the light.
Sometimes it's hard to differentiate between running trains and acquiring them. In the past month's I have been finding myself keeping a constant check on eBay and Yahoo auctions to see if any items are coming up for my railroads. Naturally, this takes away from running (playing). It seems I go in spurts of looking and running and can't get a happy medium between the two.
I really try to prioritize the new releases as they come out. I model modern so it is a little easier, but not lately. Things that I simply can't live without I reserve immediately, things that I need but CAN live without, I look for at shows or on Ebay. If I stopped buying today, I still have enough projects (buildings, un-dec locos, decals, weathering), to last me well into next year. It's not just a hobby, It's an illness. Locomylitis;(Loco-my-ly-tis), the insatiable urge to get ones hands on more motive power than one can afford.
I have run into a similiar problem related to model poverty and prioritizing what must be accomplished to set up a layout. In the past year, I have spent about a $1000 for layout acquisitions. Almost all of it has been engines that Kato has released that I "must" have, or else my layout won't "look right." Then I began to bemoan the fact that I hadn't really gotten that much further ahead in getting the layout up and running. The benchwork is 95% in and after I install a backdrop (for the lower level) I intended to start laying track. But I hadn't gotten around to it. Why? Because I am too broke laying away goodies then paying for them: the SD90's come to mind (I am modern as well). And so after I have finished paying off all I have on hold, I am going to institute a new rule. The new rule is: "What will optimize my dollar spent to get the railroad rolling, so that I can enjoy the best part of the hobby - running trains?" This means I will have to make a list of what needs to be done and stick to it, even if Kato and Atlas sing a song with my name in it. For me, this means backdrop, then install the lighting I have already purchased, then purchase track and start laying with the AMI I have already bought. So the next $1000 will be spent on on backdrop, track and turnouts, etc. I find it so easy to fall prey to the - "I must have it or my layout won't look right!" - mentality. And of course, in the end, the layout doesn't look right because it isn't getting built because I spent my bucks on something that needs a layout to run on...lol. In economics, it is called the price of "lost opportunity." [ 06 August 2001: Message edited by: rsn48 ]</p>
Today I received an E mail fromn one of the places I purchase my stuff. He is selling new undecorated Kato engines such as C44-9W and SD40 -2's as well as snoots for $48 ($89 for 2 on the SD 40-2 and snoots) This is about 50 % of the retail price. Maybe this says something of the state of our economy or that other modellers have come to the same conclusion as expressed in the posts preceeding this one on this thread.
Gentlemen, I have the cure for all your problems including the dreaded Locomylytis. Discard your U.S. and Canadian stock and model the railways of that central European country...... Switzerland. New releases in N-scale are so few and far between that you will have plenty of time to build your layout and play with the trains. Trust me......I am a Swiss modeller
I second John W.'s idea, the Swiss do things right from the get go. Randy, I fully agree with you, and I hope you don't have a Bachmann reserved, those long flanges will bounce up over the heads of any spikes you have to use to hold your rail down flat. I refer you to my post of 3 Aug on page 4 of this forum on the topic Thoughts on a GP-38, in answer to Scott's frustration, (and mine) on your same subject Randy! We used common sense back in my day, if the hobby shop tried to gouge us, we mail ordered it direct from the manufacturer. When they started trying to feed us the "Collector" garbage, we quit buying. Problem is, they taught the little kids through advertizing and articles in our magazines that good high quality models were old foggey, plastic is the way to go. They failed to explain to the impressionable little kids that plastic was dirt cheap, st if the mfg could get us to buy it, they will make money hand over fist on us, and if that works, they'll make it a limited run, so that is worth more money, so buy it quick, then when that went over OK they started haveing us make out a reservation, usually with a down payment (deposit) so they had the money to make it with, our money, well that worked, they are now on a roll, so Hey lets' tell them its a "Collectable" and we can charge them some more for that! (Collectables were antiques, but here is a brand spanking new cheapo plastic engine with plastic wheels, that looks great and instead on costing $95.00, they want $289.99 for it! Don't cry on my shoulder guys, I have been screeming in this wilderness for 40 years! The little kiddies they were training to sell all this junk to, have now grown up and have to pay the piper! Sorry lads! That is just how the old mop flops! [ 06 August 2001: Message edited by: watash ]</p>
Oh no! You mean I gotta get rid of my 100 dollar plastic SD-90's,and buy 300 dollar brass SD 90 imports?Well i guess if i sold all my rolling stock,structures,what little unlaid track I have left and a few pints of blood,I can afford one.....yeah!CHEAPO PLASTIC!CHEAPO PLASTIC!
Thats the way I save cash. Limit myself by specifying what is what I want to build and want I really need. Most N scale model railroaders have really no specific railroad so buy anything that looks appealing, spending large sums of cash before they know it. I had the same problems with details parts and buy just about any that I would see and now have tons of detail parts with only a couple that I really need Im now saving the money towards a new airbrush and compressor, the stuff that I do need, as well as some $25 files and various other tools. Mike Antkowiak
Good for you Mike, you are now smart. I started when I was 16 buying at least one GOOD tool each week, or saved up for like an electric drill. Now, I have a 20 x 30 foot model shop out behind my house with mills, lathes, jig saws, table saws, band saw, pantograph, drill presses, and jeweler's lathes. That's why I prefer to build rather than buy junk. I am fully enjoying it too now that I am retired and can play all day and all night if I want.
As I find out more and more about my choosen prototypes (CP and Soo) I find that 'missing' out on a limited edition is not to big a deal. Most likely there will be something on the model that will require a change that will require a repaint (The Soo Line's wierd cab vent mountings are a great example) that as long as I can still get a used model, or one I can strip (after it sat in the hobby shop for three years and is closed out) then I can take my time. I guess this is an advantage over modeling the popular prototypes, but on the other hand there are only a few people around who notice that I moved the cab vent. Or added patches in the three previous horn mount points. And so on. Spent one hour last night sorting out the mounting of one ditch light. I had a blast (ok mostly) and the next one should go in in half the time. I know this isn't how everyone wants to spend their hobby time, but it is a good way to spread the limited edition hobby dollars if you know what I mean Watch the HO forum for some pictures of my new project in the next couple of weeks
