Modelling mojo and state of mind

[NHY 581]

Well said Rob. I'd forgotten the SMART working method. Must be because I've been retired for so long, however it is a great way to approach any challenge.

Phil

One of the more useful things I've picked up, Phil.

 

Will be using it to get Mutton back on track.

 

 

Rob.

[Norm81]

My mojo, along with any scrap of energy left after work, ends up ploughed into a toddler now. Don't get me wrong I love him to bits, but after work and the little one have taken their pound of flesh there's little left! No "state of mind" issues here, any "can't be bothered" feelings are down to being plain old tired. Mind I do think employment has switched from being more physically exhausting to mentally exhausting, which is more difficult to notice.

 

I'm just permanently exhausted and agree if you're tired or not in the right frame of mind don't try and do any modelling. Recipe for something going awry.

 

I have a pile of unfinished projects of varying sizes, as I'll scope it out then one of two things happen:

 

I get plain stuck on how to do something (as happened with a VEA wagon kit)

The task "grows arms and legs", so the job becomes too long for the time available

 

So they get stuffed away to languish somewhere for goodness knows how long!

 

Then there's the "unknown unknowns" you come across, my Hornby 56 that after taking the bodyshell off won't run even though without cardan shafts with worm drive attached motor and bogies turn. Fine before I took the body off. My Hornby 31 which runs off certain wheelsets with a 9V PP3 battery touched to them, but won't run on the track.

 

Drives me up the wall when loco's just break when you've done nothing to cause it. Then frustrates me even more as the hobby is supposed to be relaxing, not me sat tearing my hair out!

[Big James]

Thank you for support everyone. We are going to follow the smart method Friday as we have a joint day off together. Right now not to fussed about scenery I just want something up and running. My goal is by the end of next week to have the track down and wired in. Having a dad who's a trained electriction helps a lot.

 

Big james.

[The Johnster]

My mojo, along with any scrap of energy left after work, ends up ploughed into a toddler now. Don't get me wrong I love him to bits, but after work and the little one have taken their pound of flesh there's little left! No "state of mind" issues here, any "can't be bothered" feelings are down to being plain old tired. Mind I do think employment has switched from being more physically exhausting to mentally exhausting, which is more difficult to notice.

 

I'm just permanently exhausted and agree if you're tired or not in the right frame of mind don't try and do any modelling. Recipe for something going awry.

 

I have a pile of unfinished projects of varying sizes, as I'll scope it out then one of two things happen:

 

I get plain stuck on how to do something (as happened with a VEA wagon kit)

The task "grows arms and legs", so the job becomes too long for the time available

 

So they get stuffed away to languish somewhere for goodness knows how long!

 

Then there's the "unknown unknowns" you come across, my Hornby 56 that after taking the bodyshell off won't run even though without cardan shafts with worm drive attached motor and bogies turn. Fine before I took the body off. My Hornby 31 which runs off certain wheelsets with a 9V PP3 battery touched to them, but won't run on the track.

 

Drives me up the wall when loco's just break when you've done nothing to cause it. Then frustrates me even more as the hobby is supposed to be relaxing, not me sat tearing my hair out!

 

 

Well, toddler is your no.1 priority, and will be until he gets to an age when he's got homework to occupy him in the evenings, by which time you may well have another one to replace him with.  You may not get a lot of modelling done in these circumstances and that is completely understandable; it's not just the constraints on your time, but having the extra time to get into the 'head place' for modelling as well, which as you say is a pre-requisite for things not going awry.  Don't beat yourself up about it!

 

My suggestion would be to use the time you have to think about modelling to plan the next move, be it the next layout or improvements to an existing one, and occasionally take on small, completable, projects such as building buildings kits, tarting up items of stock, and, if you're in the mood for some analytical fault finding on the 56 or the 31.  You've already isolated the fault on the 56, it's to do with the cardans.  Real class 52s were often in trouble with these as I recall...

 

This will reduce the workload when the time is appropriate for getting back to the layout properly, which will be the more satisfying for your being able to implement long thought of plans and ideas, which you will have spent so much time thinking about that you have already ironed out and solved any problems likely to come up (this doesn't always work in practice...).  

 

Another suggestion would be to become involved with a club, if there is a suitable one handy.  This would give you a specific and regular night away from the family in a way that said family could accommodate, hopefully (though it might cost you a night babysitting while the missus goes out and does her thing, which is only fair), which would be an arrangement that gives you both respite from the toddler (I know you love him but they are a bit relentless) and an outlet for your modelling energies.  This of course depends on the availability on one in your area and your feelings about clubs in general!

 

Keep an eye on the stress and tiredness as well.  It sounds to me as if you are coping well enough, as you have some mental and physical energy left after work; it just gets used up on the toddler, but be aware of it and don't be reluctant to seek help via your GP if you feel that things are getting on top of you.  We live in a hard working culture which is perniciously damaging, things build up without you noticing if you aren't careful!

[NHY 581]

Thank you for support everyone. We are going to follow the smart method Friday as we have a joint day off together. Right now not to fussed about scenery I just want something up and running. My goal is by the end of next week to have the track down and wired in. Having a dad who's a trained electriction helps a lot.

Big james.

Top job BJ.

 

Might I suggest keep to Track down initially. If you make it to wiring you are onto the next job.....

 

 

Rob.

[Big James]

I'm gonna get some track down Sunday as we can use tomorrow move stuff from the loft to the garage. It's the big big big boss mans garage so it'll be an insensitive for us to save up and move out quicker to stop the moaning. First time in ages I've had an achievable plan. Thank you for all your support everyone. My electrical skills are naught so I'll get my dad to do it when it comes to the electrical side.

 

Big james.

[NHY 581]

Just take it one step at a time.

 

In terms of the track laying, break it down into easily do able bits. Better to do this than try and rush and complete it all in one go.

 

Part of this is to slow things down to fit the task to the time available. So, if in an hour you have laid one point or one bit of track before you have to walk away then so be it.

 

Result, one perfectly laid point.

 

 

Only start those things that you can finish. This alone builds a sense of accomplishment.

 

 

Rob.

Edited August 31, 2017 by nhy581

[Norm81]

Well, toddler is your no.1 priority, and will be until he gets to an age when he's got homework to occupy him in the evenings, by which time you may well have another one to replace him with.  You may not get a lot of modelling done in these circumstances and that is completely understandable; it's not just the constraints on your time, but having the extra time to get into the 'head place' for modelling as well, which as you say is a pre-requisite for things not going awry.  Don't beat yourself up about it!

 

My suggestion would be to use the time you have to think about modelling to plan the next move, be it the next layout or improvements to an existing one, and occasionally take on small, completable, projects such as building buildings kits, tarting up items of stock, and, if you're in the mood for some analytical fault finding on the 56 or the 31.  You've already isolated the fault on the 56, it's to do with the cardans.  Real class 52s were often in trouble with these as I recall...

 

This will reduce the workload when the time is appropriate for getting back to the layout properly, which will be the more satisfying for your being able to implement long thought of plans and ideas, which you will have spent so much time thinking about that you have already ironed out and solved any problems likely to come up (this doesn't always work in practice...).  

 

Another suggestion would be to become involved with a club, if there is a suitable one handy.  This would give you a specific and regular night away from the family in a way that said family could accommodate, hopefully (though it might cost you a night babysitting while the missus goes out and does her thing, which is only fair), which would be an arrangement that gives you both respite from the toddler (I know you love him but they are a bit relentless) and an outlet for your modelling energies.  This of course depends on the availability on one in your area and your feelings about clubs in general!

 

Keep an eye on the stress and tiredness as well.  It sounds to me as if you are coping well enough, as you have some mental and physical energy left after work; it just gets used up on the toddler, but be aware of it and don't be reluctant to seek help via your GP if you feel that things are getting on top of you.  We live in a hard working culture which is perniciously damaging, things build up without you noticing if you aren't careful!

I am reaping some benefits, in that I've taken the little one to far more exhibitions than I'd usually attend. Plus I have started indoctrinating inintroducing him to Thomas and Friends.

 

I have actually started planning and doing a bit more research, as I seem to find a half hour before bed to read a railway related book. I need to rediscover those bite size projects and find a safe place that keeps them away from little hands but not fully packed away.

 

I have scaled down my ambition and the three 2' x 3' boards will be packed up for now. I've ordered a Tim Horn self contained 5' x 1 1/2 display type baseboard with sides and opening at the front. So one of the next smaller jobs is to build it.

 

I'm already in a club, that I haven't got to in months. It's about a 30-45 min drive each way so by the time I get in from work, eat, drive there it's about 8pm. 2hrs max as it closes 10pm then the same journey home. The problem being I spend a good portion of the available time travelling, others who go can get there closer to 6pm for various reasons so make more out of the trip.

 

You're absolutely right about our culture, to me it seems to be a "race to the bottom", pay the minimum but work your staff to the maximum (or beyond). I'm sure my grandfather worked much more physically hard down the pit, but wasn't taxed half as much mentally as I am.

[Northmoor]

If you are prone to bouts of depression, with it's associated ennui, self loathing, and self-fullfilling prophecy of uselessness, it is, IMHO, important to take on projects that you can realistically achieve and feel good about having achieved (this is not necessarily the same as taking on easy projects and feather bedding).  In consequence, when I started the layout, I consciously and deliberately planned it to be small enough to fit in the available space, easy enough to construct within my limited skillsets, simple to wire, reliable in operation, and cheap.  I have largely achieved those aims with the exception of the last one with regard to stock (what a surprise), and am very satisfied both with the results and myself!.  It is not yet finished, but we are on the home straight in terms of the basic form of the model.  

 

I have set myself bite sized chunks of tasks to complete as projects, a common coping strategy of proven and known effectiveness, and the momentum has kept itself going from it's own internal resources (it that makes sense) fairly well, despite periods of utter despair in which nothing has happened for weeks at a time (not utter despair with the model, just utter despair).  I have a proven track record of past failures to complete things or see them through, which of course feeds into the self fulfilling prophesy of uselessness side of my self esteem or rather lack of it, and was determined not to let an unfinished layout cluttering my bedroom be a constant reminder of how hopeless I am.  And it has even led me on a few rare occasions to believe that, actually, I might not really be all that hopeless after all!  More to the point, it is even starting to convince my subconscious...

 

Guy's point about an unhurried and patient mindset, tolerant of mistakes (especially your own) is very important here; take it steadily, think about it first, and proceed to a plan by all means but dump the plan and wing it if that is what gets the problem solved; that way you can both feel satisfied about the plan if it has worked and satisfied about your adaptability and genius if it hasn't, all good positivity.

 

I would make the following points to anyone in this sort of situation starting out on a layout in the hope that it will be therapeutic. It will, hugely, but it will not be an answer to all or even most of your issues, nor will it lift your mood when your mood is too low to be lifted.  Keep it small, achievable, and simple, and you will be rewarded with a layout that is reliable and satisfying to operate and which will start returning these benefits sooner than you thought!  As the layout nears a state of 'completion' in it's basic form, other projects can be undertaken; of course, there is always more stock you can buy, or build, or improve, or repaint, but I am looking forward to a future of buildings upgrades, better scenery, maybe a lever frame, the lighting rig, and, of course, always, more and more finer and finer detail; this should keep me going for years yet!

 

Keeping it small will enable you to keep it in the living space of your home.  This is not only good for the model, because it lives in a more or less constant temperature and humidity, but good for you because you can access it easily; this is vital when you are finding motivation difficult, the shed's at the bottom of the garden, and it's raining!  If you can't get out of bed, then it won't help much and nothing will, but there are a good few intermediate levels of depression and motivation issues where it can and will help, even if it's only half an hour's shunting in your underpants at 3am (not a euphemism, which is a pity because it'd be a rather good one)...

 

Keeping it achievable will mean that you will be able to get something up and running in a sensible time, then something up and running with scenery, then something up and running with scenery and signals, and so on stage by stage in bite sized chunks that will sustain your enthusiasm and keep the pace.  This is important when you have to fit what you can realistically achieve, when you can achieve it, into the uncertain periods between your black dogs.  And. like climbing a mountain and stopping to look at the view while you catch your breath, a view that gets better each time, it constantly reminds you what you have already achieved, and, trust me, the more you can be constantly reminded of this the better!

 

Keeping it simple will reward you with reliable running and good operation.  This is constantly satisfying and gratifying in and of itself, and will enhance your mood if it can be enhanced. And if things do go wrong, it will be a relatively easy matter to find out where they have gone wrong and sort it.  A layout that doesn't work properly is depressing and mood lowering in itself, just out of frustration, even for norms, and we are not norms, we are vulnerable to mood lowering events.  A simple layout that works is much better than Clapham Junction with all the bells and whistles to go wrong and upset you!

 

Johnster, this is an outstanding explanation of mental health and ways to help your own.

 

Some years ago I was going through a bad phase at work and it was affecting my health.  I had bought and collected a secondhand wooden high level bed for my son but the instructions were long gone.  My wife thought it would be impossible but by identifying key parts and a process of elimination, we'd built the whole thing by lunchtime.  I felt I had achieved more as an engineer in 4 hours than I had at work in 4 years.

[tomparryharry]

I'm afraid my illness this year wiped out my mojo totally. I've still got the shunting plank boxed up, and the big puzzle is under the bed. I keep meaning to get into the groove, but no.

 

I still have 'grand plans' to build the large shed in the back garden, and Mrs Smith has said yes, but I'm still away a bit. I hope to work up the plank ready for the IoW show ready for November, doing a bit of titivating, etc. Lucky for me, I still have the DJM austerity to bed in, and a new rake of wagons.

 

I'm awaiting my final stroke assessments at the end of September, which if I'm lucky, is my 'bon voyage' moment. That means hopefully that I'm back to driving steam locomotives, but it's a 50/50 shot.

 

In the meantime, however, I have the luxury of RM Web to peruse. I continue to be amazed by the skills of the posters here, both in the visual & written forms. I guess I'm quite lucky indeed.

 

Happy modelling!

 

Ian.

[Mad McCann]

A truly fascinating topic this. As one who has experienced tremendous fluctuations of 'mojo' over the last eight years I can vouch for all of the feelings people have identified here. The last ten years has been a stream of major life events beginning with my marriage going belly up and the death of my old ma. On the face of it, I pretty much faced these events and got on with it, in fact the following year, 2009 was probably my most productive modelling year to date! in 2010, things started to go a bit wrong as I entered an unhappy period in my old job that autumn which resulted in a catastrophic mojo loss, leading to virtually no modelling taking place between October and March. That spring, things perked up a bit as I became very interested in the old Waverley Route, even becoming involved in heritage activity. Underlying this though, was a growing deep unhappiness at work and even some rather unpleasant hobby politics too. This all resulted in some pretty brutal savagings from the fabled Black Dog - something I just ploughed through initially with rather a lot of self-medication which in retrospect was probably not a great thing but pretty much standard in my erstwhile profession. All of this meant modelling suffered again. Eventually in 2014 I reached a point where I was able to effect a sharp exit from a job I'd grown to dread going into; I had enough in the pension pot to clear the mortgage and have a very modest monthly income, backed up by a small part time job. This had immediate effects on my modelling activity as I got away from the antisocial shifts and into a healthier way of life. Inconveniently, a couple of health scares (no doubt a legacy of years as a sqare peg in a round professional hole!) followed by a couple of expensive crises got in the way and though these were all ultimately resolved I ended up going back to full time work on shifts this spring. The kind of work I now do (bus driving) is interesting and enjoyable and it has got me back on an even keel financially. Sadly this has come at the cost of creative activity as the shifts I currently work are very long and you can be very tired in the evening, meaning you can't really be bothered getting the soldering iron out. The shifts have also had a negative effect on my diet and sleep routines. Fortunately I'm in a position now that I can revert to part time working in a couple of months, going to a three day week with those shifts being a lot less intense/frequent/varied.  I'm hopeful that this will restore a healthy balance and boost the modelling activity again along with various other activities. There are certainly times that I look at the amount of modelling projects and interests I have and if I'm realistic, I'll never get round to doing them all but I do try to impose a bit of self-discipline and try hard to concentrate my efforts on a small handful of projects that can be done without too much extreme effort.

Still no layout but there again, no-where to properly put one up in a rather small house!

It's been great reading the responses here and I also find as I plough on into my fifties that there is a growing spiritual element to my existence (I'm not religious - more of a humanist) but I agree that those ancient philosophies of balance do matter a lot in a world that has changed beyond recognition in sixty years and will change even more in the next sixty. The fact that we can think about these things and discuss issues like mental wellbeing openly here in a public forum shows that not all change is bad and from that we should take comfort in a world that can currently give the impression of providing the backdrop to the last hurrah of the knuckledraggers. Although I hope that in a positive way, that's exactly what it is and that it is a storm we shall weather.

 

Dave.

[The Johnster]

Keep on ticking the boxes, Dave, and remember it's something that unfortunately happened to you, all of it, not something you brought upon yourself and can blame yourself for!  As I think I said a few posts back, nil illigitami carborundum!

[Mallard60022]

Dave, some time back someone on here suggested Tai Chi for me. I didn't think it would be of any use at all but it is absolutely wonderful. Maybe give it a go.

Just take a moment to look at where you are now and where you have come from in the last few years. What a great step forward you have taken. Great stuff matey.

All the very best.

Phil

[runs as required]

Dave, some time back someone on here suggested Tai Chi for me. I didn't think it would be of any use at all but it is absolutely wonderful....

Tai Chi? Wow!

I'm sure that is the Martial art that my son has got his pair into so as not to get picked upon in a big city comp (which went into 'special measures' last year)

Younger of the the two earned a special Tai Chi award as outstanding last June.

 

The problem appears to be trying to avoid killing the would be aggressor. So ....best of...um...luck.

dh

Edited September 1, 2017 by runs as required

[Mallard60022]

Tai Chi? Wow!

I'm sure that is the Martial art that my son has got his pair into so as not to get picked upon in a big city comp (which went into 'special measures' last year)

Younger of the the two earned a special Tai Chi award as outstanding last June.

 

The problem appears to be trying to avoid killing the would be aggressor. So ....best of...um...luck.

dh

Nope. Tai Chi is based on a Martial Art but is simply a progression of moves to centre the Chi/energy in the body and mind. You may have seen Chinese folk using it in the park as a sort of exercise. Non aggressive and deeply relaxing.

Phil

[Tricky]

Johnster, this is an outstanding explanation of mental health and ways to help your own.

 

Some years ago I was going through a bad phase at work and it was affecting my health.  I had bought and collected a secondhand wooden high level bed for my son but the instructions were long gone.  My wife thought it would be impossible but by identifying key parts and a process of elimination, we'd built the whole thing by lunchtime.  I felt I had achieved more as an engineer in 4 hours than I had at work in 4 years.

This rings true with me also...I think I was about 3 or 4 weeks into my nervous breakdown and our lawn mower (which had snapped the rear roller about a month before) really needed fixing as spring had well and truly sprung. Not something that would have bothered me before but I couldn't work out either how to do it, or work up the enthusiasm or energy to do it. It sat there for quite a while taunting me. I was about to get my son in law to fix it for me but somehow managed to muster the energy to do it myself. In the end it was easy and immensely satisfying and rewarding - way out of proportion to the task itself, but it proved I was still capable and the real Richard was still in there somewhere.

[woodenhead]

So here's some examples of what gets me down when modelling and ending up feeling bad about my own skills.

 

I swap to OO (various reasons, some confidence related), I think this will be better and it is, the couplings are easier to use in shunting, I am happy.

 

I buy more stock, things are going well, then i reverse my Hornby ex LSWR stock into the bay using a DJM 02 - the couplings ride over each other Arghh, I buy a Heljan 33 - lovely model except couplings droop and it won't stay coupled to stuff - more Arghh and now the confidence thing hits - I can't fix this (or so I feel) so I am stuck.  I've a couple of Airfix B set coaches I got for £10 as something I can cheaply work on to improve - have I - no I haven't - I bought the paint but haven't attempted to use it, the couplings are also stiff, they need changing, haven't done that either.

 

Anyways I get to play with Rosamund Street at Derby and experienced Kadees, well these look like an answer to a problem and you can get them for NEM sockets - surely that's simple for me??

 

Three months pass before I even pluck up courage to order some and 3 more weeks to fit them.  Gaurds van, done, box van done, mineral wagon - it's a different height - disaster.  Luckily I seem to be in a positive frame of mind so a bit of searching the internet shows this is a known issue with early NEM sockets by Bachmann and there is a solution if you tease the socket down a little which I did last night.

 

Little victories are good for the soul, so when the 33 with #18s buffer locked on the guards van with #19s I shrugged it off - I just need to fit a #19 to the loco.

 

But I know I still have more challenges to face that are downright simple but somehow reflect my lack of confidence - point motors and then the really big one - scenery and track painting.

 

Scenery is the big one, it's where i always come to a blinding halt and cannot move forward and I don't know why, I had no problem with it as a child, yet as a 50+ adult it fills me with dread, probably because if it looks cr*p it will just prove to me I am no good but until you try how do you know and how do you learn.

 

SMART is very much the right way, small achievable goals but sometimes I hate modelling as it really highlights my anxieties that I thought I was beating.

[Norm81]

Nope. Tai Chi is based on a Martial Art but is simply a progression of moves to centre the Chi/energy in the body and mind. You may have seen Chinese folk using it in the park as a sort of exercise. Non aggressive and deeply relaxing.

Phil

  

It can be either relaxation or a Martial Art, how you practice and use it is upto you. Either way the idea is to balance mind and body etc.

 

(Some quoted text removed)

 

Scenery is the big one, it's where i always come to a blinding halt and cannot move forward and I don't know why, I had no problem with it as a child, yet as a 50+ adult it fills me with dread, probably because if it looks cr*p it will just prove to me I am no good but until you try how do you know and how do you learn.

 

(Some quoted text removed)

I very strongly identify with this - only not with just scenery. Dare I say it's fear of doing it incase it fails to live up to our own personal standards we want to achieve (but may not be able to until we practice/try a few times/learn by doing?).

[NHY 581]

A truly fascinating topic this. As one who has experienced tremendous fluctuations of 'mojo' over the last eight years I can vouch for all of the feelings people have identified here. The last ten years has been a stream of major life events beginning with my marriage going belly up and the death of my old ma. On the face of it, I pretty much faced these events and got on with it, in fact the following year, 2009 was probably my most productive modelling year to date! in 2010, things started to go a bit wrong as I entered an unhappy period in my old job that autumn which resulted in a catastrophic mojo loss, leading to virtually no modelling taking place between October and March. That spring, things perked up a bit as I became very interested in the old Waverley Route, even becoming involved in heritage activity. Underlying this though, was a growing deep unhappiness at work and even some rather unpleasant hobby politics too. This all resulted in some pretty brutal savagings from the fabled Black Dog - something I just ploughed through initially with rather a lot of self-medication which in retrospect was probably not a great thing but pretty much standard in my erstwhile profession. All of this meant modelling suffered again. Eventually in 2014 I reached a point where I was able to effect a sharp exit from a job I'd grown to dread going into; I had enough in the pension pot to clear the mortgage and have a very modest monthly income, backed up by a small part time job. This had immediate effects on my modelling activity as I got away from the antisocial shifts and into a healthier way of life. Inconveniently, a couple of health scares (no doubt a legacy of years as a sqare peg in a round professional hole!) followed by a couple of expensive crises got in the way and though these were all ultimately resolved I ended up going back to full time work on shifts this spring. The kind of work I now do (bus driving) is interesting and enjoyable and it has got me back on an even keel financially. Sadly this has come at the cost of creative activity as the shifts I currently work are very long and you can be very tired in the evening, meaning you can't really be bothered getting the soldering iron out. The shifts have also had a negative effect on my diet and sleep routines. Fortunately I'm in a position now that I can revert to part time working in a couple of months, going to a three day week with those shifts being a lot less intense/frequent/varied.  I'm hopeful that this will restore a healthy balance and boost the modelling activity again along with various other activities. There are certainly times that I look at the amount of modelling projects and interests I have and if I'm realistic, I'll never get round to doing them all but I do try to impose a bit of self-discipline and try hard to concentrate my efforts on a small handful of projects that can be done without too much extreme effort.

Still no layout but there again, no-where to properly put one up in a rather small house!

It's been great reading the responses here and I also find as I plough on into my fifties that there is a growing spiritual element to my existence (I'm not religious - more of a humanist) but I agree that those ancient philosophies of balance do matter a lot in a world that has changed beyond recognition in sixty years and will change even more in the next sixty. The fact that we can think about these things and discuss issues like mental wellbeing openly here in a public forum shows that not all change is bad and from that we should take comfort in a world that can currently give the impression of providing the backdrop to the last hurrah of the knuckledraggers. Although I hope that in a positive way, that's exactly what it is and that it is a storm we shall weather.

 

Dave.

My layout. Two shelves. 5 minutes to put together and play......12months from start to first exhibition.

 

Just take it one step at a time, Dave.

 

It can be done.

 

 

Rob.

[Big James]

Well after after getting into the loft isn't a lot I can do as I can't even get near the boards. So my dads got a few days off. So I'm gonna c if I can borrow his shed for a couple of months. Even if it's just a roundy roundy branch line set up. it'll do for now. If you can't have 2 weeks in the Caribbean 2 weeks in Spain is better then nothing as I like to think.

 

Big james

[woodenhead]

Using three of those shelves with one dissected you can achieve a nice L shape end to end.

 

These shelves + code 100 + minimal wiring = quick conversion to 00.

 

Just got to get past my issues with scenery.

[rob D2]

I just envy anyone who actually gets home near their models. I'm away about 14 days a month. Plenty of time to play " fantasy layout planning " in my mind .

[Northmoor]

My layout. Two shelves. 5 minutes to put together and play......12months from start to first exhibition.

 

Just take it one step at a time, Dave.

 

It can be done.

 

 

Rob.

 

Rob - That's a very nice piece of work and good advice.  You see plenty of layouts exhibited that have been thrown together in six weeks by experienced modellers and I think their haste often shows, but not here; and you've achieved more than I have with my layout in 10 months!  I will say this - please don't take this as a negative criticism, it really isn't intended to be - but this isn't the sort of layout I will intentionally go to see at exhibitions.  However, if on a display board (perhaps the type that people often use to cover/hide the fiddle yard) you had a timeline of the build, explaining the order everything was done and the time required, it would really capture my attention.  Plenty of possibly aspiring modellers must go to exhibitions and think, "I couldn't possibly do that".  If they are looking at Copenhagen Fields, they will be right.  Looking at a neat little layout like yours, they would be wrong.

 

Rob (Another one)

[Mad McCann]

My layout. Two shelves. 5 minutes to put together and play......12months from start to first exhibition.

 

Just take it one step at a time, Dave.

 

It can be done.

 

 

Rob.

 

Well, Rob, you have certainly offered the incontrovertible proof of your statement's fundamental truth!

That's a nice, simple layout that actually still looks like it offers a satisfying bit of operation in a surprisingly small space. Once November rolls in I think I'll be scouring the G&SWR system for a small mineral depot with that kind of footprint.

There really aren't any excuses to not do so, given your creation! 

 

Dave.

[runs as required]

Just got to get past my issues with scenery.

Quite a few of the blues 'owned up to' on this thread have to do with scenery.

So I have to ask... why bother with scenery?

 

I've long felt that (slightly dusty, tired looking) scenery usually detracts from the precision detail of beautiful RTR scale models.

The crisp black steel shelving in post #96 above seems a perfectly neutral environment for exhibiting a working length of railway - even within a living room, providing the rest of the household be sympathetic.

 

I've always delighted in spotting model trains where you wouldn't expect them:

A surprise in the boss's office where I once had a brief spell of work experience; amidst the medical smells in Doctor Ashbury's 1950s surgery in Bradwell, Derbyshire; and bizarrely: a working Prussian P8 in a Cairo tobacconists.

Someone once told me of an Oxford College where the port circulated around the dining table in a (Bassett-Lowke ?) pick-up goods train.

 

And remember Beatties model shops?  I always envied their cornice railway.

 

SO FORGET SCENERY - JUST ENJOY THE RAILWAY

 

dh

Edited September 1, 2017 by runs as required