Running on Filthy track

[Nearholmer]

I think railway modelling, or railway modellers, do sometimes court mockery. It’s all the getting caught-up in tiny details while turning a blind eye to obvious unrealism, and the taking it all just a little bit too seriously. We sometimes need the gift to see ourselves as others see us.

[The Johnster]

My impression is that he's struggling a bit with a layout he can't get at to maintain properly and is actually dangerous for him in his trap-door/operating well; he's in a hole, literally, and needs to stop digging.  He's been active earlier today on the site, but has withdrawn from this thread.  I don't think he's taking the p*ss, but is probably in denial vis a vis the practicality of his dirty layout and needs to ask himself some serious questions that he knows he won't like the answers to about where he is going in the hobby and what he wants from it, then apply a strong dose of reality and compromise, probably a new smaller layout in a less risky position..

 

Complaining that some locos won't run properly on dirty track under the guise of research to determine if any will is just delusional.  The answer is obvious, clean the bl**dy track, but poor layout design and his mobility/access issue means he can't do that, and his denial of the situation means he is locked in to a hopeless spiral of trying to continue with an unfeasible layout that has no doubt been costly in terms of cash, work, and time, an investement that it is hard for him to write off. 

 

My advice to him would be to abandon the loft layout, recover whatever can be reused from it, shut the trap door and forget it, and start again somewhere he can get at everything and operate from a chair on a floor, preferably in the heated and ventilated area of his home. 

[Oldddudders]

On 05/10/2023 at 15:03, OnTheBranchline said:

I just want to point out that the OP has not come back to the thread in a few days - not sure if he took the comments in here too well or not.

My heart bleeds....

[The Johnster]

5 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

I think railway modelling, or railway modellers, do sometimes court mockery. It’s all the getting caught-up in tiny details while turning a blind eye to obvious unrealism, and the taking it all just a little bit too seriously. We sometimes need the gift to see ourselves as others see us.

 

I agree.  Good modelling practice needs a degree of obsessiveness and OCD, which are not necessarily the best traits for our overall mental health, so we need to to be aware of how ridiculous we appear to others, and develop a degree of self-mockery to help us cope.  'On The Branchline's' comment about blokes and 'serious modellers' is the sort of thing I mean; we all know what he means and like to think, subjectively and in a general way, that our hobby is 'serious' to combat accusations that it is childish, but a precise objective definition of 'serious modeller' is elusive.  'We', of course, only ever do 'proper' modelling, not train sets, but where is the line that divides us from the train-set people who are in it just for the fun and run Flying Scotsmen alongside SmokeyJoes on improbable trackplans because why not, and should there be such a line (my view is that there shouldn't be, but there is...)?  Nearholmer works in coarse scale 0, and clearly loves every minute of it, but is very knowledgeable about both modelling and the prototype; I think of him as a 'proper' modeller, but don't know if he's 'serious', can't/won't define either term!

[OnTheBranchline]

33 minutes ago, The Johnster said:

 

I agree.  Good modelling practice needs a degree of obsessiveness and OCD, which are not necessarily the best traits for our overall mental health, so we need to to be aware of how ridiculous we appear to others, and develop a degree of self-mockery to help us cope.  'On The Branchline's' comment about blokes and 'serious modellers' is the sort of thing I mean; we all know what he means and like to think, subjectively and in a general way, that our hobby is 'serious' to combat accusations that it is childish, but a precise objective definition of 'serious modeller' is elusive.  'We', of course, only ever do 'proper' modelling, not train sets, but where is the line that divides us from the train-set people who are in it just for the fun and run Flying Scotsmen alongside SmokeyJoes on improbable trackplans because why not, and should there be such a line (my view is that there shouldn't be, but there is...)?  Nearholmer works in coarse scale 0, and clearly loves every minute of it, but is very knowledgeable about both modelling and the prototype; I think of him as a 'proper' modeller, but don't know if he's 'serious', can't/won't define either term!

 

Thank you - my comment was just pointing out how it's interesting he's choosing to use his time to basically 'get into our heads' rather than use it for his own productive purposes. And it worked because we are still talking about it. 

 

*Assuming he's a joker and there's not anything  actually seriously wrong with him. 

Edited October 6, 2023 by OnTheBranchline

[The Johnster]

Wasn't criticising you, Branchline, just using you as an example of how diffiult it is to precisely define terms like 'serious modeller'. 

[Colin_McLeod]

On 07/10/2023 at 01:25, The Johnster said:

...... how diffiult it is to precisely define terms like 'serious modeller'. 

 

I have two layouts in progess simultaneously, one is my attempt to do everything right: finescale wheels, flexible track laid to sweeping curves in a believable formation, DCC control and quality models with plans for good looking scenery. The other is a Hornby Dublo 3 rail layout on a flat board.

 

So does that make me a serious modeller, toy train enthusiast, proper modeller or just a mixed up train guy?   😀

[The Johnster]

Nah, Colin, you’re just trying to cover all the bases…😉

[St Enodoc]

6 hours ago, Colin_McLeod said:

 

I have two layouts in progess simultaneously, one is my attempt to do everything right: finescale wheels, flexible track laid to sweeping curves in a believable formation, DCC control and quality models with plans for good looking scenery. The other is a Hornby Dublo 3 rail layout on a flat board.

 

So does that make me a serious modeller, toy train enthusiast, proper modeller or just a mixed up train guy?   😀

But do you clean the track?

[Colin_McLeod]

9 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

But do you clean the track?

 

Yes.

[Torper]

15 hours ago, Colin_McLeod said:

 

I have two layouts in progess simultaneously, one is my attempt to do everything right: finescale wheels, flexible track laid to sweeping curves in a believable formation, DCC control and quality models with plans for good looking scenery. The other is a Hornby Dublo 3 rail layout on a flat board.

 

So does that make me a serious modeller, toy train enthusiast, proper modeller or just a mixed up train guy?   😀

 

One may well qualify you as a "serious modeller" but I bet that the other one gives you more fun.