07-09-2010, 06:04 AM
I chose Rolling Stock/Locomotive Building and Structure Building. It was a tough choice as there are more than just two activities about the hobby I enjoy, I just happen to be building structures right now. 
But ... I really do enjoy laying track. I've been spiking it down, one twenty-two inch string of ties at a time for about 23 years (I built a fixture to set up a "section" of ties on an upside-down length of quarter inch masking tape ... the piece of scrap 1x2 that I used for the fixture just happened to be 22" long.) Sliding those three tri-point track gauges along, spiking down the rail in between them, moving back and forth, spiking both rails on a tie, four spikes to a tie, the half-a-dozen ties farther along do the same thing, then back three ties, four more spikes. I keep working like this as I move along and a rhythm starts to develop that feels very theraputic, very relaxing ... a nice calming activity to immerse one's self in after a hectic, nerve-numbing day at the office.
:cry: 
I can remember like it was yesterday that night when I arrived at the location of a turnout, stopped momentarily, studied the situation, swallowed very hard and then continued spiking. after a lot of filing and fitting, filing and fitting and then spiking and soldering, when I rolled that little Fox trucked, lightly weathered, silver "Darling" tank car through there and it rolled on through smooth as butter on waxed paper I had the most incredible feeling of satisfaction! That's really why I like to spike down my own track by hand ...
... it's that feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment! 
But ... I really do enjoy laying track. I've been spiking it down, one twenty-two inch string of ties at a time for about 23 years (I built a fixture to set up a "section" of ties on an upside-down length of quarter inch masking tape ... the piece of scrap 1x2 that I used for the fixture just happened to be 22" long.) Sliding those three tri-point track gauges along, spiking down the rail in between them, moving back and forth, spiking both rails on a tie, four spikes to a tie, the half-a-dozen ties farther along do the same thing, then back three ties, four more spikes. I keep working like this as I move along and a rhythm starts to develop that feels very theraputic, very relaxing ... a nice calming activity to immerse one's self in after a hectic, nerve-numbing day at the office.
:cry: I can remember like it was yesterday that night when I arrived at the location of a turnout, stopped momentarily, studied the situation, swallowed very hard and then continued spiking. after a lot of filing and fitting, filing and fitting and then spiking and soldering, when I rolled that little Fox trucked, lightly weathered, silver "Darling" tank car through there and it rolled on through smooth as butter on waxed paper I had the most incredible feeling of satisfaction! That's really why I like to spike down my own track by hand ...
... it's that feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment!
biL
Lehigh Susquehanna & WesternÂ
"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves." ~~Abraham Lincoln
Lehigh Susquehanna & WesternÂ
"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves." ~~Abraham Lincoln