02-05-2013, 10:48 PM
Kevin;
Probably a lot of us share your experiences and feelings about this hobby, including myself. I too have been involved with it since my Dad got me that first Lionel train set when I was 5 years old. He was never involved in the hobby, except to teach me how to do woodworking, wire things, and get the railroad operating, and even take me for weekly trips down to the Southern Railway yard to watch the real thing. Some of my fondest memories would be seeing what my Dad got me for the train layout on Christmas and my birthday. Over time, the desire to actually work on the railroad became my main goal in life and as it turned out, I got to do that and in many different fields. All that was just more fuel for the modeling aspect of it.
I think we all go through periods where the hobby gets put on the back burner for periods of time, but it seems like we always come back to it. This hobby has so many different aspects and skills that a person can develop and to me is vastly different than any other hobby. Not only can we build and detail a model or layout to any level we desire, we can spend countless, interesting hours, doing research on a subject or even spend time observing the prototype. Most of all we can actually do something with our creations - unlike similar hobbies where once you've completed the model, it just sits there.
I've run across many others over the years that are interested in the hobby in one form or another, and again the variety is endless. Some just want to watch trains run in a circle (which can be huge), some build models and layouts that duplicate a particular location or railroad as close as they can; others like myself prefer to just freelance something, but have reasonably accurate equipment and duplicate actual operations. Several times, lifelong friendships have developed from just a simple "Oh, you're a model railroader too!".
Who knows where I'd be today had this hobby and interest not been a part of my life. I can't even imagine and probably don't really want to!
Probably a lot of us share your experiences and feelings about this hobby, including myself. I too have been involved with it since my Dad got me that first Lionel train set when I was 5 years old. He was never involved in the hobby, except to teach me how to do woodworking, wire things, and get the railroad operating, and even take me for weekly trips down to the Southern Railway yard to watch the real thing. Some of my fondest memories would be seeing what my Dad got me for the train layout on Christmas and my birthday. Over time, the desire to actually work on the railroad became my main goal in life and as it turned out, I got to do that and in many different fields. All that was just more fuel for the modeling aspect of it.
I think we all go through periods where the hobby gets put on the back burner for periods of time, but it seems like we always come back to it. This hobby has so many different aspects and skills that a person can develop and to me is vastly different than any other hobby. Not only can we build and detail a model or layout to any level we desire, we can spend countless, interesting hours, doing research on a subject or even spend time observing the prototype. Most of all we can actually do something with our creations - unlike similar hobbies where once you've completed the model, it just sits there.
I've run across many others over the years that are interested in the hobby in one form or another, and again the variety is endless. Some just want to watch trains run in a circle (which can be huge), some build models and layouts that duplicate a particular location or railroad as close as they can; others like myself prefer to just freelance something, but have reasonably accurate equipment and duplicate actual operations. Several times, lifelong friendships have developed from just a simple "Oh, you're a model railroader too!".
Who knows where I'd be today had this hobby and interest not been a part of my life. I can't even imagine and probably don't really want to!
Ed
"Friends don't let friends build Timesavers"
"Friends don't let friends build Timesavers"