Does anybody else find their stuff keeps disappearing? Mine had got in a right old muddle so I've been having a sort-out and I can't help thinking there isn't as much as there should be. I have far less stock than many fellow Forumites, so it should be easier to keep track (sorry!) of, but for instance, I'm sure I bought at least 3 Minitrix teak coaches and now I only seem to have one. Ages ago I bought a Farish 4P to use the chassis for a project - there is no sign now of the chassis or tender, only the loco body. Which is the bit I don't want. Ditto a Minitrix Class 27 which I was going to repair - the body is still in the To Be Repaired box but the chassis is nowhere to be seen. Likewise I'm sure I bought some points for a previous layout but they vanished and I had to buy more. Where do they go? I don't belong to a club, so nothing leaves the house. I can't blame Mrs Papyrus - she doesn't have a clandestine layout, to the best of my knowledge. Nor the dogs... I keep looking in boxes I have looked in 5 times before but they never seem to come back from the Space-Time Continuum. Does anyone else have this sort of problem, or am I the only one with this level of incompetence?
Cheers,
Chris
You've put them in that 'safe place', haven't you? :D
Have you tried your 'man drawer'? You know, the one with keys for unknown items, odd batteries, extinct mobile phones etc.
Definitely. Especially when I buy bits of useful material or tools for a specific job and then when I get around to that job I've forgotten what sensible and safe place I put them in.
Quote from: Newportnobby on May 09, 2024, 12:02:21 PMHave you tried your 'man drawer'?
Yes, but which one? :-\
Cheers,
Chris
I'm convinced there's a real Starship Enterprise up there that beams up bits just to have a bit of fun..... Stuff just disappears for months then turns up when they decide to give it back!
Dave
I have to agree. Similarly, I appear to have acquired stuff that I have no knowledge of or need for. That continental bogie freight car, for instance. Why have I got that? I really need to get a grip...
Cheers,
Chris
Quote from: Papyrus on May 09, 2024, 02:54:35 PMI have to agree. Similarly, I appear to have acquired stuff that I have no knowledge of or need for. That continental bogie freight car, for instance. Why have I got that? I really need to get a grip...
Do you have a use for one of those, or might do in the future?
Quote from: Papyrus on May 09, 2024, 02:54:35 PMI appear to have acquired stuff that I have no knowledge of or need for
I have noticed that. A few weeks ago, I was doing a bit of tidying up and came across a plastic case. On opening it, I saw that it contained a new looking Black and Decker electric drill. "I don't remember putting that away" thinks I, turns round and saw my, not so new, B & D electric drill on the workbench! :doh:
I sometimes find that my rolling stock has disappeared from my layout, only for it to miraculously re-appear well after I've given up looking for it.
And usually exactly where it should have been, creepy or what? :goggleeyes:
Small tools are considered permanently lost in their default state :D
That's why I often have 2 or 3 identical tools kicking around,
somewhere ................
where's that tape measure :-[
John P
I generally have little difficulty in finding what I need - provided I haven't tidied up recently :smiley-laughing:
Quote from: chrism on May 09, 2024, 03:02:35 PMQuote from: Papyrus on May 09, 2024, 02:54:35 PMI have to agree. Similarly, I appear to have acquired stuff that I have no knowledge of or need for. That continental bogie freight car, for instance. Why have I got that? I really need to get a grip...
Do you have a use for one of those, or might do in the future?
A grip just gives you more space to lose things in :uneasy:
(old fashioned expression for a bag for travelling that is smaller than a suitcase)
A grip makes a change......most people need a round tuit.
Martyn
Quote from: martyn on May 09, 2024, 05:02:57 PMmost people need a round tuit.
I've got one of those, Mum gave me it years ago.
I never told her, but it doesn't work :smiley-laughing:
As you can see, Chris
@Papyrus you're not alone. It's obviously a global phenomenon, as I happens to me too! :thumbsup:
SWMBO refers to my study as the "black hole" as according to her there is so much junk in there.
You and me both, but my missus isn't quite so nice about it :no:
Its funny , this thread has just reminded me I had a bargain Dapol Britania that I got from Ron Lines at Eastliegh show a few years ago and have no idea where it is like everyone else I have searched everywhere except where it is hiding .
I expect next time I go down the shed it will be on the stock shelf right in front of me .
As for pens there must be dozens somewhere in the house but we can never find one to write a number down .
Bob
I've had to try to get organised as I used to have a really bad reputation for buying things I'd already got. For some reason Peco tunnel portals were an Achilles heel as I'd buy a pack, get home and find the ones I already had.
Time was I'd meet with fellow forumites at a show and be asked "Bought any Peco tunnel portals yet, Mick?" :-[
That's the reverse of my problem, Mick. I know I've bought stuff but it's vanished into thin air!
Cheers,
Chris
Quote from: Papyrus on May 10, 2024, 04:06:26 PMThat's the reverse of my problem, Mick. I know I've bought stuff but it's vanished into thin air!
Cheers,
Chris
Could it be 'The Borrowers'? :uneasy:
"I'm gonna put this somewhere safe" is an incantation of an ancient priesthood that has been passed down through the millennia that opens a portal to a random point in another timeline, through which all safely kept things travel, never to be seen again....
Quote from: cmason on May 10, 2024, 04:29:51 PM"I'm gonna put this somewhere safe" is an incantation of an ancient priesthood that has been passed down through the millennia that opens a portal to a random point in another timeline, through which all safely kept things travel, never to be seen again....
Of course the domestic high priestess or the novices (i.e. our daughters) that work under her do seem to possess some knowledge of the necessary incantations (spells?) that can bring some things back into this timeline... if I make the necessary sacrifices at the altar in order to persuade them to use their skills to help me out....
Quote from: cmason on May 10, 2024, 04:29:51 PM"I'm gonna put this somewhere safe" is an incantation of an ancient priesthood that has been passed down through the millennia that opens a portal to a random point in another timeline, through which all safely kept things travel, never to be seen again....
until a replacement is sourced and put somewhere safe, at which point the original appears.
Blimey I thought it was only me that keeps losing stuff! Tools mostly but I've had stock " go missing", some of which herself pointed out I had sold.......
I have just started a TPM 442 kit i have had for years i was sure i had got transfers for it but could not find them so i order some new ones guess what the new ones arrive I open a draw to put them away to see the missing set looking at me I looked in that draw twice oh well i have spares if i muck the job up
Don't worry. I've got a missing DC controller, got the power pack and the track connection leads, just no controller. I have turned the house upside down but no joy anywhere. ???
If anyone sees it, can you send it home please! :D
Cheers
Mark
Hi All,
Seems we're all in the same gang ;)
I put away a set of Woodland Scenic welders with all their gear along with an arc welder light effect.
I found the light effect this afternoon but no sign of the welders. Seems like they've either buggered off for a better paid job or fallen into that black hole :worried:
Never mind .... I have just ordered a new set from the Isle of Wight, so I expect I'll find the originals tucked away in a drawer later on :D
All best wishes
Kevin
:beers:
OK. Now my box of scrap metal has vanished. I don't need it often but that's no excuse for it to slope off in a huff. I did find a missing book I had put on the wrong shelf, though.
Cheers ,
Chris
I have always done Radio Control flight as well as "N", t'other half reckons I don't crash enough. A shed, a garage, two bedrooms and most of a loft later proves this.
Inheriting stuff from two deceased flying buddies didn't help.
"N" having been mainly on the back burner for a decade I start on "the last great N project", but where are my controllers? In the loft is what I recall. Can I find them?
:doh: :uneasy: :(
Quote from: JBQFC on May 13, 2024, 07:17:52 PMI have just started a TPM 442 kit i have had for years i was sure i had got transfers for it but could not find them so i order some new ones guess what the new ones arrive I open a draw to put them away to see the missing set looking at me I looked in that draw twice oh well i have spares if i muck the job up
Last year we spent weeks looking for my passport. We emptied cupboards and draws, searched through bags, cases and pockets. In the end we gave up and I went through all the hassle and cost of getting a new passport.
A couple of weeks later, we found the old one, which was right at the front, in plain view, of the bottle cupboard - where we had each searched, multiple times, as we often keep documents and letters in there.
There is no way that we each missed it multiple times, having gone through documents that were stored in there, individually and more than once - yet the passport was found right at the front, in plain view. We have had this happen with multiple things and are convinced that we have poltergeist moving things around.
Sounds like it! Only explanation! ;D
At my previous house, the cupboard under the stairs was the black hole. Generally anything house related went in there - decorating equipment, cleaning stuff, vacuum cleaner, paperwork. A general dumping ground. Never model railway stuff - that went in the spare room. When I moved and had to sort it out, I found a brand new Farish Black 5 in there that I'd apparently bought about 3 years earlier. Absolutely no recollection of buying it, or why it was in that cupboard!
But what a great find! :thumbsup:
Quote from: Papyrus on May 25, 2024, 10:00:31 PMOK. Now my box of scrap metal has vanished.
Found it!! It was in my writing desk, just where you would expect to find it... ??? :doh: :goggleeyes:
I wonder where the space-time continuum will spit out the next missing item.
Cheers,
Chris
:confused1: :( ???
The rogue black hole has just swung past again and a couple more things have been sucked into the void. First, a made up kit of a platform canopy. It was salvaged from my pre-millennium layout and has mostly stayed on top of a bookcase, but now I can't find it anywhere. How can you lose something that is/was over 2 feet long? Also a roll of cheap grass mat. Not a great loss but I didn't want to buy any more if I didn't have to. I'm starting to worry what will disappear next.
Cheers,
Chris
I have a 6" engineers ruler, calibrated to 0.5mm, that was my late father's. It disappeared a year or so ago, and I just couldn't find it. I eventually cracked and bought a new one, not quite so nice but still good. A month or so later I went to look at my building paper drawer and lo and behold, there was the orignal ruler, nestling snugly between the layers.
All well and good, but now they've decided to p**s about and at any one time I can only ever find one of them. There's more than one black hole in my room I think....
Dave
The black hole here is my loft. Ages back when parking all railway activity up went all my controllers, PSU's, etc. In the spring I had a skip load out of there, very carefully sorted, no controllers came to light.
Round 2 is in September, will they emerge? (Will I emerge??)
The mystery continues .
I have searched every stock box and cupboard and still cant find my Britania ,So if anyone has found a Britania they cant remember buying let me know ,and I will pass on the coaches that I found but cant remember buying .
Im glad I am not the only one with this problem as I thought I was going mad .
The carpet monsters the worse :uneasy:
Can't say any carpets have gone missing here...
Cheers,
Chris
Quote from: nick_bastable on August 26, 2024, 07:56:30 PMThe carpet monsters the worse :uneasy:
Yes - their taste for brass in the form of bearing cups and buffers are well documented!
Ah, but did you know that brass (other metals are available....)items also have an invisibility cloak? I deliberately went for hard flooring in the railway room and they disappear on that too.....
Dave
I think part of the problem is that gravity is getting stronger thus causing more items to fall.
I dropped a carriage bogie on the floor in the train room yesterday.
They are, what, nearly an inch long.
There is only a carpet on the floor but the bogie has vanished.
I bent straight down to pick it up and it is nowhere to be seen.
It's driving me mad !
Quote from: port perran on August 27, 2024, 01:10:00 PMI dropped a carriage bogie on the floor in the train room yesterday.
They are, what, nearly an inch long.
There is only a carpet on the floor but the bogie has vanished.
I bent straight down to pick it up and it is nowhere to be seen.
It's driving me mad !
Try walking around bare foot for 10 minutes, I`m sure it`ll stick into a foot soon!
I think SWMBO wishes my modelling stuff would disappear into a black hole! I currently have the conservatory and living room full of layout and stacks of crates containing various scenery products, packs of people and vehicles etc. as I prepare my contribution to TINGS :) The worrying thing is I'm not sure how it will all fit back where it usually lives: some came from the garage and some from my "hobby room" (spare bedroom) but it seems to have expanded!
Quote from: Papyrus on May 09, 2024, 11:47:42 AMAges ago I bought a Farish 4P to use the chassis for a project - there is no sign now of the chassis or tender, only the loco body. Which is the bit I don't want.
This has turned up! In the 'to be repaired' box with the rest of the loco. How? Why??
Cheers,
Chris
Pssst.
I snuck in and put it there >:D :smiley-laughing:
Personally I'm missing
An expensive soldering iron (a present from the Mrs).
My airbrush (should be easy to find in its wooden box which is inside a cardboard sleeve :no: )
A pair of Farish BYA wagons
A USB stick containing the N Gauge Society journals, as PDFs, from 1968 to 2013.
And then the really good magazine article from the 1980s about Carlisle Power Signal Box.
Ho-hum.
Welcome to the forum.
Are you sure you don't have a poltergeist? :uneasy:
Quote from: Newportnobby on August 27, 2024, 09:58:26 PMWelcome to the forum.
Are you sure you don't have a poltergeist? :uneasy:
Thanks for the welcome and quite possibly as there's other non railway stuff that's also MIA.
Try moving house - everything then turns up as you have to clear the old house!
That's why I've now got 7 hammers! :claphappy:
4 tape measures
A box of Pozi and Philips drivers
Approx a dozen Allen keys the same size but not a full set anywhere :hmmm:
5 set squares :confused1:
Numerous 'Stanley' knives but none with a decent blade! :no:
1 lump hammer that still has a loose head! :doh:
3 hose guns - 2 don't work! ::)
In the loft are the N gauge loose items in 5 large, deep plastic boxes plus another large plastic toolbox full of 'useful bits' and V small tools. All the rolling stock items are in one large box so there might be some damage to rectify.
I too have bought various 'spares' over the past 3 years to modify or repair rolling stock and these are somewhere in the loft?
The baseboards halves are still stored on edge in a bedroom where they might just be able to fit - if not its take them apart to get the layout built again in the loft as the loft hatch/ladder opening is too small to allow the boards up as built :veryangry:
The new kitchen is finished, the back door has gone, the garden shed is reduced by 40% and we have 300 bricks and about 300kg of rubble to turn into a circular patio!
Then i get to resurrecting the layout!