Of course we all enjoy our hobby but the question is "How did you get into the hobby?" and "now that you are in it what do you like most about it?".

For me it started age 12 with a train set but in later years change over to Control Line model aircraft, then I found out about Girls, gee who cares about trains and planes when you find out about girls

Like most I got Married but got back into model railways several times over the years, I retired eight years ago and seven years ago decided to get back into the hobby, wow one advantage of the hobby is now the ability to get away from girls

I have been a train fanatic all my life and know quite a lot more about real railways than model railways, I would consider myself to be a bit of a plodder in the hobby and try to keep things simple

My mind boggles when I read some of the replies people get from others on this forum as there are some very clued up members out there (sorry I ain't one of em)  

I don't think I have an artistic bone in my body but found the only way to get the most out of the hobby is to have a crack at doing things I never thought I could do, I must admit that at times I have surprised myself and this in turn has given me confidence to try many other things some of which have not worked out so well

I like the idea of building a world where there is no wars or crime or business's ripping people off or media barons trying to brainwash people, crikey that sound like heaven,

That's enough from me, what do others think

Living outside of the UK, I can add that not only does the construction of a layout allow the world to become free of all of the bad things in life, but it also satisfies the feeling for nostalgia. An unexpected advantage that I've experienced is that down here in South Africa, not many people know about British Rail so mistakes that I make never receive adverse comment. (I used this in my 00 days to renumber a Bachmann 25/2 from 25087 to 25037 - a totally wrong body style for the number and nobody noticed !)

Hi there bob and welcome to the forum, OK on the nostalgia but when it comes to the loco number it would have zoomed over my head too.

The renumbering would have gone way over my head as well 

My grandfather (linesman) and father (driver) both worked on the railway and my parents and I lived in a house with the railway at the bottom of the garden so there was always an interest there.  I had a Hornby wind up set when I was about 7y/o which always fell off the rails when you first wound it up.

A couple of years ago I started chatting to a reasonably local guy on a helicopter forum who was having problems with his heli so I started to help him fix his helicopter and through this I found out that he and his wife were O gauge fans.  I went to a train exhibition with them and I ended up buying a small 7 plank wagon with "Fife Coal" on the side, last of the big spenders  .  I am originally from Cowdenbeath in Fife, so that's why I bought it.  A few days later I received a parcel in the mail from this guy and his wife.  It was a small loco, some rolling stock, an old Farish controller and enough Peco n gauge track to make up an oval.  They used to do n gauge but gave it up and sent me this so I could run my 7 plank wagon.

From there I quickly realised I preferred US locos, although I do have a few British steamies and diesels, some of which will be up for sale soon so I can concentrate on US stock.

I am now at the stage, as some of you may have seen with my recent posts, where I am beginning to take locos and coaches to bits and adding lighting etc.  The biggest problem I have is my main hobby is r/c aircraft mainly helicopters and they are not cheap so there is a constant battle for what cash I have available between flying stuff and train stuff and that's my story 

cheers John.

Strange the way many non- Americans model American Railroads.

To me as a kid growing up in Birmingham and thinking anything other than LMS locos were not worth looking at I thought American locos were ugly, I now find the history of American Railroads and Locomotive Builders to be very interesting, this plus the fact that the American model locos run so well prompted me to model American, I have now got to the stage where I have greater enthusiasm in building my new layout.

Railway modelling gives you the opportunity to try your hand at lots of different skills - electrics, woodwork, painting, craftwork etc. Not to mention the hours spent armchair modelling, which can be just as much fun. You can put just as much into the hobby (and spend as much ) as you want.

But just beware the person looking over your shoulder telling you something isn't right - you're not operating your layout correctly, the buildings are wrong for the location you're modelling, you've not based it on a prototype. This imaginary person is none other than yourself, so don't spoil the enjoyment by setting your standards too high for fear someone else isn't going to like what you do.
Rod

Quote from: scotsoft on November 01, 2011, 09:00:08 AM

My grandfather (linesman) .........

I am originally from Cowdenbeath in Fife.........

cheers John.

So was your Grandfather often seen at Central Park then John    or at Keirs Park with the Haws 

Having been a trainspotter when just knee high to a grasshopper with the availability of cheap train travel 'cos my dad worked in Wolverton Railway Works, I travelled all over England from the end of steam through to the AL6 electrics on the WCML. In my youth I had the inevitable OO 'trainset' on a board that went under my bed. Having gone through the angst of teenage/early adulthood I returned to the hobby in the mid 80's but was limited on space, hence my first foray into N gauge. It was a round the room layout (I took the door off it's hinges and made it into a sliding door). In 1993 a major upheaval at work required me to move house and nothing happened further until I ended up in my current bungalow with even more space restrictions! Having quite a bit of old stock and seeing the 'new' models coming onto the market, I decided that as I live alone I don't need a dining room and so have started a new layout in the comfort of a room inside the property.
Railways have always been in my blood since I was a nipper lying in bed listening to the clank of wagons being shunted in Wolverton works, but I am purely modelling what I remember and not what is prototypically correct. References are frequently made to my old Ian Allan books and, of course, more recently to the forum.

Quote from: Lawrence on November 01, 2011, 11:21:57 AM

Quote from: scotsoft on November 01, 2011, 09:00:08 AM

My grandfather (linesman) .........
I am originally from Cowdenbeath in Fife.........
cheers John.

So was your Grandfather often seen at Central Park then John    or at Keirs Park with the Haws 

I was sorely tempted, of course, but manfully resisted the urge

Quote from: Lawrence on November 01, 2011, 11:21:57 AM

Quote from: scotsoft on November 01, 2011, 09:00:08 AM

My grandfather (linesman) .........

I am originally from Cowdenbeath in Fife.........

cheers John.

So was your Grandfather often seen at Central Park then John    or at Keirs Park with the Haws 

My dad was a regular at Central Park till the depression became too much for him rofl.  He tried desperately to get me interested in football but I still cannot see the attraction to this day 

I forgot my great grandfather used to sit in a hut on the High Street and when the NCB trains crossed over the street he used to wave a flag to stop the traffic. I'm sure I have an old black and white picture showing the hut, I will look it out.

cheers John.

Quote from: newportnobby on November 01, 2011, 11:29:15 AM

Quote from: Lawrence on November 01, 2011, 11:21:57 AM

So was your Grandfather often seen at Central Park then John    or at Keirs Park with the Haws 

I was sorely tempted, of course, but manfully resisted the urge
[/quote]

Being as pure as the driven slush myself, I simply have no idea what you mean Mick   

cheers John.

erm well, this thread's gone off the rails so lets have a few pictures to straighten it up.


This is my first ever N scale engine, which I got for Christmas 1968. It still runs just fine.  It has run many, many hours and shows its years, but it is one of my treasures.

My story is just like yours, ORB, absorbed with trains until age 18 or so ,then between 1980 and 2010, my trains lived in boxes at the bottom of my closet, and were moved,  un-opened between houses twice.

I intend to build a layout in the near future, but in the mean time what I like best is what I call "chop shop" where I take a mass produced item and make it resemble a prototype I like.
before

after


what I like best about trains is the diversity of interests. there are the miniature worlds, some very specific representations of places and times, some complete fantasy, Britain, Europe, Japan, America, steam era, transition era, modern era, there are engine builders, kit builders, collectors of a particular railroad, there are the club layouts with numerous operators doing realistic operations , and there are table top ovals, going round and round. all very appealing and interesting and absorbing.

The following is shamelessly copied, pasted, and abridged from my website  :-

A few years ago I was sitting at home one winter's day watching the rain drizzle down the windows outside stopping me from indulging my other hobby – Cars. What I needed was an indoor hobby, something long-term that I wouldn't get bored with. Something else transport-related obviously!

Why N Gauge?

As a child it all started with the usual oval of Hornby OO (16.5mm) track and a couple of sidings nailed to a painted piece of chipboard, and trains running at maximum speed most of the time! A switch to N Gauge meant that effectively four times more track and scenery could be squeezed onto the same size board. This layout was more detailed with a three-track station long enough for scale-length trains, a selection of goods sidings, and a long tunnel. It was also a first-foray into scenic techniques using scatter. Inevitably once cars came along in my late teens the railway was forgotten.

It was just when I was thinking of building a layout that the N Gauge Society Modern Area Group announced its Layout Competition to be judged at the 2009 AGM, just the incentive I needed to get started. I entered although all I had was a design worked out on WinRail, and after a lot of frantic building, tracklaying, and rudimentary wiring - and much help from the misses - we managed to get it to the AGM where to my surprise we won second place even though there was practically no scenery and only four trains running as that was all that had been chipped for DCC. Apparently the judges deemed it to have a lot of potential 

The layout has been put on hold a couple of times due to a house move and a change of job, but I'm hoping now to have it more-or-less complete by late next year. I love layouts that show good attention to detail (such as Grahame's 'Stoney Lane Depot'), all the little touches that make it more realistic, and I believe in going out and looking at the real world for inspiration on how things should look.

What do I like most about the hobby???

Playing trains like a big 42 year old kid of course! 


Paul

Interesting approach to the hobby Paul and congratulations on building the winning entry 

Thanks mate 

Was chuffed (pun intended) to get second out of 15 or so entries I think, anyone who's seen "Crossgates" at exhibition that was the winning entry, great little layout and very well detailed, deserved to win 


Paul