Do not let your wife's girl friends in your train cave!

The problem living in the south with such a high water table is no basements (just a crawl space). I have a workshop,  unheated,  for my trains.  It's better than nothing!

RailRide posted:

p51 posted:

Now, I realize she was testing me. Things are totally different now, and we've adapted well to one

 That reminds me of a phrase I learned of in my YouTube travels.

If anyone should happen to go there, look up the phrase "poop testing" (replace 'poop' with the word you and I both know is supposed to be there )

"About 1,190,000 results"

(very...'edumacational' )

---PCJ

I looked that up.

Oh dear God, I've had that done to me by every girl I dated before my wife.

My wife spent the first couple years of the marriage doing it, just didn't realize it before now...

Gentlemen,

   After being married for almost 40 years, my advise is to marry the right lady from the beginning.  We just purchased a big 4,800 square foot Ranch House on an acre of ground, the 1st thing my wife said is buy a Tractor to take care of the property and the Bar/Game Room will be the Train Room you always dreamed of having, Fire Place and all.

I just Engineered and built the Shelf Train layout near the ceiling I have always wanted, in the Train Room/Bar and am working on the Engineering for the rest of the Train Room.  Will definitely have a Conventional Tubular O Gauge Train Layout on the big 12' Bar, similar to the layout in the movie Donavans Reef, along with a multi-level FasTrack layout, with the Bar Housing, as a big Train Tunnel.  

Merry Christmas everybody,

PCRR/Dave

@Trainlover160 posted:

My wife fully supports my hobby. It started out late 1999. She purchased the postwar engine I lost years ago and always wanted to replace.

Have not looked back since😁!

Every year year since we have done a Christmas layout. About ten years ago I was bit hard by the TINPLATE bug.

For my 60th, she bought me a black/brass 400E.

In a few weeks we will be starting my permanent layout, and she is already making me redwood trees.

I am fortunate to have such a great partner in life.

Joe Gozzo

I am too Joe. Hubby Tom builds my layouts for me, fixes the trains, loves running them, especially the Standard Gauge and helps my little train detail projects that I create in my head turn into wood and paint and glue. He has his own HO layout in the back of the basement, and his own G scale garden railway in the back yard.

We share this hobby together, with each our own spin on the layouts- and we encourage each other in all of our toy train endeavors. We recently took a 6 day road trip together (with our two doggies with us too) to see two train friends of mine, going from Kansas to Wisconsin. Tom did all the driving! He is almost as jazzed about toy trains as I am

My wife wanted my trains out of the house so we build what she calls the train mansion.

30'x40' with 2 floors.

She also wants we out of the house when I retire.

She has made me a sack lunches for 46 years and when I retire she wants to make me a lunch and send me out the back door instead of the front door.

I can come back after 5.

There are two projects.  Scrap Booking, and Quilting.  Both a fair amount of room, and material.  The third project was a Sweet Adalene Group, late night practice and a lot of hrs, seems to have ended that project.   Note that you can easily spend up to $10,000 on the ultimate sewing machine, with all the quilting table attachments.  Then there are classes to teach you how to use that sewing machine.  Machines and sewing tool box(es) require loading/unloading, (one of my jobs related to her hobby).   47 years a sweetheart.   When the ladies are here, I take long walks in the park, mow grass, rake leaves, etc.

@StPaul posted:

well the best of both worlds a really deep wallet a really huge lot and main living part and train room on a single level as in same area for trains as the main house has and no more stairs for either to deal with.

We put one Standard Gauge Layout on the Main Floor at the back end of the Great Room (large Living Room). The two main bedrooms are on this floor.

Off the large kitchen, there is a separate laundry room.

When our home here in the Midwest was first built in 1939, the entire attic floor was just that, attic space. The people we bought this home from in 2018 had had it all built into liveable space; two large rooms, a loft style sitting room in the middle, a full bathroom area, and a closet for a washer and dryer. The two larger rooms became an O Gauge Layout room, and a Standard Gauge Layout room. Both are my layouts.

@Mike CT posted:

There are two projects.  Scrap Booking, and Quilting.  Both a fair amount of room, and material.  The third project was a Sweet Adalene Group, late night practice and a lot of hrs, seems to have ended that project.   Note that you can easily spend up to $10,000 on the ultimate sewing machine, with all the quilting table attachments.  Then there are classes to teach you how to use that sewing machine.  Machines and sewing tool box(es) require loading/unloading, (one of my jobs related to her hobby).   47 years a sweetheart.   When the ladies are here, I take long walks in the park, mow grass, rake leaves, etc.

I can relate Mike. My mom was an avid seamstress. She made all of her own clothes. When the quilting bug hit, my father and I ran for the hills (or the basement trains). She had her own space for her projects. My dad bought her a Bernina for Christmas one year that put her Singer to shame.

For me- My wife tolerates my hobby. Embrace would be a stretch.

Bob

@Tom Tee posted:

Story, So we went and got this nice sized retirement ranch home.  All living quarters on one 2k sq ft floor, which means the same space for the trains in the basement.

Problem: my wife was showing her friends the RR I am building.  Their first response to my wife was "where's your space in the basement"?  My wife put them in their place, upstairs.  Make it simple.  Keep 'em out!!

Here's where I end up in the doghouse, but here goes. Install a urinal in an unused corner. No female will come within 20 feet of a room containing one. You don't even have to connect it to anything.

@AGHRMatt posted:

Here's where I end up in the doghouse, but here goes. Install a urinal in an unused corner. No female will come within 20 feet of a room containing one. You don't even have to connect it to anything.

Really? Eeeeeewwww.. I don’t doubt it for a moment, but I find that a pair or well-seasoned coveralls hanging near the door works quite well. Add a pair of much-worn workboots for extra deterrent effect. The smell of a hot soldering iron is a worthwhile additional extra, as is the smell of locomotive smoke oil.

I have the basement and my wife has the garage. She charges me a small fee to park there each month. Works great.

I never cease to be amazed at the sheer size of American houses, at least in some parts of the country. My niece’s house in Fort Worth is like that, I’ve seen smaller places over here that were open to the public ....

Mind you, building standards differ greatly. My garden shed is more robustly constructed than my neice’s house, and there is a running joke between my kids about “staying in flat pack houses in Florida”, the idea that a house built of 4x2 and plasterboard has a swimming pool amuses them greatly. Drywall is a lining, not a main construction technique.