Do you ever get tired of your trains?

A little ennui is not unusual with ALL things in life.

 

A brief respite or hiatus usually helps.

I think if your life is fairly balanced in terms of your interests, you won't have a tendency to truly "get tired" of one of those interests. Shifting your attention among those various interests should keep everything "fresh".

 

Too, at least where toy trains and model railroading are concerned, there are so many facets to the hobby that you can always opt to work on wiring or scenery if you begin losing interest in actually running the trains.

 

Curt

 

My layout will be 30 years old this July 2.  I can say I have never tired of the trains.  Summer brings car shows and the Corvette but I always seem to run the trains daily.

Like Marty and Juniata Guy, I have other hobbies.  In warm weather, I tend to go shooting more, and when it gets colder I run the trains more.  I've never gotten tired of either of them. And I have other interests as well.  No, I'm not bored.

Since I have gotten back into the hobby, I'll admit, I have gone several months in a row without running my trains or doing anything train related other than attending club meetings, the occasional train show, reading the forum, or the magazines...I know it's always there and at random times, I just get the urge and have some train related fun.

 

That fun could be just running them for myself or others, working on the layout, building new circuit to do something, doing some wiring improvement, or just basic maintenance on rolling stock or locomotives.

 

Like most people, I have a lot of other interests and distractions in life and work and family are number one in keeping me busy most of the time.  When I do get my own time, trains are not far away and I sometimes I find myself down in my unfinished basement "playing" as my wife calls it.

 

I have to say, I have have never gotten "tired of them" though...

 

 

 

 

 

Starting threads like this is surely a sign, I'd quit if I were you.

After 50+ of years of interest in O gauge toy trains, no!

Interests shift from season to season.  April through June its Trout fishing and Turkey season.  June through October its hiking season.  October through December its hiking and hunting.  December through April its train season.  For evertyhing there is a time and for everything there is a season. 

How about reading 90%of the threads.

Tired? Well ya but I got to sleep sometime!   I wouldn't worry just do some other things you like to do. Some people get tired and think they have to dump the whole hobby.  Just throttle back a little.

I never get tired of my trains i been modeling since i was 5 years old i am 40 years old now i have model N scale and HO and O scale but O scale i just started to model it in 2002 trains in my blood u can say i do have to cut back some because of other things to do thou  

As one who used to run trains only during Christmas (it started when I got Lionel's Polar Express RTR set about 5 years ago), I started to get the itch to set up quick weekend carpet layouts at other times during the year. My OGR fever gradually grew from there and continues to this day.

 

December 2011 has come and gone and the four-track, two-level pink foam-based platform is back in storage. But I didn't have enough December train action so I set up a neat double reverse loop on my office floor that occupies 9-feet by 8-feet of space. Added two tunnels, one covered bridge, put in a few generic buildings and trees and (just last week) I custom built a wooden truss/trestle bridge.

 

For me, it's a joy to run trains at this time of the year since it's still not warm enough for frequent outdoor activities. I haven't felt tired or board with running trains and I do not expect to. If all goes well, my goal is to take my layout off the floor and build a semi-permanent platform in the office that I can enjoy all year long.

 

I am already making long range plans for a Halloween-themed layout that will be set up the entire month of October -- and I am also preparing for this year's December Christmas layout!

 

This is a wonderful hobby! I am having a great time, I'm learning a lot and I am making new friends right here on the OGR forum. 

Never! I started when I was 4 and have gone nonestop the last 45 years. Maybe a little slowdown during college, but the first stop my wife and I made after we were married on our trip from NY to Arizona was Roadside America. (People loved the postcards we sent.)

All the best,

Miketg

No. happy Railroading!!!-Don Klose

 

Check us out

www.bellevueandschenectadyrr.com

I never get tired of the entire thing.

 

I often "over-enthuse" for a while on one thing, such as putting in scenery in my mountain areas, and move to something else, like rebuilding a post-war loco.  That happens frequently.  But there is always something different, and fun, to turn to for a while.

There are definitely up and down periods, but the downs only last as long as it takes to think up a new project. For me, most of the fun is in the planning and building. There are always new aspects of this hobby to discover, so my layout may look complete, but will never really be done until I am! 

 

Jim

Sometimes I tire of the work involved and fixing trains I buy that were "messed" with.

After 50 years I am tired of not having enough space to do it right and tired of not having an end in sight to bench work and scenery. The trains of themselves I never get tired of them. 

Lots of things pulling at me in all different directions---I'm no different than anyone.

 

I try to maintain some form of "balance".

 

The trains always are nice to come "home" to.

Thx

Joe S

 

I belong to 2 train clubs: one runs trains every Saturday morning at the clubhouse, the other meets once a month at members houses. Then there is York and local shows.

 

Trains have become a social thing for me like York for many people. Life becomes busy and trains don't get worked on as much as needed. But the social aspect keeps things moving along with trains.

Yes I get tired of them. With summer coming I will have more time for them as well. Next week I am off and plan on doing a few projects. as well. 

No. I may not run them for weeks at a time, but I never "tire of them". I am glad I have  them.

I got tired of them last night when I worked on the layout until 12:30 last night, but then I went to bed, and then got up at 6:00a:m to start again!

As another poster suggested, I tend to be "seasonal".  This is the first year I didn't take the trains down after Christmas, but then this is my first year with O-Guage and it was by far the most elaborate layout I'd done.  The HO stuff I did was pretty lame so tearing it down after the holidays was actually a relief.  I couldn't bring myself to take down this one.  That being said, as the weather improves, there will be more activities for the kids, trap and skeet will get into full swing, and outdoor chores will occupy a lot of time. I suspect I will spend far less time with the trains, but I always start getting the itch again in the fall.  

 

The ultimate irony is that MTH's product delays have pushed a good deal of my stuff potentially into summer/fall, so that might spur me back into it as new toys arrive.  My goal was to have one new train around Christmas, and make it somewhat of a tradition.  This year, there may be a glut

Yes. I have other things I like to do, so I rotate through my hobbies and interests as I get tired or bogged down with one. I got burned out with O-gauge about two months ago while building a couple of structure kits. I have been working on my N-scale trains since then. The section of my N-scale layout that I have been working on is getting close to being completed and I'm getting tired of working on it. With spring just around the corner I'll be working outside more often and trains will get put on the back burner.

Started with TRAINS in 1947 and I will finish with TRAINS! 64 years later they are still very much a part of my life. Never got tired of toy trains.

I believe too much of anything is too much.  Taking breaks, even from trains once in a while, is a good thing.  As proven in a thread I started some time ago, it seems that

OGR forum members have shown a very interesting and wide range of other interests in their life besides O gauge trains.  From classic cars, outdoor activities, boating to flying airplanes.   With family, friends and members of other hobbies, life is more than just trains.

 

So to take breaks resting from trains makes them that much more interesting when you come back to them.  It keeps the hobby fresh.

 

TEX

Steve

Tired, not really. It's amazing what 5 minutes of clickety-clack will do to improve my well being after a week of travel.

 

Summertime brings the 71 Buick GS so they do take a back seat, just like the Buick does in the winter.

I don't get tired of them, but my time is taken up more and more as my kids get older, so I spend less time with the trains and the forums than I used to.

The key words here are BALANCE and taking a BREAK. During most of my 69 years, starting with being born in Brooklyn NYC (1942), and living there and in the borough of Queens during my formative years until about age nineteen (1961), I have always loved trains of every gauge and scale, including subways and els (the old Myrtle Ave. line with the old gated-platform cars being one of my favorites), as well as the LIRR, Pennsylvania, NYC, and the New Haven.

 

I have done it ALL from 1:1 at the the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum in Chattanooga, TN to Gauge One live steam and LGB, Gilbert American Flyer, Lionel 0 and 027 and later Lionel scale, HO, standard gauge (originals and reproductions), and I have my very own railroad depot/home, Bear Creek Junction, on the former Graham County Railroad in Western North Carolina.

 

I also helped out friends with their 1 1/2" scale, 7.5" gauge live steam locos, and with their extensive layout in Maury County Park in Columbia, TN.

 

"Total Trains" should perhaps be my forum monicker!

 

Even so, there are occasional periods of ennui, but my trains are a respite from my kidney failure and LAD heart artery stents. Being a few days away from death (on hemodialysis for seven-years now), makes me appreciate every moment of life!

 

My hobbies are staying alive and model trains, not necessarily in that order!

Once the O-Gauge bug has bitten you, it is incurable. You may occasionally think that the bug has passed when you are away form the trains, but it always returns. Sometimes it may take years for a relapse, but it is sure to come back. There is no known cure.

 

Since I posted this thread it's doing exactly what I had hoped it would and that is to get to know all you forumites by getting you all to open up and relate some stories and experiences that you've had along the way. Although I've never met most of you I consider you all to be my friends or better "train family". We share a strong brotherhood here thats not found in most hobbies today.

Keep the replies coming.

Thomas

 

Received my first train set Christmas 1954.  I was 7 years old, it was a Marx Freight Set

which is still in the family.  I never get tired with my trains, when the day comes that I get tired with them and Baseball (The Yankees) is the day I informed my wife, check me into the local furneral home.

 

Love the hobby keeps me young.

 

Many thanks,

 

Billy C

 

 

As one poster said, there are so many facets to this hobby.  I am still learning electricity and scenery.  Anyone can shell out bucks for the latest things and that

is OK but the hobby (to me anyway) is so much more than that.  I love it and run trains nearly every day.

As a matter of fact.. NO! I've been active in the hobby since 1948. Still working on my original layout that was started in 1956 by my Grandpa. I've grown a little older, however, this wonderful hobby helps to keep one young at heart.

God Bless,

Pappy

TCA TTOS

i only get tired of trains when i get tired of breathing.  so far i have not gotten tired of breathing yet.  so........

Never. I got my first train set in 1946, I was two and don't remember much of it. It was an American Flyer three rail set. The next set I still have. A 2026 freight set, the year was 1948. I think it's in my blood. Don

I may pass by the train room for a day or so without going in; that's all it takes. Other diversions are helpful. But the train bug is alive and healthy.

I tend to spend more time on projects that I really like, such as custom painting/decorating of cars and locos, and less time on projects that I'm not too good at or do not enjoy. Examples of the latter are wiring and scenery work. I also enjoy railroad history and railfanning. Soooo.....I never really tire of the many facets of this hobby.......and I've had trains all my life. Tom in Picksburgh

Someone on the internet long ago coined the phrase, "trains are a winter sport" 

And that is exactly how I see it too.

In these parts, summer is short. Allows lots of time to mess with trains.

I collect trains, upgrade trains, sell trains I grow tired of but above all else, my layout is a never ending work in progress.  It'll never get done period. And that's exactly how I want it..

I change track routes, switch accessories and move things around from season to season.  

Bottom line, It's my hobby.  It'll never get to the point where I'm bored...

Joe