In preparation for our two year old grandson staying with us for a few days I decided I needed to hustle up with my most recent renovation which of course, was started before I actually completed the last renovation. I spent a lot of hours under, over, and in my layout so everything would be in fine working order. The eve before his arrival I did a run through of everything including running his “Thomas the Train” train that I purchased for his second birthday. The run was flawless and I was charged and ready for his visit. By now, you are probably starting to get the idea of how this will work out. With Grandson sitting high on the stool with his Engineer’s cap on his head and a red kerchief around his neck Thomas tore off like the good runner that he is only to derail a few seconds later as he glanced off the side of a freight station loading dock. What was up with that? How can it mysteriously move by itself? Oh, well. Thomas is back on track and tears off again only to repeat the action a few more seconds later as he derails and comes to a stop after hitting one of the legs on the elevated sawmill. I am dumbfounded. Less than two thirds of the way around on the first lap and two accidents. A new adult record for me. Grandson was not impressed. While ruminating that debacle while lying in bed later that night it occurred to me that I can name a number of similar head shakers that are a part of my model railroading experience. I thought I might share them with you, hopefully for your enjoyment. If these things are foreign to you then (sound of giving the raspberries inserted here) on you!
- You power down your layout for the evening with a feeling of self-satisfaction for a job well done because everything is operating within normal parameters only to return the next day to discover that a short circuit, or two, or three apparently sprouted overnight requiring troubleshooting for an inordinate period of time that eats up your operating time, again.
- Holding and releasing a small piece of trash directly over the waste container does not mean that it will fall straight into the container. Say for example, the small stripped piece from the end of a wire (certainly this stripping has a name, doesn’t it? Is it stripping?) is dropped into the receptacle, some previously unknown supernatural force, perhaps am air bubble, will propel it just off the edge of the container and on to the floor requiring a second effort to dispose of it properly, or surprisingly, sometimes a third.
- Some of the physical limitations I encountered as an inexperienced twelve year old model railroad empire builder have suddenly returned now that I am in my sixties, along with a few new ones. Most of the new ones are vision issues that I surely did not have when younger. One of these days I’m going to get a pair of glasses that have the bifocal for close work at the top of the lens rather than the bottom because I can’t get my head to slip backwards off my spine far enough to see and work on overhead wiring while under my layout. I’ve been saying this since my vision changed on the eve of my fortieth birthday.
- Reaching over a carefully modeled scene to straighten that one little something that needs a slight adjustment guarantees that I will inadvertently knock several more things out of place as I withdraw my arm and hand.
- Laying down any tool but most famously the wire cutters while sitting crossed legged on the floor under the layout means that they will get swallowed up into some minute yet unstable opening in the time-space continuum where they disappear from where they were left only to reappear underneath me or directly behind me but only after a somewhat frantic search for them. “There they are; didn’t I just look there and they weren’t there?”
- Wire ends can be easily stripped when there is more than adequate length. In fact, the insulation will practically fall off by merely tickling the wire with the wire cutters but let the wires be just a little short and they will be nearly impossible to strip. Stripping that insulation is like trying to peel the headline off of the front page of a newspaper.
Well, there you have my musing. I predict that it will take only three seconds for someone to reply to this posting declaring the post to be on the wrong forum, or that this particular topic has been discussed ad nauseam in many other threads dating back to the previous century. However, I encourage anyone who identifies with the frustrating parts of this magnificent hobby to add to my list.
I just had a pair of wire strippers take off for parts unknown this last week.
