Have you ever had this happen to you?

I think most of us can agree that you are not alone. As you suggested, sometimes the best solution is to walk away, and then come back when you have cleared your mind. Usually you can correct it the second time around without much difficulty.

It's called (take your pick)

The law of unintended consequences.

No good deed goes unpunished.

Sh*t happens.

Cascade failure in the positronic net.

Rusty

Simple answer, yes. This is one of many reasons why the room was finished 6/10 and I'm still not running trains. Every year, I say next year. For 2015, next year....

My worst day was when I purchased and cut the same stinking piece of wood three times before getting the cut right. The #1 culprit was I was tired. always best to just walk away for a while. This is a hobby and it is supposed to be fun.

Gilly

It's happened to all of us. Just better to walk away & finish the work at a later day.

Yep...Murphy sure gets around!!

Alan

Yep!  Sometimes it helps to just *#%$@&* and *#%$@&* a few times, then you feel better ans can go back to work.

.....

Dennis

Happens all the time. I got used to it, working on Italian cars years ago, comes with the territory. When you deal with any system that has any number of interchangeable parts, the possible problems go up exponentially. Arthur C Clark said that a technology that is very advanced cannot easily be distinguished from magic, I paraphrase that and say that any technology above the level of bear skins and stone knives is indistinguishable from demonic possession when things go wrong

I worked on taking a shell off of a lionel B unit. Took out all the screws out that needed to come out but the shell would not budge. It was late at night so I left it for the next day. 

When end I got back to it I picked up the unit and the shell fell right off and I almost dropped the whole thing. I spent a hour the night before trying to get the shell off and the next morning it just about fell off, why? I think it is the train gods laughing at me.

With me its been track sections that are ether to long or short.Or while using my black and decker saw.The track can end up warped or a bit to long or short.

Took me a long time to transition from my first attempt crappy "noob" wiring attempts to wiring good enough for DCS with all of my Atlas switches. During this period there was much cursing coming from the train room leading people to ask me why I was in the hobby in the first place. Answer was simple: "because I care about it and want it to look and work a certain way". When it doesn't I get mad. I'm that way with everything I care about. There were times when I thought I would NEVER get it to work the way I wanted it to! Today it does for the most part and I'm quite proud of it. An entire functioning model RR built from the ground up by me. It's a great part of the hobby that you can make it as challenging or as easy as you want to. For me though, the more challenging it is, the greater the satisfaction when you succeed.

Stick with it Seaboard, it's all part of the journey!

I tore down my old layout last summer (2013) and have kind of been in a drift ever since with little of it being fun. I've built now 3 4x8 layouts over the past 1.5 years only to tear them down after a few months due to various problems. The current one has given me nothing but problems since March with the primary issue being DCS will not work. On a 4x8, two loop, no switch layout. Terrible signal strength. Conventional operation has been very jerky with many of my MTH PS3/PS2 engines. Lots of speed up, slow down (regardless of pressing horn or not, etc. Just running around you may roar through one spot and practically stop their on the next lap with cruise control) regardless of how much new track and how many power feeds you put in. Engine after engine failing, DOA products, rude, impossible to deal with online dealers (thankful for my LHS, one of the good ones), many of whom are forum sponsors who flat out screw you. One last try later to get DCS to work otherwise, I'm going conventional and try to work the power issues. I've also been considered getting out of the hobby for a good long time or dumping O Gauge and going old school HO analog. Never had a problem for years with that stuff and it ran great. Not to mention, it is CHEAPER!!!

Oh belive me I have want to let go with some $%^@!!Or  you *&^$ you are just a half inchfrom the trashcan!!You ever thought this up should be!@#$$% and then+)(*&!!

My friend take it from some one who knows.I was in ho and never get  the trains to operate like  I wanted.And having not perfect eyesight didn,t help matters.H.o. may be smaller but the days of ho being cheaper than o.That time has come and gone my friend.Ho trains are every bit just as costly as o gauge nowadays.

Had a steamer that wouldn,t operate right.That is until I hooked the tether to the locomotive.Or the time I kept having derailments at a switch.Until I descoved it was not all the way clossed.Maybe the time I thought their was some thing else wrong.With a ps3 steamer the smoke unit didn,t work.Turnsout I didn,t have enough smoke fluid in it.

That's why I always keep a 24 oz hammer handy. Sometimes it's just better to start from scratch.

Happened every day, when I was working on/upgrading my Lionel 783.  But I got everything working the way I wanted it to be in the end.

Comes with the territory.

Very weak intermittent short circuit problem.  I operate my accessories on insulated rail.  For at least ten years, never a problem.  About a year ago, newer model locomotives reversing units would drop out and return to neutral intermittently when they hit the insulated rail. Since I had been operating for years with nary an incident, problem had to be in new locos, right? Wrong. After about a year of trying to find out what was wrong with my two newer locos, decided to look elsewhere for the problem.   Have a 193 Water Tower that had blinked perfectly since Santa brought it to me in 1954.  I noticed that it was blinking erratically.  Took off the tank and noticed a very slight intermittent yellow arc at the bottom of the piece holds the nichrome wire and light.  Noticed it had been bent and was just barely touching the ground screw.  Bent it back so arcing stopped.  The water tower was wired into the same circuit that ran my insulated rail accessory.  Haven't had a problem since I found the ever so slight short circuit that wasn't  affecting older e-units and electronic reversing units but was interrupting the delicate electronics in newer locos.  Only took me a little over a year to figure it out.

Whoever says that has never happened to them is either lying or has NEVER worked on a layout.

This is the very reason God invented Scotch.......................................

david1  I was wondering how you made out with that shell David…….

Many years ago, I had a 4x12 HO Layout, and a few smaller 4x4, etc sized layouts in HO before and after the big one. Perhaps I just got lucky but I ALWAYS had great operation in HO. I still have all of my equipment although I doubt much, if any of it, would run today, considering all have been sitting in a large display case for the past 10+ years and only one or two engines has been lubricated and run more recently than 10 years. Lots of Bachmann Spectrum, Atlas, Athearn, etc engines. All great runners. If I took the time to really take them apart and clean them out and get them running reliably again, I'm sure they would still be great performers. 

My goodness, yes. Sometimes I need one special car to finish a prewar Std Gauge boxed set. Once I locate the piece I take a chance and buy it. When it arrives I notice upon close inspection that my "new" piece has three different types of screws holding it together .

God Bless,

"Pappy"

Step away from the project! Take a breather and approach it from another angle when you come back to it. When frustration sets in your just working against yourself. 

I think the theme of everyone's responses above is, "walk away and reset your head".  That seems about right.

When I'm trying to recruit people into our wonderful hobby, I never mention this aspect of it, but it certainly does exist.  What I do say is that, among the many great things about playing with trains, there are many, many different ways to approach it and many things you can concentrate on.  These include:

• Operation (including scale, timed operation)
• Scenery
• Sculpture (e.g., mountains)
• Electricity/Wiring
• Model building
• History (studying the historical archives of the prototype)
• Woodworking
• Restoration and repairs
• Hunting rare collectibles

And the list goes on.  I tell these potential recruits that, no matter what mood you're in, you can always find something fun to work on.  You just pick a different entry point that suits your current outlook.

When I get frustrated, i.e., after I scare the dogs by bellowing at top volume, I decide that perhaps that particular side of my brain isn't working that day and I switch off from whatever isn't going well to one of the other pursuits listed above.  It can even be something simple like moving from benchwork building to clearing boxes that I know are going to be in the way of the next phase.  If things are really bad, it can also include walking away from the layout, logging on to the internet, and looking at Wikipedia pages devoted to things like the history of the Rutland RR.

Oh, and as Charlie Howard noted above, there's also scotch.  

I totally agree, just walk away when something goes FUBAR. When one comes back somehow it works itself out.

The thing that drives me nuts is when I'm at my workbench and I put a tool or something down to pickup or adjust something and then I CANNOT FIND WHAT I JUST PUT DOWN.

I know it is just in front of me or within several inches, but I've totally forgotten where it is. I'll waste 5 minutes looking for it. I even find it in my hand occasionally.

OLDSHEIMER ?????

I have experienced this many times regardless of situation, model railroading, auto repairs, house projects, etc., many times it is better when frustrated to walk away from the project to clear ones mind the old saying is true," Could not see the forest because of the trees", after a while and the frustration vanishes and with a clear mind you will finish the task or project,you are not unique.

Yep,  the disappearing tool is an absolute.  Happens every time on any project.  It helps to *&%#8#@* and *&%#$@* a few times until your wife complains from upstairs.

.....

Dennis

Gee I "miss" all the ###!!&&&%%  fun you guys are having.

I'm about to join y'alls ranks soon,  cause I am just now starting on a 8 x 14 +/- Christmas Carper Central..............let the Murphys law games begin!

Dennis and Seaboard seem like my kinda problem solvers.......lol!