Hobby Excitement - Do You still feel it?

I've had Lionel trains my whole life (63 yrs.) and still stop in my tracks (so to speak) when I see them anywhere, as does most everyone here. For me, it is my drug / drink / solace that I turn to for relaxation. Even walking past them is calming. Running them is the best of all.

joe, it's a great thing to have such a passion.  And artyoung explained it well.

Great to see some others passionate about the hobby.

 

I have 3 packages to be delivered this week-can't wait to get them.  Trains are a lot of fun whether you collect or operate.

Absolutely! Had a blast running a York meet tinplate acquisition just last night. It got exponentially better when our three year got down on the floor to enjoy it with me!

 

Hoping I never grow up if growing up means loosing my excitement for toy trains...

I am glad I am not the only one that feels this way.

 

ART - You really hit the nail on the head.

 

What I cant figure is how I stayed away so long? I guess it was raising a family and affordability? I did not get back into it until 1999 which was a long haul from 1963 when I was 8 years old. The best things are my wife loves them too, and I have been some great people in this hobby.

JoeG

 

Yep!

 

George

I have always had a passion for toy trains.  Two years ago my then 2 year old grandson got me down on the floor for the first time in over 40 years to really see the trains again.  After that I quit putting off the layout I always wanted and we have been running trains together daily ever since.  I have been buying stuff like there is no tomorrow and just having a blast. 

 

Toy Trains Forever!!!

 

Rolland

I used to get maxi-passionate when I was on the hunt, on weekends at train-shows, for new engines and rolling-stock.

 

Nowadays, I get fired-up when my wife and I are about to share the layout with guests in our home, year-round. So, the hobby started out as an adventure and has changed to sharing it with others.

FrankM.

We wouldn't be on this forum if we didn't feel like JoeG does.  Those who can't understand the feeling can't be made to understand it.  Luckily, my wife gets it, although she sometimes shakes her head and smiles.  On some days, just starting up the layout and running trains gives me that feeling.  Before I retired, I would sometimes go down the the train room and simply watch them run before heading off to work.  Nowadays, it happens every time I go there, especially when my (soon to be 4 years old) grandson comes over.  This shot was taken when he was almost 2 years old.  Notice his hand on the throttle!  After greeting Nana and Grandpa, his first words are "Want to play trains?".  It may not last for him as long as it has for me, but for now, it's priceless.

 

By the way, the long sideburns aren't my usual hair style.  I work Holidays at Greenfield Village at the Henry Ford.  It's part of my persona there.   Notice the date in the photo... and the tree

 

 

 

Never get tired of it. Sometimes you do have to put it aside for a while but the best part is rediscovering and rebuilding our empires. Sharing this hobby with others also a passion.

Basically I agree with Art. While it can be said that I have been an O gauge model train owner all of my life; during the period between ages 13 and 28 the hobby was on the back burner. I still had a 5 x 9 one loop layout in the basement until one day a friend mentioned that there were train shows here in NJ where you could find just about anything. Then the hobby took off like a rocket.

Today I have a fairly large layout 28' x 15' and it serves its purpose as a hobby that offers hours of relaxation, comfort and something to do while at home, especially on those cold winter days where the outdoor activities have declined. While I may not experience the excitement of years past, model trains still represent a constructive interesting, fun hobby that can be shared and enjoyed with others.

Not so much with trains anymore, but I've always had a number of hobbies. Recent ones are archery, vintage sand pails, and re-creating late 1800s Christmas ornaments. Travel is ongoing, and we will be doing the Baltic Sea in May.

Absolutely I do!

 

And it matters not one whit to me if they are scale or tinplate.

 

When I am waiting for a major purchase to arrive, I find it as difficult to be patient as I did for Christmas back when I was a boy.  But I get excited when I see anybody's trains--it's not just possession but rather exposure.

The excitement builds the day before a trip to a train show, the day before I decorate our house for Christmas and thus set up the layout. It has been this way since I was a young boy and the sight of trains, any trains will stop me in my tracks.  Trains are an obsession for me and always will be.  I will be tired and burnt out after a long show(from autism related sensory overload), but the next day I am ready to go again.  Its exciting to see so many young folks interested in trains at shows, whether thier parents will spend the $$ for a set is a huge question mark, but the excitement is there.  No other hobby has given me so much excitement over the years.  Mike

I use to feel the excitement some of you expressed with new train purchases, but no so much anymore. My passion and re-kindled boyhood excitement has evolved towards the creational aspects of the hobby - which is based around constructing my ideal world in miniature - of which the trains are no small part (as is the operating "Streets" by K-line/Lionel/Bachmann). In hindsight, I am achieving as an adult what I could only dream about as a child.

 

I am also obtaining pleasure from un-boxing my older trains and getting them to work again, which has been no small feat, but is nonetheless rewarding.

 

 

Absolutely, I will admit when I lived at my previous residence and was doing the lone wolf thing it would come and go.  Also back then if I was super motivated to work on the layout finances might have curtailed the excitement.  Jump ahead to today...I have more room, more train friends, more opportunities to learn, and more finances.  This all adds up to more excitement about the hobby. 

Yes.  I usually feel the excitement when I have down time, hunting, and fishing.  When there is minutes of boredom, I usually start thinking of the layout improvements or new products out there.  Gets you to want to go and look at it, and start the old mind pondering again.

Absolutely.....now even more as a social hobby.

 

Generally, docs live very "lonely" lives outside of their immediate family. Once their kids are grown and they are nearing retirement, many(not all) find that besides their work, they have little to interest them.....I certainly am not in that category. I got back into trains when I was an internal medicine resident (after the usual school hiatus) and now, with the advent of the internet and with joining a modular group, it's a social hobby.

When people remark about all the time I will have running trains in my retirement, I smile and say....."but, I will also be working for a nonprofit"....(the modular group! )

 

Peter

Yes, yes I do.

Will remain an inflammed train nut until I am removed from my home by paramedics drooling on myself, mumbling "Burlington O5 Northerns were the best........".  The paramedics will wonder what this loony old geezer is babbling about. Fortunately, still several decades away.

Always wanted a train set. Took a few decades but now there so many train items in the garage, that I have to take a few minutes just to plan what comes next.

 

Right now, it is correcting a short in one of the loops.

 

Brent

I definitely have the bug.  However; I have only had my layout since last winter.  Prior to the layout it was all under the Christmas tree.  I showed a co-worker a picture of my layout on Friday.  After she picked on me (I pick on her as well) about being a grown man liking trains.....she said that she was just jealous that I have a passion for something.  Then told me that it was awesome that me and the kids were building a layout.

The last time I actually got excited about receiving a train item was when my 646 Hudson arrived, I put it on the track and it ran perfectly!

 

Pete

Still excited about the hobby. Always look forward to going down to the train club to run, socialize, or work on the layout.

Not really. Too many mean, nasty, self centered, nasty people that seem to want to be the center of attention and out do one another for me to tolerate at times. Too many items that arrive defective for me to get excited about anything that is new. I do feel better once I get them fixed and running right.

 

One thing that does excite is getting an old tinplate item or an old TMCC item and making minor repairs and then they run like a champ. That does work for me.....especially some re-motored Dorfan trains.

I must admit I'm fighting it a little right now. I lost my wife to cancer in September, and right now everything in life feels like I'm experiencing it underwater, and the water seems very cloudy. I am looking forward to attending the Thanksgiving weekend train show in Collinsville, Il. Hopefully it will reignite something...

 

Jeff C

Jeff, I am sorry for your loss. When my Dad left this world very suddenly 2 yrs ago work and other family kept me going. Trains however helped me out as well. Being part of a modular club got me out around other people that I could talk with.

 

 

sorry for your loss Jeff. I lost my Uncle Jim suddenly in May. We were only 7 years apart, so he was more of an older brother to me. Dad had Lionel's (mine now), and I remember watching them under the tree. But he didn't set them up every year. Jim did. One Christmas highlight for me was going to my Grandparent's to see Jim's' platform. It was his Lionel 2020 that got me hooked on the PRR and trains in general. Now his trains are to be mine. A few weeks ago I picked up his Marx CV, and I hadn't seen it run for years. A little tinkering and it just about flies around my layout.Then while talking to my Dad, I found out it was originally his. And I feel like Christmas morning when I find a box full of beat up junkers, and I bring them back to life.

Jeff C, my prayers are with you. Although my wife is living, she was in a devastating accident at her work and it was a Life Changing Event....I have not lost the Love of Friends and Toy Trains, however I understand Completely Your Feelings. I have lost 2 really close Model Railroad Friends this Year.... It does work on our passion for the hobby.

Thank you for addressing this post....Its a great Thread...

Sorry for your loss Jeff, I lost my wife 1-1/2 years ago and I don't see me ever getting over it.  I'm actually spending more time on my hobby now, helps fill the void.

 

I've been running battery-powered R/C since May and it's been a lot of fun.  Yesterday I installed a "MyLocoSound" sound board in one of my MTH 2-8-0, just to see what it would do.  The chuff sounds fine and that's what I wanted.  I've been running an endurance test this afternoon, pulling a 6-car train plus caboose and so far it's been running for 1-1/2 hours at 60% throttle with a steady chuff around the layout.  The 60% throttle on this engine measures out to be 30mph.  The bell sounds fine too, but the whistle I need to work on.

 

Not sure if I'll leave it in or if I'll equip any others, kinda like the quiet no sound the best.

I still absoluetly love it, but with that said, it's luster is a little more diminished for me this year. My son hit 17 about 6 months ago & although he still likes trains, he's a working man now & he also got his driver's license, so he's a busy little guy these days & doesn't have as much time for me or for hobbies. This is my 3rd year without my dad so this is the 1st time in my life that I'm going to train shows & hobby shops by myself this season & it's not as much fun. I can say for sure I'm dreading the time in the future after he moves out. I'll be lost without him & I'm not looking forward to that. I'll still enjoy it but my friends in the hobby live on the other side of town, almost an hour away so hanging out with them here or there happens about 3 or 4 times a year & I'm not into socializing with groups or clubs so at that point, I'll be mostly on my own by then. 

I lost my wife to cancer almost 14 yrs ago and you never, ever truly get over it. THe void is still there but my train hobby sure helps.

Nope.  I'm not sure what happened, just life I guess, but I've got almost zero interest in this stuff lately.  The O gauge trains that interested me (70's-90's Lionel) are considered worthless junk by most, and the new stuff has no character IMO.  I've gotten back into HO but I'm not all that enthusiastic about it either; I'm thinking maybe the train hobby may have run its course for me.

I'm on Notch 8 all the time for trains, real and models.  It has helped me through life's challenges and personal losses.

 

For all those who have had those personal losses mentioned here, I offer my sincere condolences and prayers for you and your families.

 

Maybe that's what I'm missing

When I was in my first few years of living clean and sober, my ex-wife and I began a friendship again, culminating with her taking in four foster kids. I gladly helped out and within a year or so, we had morphed into a family. The youngest boy had a passion for trains, so I was encouraged to rekindle my love of Lionel trains and include him-no problem! Over the last few years, I've outstripped every train dream I've ever had and he's enjoyed most of it with me - one of my older kids cannot raise her youngest, so my four-year old granddaughter is also enamored with my Lionels and loves operating signals, dumping stuff, shoving ice down the #352 Icing Platform, operating the #356 Freight Station, etc. You can bet a few weeks from now, there will be postwar heaven under my tree, and two of my kids will be right in there, enjoying it with me, blasting horns, carefully filling smoke units, etc. Lionel Trains are also about love...

 

 

 

Yep, as long as I don't spend much time on forums where they poo-poo the stuff I like!  Kind of a bummer to get on an O-27 forum and read about how O-27 is junk. LOL

 

Looking forward to the next local train show and hoping I can go.

I'm a good person to answer this from the perspective that I haven't been here for a long time;  I tend to come and go seasonally for the most part.   The hobby still keeps me interested but it is definitely seasonal - when the weather turns warm I'm outside chasing kids around and pursuing other hobbies.  As soon as there's a nip in the air, I start thinking about the Christmas layout, which gets more elaborate every year.   I have it to the point now where it could be permanent if I had more permanent space.   Lots of lighted buildings, various power drops, etc.  Definitely far removed from a circle of track around the tree    I'll put it up in mid-November and I'll leave it up through February most years - sometimes into March.  During that time I'm "into it" but I have tailed off my buying.  This year I really only want to add one more modern engine (ES44AC) and possibly an SD-45T if I can find one.

 

So yeah, there's still excitement - just not that "have to buy everything in the catalog" frenzy I felt when I first started doing it.   

The short answer is YES!!!! 

 

For me, this time of year brings back a number of memories related to trains.  My father would get the train set out, the arrival of the Sears Christmas Catalog (always well worn by December 25th), and trips to Steubenville to see layouts in Sears and other stores.

 

Over the years, the train bug has waxed and waned.  But just to show you how strong it really is, it was reawakened in 1995 just by seeing a cover of OGR with "The General" on it.  It's been non-stop ever since.  And the arrival of the children and now the 1st grandchild have just made it stronger.

 

George