How do you keep interest?

I think most of us probably encounter mood swings when it comes to our layouts because, well, I just think its human nature.  When I find I'm having the layout doldrums I normally come up with some kind of project to enhance my layout by detailing different scenes, building a new structure or even just modifying the layout by realigning buildings to give the layout a new feel.  I have tubular track so a couple of years ago I spent a good deal of time hard ballasting my track bed and weathering the rails.  My layout is 8x20 so it took some time.  Several years ago I also began maintaining and repairing my locomotives and have developed into something of a handyman when it comes to locomotive repairs and this has provided me a great deal of accomplishment.  In all honesty there are other times I just take a break from the layout because life in one lane can get stale from time to time.  I have a lot of hobbies so I just move from one thing to another when something gets old and then I return later.  Don't feel bad about getting bored because most of us do but you can harness that boredom to diversify your layout and develop new areas of interest.  Good luck,

I do little keen interest projects.  Like putting in a light scene, a small diorama, or just adding ballast, trees, brush, dirt or something to do with scenery.  I recently added a bon fire scene to my GUYZ on the other side of the tracks, aka hobos, and those GUYZ seem to be alright with their new source of warmth.  I am also in the process of doing a BATMAN'66 of course diorama.  Just let your mind go when you are running your trains and you will be amazed at what you will come up with.   Let yourself go.

I'm no expert...but...I'd suggest looking for low cost ways to do a scene or two with more detail. I know guys that ballasted some of their track with screened anti-skid swept up from their neighborhood streets. One of my favorite buildings is a yard office built out of card stock and wooden coffee stirrer sticks. You are only limited by your own imagination......look at everything having a possible use on your layout. I saw a billboard made out of  cereal box artwork.....it was so creative!  Just my .02 cents worth.

Count me as one who is quite sporadic in working on my layout or operating it. I have not purchased anything in quite awhile now. Don't feel guilty about it at all. When the mood hits I entertain it if it's not there I engage in other things. Don't try to buy your way out of being bored would be my advice.

I encountered a very long mood swing a few years back. Trains for the most part had been my one and only hobby. I did other things such as golf, fishing and camping. When I was younger with family the hobby does take a back seat. But jumping forward there were a couple of years where I did not even run a train unless it was my turn to host my club. But almost two years ago the bug hit me hard again. Not so much in buying more trains but redoing areas on my layout. I redid scenery and tore out the freight yard and did a new one better. At the time I got into it again I made a plan that said through the year if I could not work in the yard, mainly spring to late fall, that on the bad weather days I would do something on the layout including running trains. I think I ran into a slump because what I had originally planned as a layout did not come to be being in an attic with a restricted amount of area. Once I realized that that is when my interest peaked again, frustration gone. Now to get what I want I have starting collecting lumber to start a switching layout in the basement. My goals will be simple so frustration does not rear its ugly head. This is one hobby that has stayed with me all these years and I enjoy. You don't have to be a millionaire and you don't have to buy expensive engines. The hobby is large enough to get something without paying an arm and leg for it and enjoy. Step back, take a few deep breaths and decide whether you want to just have fun or look for something else to take its place. In all aspects it is a great hobby.....................Paul 

I go through periods of boredom with the trains; I suppose we all do from time to time.   That's when I switch over to one of my other hobbies for a while.  Having more than one keeps me from losing interest in any of them.

I've never been one to spend a whole lot of time just running the trains. For me, the fun parts of the hobby are:
planning and building of the layout
 learning about toy trains and how they were made
hunting down items I find interesting and would like to own
fixing up trains that need help
visiting with people who share the same interests

Warm weather will almost always trump trains (at least in my world).

Yes, you will have periods of disinterest. No matter what. It's usually just temporary or seasonal though.

Don't get into the bad habit of having to buy something in order to keep your interest. It's an expensive path.

If you kept the current layout overly simply, then it might be a good excuse to plan a new, more complex one, and take your time executing it. This would make sense if your enjoyment is in building the layout and not really running it.

And if the current one is truly that simple then you shouldn't have much wasted material that can't be reused.

Study some books on layout benchwork construction, scenery, weathering, etc. Any of these are avenues in which you could spend a lifetime and still not achieve master level knowledge.

Maybe you don't have enough space and budget to build the type of O-gauge layout that you think you need to be interesting. For myself, I wouldn't have got involved with O-gauge if I had had to buy expensive new items. I got into it (six years ago) with a chance bargain purchase of some old postwar Lionel items. My interest is sustained not by buying expensive new items but in repairing old trains and seeing them run again. I didn't think I had space for a decent O-gauge layout but by thinking outside the box, I did find space for some considerable mileage.

The hobby magazines tend to emphasize big fancy expensive layouts with perfect finished scenery and detailing. Most of us don't have five-figure budgets for that. Your layout might seem unsubstantial when fancier layouts are getting all the praise and attention.

I have been an HO model railroader practically all my life and I reached a point where I wasn't doing much with it. When I started getting involved with older O-gauge trains it was a totally different facet of the hobby which gave me new interest.

Some guys enjoy doing scenery and detailing. I prefer to repair old trains, and to have a variety of different trains to run, and to figure new ways to rearrange my track and layouts for variety of operation. I now have a good stockpile of cheap "fixer" items to tinker with at my leisure.

If your space is tight, maybe you should consider converting to a smaller scale. I have also worked with N-scale in the past and have a small HOn30 layout for fun.

I've been able to acquire a variety of inexpensive "project items" from occasional train shows. Over the last six years I've spent less on all my O-gauge stuff that what many guys will spend on one new articulated locomotive.

It's typical for many hobbyists to put their model railroading on hold during the summer when they have other things going on. So maybe you can just put it aside until next winter if you feel burned out.

Show us a photo of your layout - we promise to be kind.  

C W Burfle posted:

I've never been one to spend a whole lot of time just running the trains. For me, the fun parts of the hobby are:
planning and building of the layout
 learning about toy trains and how they were made
hunting down items I find interesting and would like to own
fixing up trains that need help
visiting with people who share the same interests

 

C.W. mentioned some good points. For me, I like the history of the actual railroads, too. Maybe you have a local rail trail that you might find like to learn about. 

Also, you might like to go to a train show oncemor twice a year. I know in my area, there are some great bargains out there in vintage prewar and postwar. 

Tom 

This is a problem, with O  gauge trains and one of the reasons I think the hobby is in trouble. Small layouts get old fast, watching a train go around and around it doesn't take long for someone to get bored. I have a fairly good size layout and I don't think that I have run my trains in over three months. I am still buying trains but for some reason all I do is open the box and look at it and then, back in the box it goes. I love trains but for some reason I too am bored with running them.

I have a somewhat unique way of keeping my interest.  I am not a model railroader.  I am an operator of toy trains.  I make my layout on the floor, and if I get bored with I either add to it or take it apart and make a new layout.  The last big layout I made occupied two bedrooms and had 50 022 switches.  40 of the switches were connected in pairs so that when the non-derailing feature of one switch was operated by the train, the other switch also operated.  This made the route of the train very complex.  It took 22 minutes for the train to make one circuit of the layout.  At one point, I made a control panel so that I could reconfigure the layout to run 2 or 3 trains at once.  It was during this time I wrote thread "022/711 switch operating pblms" which is a very complete thread on restoring 022 & 711 switches to perfect operation.  When I was a kid back in the '50s, this is the kind of layout I liked.  I only had 8 switches back then, but I could make some interesting layouts.  

In recent years I have bought some 072 track and switches and also some AF 040 switches and track.  I like the 040 track as it is wider radius than 031 but takes a lot less space than 072.  I have modified the AF switches to be non-derailing and to have a constant voltage plug.  Some of the 072 track was rather rusty, and I had to clean out both ends of the rails and sometimes put in new pins.  I used a constant current power supply to make a precision ohm meter to check the connections between track sections after everything was cleaned.  A meter like this uses a Kelvin connection.  My setup has a resolution of 50 micro ohms.

I splay two of the pins on each track section so that the connections between adjacent track sections remains tight and I don't have to crimp the open ends of the rails every time I put a layout together.  This also eliminates the need to connect a feed to the track every few feet.  A large layout can be done with only one feed.  The track sections also go together easier than they would if I crimped the open ends of the rails and the connection is better because there is good pressure on the pins against the inside of the rails.

I have a unique way of cleaning rust from track.  I run the trains and the loco polishes a very narrow strip on the top of the rails.  No need to clean the rust off of the sides of the rails.  Isn't running the trains what this is all about?

I've always had a lot of hobbies and interests...trains being only one. I was never much into running trains...my main joy was planning and building my layouts (all 5) and modules. Since the largest layout is in my bedroom, I get to see it at least twice a day. I still love going to train shows, but mainly just to look.  BTW, I've been retired for 20 years, so work is no longer interrupting my day.

Right now I'm into target shooting pistols, air guns, and archery at my gun club, intent on improving my scores.  I read 2-3 books a week, mainly historical fiction. My wife and I travel...back and forth to our beach house, and soon for 15 days of touring on the Baltic Sea.

I am always building or bashing something together, in effect modeling trains or something to do with them. Also my 'layout' is my window display and I am always swapping out trains and scenery to give the kids something new to look at every once in a while and because I make no attempt at 'model railroading' there  are no limiting factors involved.

When your trying to build something with love to pass on to your kids and your grandkids, it's really easy! It just happens to be a bonus when its something you really enjoy!

I have a lot of hobbies, also, besides trains, but I never lose interest, year around, because many of them tie into my railroad model.  I photograph railroad related structures, and then may build their models, visit and ride surviving steam, am interested in vintage cars and hunt down their models for my railroad's period.  I have climbed to the covered turntable and Red Mountain Town sites, driven over other abandoned Rocky Mountain roadbeds, sought out remote ghost towns for buildings to model or which once were railroad served,  and ridden trains in GB, Europe, and S. America.    And since so much is not available in three rail, I have an infinite list of rolling stock to kitbash.   I don't have time to get bored.

If one has to find ways to "keep" interest, perhaps there isn't really any (or sufficient) interest there, and it's time to move along to a new hobby. One's subconscious may be trying to tell you something.

So many model RRers exist in a hobby vacuum - they are the only ones doing this among the people that they know. It just gets lonely, and dull. Forums and the like do help, but not like actual contact.

It's OK to move along; RRing does not have to be a "passion". It may run its course.

I never lose interest. Motivation and energy lag sometimes.

My solution to boredom is building models. The que is infinitely long; if one project lags there are others to pick up the slack.

I'm also fortunate to belong to a club (AGHR) that lets me run different, moderately long consists, reflecting as best I can the consists I see in my videos of the real thing, as the mood strikes. But this is, for most O Scalers, a rare thing. If it weren't for the club I'd be in On30 or have remained in HO.

By not worrying about it.

Pete

It is definitely 'normal' to feel a waxing and waning of interest, especially if you live in a place where the weather changes.  Let everything be (if you have the space to leave it) and go outside!  For me, as soon as I can get back on the water, I'll go sailing rather than putter around the basement.

If the most fun for you is in the building and planning (like for me), maybe this fall or winter, feel free to tear things up and start anew.
I have remade my layout at least five times in 16 years - sometimes changing everything (theme, track etc) and sometimes just a scene or two. (I don't screw down my track for just this reason) Sometimes, my interest changes and I enjoy trying to 'run' or operate the layout. Or just watch videos and read the mags for 'inspiration.' 

Fortunately, I enjoy watching my trains go round and round my 39" x 80" layout. The inner loop can be converted from oval to figure 8 and back just by flipping switches, so that gives a little variety. Also makes a fun game of controlling the 4 switches in the right sequence while the train is moving!  Vintage tin also makes it more interesting to me for some reason where more scale/real looking trains do kinda get tiresome running in circles.

I admit, there can be a week or 2 may go by that no wheel turns on the layout, but that is usually due to real life cutting in. I have been a train nut pretty much all my life, both real and toy/model trains. No matter what other hobbies I may get into (and out of), I always have place for trains.

i feel what everyone has posted here i lost my first and largest collection in a divorce and it took about 5 years before i got back into the hobby i was just a collector and had no time for a layout i tried other things to keep me busy but when my best friend gave me a train and told me to go have fun it started again so i made a decision to build a layout and like everyone you hit a wall you think what else could i do it gets old just you and a train that goes around and around then i started going to clubs and to york and i met people who enjoy the hobby like me and they come over from time to time and then thats when the fun is its not just the trains that keep your intrest its the people along the way i spend just about every day i am off and the wife is at work on my layout changeing things so i can tell you i felt the same way i just stopped for a wile but i found out how fun it is to try new ideas out i leared alot just from the people i meet its the creativity for me that keeps me going i havent bought a new loco in about 3 years and i am still having fun

I'm in that slump right now...haven't touched the layout in months and months.....  I just don't seem to have the give a hoot right now.

fl9turbo2 posted:

 

Holy run-on sentence, Batman...

Punctuation and grammar makes things MUCH easier to read.

I am going through this now and part of the problem, I think, is my 10 year old son is losing interest.  I have a 5x12 with 2 loops on bottom with switching capability and one elevated loop.  I run mostly Legacy engines and have a number of accessories.  In the last 6 months I think we ran trains 5 times and I have not done a single thing in terms of scenery.    

For me, I have always wanted a layout I wouldn't grow bored with. I tried (and failed horribly) in HO as a young teen.

My in-progress On30 layout is really the first real attempt in layout-building I've ever done.

For me, the only issue I had was to keep motivation to keep going through the build when it still didn't look like anything. I am not one of those people who enjoys building things, not all that much, anyway. I like tweaking with stuff that's already there. that said, I like to do my own work. Building my layout from a pile of lumber, track, and rolling stock boxes was TOUGH to start with. For every thing I did, I needed to do 10 other things. Now that I'm down to some very minor track maintenance and completing my scenery, I'm enjoying more than ever.

But at first? Man, it was tough to maintain enthusiasm.

Still, I have several other hobbies that pull me in different directions:

• Artwork (Model Railroader is still waiting for some model RR themed examples of my cartooning that I promised their editor)
• Military living history (haven't fired up my WW2 Jeep in way longer than I should have, and I have some Desert Storm displays to get ready for, in this 25th anniversary year)
• And I plan on making it out to Huntsville to do the astronaut thing this Fall, and maybe even getting over to Houston again

So model trains is a big thing for me, but not everything I am...

coltm16a2556 posted:

I'm at a point in my layout where I seem to have hit a wall. I'll be the first to admit that I made my layout too simple. I don't have many switching or yard abilities. I kept it somewhat simple and cheap in case I lost interest. I will also say that I don't own any really cool engines or rolling stock. Just conventional, and one lion chief.

It sounds like you've set this trap for yourself, and stepped in it. It isn't about the space you have or the money you spend, there are plenty of things you can do that don't require either.

• How about some rail fanning? Go look at real trains for a while.
• By your own admission, you built an uninspired layout. Go through the process of designing a proper one. There's plenty of material out there to research.
• Join a club! Meet people in your area, get ideas.
• Most people starting out don't get into realistic operation. Those that finally discover it, get hooked for life.

This hobby is what YOU make of it. The possibilities are endless! Most of all have fun.

Never be afraid to start over. I have started over on the same railroad project twice in the last five years and I think I've finally found my niche. I also like to turn a profit on items bought at shows to keep some life in me. I'll buy an engine or two at a show, tear it down, rebulid it and set it out on the bay for other hobbyists to have a crack at. This is actually what got me into postwar in the first place. I started with one postwar lot, turned it over, and built a decent sized collection on the principle of "flipping" trains and using the profits to buy more projects, or items for me to keep. I've somehow managed to fund my participation in the hobby by allowing it to pay for myself. It has also made me very familiar with almost every kind of postwar motor, device, gadget or doohickey by servicing everything that i get my hands on. There's so much to be gained, learned, and enjoyed from flipping vintage trains!

Well I definitely am a person who falls into the category of trying to buy my way out of boredom. Don't worry I do this with all my hobbies. Even while building my layout, my wife and I discussed many times how I would do all this, and then move on to something else. I do have a few new ideas, and some things I wish I would have done different to the layout. There's also a couple switches that I "need". I could definitely tear down a few things and redo some things. There's a couple of train cars I've been wanting. I guess what I'm thinking though, is even if I did all of this, a few weeks later, I would still find myself bored with it. I have 3 kids, but they are still pretty young. I am still glad to have a layout, and maybe one day they will be more interested. I am trying to be that dad who is interested in the things they are into. I am hoping to visit the train-o-rama in Marblehead, OH and perhaps this will spark some new interest. I think for now I am going to hold off on buying anything new for the layout and just see what happens with my interest. I do sort of think that maybe this will be more of a winter hobby for me. Thanks to everyone for their input. I am sure I'll be around the forum from time to time. I must say that this forum is the best I've ever seen as far as people who are willing to give advice and help out one another. I can ask a question on here and have an answer minutes later. There's also some extremely talented people on here.  

Unless the hobbyist is into locomotive and car builds and repairs, the standard tail-chasing loop can be an interest-killer. The simplest layout I had was a small end-to-end with a manual fiddle yard, British-style. Two switches, one right, one left. Just a runaround loop, that's all. One end was a pier with a warehouse, and there were three car-spotting areas on the runaround, with a station building on the main track. Lots of possibilities and puzzle-solving interest when the cars are parked everywhere. It works with anything, including O 3-rail, and can be added to a simple loop along a wall. It doesn't have to be big.

Lots of ideas here: http://www.carendt.com/

I have a nice layout, 6 loops and a Trolley line. Right now 6 loops (need a new Trolley) are running. 3 conventional, 2 VL (Hudson & Bigboy) and 1 legacy. There are several buildings ($'s_) over the layout, what is missing? The stuff that makes a layout unique, something that money cannot buy, something you (me) thought of and put it on the layout. That is my new challenge; put something on my layout that “YOU" can't buy. Please urge me on!

The three  Legacy engines are great to run, two of mine  have been sent back to Lionel (out of the box) for repair only one conventional engine (out of 6) was sent out for repair, this one was bought as new but seems like I broke it.

Next challenge _LANDSCAPING

 Brent

I base my model railroad on real railroad scenes that I have seen in person years ago or have seen in videos or photos.

Re-create or Re-make the sights and sounds of specific operations.

Study the way signals are set up.

Study the way switches are set up for junctions, spurs, and sidings.

Study the industries that the railroad company interacted with daily or weekly.

Andrew

In my experience I have gone thru some bouts of boredom, one of which was fairly long.   My reason though was not really boredom, but feeling overwhelmed at all the projects I wanted to do on the layout.  But I was  given a piece of advice years ago that I think has helped me.  The advice was that in essence, the layout is simply a series of individual scenes and /or some other projects fairly small but that increase visual appeal to the overall layout. So I work on the layout one project at a time and try not to jump to another project until I finish the current one.  The other drag for me was my total lack of creativity.  I can build it if I can think of it, but trouble is Ihave no imagination.   But after seeing so many posts on the forum, I got the nerve to start building things.  That has been a huge shot in the arm.  

As one other poster recommended, there is an awful lot you can do to change things up with very little cost.  I cannot even remember how  many times I have moved track around for a different look or operation.   

I do hope you can find the right mix for yourself.   I have found the layout work to be an amazing stress reliever and it will always get me my smile back.

Ed

I basically agree with Ed.  I don't or can't have time do anything as nice as I have seen on this forum.  I try to make a bargain with myself to do something, anything, to improve the layout.  Small victories versus feeling that I couldn't complete some large project.  It keeps my interest and allows me to not feel disappointed that my layout isn't perfect and to see progress.  I know that it is not for everyone but when a day isn't going right one small success on a layout allows me to focus and not sweat the details. Cheap therapy is seeing that things on a layout can be improved and repaired no matter what type of a train wreck your day has been.

Try garden railroading in the warm weather.  Then you can flip flop.    For me, the interest is in operating accessories.  While I like to run high speed passenger trains, I also like to have something to do that will challenge my mind.  

It's Spring.  Well almost Spring.  I've been a seasonal guy.  After York it's time to start in the yard and garden and watch the G'kids play ball.

I think you've answered your own questions.    My own formula for being into the trains has changed with my age.  It helps having a layout in the house with Legacy and I usually buy a couple new locos and rolling stock each year.   

My father started a 16 feet square,  Super O layout in the early 60's.  He worked hard for about three months and got it running.  Not totally complete, but two outside long mainlines.

He also has a nice display case that's still full of PW & MPC trains.  He rarely ran anything but enjoyed York & buying more trains.  

He had a stroke and heart attack in June of 1996.    He had a hard time getting around after that.  Before Christmas that year I asked him if he'd like me to put any particular consist together.  He said he would like that and I helped him down the cellar steps and we ran an Amtrak passenger set.  It tired him out and he never felt up to doing it again.   He passed the following September.

My mother still lives there.  I see her regularly and visit the trains.  The layout's over fifty years old and I haven't run anything since that last time with my dad.   

My point is... my dad loved trains his whole life and found different things at different times.  He used to write letters to other TCA  members he met.  He would have loved forums.  He inspired me to stay interested as I always felt I had to finish my layout. (Haven't yet)  You just need a bit of inspiration.

His 89th birthday would have been last Sunday.  

Good luck,

John

I have one hobby and that is my trains. My interest has never waned in 40 years. I can always find something to do. 

I try to run my trains every day if only for a short while. I am also involved with my trains all year long. I hate the hot weather and I really don't like to travel so anything associated with trains is for me if it is close. 

 From your statements, it almost sounds like you pre-planned this result.

I was heavily into model airplanes for 25+ years. Did every part of it except turbine jets (but had ducted fan jets.) As that wound down (you can only fly so many Extra 300's and P51 Mustangs) I sold them all except my Sig 1/4 scale L4 Cub. Still have it as a memento, but not flying anymore. Always been a car guy, and I've got a fun one to drive out in the garage. I've owned 52 vehicles in my life, and I'm 52 years old. Had two sailboats (and other boats) in years past. Did the hunting/fishing thing. Did the electronics repair/design thing. Did the motorcycle thing, dirt, street, sport. Etc. etc.

Got interested in model trains, O scale in particular about 4-5 years ago when I dug up a pre-war passenger set out of a trash bin (yeah really). Got me rolling from my childhood dream, built up a first 8x12 layout, got it mostly done, and am now moving to a new home where I'll have 15x18 to put a new one together. Can't wait. using the lessons learned to improve on the old one. I used to run my trains most every day, even if for 5 minutes, as it's a great stress reliever. I miss that right now with it all torn down.

Point is (does there always have to be a point?) things, time and people change, and this is normal and healthy. Interests come and go. If you're bored with what you've done, tear it all down and start over. It's just a little time and effort. Go read books about the history, travel to interesting sites, hang out with non-boring people with the same or even other interests. Pull all that track up and start over. Don't buy an $800 locomotive, go to the library and find some old books on steam locomotives and read. Try and remember why you did this in the first place. If you're done, you're done. At least you did it. Mark it down as "been there, done that" and reach out for more.

If you want a different result, then plan for that, and go execute it. 'Nuff said.

.

As with most hobbies, or things in life, even, interest will wax and wane from time to time.  Sometimes you just won't be interested in trains.  That said there are some things you can do to help keep you interested and enjoying your model railroad.  

First, you should determine what parts of the hobby you most enjoy.  For some folks it is running the trains and watching them go in circles.  For others having switching options is important to enjoying running them.  For a lot of folks, however, the enjoyment comes more from the building, designing, or tinkering, than from having everything running perfectly.  It sounds to me like you've got things working and putting it together was the fun part for you.  

Once you know what you like to do, set yourself up to do that thing.  Design a new layout, start construction on a more complex layout, or expand on what you already have.  Add a yard where you can build trains, and see if you like that.  Use all remote controls, and don't cheat with your hands when running the trains. 

There are many different ways people enjoy spending their tim in the hobby, it is important to find what you like to do most, and figure out how to set yourself up to have plenty of that thing to do.  It is very common for folks to spend years or even decades building even modest sized layouts, getting every detail exactly to their liking, and having little interest in actually running trains on the layout.  

JGL