Arnold, I listened to "Who Am I (Rollin By). I love it!
John
An interesting perspective. . .building a layout is work. Intense work, some of which is boring. Almost like a real job. Some of the boring things are prerequisites to the fun stuff.
Cutting back is useful; you can concentrate on the things that interest you and are fun, not on the things you don't like to do. The trains are still there to enjoy when you want.
Love it Arnold. Great way to blend hobbies. I know I don't have the nerve to get up in front of a group and perform. More power to you.
If tickets for Trainstock hit Stub-hub we're all in trouble. 
Bob
Arnold - This is an interesting post. I guess my first response which was selfish was that I would miss all of the threads you invent and your participation in the forum of course that is MY self interest not yours. Perhaps in your definition, I am already semi retired. I have a small layout I use more or less just to see the trains move. I love the forum, makes me feel connected to people that share interests and I would hope you would not abandon that interaction. But whatever you choose to do, I wish you all the success in the world, it has been a pleasure "knowing" you and corresponding with you on this venue.
My own "secret activity" is that just this week, after a 3 year absence and being fully retired, my former University Dept contacted me to see if I would return part time to teach a few classes...I agreed. I miss the stimulation and the interaction with the young people. So I am off to the classroom at least part time.
Don
Arnold I love the song For those that would like to hear it
Thanks for kicking off the thread, Arnold. As it happens, it echoes some thoughts I'd been kicking around recently (more on that momentarily), but to your query: I think quite a few of us have done the functional equivalent of what you posited, from time to time. Sure, external life circumstances tend to intervene from time to time to cause us to have to separate from our hobby, in whole or part, but sometimes it happens even without external restraints or obligations, IME our interest about, participation in, and enjoyment of the hobby can vary wildly from time to time, resulting in a "strategic retreat" from active involvement, from time to time. In other words, I think you're in good company in contemplating a retreat from all-consuming involvement with toy trains -- you're just more deliberate, planful and vocal than most of us! 
My own life nicely illustrates this dynamic IMHO (and for those who've read about my hobby journey from other posts, you can skip down to "Current Issues" below! 
). As I've mentioned before, my journey with model railroading began with a beautiful 4 X 8 Marx O gauge layout my retired Pennsy signal engineer grandfather built and gifted me some 70 years ago. Though it had very limited play value or upgradability (at least by a pre-teen!), it was unpacked and run every Christmas for many years before disappearing into the mists of time. The next involvement was during my teen years, when I attempted and partially built an ambitious HO layout to fit around my bedroom desk. However, it proved to be beyond my skill set's (and budget's!) ability to pull off properly at that time, so it was abandoned in favor of amateur radio, and the remnants of that experiment joined the remnants of the Marx rolling stock in the attic.
Jump ahead a few decades, soon after my family renovated and moved into our current house. Among other changes, we created a two-story glass-lined space facing the water, which enabled us to set up a 12 to 13 foot Christmas tree each year. Coincidentally, I had about the same time discovered some boxes with the remnants of the O and HO gear from my earlier periods of involvement, so together with the fact that our two at-home kids were the "right" age, I was inspired to build a smallish (6 X 5-1/2) around-the-tree floor level train board, and fill in the gaps in missing track, power and rolling stock from my earlier gear with used equipment from the local hobby shop. After a few years, the kids aged out, and my wife didn't appreciate the noise running trains created in our two story, open-plan space, so the layout and rolling stock got mothballed.
My most recent involvement came when local grandkids of the right age came along, and I got permission from SWMBO to resurrect the earlier layout in the back of the basement, if I could clear out enough junk to make space for it! This was also during the early COVID days (2018-19 IIRC), and I had been retired for several years, so I had the time and energy to resurrect the old layout, which I propped up on sawhorses for easy access. A couple of years ago, I built a new layout (8 X 8) to maximize use of the available space, and re-retiring the around-the-tree layout, which I recently resurrected as an auxilliary but separate test layout on which to test and perfect possible modifications for the main layout.
Current Issues: All of the preceding I would characterize as external circumstance controlled -- getting into or out of model railroading was dictated or at least strongly influenced by external events and circumstances. Since rejoining the hobby about five years ago or so, my path has been pretty linear in intensity of involvement, if veering wildly from one aspect of the hobby to others as my interest was attracted to various projects. From basics like layout construction, track planning, landscaping and installing pre-built accessories, to more esoteric and elaborate projects like scratch building, repairing/rebuilding vintage accessories, creating DIY landscaping materials and combining old school electromechanical gear and more modern electronics in several conventional control projects, I spent several years happily dashing from one project from another, and running the trains when I got the time. Oh, and for the past couple of years or so, I've spent a lot of time in on-line forums, often requesting and receiving advice about ongoing projects and interests.
However, of late I seem to have been in a bit of a funk (I think that's the proper technical term!). I seem to have had less interest in actually running the trains, doing needed repairs and upgrades or engaging in new projects, and frankly I don't see a clear path forward. I have no interest in just buying stuff (I already have examples of most postwar Marx rolling stock I'm interested in -- more than one, in some cases -- and have never been a "collector" in the sense of valuing quantities or completeness of categories of rolling stock), and have come close to maxing out the available space for (and on) the layout, leaving little room for envisioning new projects.
So, while Arnold's situation I would primarily characterize as externally driven, being driven by his interest in and opportunities to more actively pursue his musical interests (and good luck to you on that, Arnold!), I'd be more interested in hearing whether others have seen an internal loss of direction and drive within the hobby from time to time, and if so, what has been their experience in dealing with it? I suppose I'm speaking to a self-selected group of "survivors", since I doubt many who've given up the hobby would still be on this forum, but I'm just curious what has worked (or *not* worked!) for you to re-engage with the hobby, and cope with a 'slump' in engagement. Oh, and thanks for wading through my (very!) lengthy query! 
Wow, what interesting and fun to read contributions you all have made to this thread!
First, I could write 20 pages responding to each and every contribution, but instead I will address the last two by Ben and Steve, and share an expression my dear, sweet, sensitive and musical late mother used that sums up my very positive current state of mind about model trains.
Ben, I'm jumping out of my skin excited about performing my model train song for Trainstock! Ben and I have exchanged our contact information in the Forum Private Messages and will be discussing this later this week. I am very open to your input, Ben, and please know my goal is to entertain your Trainstock audience to the maximum extent!
Steve, your reply is beautifully written and thought provoking IMO. Thank you for it.
Now, my Victorian mother had an old fashioned expression that she would tell me whenever I was smitten by some stunningly beautiful young woman, long before I met my wife who is, and always will be, my stunningly beautiful life partner.
My mother would tell me: Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
Do you see the connection that old fashioned expression has to my current state of mind about my O gauge trains and layout?
Let me be explicit. Just because I'm spending less time and money on my trains because of my passion for songwriting and performing my songs, that does not mean I love my trains any less; in fact, as I reflect on this, I think the opposite is true in my case.
What proves this point is how much I enjoy Switcher Saturday and STEAMday Sunday on this Forum every weekend. Did you notice that I just started STEAMday Sunday at about 1:21 AM this morning and I am now writing this post at 1:52 AM this morning!
I say our mutual passion for model trains is a form of divine madness, and I firmly believe that this passion is very emotionally healthy for us all to have. Arnold
@Bruce Brown posted:FYI...I wrote this train song in 5 seconds using Chat GPT:…..
I could hear Bob Seger singing that!
As far as ‘retiring’ from model railroading, I believe that great orator, Don Henley once sang:
"We are all just prisoners here of our own device"
and
”You can check out any time you like but you can never leave “
Arnold, one quick question. In your song "Who Am I?" You have the same lyrics as your signature "In my little world, I leave this troubled world behind". Which came first? Did your signature come from the song or did you always have that signature and inserted into the song.
Great song, thanks for sharing.
@PRRick posted:Arnold, one quick question. In your song "Who Am I?" You have the same lyrics as your signature "In my little world, I leave this troubled world behind". Which came first? Did your signature come from the song or did you always have that signature and inserted into the song.
Great song, thanks for sharing.
PRRick, the lyrics in the song came first. So glad you enjoyed the song. Arnold
As a postscript, I sometimes think about the people who have left model railroading, either semi or permanently. This forum, for example, has lost many participants over the last 5-8 years, and not only from passing away. I've lost touch with some and two others I still correspond with.
Once a model railroad is finished, and they do get finished - or we simply run out of space , the owner/operator is left asking, "Is that all that it is and does?" I won't even breach the subject of the junk aspect of our hobby. I cringe to ponder all the toy trains that have been, and will be, thrown out due to a defect of one kind or another. With yet another defective train or command system that doesn't work right, or needs an upgrade of something or other, some are likely tempted to say the heck with it.
How many more people would have a model railroad if it was more economical or easy to build. Many people love to work and build our own empires -- it is desirable pastime -- but I bet there's an equal number of people who desire a neat RR but simply cannot afford one - either from building it themselves or via custom builder. If I had the means, I would pay not only one, but several custom builders, each with their unique art and genius, to build my empire. This brings my earlier post into focus: the hobby takes great amounts of time, and time is not always on our side
It sounds more like a maturation than a semi-retirement Arnold. Your hobby has reached the point where you no longer find the need to feed it.
Errr, . . . Bruce. You wrote it? Chat GPT probably searched and plagiarized the lyrics from the net in a millisecond. :-)
If you decide to cut a record, you will probably hear from the original authors before you collect your first royalty! :-)
Mannyrock
@Mannyrock posted:Bruce. You wrote it?
ChatGPT wrote it but I gave it direction to cover certain themes: O-Gauge, camaraderie, train shows, etc. It did an incredibly good job hitting all the topics I requested. I am not a songwriter; but if I was, I would be worried on how AI would affect my profession.
ChatGPT will not provide the musical notes or chords. I suspect that capability may be intentionally suppressed for now.
@Bruce Brown posted:ChatGPT wrote it but I gave it direction to cover certain themes: O-Gauge, camaraderie, train shows, etc. It did an incredibly good job hitting all the topics I requested. I am not a songwriter; but if I was, I would be worried on how AI would affect my profession.
ChatGPT will not provide the musical notes or chords. I suspect that capability may be intentionally suppressed for now.
Usually a listener gets hooked on the music, not the lyrics, of a song, but well-crafted lyrics are still important.
I don't know if I would call it semi-retiring or just spending more time on other interests. I have a lot of other things other than O-gauge trains that I spend my time doing. I go in cycles with a lot of things. Sometimes I go for weeks or months before I get on the forum. I will post for a while, then move on to other stuff. Same with trains and my other interests.
Interesting thread, Arnold.
Me? As long as I'm enjoying trains and train friends I don't think I'll even semi retire.
Warrenville has been evolving and growing for 40 years now and I still find ways for updates, etc. While I don't buy as much as I used to, I still fnd a hunt enjoyable. Running trains still puts a smile on my face.
I also enjoy working on and sharing via my website.
I formed a local train club and am currently President. Train minded friends help keep up my enthusiasm - see: "Comraderie Through Trains" The Formation of a Local Club (warrenvillerailroad.com)
I share a common interest in music Arnold. I have been trying to find time to get back into writing and recording, but a lot like my model railroading hobby I find this elusive. I guess I need to find a way to semi-retire from my various careers first?
Hello @Arnold D. Cribari
I just listened to your songs on YouTube and they are well done.
Keep up the good work and its good to do other things aside from model railroading as one needs to expand their horizon's and view of the world around them.
Enjoy and keep writing and signing.
Wow, Arnold had another great query that had over 1300 views and generated 2 pages of posts in a little over 24 hours! I totally understand his perspective, and don’t believe he fell and hit his head, went to Canada, or has derailed his engine. 😱
As some have posted, this mimics what many of us have or are experiencing, including myself. I described this in an article I had published in the Oct/Nov issue of O Gauge Railroading magazine: Grandpa’s Funtastic Railroad (a selfish plug!) If you missed it, here’s the opening and closing sections that describe how many of us began our journey into this great hobby, and where we are now after years of designing, building and operating a “dream” layout:
“How many of us began our journey into model railroading as an adolescent with a basic Lionel or American Flyer set from our dad, typically during the Christmas holiday season? As we grew into our teens so did the layout. Life changes such as college, work, marriage, and kids, relegated the trains into storage. Maybe a simple layout for the kids or the kid in us came out each Christmas holiday season, but the rest remained dormant. Then came retirement, and those items in storage began to emerge into a dream layout.”
“With grandkids getting older, I find they are more interested in video games than operating trains. So, I still enjoy the trains, returning to my original 2026 and its consist with O-rings puffing out of the trusty engine.”
I am an operator not a collector, and have an enclosed space for the layout, so expansions and more train purchases are not in the plan. I still attend some local train fairs, but to sell not purchase items I no longer need. Well into my 70s, I try to age gracefully and maintain good health. This wonderful hobby helps that journey, but now that I’m done designing and building the layout, I spend time doing other things. I don’t have the musical talent of Arnold, although I do sing in the church choir, but keep active in my profession as a retired educator in physical therapy. So after we bring the grandkids to their homes, my wife turns on the Hallmark channel and I'm not involved in my profession, I seek the chuff, smoke, and sounds of the classic and modern rolling stock and accessories of the dream layout.
All aboard! Happy Holidays,
Michael Pagliarulo (Pags)
@Lionelski posted:Interesting thread, Arnold.
Me? As long as I'm enjoying trains and train friends I don't think I'll even semi retire.
Warrenville has been evolving and growing for 40 years now and I still find ways for updates, etc. While I don't buy as much as I used to, I still fnd a hunt enjoyable. Running trains still puts a smile on my face.
I also enjoy working on and sharing via my website.
I formed a local train club and am currently President. Train minded friends help keep up my enthusiasm - see: "Comraderie Through Trains" The Formation of a Local Club (warrenvillerailroad.com)
Having always enjoyed your impressive posts John, I knew that you are talented. However, the club you have established pushes you to another level. Truly I wish that I lived closer (mid-state PA).
Arnold is our resident philosopher and I hope he only semi-retires.
Jay
One does not retire from model railroading!!!!!
Just the mirror suggestion is unthinkable........................Traitor
I did once, from 1971-79.....it was called college and medical school......and, it wasn't much fun.....got back into the hobby late winter 1980 and haven't stopped since.......
Peter
I call this phases. There are some times where I step back and sometimes when I hit the throttle. Semi-retiring? Nope.
I wouldn't call this semi-retirement at all. As one who has multiple hobbies; RC cars, chess, Knex, family handiman, golf, etc. you have to juggle. Even within this hobby you have to balance construction, scenery, electronics, automation, post war repair, etc. My wife says many times I'm not using some piece of my many hobbies laying around the basement. I say you can't do them all at once so I work on what ever grabs me at that time. Some may sit for months or more. Not retired from any of it!
I'm looking forward to retiring TO model railroading. And singing in the church choir, have enough time to repair the house, maybe someday I will get grandkids ... Have a grandkitty so far. And go for long walks while my body will still let me, head off to the city's community center hit the inside track, maybe the work room, what ever you can do at retirement age.
I've been "semi-retired from the hobby" ever since I've been in it. How can that be 
I have always only had a Christmas layout so there's months where I do other things every year.
This probably doesn't match Arnold's intent though
walt
Arnold I thought your song was great!
At 70 years old with 67 of the years having trains, I’m not going to retire from trains at least hopefully not anytime soon but selling off alot of excess trains and keeping my favorites.
I’ll never even semi-retire from this hobby. After I take my last breath I’m taking all my trains with me!
My version of semi-retirement goes like this: a few of my trains are on display in the office and the rest are in the storage systems once sold by Doug Kearney. This keeps them safe and convenient to haul to the club. There is enough storage for about 150 car lengths of freight, 48 passenger and express cars, and 21 locomotives. This is my absolute limit. When I find and purchase something new that I want, then something has to leave. At train shows of the past, people express wonder as to why I would sell certain very nice items...my reply is, "you should see what's left at home". Last year I sold a complete Atlas CZ to make room for my growing FW&D collection. At the next show I will be offering a 17 car and very well done A.T.&S.F. #7-8 with Legacy Alco PA's. All the QA&P "what if" cars I have made over the years are leaving to make room for the GARX fleet project I am doing (since Atlas never will). By doing it this way I do not feel upset or concerned about buying yet one more item. I could spend a lot of future time going through the cars I already own to repair minor damage and applying weathering.
But that's just me.
Adios, Santa Fe rider coach. You got bumped by the Texas Zephyr.
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@Bruce Brown posted:ChatGPT wrote it but I gave it direction to cover certain themes: O-Gauge, camaraderie, train shows, etc. It did an incredibly good job hitting all the topics I requested. I am not a songwriter; but if I was, I would be worried on how AI would affect my profession.
ChatGPT will not provide the musical notes or chords. I suspect that capability may be intentionally suppressed for now.
Bruce,
ChatGPT or not, I think that the lyrics are great. They capture my feelings about model trains perfectly. I have a couple of musician friends who are also avid model railroaders and collectors. I am going to give them the lyrics and ask them to create some original music. I let you know if they can do it.
I hope that this will be OK with you. Please let me know. NH Joe
P.S. I am the least musical person that you will ever meet.
Joe,
I am only surprised it took this long for someone to come forward and volunteer to write the music!
Of course, I would welcome hearing a song based on these lyrics.
There is no infringement or copyright issues that I am aware of with this sort of material produced by Chat GPT.
@CALNNC posted:All hobbyist go through peaks and valleys. I've been a ham operator for 55 years and there were times where my log book had zero contacts for a year, I was into other things, but eventually came back, and then on to something else. Trains are the same way, you want to get something done and you work on it, test it, landscape it, and play, but then veer off into say, stationary live steam engines, or golf for those so inclined. I thought I wanted to get into RC planes, but my hobby shop owning friend said I should go online and try some of the simulators. For a month I used some very nice simulators and had great time, finding out I did not want to go that route, but ended up with an RC cigarette style speedboat that I can run in my pond with my grandson, and we have a great time with it. I have rotated between hamming, trains, motorcycles, small machine work with a Sherline setup, and model building for a long time, variety is the spice of life for me in this hobby area, but never golf.
Knew there would be another ham radio operator in this hobby. Alan K4LFP
@AlanOGauge posted:Knew there would be another ham radio operator in this hobby. Alan K4LFP
More than one, apparently! I was K3SKV back in the day but I let my license lapse back in college over 50 years ago. I considered resurrecting it upon my retirement about 15 years back, but eventually decided toy trains would be more fun!
I just finished doing that for a period of about 4 years. Stopped buying trains and stopped adding to the layout. Also dropped off the forum. I was actually pretty discouraged by it. What happened to my passion for the hobby? Fortunately it was just dormant and seems to have come back to life after I decided to do a minor modification to my track pattern. Suddenly my passion is back. Go figure. So I guess I would say keep your stuff Arnold. You never know when you might un-semi-retire.
Scott, I may be spending less money and time on my trains because of my current passion for music, but I have never enjoyed my trains more than I do now.
I have a mature layout, my trains never seem to derail anymore, I greatly enjoy running them and making videos of them, I remain very active on this Forum, I almost always post a video on the Switcher Saturday thread every Saturday, I start up the STEAMday Sunday thread every Sunday morning and post a video there every Sunday.
Trains provide me with much needed light hearted entertainment, which I will probably need for the rest of my life.
So, I ain't going anywhere. You, my dear Forum friends, are stuck with me.
LOL, Arnold
PS: Today, I found out from Ben of the NJ HiRailers, that I will be performing my song, Who Am I (Rollin' By), at Trainstock on January 13th. I'm jumpin' out of my skin excited about that!
@AlanOGauge posted:Knew there would be another ham radio operator in this hobby. Alan K4LFP
There are quite a few ham radio operators in this forum with the childhood connection going back to electrical things: transformers, wires, volts, hobbies you can do alone and not quite get electrocuted, etc.
Both the average age of ham and model train people have risen together through the years. New technical developments in each have sparked new interest in bringing people back to their respective hobbies. In model trains, it certainly has been the evolution of products using computer chips programmed to provide sophisticated remote control, realistic sounds, and fancier features in engines and cars. In amateur radio, it is the new FT8 digital communications protocol developed by a Nobel prize winner.
You are not alone!
73'
Only if Iam pronounced dead, in other words NEVER!!!!
