2. It's getting warmer and all I can think about is going to York in October.
I haven't lived anywhere near PA since the late 90s. I just looked it up and I live just beyond 2800 miles from York. I don't know how many west coast guys go to York, but there can't be many as I've never met one guy here who has gone (and yes, I'm talking about people I know into 3-rail).
3. Most of your friends are model train collectors.
Not collectors as such, but many of my friends are into 1:1 scale trains. Train fans might not be modelers, (or vice versa, as I know a few model train guys who aren't 1:1 scale train fans at all) but if they're cool, they can respect one another. I've had train fans who've asked to run on my layout even though they're not model railroaders themselves. Of course, I always say yes to that type.
4. Spend a lot of time thinking about how much wood your going to need to expand your layout
My layout takes up most of the useable space in the room, and going through a wall isn't possible (as the adjoining room is a bathroom, not to mention my wife would kill me). I have exactly as much layout as I really want, but who wouldn't want a layout that's just a little bit larger, right?
5. Making a list of all the things your going to look for at train shows.
Y'know, I think that's just good common sense. Focus on what you really are looking for, or you'll spend a lot of money on stuff you'll later find you didn't need and can't/won't use. I've found that the discipline of being focused on specific things saves you a lot of money in the long run, hobby-wise.
6. Wearing a engineer's hat when you run trains.
I do have one that fits (which is saying a lot as I have a giant coconut mounted atop my shoulders), and even had a patch for the RR I model sewn to the front, but there's a geekiness to wearing one that I have noticed that even most model train people don't want to be associated with (which is saying an awful lot).
8. The only two websites you spend any real time on is OGR and Model Train Forum.
I got really tired of the MTF very quickly and found it wasn't worth my time due to all the political nonsense and flaming posting going on there. Once I quit going, it was like a weight was lifted off me as I wasn't enjoying anything over there due to downright insane level of trolling and flaming there. I have since spent a lot of time on the Freerails forum as that's more my speed.
And once I gave up pointing out how silly some items are on this forum, I've found I enjoy this forum a lot more, too. Life's too short to get caught up in nonsense.
