Trains Are A Winter Sport

For me, it's more like October to May, but even in the off season, I can still get twisted by HO scale stuff!

For me, this year it's going to be a summer, fall and winter sport. I moved to a three-floor townhouse last June. The past year has been consumed with just getting settled in.

 

On the ground level I have a good sized garage. I still have a bit of organizing to do, but once I accomplish that, I need to paint the walls and ceiling, insulated the garage doors and frame (so I won't be cold when winter returns, get some type of flooring over the concrete pad, and update the lighting on the ceiling. After that prep work is done, I will start building a layout. My goal is to have at least a rough layout up and running by late summer. 

 

I also have to make sure I can theme my layout for Halloween (which I would like to have ready in early September) and for Christmas (up and running a week or two before Thanksgiving).

 

Of course, I will spend some time outdoors enjoying the summer season. I will even tackle a few projects outside on the deck.

Nope not me, trains are a year round hobby. It is my only hobby. 

 

Not ot a big fan of summer, too hot for me. 

Good Morning Nick,

 

I qualify, as I have a part time interest in this hobby......I find time in all seasons to go down to my hobby (located as it is in an air conditioned fully finished and waterproofed basement.

 

Particularly now that "Dancing with the Stars" is over, you may have guessed that I am not a fan; I do watch it because my wife (of 34 years) likes to have someone to share her observations with, try as I might with her,I cannot convince her that my trains are just as exciting!

 

I have reemerged back into this long ago forgotten pastime (on my part) because I rediscovered my hidden child and because I want to have a reconnection with my past.

 

Everytime I go down there I find a new aspect that I didn't consider! It seems endless!

 

Mike Maurice

 

I doubt that trains are a winter sport for most of us that have full time layouts. I generally run trains all year long on my layout.

Yeah, trains are year round for me too. The layout is ready at a moments notice to run trains, whenever the mood strikes. Little layout projects can be fit in among the other stuff to work on when it's too hot or wet outside.

Trains are a year round "sport" for me.  I too have a lot of other interests including outdoor activities.  Water gardening is one I really enjoy but while I may do those during the daytime on weekends, in the evening I am usually up in the train room enjoying the trains in some fashion.  Heck, my job is even train / hobby related!!

 

Alan

Year round... Like everything you need to take a break once in a while.

My big problem right now is mosquitoes in my garage. I think they are coming up from the floor drain. Kinda makes running trains painful and itchy....

 

Jeff C

 

Trains are not a "sport." Hockey is a winter sport, trains are a winter hobby.

 

Even though I have a permanent basement layout with 3 loops, it sees the most action between November and May.  Then it seems to go into a summer hibernation.

For me, trains are a lifestyle!

Railroading - of which model trains are just one phase for me - has been a big part of my life since a very yound age and it is the sole thing other than family and faith which I am very passionate about.

 

There's nothing part-time or seasonal about this boy and his "training!" 

 

Bob  

It a year-round hobby with me, just a slightly higher hours-per-day i can spend with them in the winter.  It is a beautiful early summer day here in NC - temps still not up into the 90s, but I managed to get three or four hours of work on projects and all done early this morning.  All done now, though. 

It has been year round for me. However, I'm on a break right now. I have not been downstairs in 3 weeks. For some reason I have temporarily lost all interest, except for the forum which I thoroughly enjoy, sometimes too much & too long. (LOL)

Work around the house, vacation time, golf, boating, yard work, and 100F+ attic temps really discourage my train activities during the Summer months.

 

Gilly

Everything slides during train season, except honey-do-do-do (don't they have a TV show about this?)  Oh, yeah, train season really never ends, it just keeps rolling along (isn't there a song with those words?).

With Houston's high heat index, trains are a SUMMER sport.  You go out in the WINTER because you don't have to worry about getting a heat stroke!

For the first three years, Feb 2011 through Feb 2014, I spent as much time as I could building my layout, and not much time on anything else unless it was an absolute need. Now that the layout is mostly presentable, I have been going back and improving a number of areas, but I am having difficulty doing so this summer because of my other hobby/sport – shooting; F-Class (F-T/R) primarily.

 

I have been spending a lot of time practicing, developing component selection for reloading, reloading, and competing in matches. I have shot in four matches already, and have 14 more already in my schedule.

 

But I do run the trains once in a while, work on the control system, and visit this forum daily.

 

Alex

October til end o May for me with trains.  Only when it gets above 90 with high humidity with I venture down to the basement for some train time.  Otherwise outside doing the garden chores, and enjoyment of hunting, fishing, shooting, biking,walking, and all the other stuff you do in the warm weather.

I feel the same way.I live in Northeast Ohio.Nice weather is hard to come by even in the summer time.We want to be out living our lives,enjoying the summer.Pool,Boat,Grillin,Jagger,Beer etc, etc,LOL Nick

holiday season...January 1 to Dec 25.

 

rat

Well, I'll offer a slight deviation from Dominic's post above. Just a bit north of him by a few hundred miles, trains are more of a lifestyle twice a year - from Nov to about late February, then from about the middle of June to September.  The spring and fall seasons are just too nice, so EVERY activity/fair/festival/??? get's scheduled for the months of April and October. The summer is just too blasted hot, even for the pool during the afternoon.

As much as i wish trains were a 12 month pastime, I cannot spend much time (if any) working on the layout or running trains from about April through early November. Both my sons play travel soccer even through the summer so EVERY WEEKEND is automatically consumed by soccer. At least half the games are out of town and even out of state. Then they both play for their school teams so that kills more time. I'm not complaining though; I love being a part of their lives and spending the time with them. They will be in college soon and although that will give me more time for hobbies I'll miss them dearly.

Mack

Year round hobby but less hours involved during the summer.

Train season is late Fall to early Spring.  Cycling season is early Spring to late Fall.  I plan on staying mobile as long as possible.

The premise of the thread might be generally true. But the coming hot summer nights I'll will see me building a permanent layout in a reasonbly cool basement complete with Yankee baseball.

I like boating as well, but it does not interfere with the enjoyment of trains year round.

 

The side benefit where I reside is this time of year we do not have to crank the heat up in the train room to compensate for the ultra cold winters we experience.

Has that been OK'ed by the Official Proclaimer of Seasons:  Daffy Duck?

no pallie....see if you remember this

 

Alice when you said your mother was coming for the holidays..you didn't say she was coming on New Years...and leaving at Christmas

 

rat

Traditionally, I've been a winter only 'railroader'.

 

It is out of the norm to be buying trains at this time of year.  Normally, I'm playing with the Trans Am by now.

 

Guess I've been 'bitten' !

 

Taking advantage of summer to finish layout design: start building this fall.  Can't wait.

Was Alice in Wonderland then, or, was she still married to Ralph?

I probably spend more time on the layout in the summer.   The layout is located in the upstairs bedroom.  Which is currently the only room in the house with AC.   So if I'm not at the ocean surfing or in the pool, I'm upstairs playing trains and keeping cool. 

We have no winter. Trains, diving, and kayak all year. Don

This has been addressed on another thread in the past, but my answer remains the

same...I do model trains all year round, I just do more prototypical research (climbing

around abandoned roads or old trackside structures) in the summer.  But, this is NOT

my only hobby, and sometimes others get interspersed with trains.

I must say that my trains are a lifestyle. More/less at different times of the year. In the winter months it's the rain (used to be), stinkn' tullee fog & days below freezing. The summer months we have many days at 105+ and nights at 85+. Needless to say it's either the heater and trains or the a/c and trains.

Put me down for Seasonal …All Four!




K.C.

I'm at that stage right now. Push, push, push, to get the layout working. I'm not even close to working on scenery yet. I'm more interested in hosting operating sessions.

I admit to spending a little less time with trains in the spring and fall, but it's definitely a winter and summer hobby.  The basement is much more comfortable than the outdoors in those seasons. 

 

Art

I agree a winter hobby. Mine generally goes from late Sept thru mid May. There are outdoor activities that take up much time, like boating. I do enjoy trains more when the weather is cooler, so all that running around the layout is better suited to cooler weather not to mention all the train smoke on a summer day.