Starting off with 0-27 track and switches then not having the motivation to abandon them as I enlarged my layout.
I reckon this hasn't been all bad as it has helped keep a lid on my spending since I can't operate the larger scale engines.
Curt
ARTYOUNG yes tiss true we make our own choices but you will remember my words when you reach Medicare age. How do you sit on a chair at 30 inches?
Allowing myself to be possessed of far too many (by my rationale, nowadays) steam and diesel scale locomotives. Unnecessary, nor even fun any more. (I'm not even going to tell you how many that is.)
scott.smith posted:
2) Buying the Lionel Acela.
Scott Smith
There's a honest person. Hard to do when you dumped mucho $$$$.
Measuring from ceiling down for a shelf I checked the ceiling for level with a hand level in a few spots, but not too close as ran for an indusrial lazer on the crown trim's too; planning on using that reference. But got a 1.5 ° skewed offset leaving one grade less than expected, and the opposing wall's grade steeper. I didn't butt the hand level to the corners notice but must have measured from the ceiling at some point instead of going off the crown trim. The worst part is I knew better. I hung movong ventilation framework; "level plane" (roller& beam trolley vents) in dozens of different buildings.
I thought I made a mistake once, but I was wrong.
When I got into trains a few years ago I decided on tubular track and only PS2&3 locomotives, and traditional sized consists. I've been happy with that. The mistake I made was buying several PH180 bricks, before I realized I didn't need hobby transformers at all to run DCS; just a proper isolation transformer.
Buying so much Standard 'O' engines and rolling stock in the late 1980's? Stuff is worthless, its too big for postwar guys and too small for scale guys, nobody wants to buy them.
Selling all my Lionel stuff in the early '90s to get into large scale.
Fred,
Fortunately because I was introduced to Tin Plate at a very young age, I made no mistakes concerning O Gauge and Standard Gauge trains. My only regret was passing up the purchase of Frank's original American Flyer Standard Gauge Tin Plate Silver Presidential Train, when it was offered to me, as Frank aged. Today I regret this foolish decision very very much. I also would have liked spending more time in the Pittsburgh, Pa area, especially at the Iron Horse Train Club. I maybe the only original member left alive today, the club and the Iron Horse Hobby Shop are long gone now. We had a great bunch of men in Frank's Iron Horse Train Club, especially in the early years. Unfortunately my Military Career made it impossible to attend, as much as I would have liked.
Regrets a couple, mistakes none. Memories Lots!
PCRR/Dave
The MTH P2 263E Frank Pre-Order for me, the BCR Frank installed prior to me picking her up, is still in the Engine today, and working perfectly. I consider myself blessed by God to have had both my Father and Frank as my Tin Plate mentors, I miss them both badly.
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Buying too many engines that were out of reach as a kid and suddenly affordable as an adult.
$100 here and there soon adds up to real $$$ that might have been invested elsewhere.
And not completing a layout to run them all (though there’s still time for that).
A few major ones:
1) Selling a lot of the trains my mother originally bought as Christmas gifts, etc. I loved them but times got pretty tight (thankfully long over!). I have regretted it since. Even tried to reach out to the buyers to try and "buy them back" but no luck. I've replaced some but still looking for a few others....
2) Going a little "overboard". As Farmer Bill Mentioned, all those trains unaffordable as a kid now are very affordable. Stop, slow down, buy what you like - really like - not just to spend money.
3) Wasting money on conventional engines and trying to soup them up - I bought a couple of conventional/Lionel RTR engines over the past year and wanted to "trick 'em out" vs buying a Legacy version. I spent several hundreds of dollars on each one over the initial purchase price and was never happy. Sold them for about what I paid for them. Dumb, dumb idea.
I am trying to stick to buying what I just REALLY like.
not having a bigger basement and not really getting into trains sooner.
Keep buying more trains, knowing I have no where at all to put them, then selling lesser quality to make room.
Selling off more than a few MTH Premier steam locomotives in the early 2000's to pay for college credit card debt. Debt I amassed consisted mostly of expenditures on beer, pizza, and other frivolous purchases. Bright side, I sold them for what I paid for them in most instances. Those engines have gone down significantly in value since then. Guess I don't really regret it as those were some great times I can't always remember with friends I'll never forget. 
There was a period when I let a lot of plastic in. I'm pretty well recovered now.
taking apart my trains when younger wondering how they all worked now they will never run again (This is in HO scale but i think it still applies here for me) now i learned my lesson (sorta)
Shriker1 posted:taking apart my trains when younger wondering how they all worked now they will never run again (This is in HO scale but i think it still applies here for me) now i learned my lesson (sorta)
Me too. I look at that and think "what was I thinking"
Though not in O Gauge-
Biggest mistake I made: Not acquiring space and building a layout while my two boys were young and at home or doing so while my three grandchildren were in grade school and lived just a couple of miles away. They moved across the U.S. from us ten years ago.
Biggest mistake I ALMOST made: I was ready to put an add in Railroad Model Craftsman seeking to sell my modest collection of American Flyer trains while in high school in the early 1960s to switch to "real model railroading" in HO scale.
Fortunately, girls, cars and sports "side tracked" me long enough that when I returned to model railroading, American Flyer and Gilbert were defunct, and I became intrigued with its history as well as nostalgic for the trains of my childhood.
And the time I have spent NOT building a home layout has largely been spent being involved with the kids and grandkids and all of our interests and activities. It may be Star Wars, Legos, soccer, Seahawks or drama, and, yes, even train-related trips and events.
Cheers!
Alan
Biggest mistake; getting into model trains.
RSJB18 posted:Joining the forum AFTER I started my layout. Could have prevented a few mistakes if I did it the other way around. No worries though- I'll get it right next time
.
This is my first layout in 30+ years and first O gauge (grew up with HO). Lot's to adjust for with the larger scale. Still having a blast though.
Oh yea- spending way too much time (and money), on Ebay. Trying to be more selective with purchases now (specific roads, engines and rolling stock).
Bob
Same. I didn't join the forum until early last year, and the fact that I should have gone into command control sooner. It's all technical now and nobody can explain it decently in simpleton terms. Gauge of wire and types of plugs just go over my head. And I never was any good at math.
My anxiety to get trains running lead to a lack of planning.
Mine is not building a simple layout to show my grandmother before she got sick and sadly just passed away yesterday afternoon. I got side tracked these passed few months with work and other things that have come up. However, I have been working on cleaning up my work area and finally sorting through some old train stuff today. I have descided to finally get going on some things I have put on the back burner and finally get them done.
getting married
certainly believing that MTH Reatrax is worth buying and using. It's nothing but trouble..........seems made with planned obsolescence after about 2 years.
Steve "Papa" Eastman posted:There was a period when I let a lot of plastic in. I'm pretty well recovered now.
At least your Marx NYC diesel set found a home with me
Tom Cox
Buying the Lionel18001 Northern, useful only as a door stop and not selling my Wabash 8378 FM and 8606 Boston & Albany Hudson before the prices fell. However the FM and the Hudson look nice and are still in my collection.
Steve "Papa" Eastman posted:There was a period when I let a lot of plastic in. I'm pretty well recovered now.
when i first saw the Marx Greenberg price guide compared to Lionel, i also probably thought the same thing... why not get everything! no doubt that niches can be too small (you could probably collect 99% of Marx 7" trains over a long weekend), but almost everyone will likely agree it usually goes the other way at first.
cheers...gary
redjimmy1955 posted:certainly believing that MTH Reatrax is worth buying and using. It's nothing but trouble..........seems made with planned obsolescence after about 2 years.
I've used Lionel Fasttrack pretty much all of my model railroading career. Never looked back.
Straying from the straight and narrow O gauge track to waste time & money on G scale and S scale but I am cured now. Just dabble in O and Standard gauge. Have almost all I need except a layout. That could come soon, I hope with a move.
Jim1939: I'm 65, and am currently recuperating from getting both knees replaced (Nov & Dec) 
. With my wiring on the surface of the tabletop and my comfy office chair (with wheels), I'm delighted with everything, as I hope you are with your layout as well.
This is a great hobby, ain't it? No matter how we do it, it makes us happy.
Not getting started on my layout that I've bought all this track,switches and trains for . Given the way I work has had an effect on the model train hobby and others interests, I've got retirement to look forward to.
clem k posted:Biggest mistake; getting into model trains.
That "mistake" can be corrected within minutes: There's a free "For Sale" forum right here, you can start listing stuff as quickly as you can inventory/price the item. Then there's eBay and other outlets.
No need to stay in a hobby that you feel you made a mistake getting into.
Andre
Not staying involved in the hobby ,when i was younger !!!!!
Buying way too much kind of junkie post war because it was a good deal and I kind of liked it. This was back in the days when only Prewar, post war and MPC was available
My layout is set up to all kinds of switching maneuvers. I don't have command control and have no intention of getting it so I just do display running. If I was starting I would have no switches..
I'd rather not think about it.
tcox009 posted:Buying the Lionel18001 Northern, useful only as a door stop and not selling my Wabash 8378 FM and 8606 Boston & Albany Hudson before the prices fell. However the FM and the Hudson look nice and are still in my collection.
Gosh, I'm kind of attached to my 18003 DL&W Northern, it's good looking & runs well. There was that armature bearing fix published in OGR awhile back & I did have that done.
I got into 3-rail O gauge only 6 years ago, but have had HO and N scale trains since the first B&O set I bought in the late '60s. After many years, I decided to just focus on two railroads for engines, Western Maryland and Baltimore and Ohio. As I aged, the smaller scales got too small. When I started in O gauge, I thought I would just buy what I liked. Now I am focusing on Western Maryland and Baltimore and Ohio again, having sold most of the other engines. I haven't done bad money wise with the buying and selling; it is just it is a hassle. Fortunately Forum members on the whole are excellent folks to deal with! I learned the hard way that what I liked hadn't changed, just that I needed a larger scale.
laming posted:clem k posted:Biggest mistake; getting into model trains.
That "mistake" can be corrected within minutes: There's a free "For Sale" forum right here, you can start listing stuff as quickly as you can inventory/price the item. Then there's eBay and other outlets.
No need to stay in a hobby that you feel you made a mistake getting into.
Andre
Based on his participation here on the forum, I’m pretty sure Clem’s comment was “tongue in cheek”.
Jim 1939 posted:Biggest without a doubt....Table too low. I let others convince me it should be low for kids. Not true at all, kids like climbing up on a chair and can easily see the trains. Anything under 40 inches is too low. Second thing would be I sure would do a better wiring job. I started out good but over time backslid to my old evil ways.
Jim
Amen to that!
I built my HO layouts at 40" (but I was young then), and didn't mind bending to go under. I then when up to 44" for my first O-Gauge layout nine years ago, and based on that experience, built my current layout at 48" for the main level. The subway is lower by two or three inches, but I have no need to go under it very much. Working under my present layout is a piece of cake (chocolate).
Alex
