This forum.

Oh, and I like running trains and creating miniature scenes as well.

A: Yes

B: Yes

C: Yes

D: No

E: Yes

I like to fix broken stuff.

I like trains.

There is a lot of negativity in the hobby, and it has come close to driving me away, but at the end of the day my love of trains is greater.

I just like the hobby.

What negativity?

yes in a big way

no

yes

yes

yes

My favorite thing in the hobby is locomotive power. I like to fix them, modify them, add TMCC to them. I have just dipped my toe into painting them, but do not consider myself artistic enough for scenery and the like.

I am still doing model trains because I love it and enjoy the work.  that and I broke my back in  three places and it is the only hobby I can still do.  o well at least I cans till have fun. 

I'm a little bit of everything above. It all started in my childhood, playing with my dad's trains as a child.

When I had entered into the job market I tried to get a job on the railroad where my dad worked but with no luck. But that did not stop my love for trains.

There was a period I had almost all of Lionel's operating cars and accessories. The big thing that I learned with operating accessories was that there were many times that they did not want to work correctly. So I then started designing and building my own operating accessories.

In 1981 I got a chance to build a public display in a fire station. The first years we used all of my trains & equipment and the fire company provided funding for the platforms to be used. And with all of my knowledge of planning and building, that I had learned over the years I told them that we could have it up & running in only 4 weeks time. And here is the result of our efforts 10' x 30', 4 operating loops, and about a 100 animated pieces and day & nighttime lighting.

And for the most part of 25 years I had designed each display to be different so that people could come back year after year and see something different. And in each display I used real water, and for a couple of years I had a operating flood gate on a dam high in the mountains.

Then in 2001 I had a brainstorm the display in 2001 was a 18' x 42' walk around. I started telling some of the members that in 2002 I was planning on putting a 6' wide walk through the middle of the display and it is in the above photo. And there was a train that ran on that uppermost platform above their heads. And it is still being built from scratch each year in under 4 weeks time. And the display above had 14 independent trains and trolly's going all at once.

So I never stop dreaming up ideas and I always find ways to animate new scenes to have miniature people doing things that people do in real life. And I'm always observing and learning in this wonderful hobby. And now if I could just stop buying trains...I don't think so...still a child at heart...

All of the list in the original post, except I have never worked for a railroad, but was

involved with competitive transportation, aviation.  Parent and grandparent worked

for railroads.

I like creating and I love trains, I enjoy recreating a time that I never got to experience...steam on the N&W and NKP.  It's a great escape from "real" life...and offers me a chance to recharge.

That pretty much sums it up for me, as well.  I enjoy the postwar (and some prewar) trains because they're actually a part of that period in history, and I enjoy the Standard 0 scale equipment because it recreates that era.

Something I have done since I was a kid. One of the most memorable events for me was saving up my paper route money to buy the Train Master when it was first released in the fifties. To me, this is without a doubt the best hobby known to mankind.

Best thing about the hobby is the wide range of activities and skills it involves and develops. Woodworking, electrical, trackwork, scenery, operating, etc. And, when you get tired of working on the layout itself, there's kit assembly, scratchbuilding, kitbashing, maintenance, and detailing of engines, rolling stock, etc.

Then, there's layout and model photography so you can share your creations with others in the hobby. You can also try your hand at submitting some of your projects to magazines. It's easier than you think. Plus, all this sharing will allow you to meet some really great people at forum events, at York and through local clubs.

I guess it all keeps me too busy to have any time left for negativity.

Jim

"What is it about this hobby that keeps you interested?"

My Layout is parts of my hometown and my boyhood hangout, having moved away I enjoy looking back at the happy days!

What is it about this hobby that keeps you interested?

1) Semi-annual trips to York, PA!

2) The opportunity to needle (gently) the HO (=How Ordinary) customers at our store (LHS)!

3) All the usual reasons...covered by everyone else.

KD

The pretty women it attracts ... oh, wait, wrong forum.  Never mind.

What, me worry?

All the celebrities I've met that are also o gaugers.

Great thought question.  (How I used to hate the thought questions the schoolbooks posed.)  I'm still in trains for the nostalgia, I suppose.  Having had my first train some 62 years ago ,  it's just hard to let go at this point.  Granddaddy worked in a D & H  roundhouse and Daddy worked for Railway Express, but I never worked in the industry.  Maybe the hobby is my way of continuing the connection. 

I don't watch TV

The hobby keeps renewing itself (for me) because of new products and new ideas. I see what I did previously in a new light. 

This is similar to my love of History: we study the past to understand the present and new information causes one to look at what happened in a new light.

Likewise, I have a certain track record (as it were) and new information causes me to re-evaluate what I did, while at the same time, appreciating what I have done. As such, this is an organic approach with potentially no end in sight.

just re-living or continuing a childhood pastime/hobby.

A.yes  I was an Journeyman Technician I.B.E.W for 25 years.

B.   No

C.   No

D    No

E.   Yes   I had H.O. trains when I was a kid and I always wanted a huge layout. So when I was about 30 years old I  picked up a Lionel SD-70 MAERSK engine (6-18280) It was upgraded to TMCC with in a month and I was hooked on O Gauge trains. Now 15 years later I went tru dialysis for over 5 years I also lost my right leg then I had a kidney transplant and had a 3 way bypass. So now I am building a layout 18.5 X 38" layout. Plush I just got a Air Brush and tank and will be tinkering with the Air Brush.  So since I am only 45 years old and can not work I have been involved with building it. I may not be working on it every day but I have built 98 % of the table .

Trains, trains, and trains.

I have been in the hobby since 1947 (2 yrs old) when I got my first Lionel set.  I have gone through on and off periods over my life, usually related to other things going on in life.  Some of the off periods have been years long, yet I never got rid of the trains, though I did once downsize them (sorry I did).  Don't really understand my interest, but it is tied up with nostalgia, Christmas, family, etc.  I am in a period of high interest now, though the trains are in storage, hope to get them out for Christmas.  Periods of not doing trains have always made them fresh and interesting again when I come back to them.

Bill