What "oddity" do you bring to the hobby?

I combine many cartoons (Spongebob, Regular Show, Sailor Moon, Adventure Time) in my train layouts.

 

 

1) I'll set up carpet ovals just to do high speed roll-overs Which is OK because....

2) I kind of prefer my stuff scratched and flawed anyway .

3) I don't like Spam.

 

 

 

I have four oddities in O gauge I made.A pinball arcade,Family Guy's Drunken Clam bar,Riverview amusement park billboard insert and the Three Stooges beer car.I wanted all these items for my train collection,but no manufacturer offered them,so I made them myself.

Dan

 

ME!

being 6' 7" and 300 lbs and I wear a cowboy hat, most people don't think I fit the stereo type of being a toy train guy!!

Here's a few pics.  If you really want to see something amazing check out the lego trains groups like PennLug.  Most of the trains they build are 8 studs wide which is a little closer to standard gauge than o scale but the results are amazing. 

 

The boxcar is the first thing i built and the trucks are screwed on.  The caboose and flatcar are built using plans I found online while the garbage truck is a kit that I just think looks cool on the flat car.

 

I'll build some more this summer if I have the time.

 

 

I like collecting the Conventional Classics and PWCS stuff along with some other traditional sized trains as well. Also I enjoy collecting modern equipment like the Gevo, and the AC4400CW. Christmas trains as well.

 

I also like running my engines with cars of the same road name, or privately owned cars whether its a mixed freight or a unit train. Thats not carved in stone, but it is something I like.

 

Bill

I only use CW80 transformers...even with TMCC.

Good discussion!

 

- I'm EXTREMELY committed to my roads and never buy engines or stock outside them, other than an occasional dip into a CSX heritage road.

 

- I will happily put O trucks on S stock and run them next to full scale O.  

 

- The notion of a giant room filled with trains is not interesting to me at all.  Being as creative as possible in 4x8 is much, much cooler.

 

- I hate scenery and consider it a necessary evil.  Scenery = less room for trains to run.

 

- I have a programming and engineering background but generally eschew TMCC and Legacy products.  The simplicity and reliability of conventional running brings a level of peace to my busy life.

 

Nice to see we all have some weird-isms.  This truly is the greatest hobby.

Okay, confession time, I love Sailor Moon.  My wife and I are watching them as they are being released on Hulu, and can't wait for the new ones in a couple of months.  I'd love to see photos of how you are combining it with trains.

 

Google "character building dalek" and you should be able to find places to get them.  I got most of mine from eBay, with a playset or two from Amazon and an online retailer that imports UK toys.  It seems there is now a black one I don't have.  I may just have to buy some more...

 

And I love your LEGO cars.  I may have to convert some of my LEGO trains to O gauge...

I have over 100 pieces of Amtrak rolling stock...

 

...and over 100 subway cars.

 

---PCJ

I let my son have "creative fun" for instance he built a really nice coal tower using legos!!!

 

We also use those ceramic buildings that Menard's sells at Christmas time. Trouble is they are becoming so popular they sell out within days after Thanksgiving.

 

We also made oil storage tanks using those empty Clorox wipes containers and used black plastic straws for piping . Looks pretty good once we painted them up!!!

You folks are odd...really odd.  Might want to get yourselves checked out by a mental health professional.  

 

I like funny names for places and all my buildings are MTH with the funny names - Anita Mann Dating, Ben Dover Proctologist, etc.   I also like to collect at least one piece of rolling stock which fits my circa-WWII time period.

 

Great thread!

 

--Greg

i'm an extreme scratch builder! i rip my own scale lumber on my table saw, and i use coffee stir sticks, Popsicle sticks and tongue depressors! the hanger i built for a friend and is now in astoria or. the other buildings are in various stages of completion waiting on me to finish stuff on the layout so they can have a permanent home

 

 

Greg:  You oughta check out the names on some of the old industries on the old "Delta Lines" layout of Frank Ellison's.  He had some really great names for his locations.  Places like "Dodd ****" a hydroelectric plant on a river.   Or, "Al K. Hall" distillery which, of course, made whiskey.  Another location was a high hill called:  "Aboo Peak" or a warehouse building called "Laydee Zunder Warehouse".  they made operating on his layout a really fun  endeavor. 

 

I try to mimic Ellison on my layout but, I'm afraid I fall short.  I have an electrical supply house called "Sparks and Shorts" and a food distributor called: "Pheedom and Choeck", but i think that I'm reaching a bit.  What do you think?

 

Paul Fischer

I have this "problem" with covered hoppers. I've lost count of the exact number but I think it's around 50, plus the dozen or so I donated to the club. Love the things. I have this compulsion to build a monolithic grain elevator, but of course there would be nowhere to put the thing once I built it.

Look at my avatar!

The oddity that I bring is that my layout has over 30 scratch built structures that were reproduced from a famous layout of the 1930's and 1940's.  In essence my layout looks exactly like it was built in that era. I also run  100% conventional low tech trains and rolling stock of years past. My power source for the four loops on the layout is two vintage ZW transformers, late 1950's and still working strong.

The trouble is, there are too many odd balls here to stand out. You all contribute to making 3 rail O gauge the odd ball of model railroading. I think that is what attracts me to it.

 

To people outside the hobby we're all considered to be oddballs.  I say let them think what they want to. To us they're the oddballs because they're missing out on the greatest hobby there is. This is such a fun hobby because you do and make whatever you want.  No 2 layouts are the same and you can do whatever you want it to be in sizes,  levels,  trains, scenery,  etc. Mine is definitely Not prototypical as I'm trying to squeeze a lot of running in a small space but since I'm already a oddball since I don't have a basement, attic,  or spare room for my layout I have it at 1 end of the living room.  Thank God for an understanding wife! She gets the credit for getting me back into the hobby and gave me the okay to use the end of the living room.  She jokes she created a monster! Someday SLACKERVILLE will be all built and running 3 trains and a trolley.  Thanks for teaching me so much these last 6 years. Words can never repay what I have learned from the greatest minds in the hobby from the forum & OGR. Thanks!

Just fed my "oddity" a little more. Picked up scale Lionel 40' boxcars in Virginian, Wabash, Reading, Central New Jersey, and Central Georgia as a package deal for $140. $28 each - not bad!

 

There's nothing all that odd about the fact that almost all of my motive power is New York Central steam.  Well, OK, a few NYC diesels, a 3rd Rail SP Daylight 4-8-4 and soon a Legacy Big Boy.  But... my achilles heel seems to be those little Vulcan motorized units.  They're noisy, don't run worth diddly and cannot pull much at all but they're just so darned cute!  With almost 100 in inventory; I have every one that Lionel has ever made save 2 with quite a few duplicates.

On the TCA web site, there is mention made of a Vulcan switcher that Angela's husband John Trotta did in the New York & Atlantic paint scheme.

The other is the GOLD letter version of the 2012 LCCA Convention Banquet Car - a Vulcan switcher #6-58545.

If anyone out there has that 2012 LCCA Banquet switcher #6-58545 and wants to part with it; my email is in my profile!!!

Best,
Dave

Dave, I think after reading all the responses, that while the group is a collection of oddballs within the model train hobby, each member has their own unique oddity, kind of like fingerprints or DNA.

 

This the topic to let your freak flag fly!

 

Me, not odd just cheap and lazy

 

I’m kind of partial to the Mighty Sound of Steam; cheap cheesy sound.

 

I do try to compliment the family’s genealogy; that includes six separate road names my Dad’s  side actually worked for. But it got to hard to find cheap trains that fell into those lines so I included lines relevant to Ma’s side of the family none of whom ever worked for a railroad. That includes any railroad that ran through Chicago. Lot’s of cheap trains in that category.

 

I only run basic unconnected loops with no switches. I have eight loops on our 8 X 5 display at the foot of my bed and I never have to get up and fix a derailment. That’s lazy. Recently I figured out how to add two O72 loops at the bottom, increasing it to an 8’ X 6.5’ display with ten separate loops. It’ll be a challenge for this lazy @$$ to find a cheap 350 E Hiawatha passenger set to run down there.

I should have a couple pics up of them soon. I'm eagerly awaiting the series reboot on DVD this Fall.

          Do I win?

Adriatic,

You are near the top of the list!

Adriatic - right up there for sure!

My oddity is I like to collect:

1.) Illuminated freight cars - bunk & tool, poultry, cabooses etc

2.) Bright colored freight cars

3.) US Mail cars

 

 

My layout is exclusively postwar Lionel Super O track. But in all other respects it is a prewar layout with landscaped plots, Lionel metal bungalows, villas and loofah scenery, Hellgate bridges, etc. I love the look but doubt many others would agree.

Mack

Badhorse

Would you be willing to share some plans on those buildings?

My son saw those pictures and has been collecting popsickle sticks, stirring sticks and now tongue depressors from the Doctors office to build a building!!!

He liked the airplane hangar hint hint