Work & Model Railroading

One more thing that is very positive about my life work and model railroading: sometimes when struggling with a difficult case, I will get my best ideas while running my trains or working on a model railroad project.

Has that happened for any of you folks?

If so, please share those experiences here.

Arnold

Good morning brother Arnold

always a treat to listen to your advice, adjectives, an adverbs…

an I promise not to ask for your definitions of “nut” or “strange” early this AM.

So glad you feel like being the representative of clients at this time 😀

a good Thursday to you… 🚂

Seth

Hi Arnold!   You've come up with yet another stimulating and interesting topic!   I can definitely relate to what you've written, however, I will weigh in later when I have time to elaborate.   Right now work beckons me to its' door soon this morning.

@trumpettrain posted:

Hi Arnold!   You've come up with yet another stimulating and interesting topic!   I can definitely relate to what you've written, however, I will weigh in later when I have time to elaborate.   Right now work beckons me to its' door soon this morning.

Glad to hear, Patrick, that you are making beautiful music with your trumpet. Arnold

Model railroading is very separate from my work life. In fact, my entire personal life is separated from work with a few exceptions that I can't help (mutual friends outside of work) and I don't mind those exceptions anyway because those people aren't usually negative. I hardly talk about or think about work outside of the job because it's such a negative place. I do use model railroading to unwind if I can't unwind on the ride home (usually getting the Led out does the job though).

I envy your schedule @Arnold D. Cribari haha I'm in my early 30s and I'm ready for retirement. Maybe a job with more accomplishments would change my mind but I'm working to live at the moment.

Arnold I know exactly where you are coming from, been there done that.  I'm a small business owner and a very competitive person. If I have a day that hasn't been up to my expectations, I often have the feeling that I haven't earned the time to relax and have fun and I should work harder. As I've got older, I realize you can't win them all, doesn't mean I'm going to quit trying, but we have to keep things in perspective.  I can tell you've worked hard during your life and I know every day doesn't end up in your win column, but that's okay we've got model railroading to help clear our thoughts and regroup for the next day. Model railroading is more than a hobby to some, including myself, it got me through some tough times in my youth. Arnold the bill will be in the mail for this therapy session. lol  Have a great day my friend.

@Weener Dog posted:

Arnold I know exactly where you are coming from, been there done that.  I'm a small business owner and a very competitive person. If I have a day that hasn't been up to my expectations, I often have the feeling that I haven't earned the time to relax and have fun and I should work harder. As I've got older, I realize you can't win them all, doesn't mean I'm going to quit trying, but we have to keep things in perspective.  I can tell you've worked hard during your life and I know every day doesn't end up in your win column, but that's okay we've got model railroading to help clear our thoughts and regroup for the next day. Model railroading is more than a hobby to some, including myself, it got me through some tough times in my youth. Arnold the bill will be in the mail for this therapy session. lol  Have a great day my friend.

Love this!

LOL, Arnold

I think a contributing factor to my condition is that I've been subtly and compassionately programmed since childhood to be a provider dude.

I know that in this regard I'm not alone. Arnold

Wow, Arnold, you're so philosophical with another one of your thought-provoking threads. With your occupation and hobby, you remind me of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who would stay up late at night playing billiards, with a pool stick in one hand and a pen in the other. The click-click of the billiard balls helped him write music as he became an expert billiards player as well

Anyway, I retired 12 years ago at 62 and worked in private industry, public administration, and public education in 3 different states. Looking back, I found that running trains in the evenings for a half-hour or so, put me at ease, no matter how stressful the work day had been. Thank goodness, those stressful days were few and far between. But it always seemed that the day after I had run the trains, that next day went smoother and easier. There was just something about the visual motion and sounds of running trains that was relaxing, even into the next day.

Since retiring, there has been no stress. But running trains is still soothing and puts me at ease.

I’m retired now, but when I did work it certainly took priority over trains.  Its not just work though.  I had other hobbies that took priority over trains.  In my case sailing and also boat building.  Significant impact on my train time after work.  Retired from sailing and work now, so trains are rising in priority.

Bill

Arnold, Your feeling of work productivity vs hobby enjoyment comes from a strong work ethic - an animal that is on the endangered species list...along with common sense and common decency, among other things.  That low level feeling of guilt for enjoying oneself when you could be "working" while good in some ways, is detrimental in others if allowed to control your life.  I've known people who work their whole lives and dont know what to do when they retire so they simply fade away.  As long as this coincides with your natural life span thats ok i guess but if you fade away at 65 its not good.  For myself, my train and farming hobbies counteract the negative aspects of work both mentally and physically (trains to unwind and be creative, farming to get some exercise) and now that i have a son, something to share with him. 

All replies posted so far are thoughtful, interesting, insightful, entertaining and wonderful in all respects.

Thank you for sharing them and, hopefully, more will be coming for us all to enjoy. Arnold

My job can be so stressful, the model trains are a beacon for me to decompress, ….on a hard week, ( which is from April to September ) I try to line up a locomotive project for the weekend so I can channel out the stress, and completely block out the stress, …..it really helps come Monday morning as I can refocus on the upcoming week,…..if any of that makes sense,…..😉

Pat

Amen Brother Pat!

@harmonyards posted:

My job can be so stressful, the model trains are a beacon for me to decompress, ….on a hard week, ( which is from April to September ) I try to line up a locomotive project for the weekend so I can channel out the stress, and completely block out the stress, …..it really helps come Monday morning as I can refocus on the upcoming week,…..if any of that makes sense,…..😉

Pat

I hear that Pat. My one biggie is I don't ever seem to get time to myself on most weekend days. Summer brings endless outside work that needs to be done that there is no time during the week(unless off), so that is most of the time right there. Work consumes a ton of energy during the week, some weekends just don't seem to have any juice for anything. This weekend will be a trip to the train store to pick up some goodies that have been waiting since last month. I still have a few things waiting besides this next bunch, but it is okay now. I'll have to make another trip near the end of the month, don't want to have too much time in between. It will be good to chat at the store Saturday for a bit, don't want to take too much time there as the lawn waits. Is it supposed to rain. This weekend? I hope not. It's been dreary all week. Sure it is great for some cloud pictures, but it don't help by putting me to sleep, lol.

When I was working in industrial sales yes, I needed the hobby to help reduce the daily stress of hitting sales numbers etc. Now being retired for nine years the trains are simply part of my everyday enjoyment of life. I don’t care if a project takes a week, month or whatever to complete. I don’t have an abundance of money to continue buying the latest and greatest items but have gone back to saving up for something that I may want. It allows me to enjoy my purchase immensely. Trains will be part of my life to the end.

@harmonyards posted:

My job can be so stressful, the model trains are a beacon for me to decompress, ….on a hard week, ( which is from April to September ) I try to line up a locomotive project for the weekend so I can channel out the stress, and completely block out the stress, …..it really helps come Monday morning as I can refocus on the upcoming week,…..if any of that makes sense,…..😉

Pat

Pat, we have not met yet, but you have a great reputation among my Forum friends for being a top notch authorized technician, a true model train doctor.

Glad to hear your model railroad activities, which you excel at, help reduce your stress. Arnold

Arnold,

I very much enjoy my trains be it running, repairing, or doing a build or modification/kitbash but, I enjoy them most when running them at home or at our clubhouse with others of the club.

Trains are not as enjoyable when alone.

Ray

Arnold,

I'm not sure if I am interpreting your question correctly and actually waited until today to respond. I read it a couple of times to make sure I was comprehending it. Anywho, when I have a "good" or "bad" day at work it affects everything. Because I am fortunate to be working a job that I am passionate about and those feelings don't leave once I clock out. I have definitely learned how to manage them better since I first began. However, my guess is I'll never leave a day's work and completely not think about it, good or bad.

Now I'll reel myself back in. When I have a good day at work it definitely helps me to enjoy my model railroad related activities more. There is a sense of accomplishment and I find this is when I do my best work. I believe it's pretty simple. A good day at work builds my confidence. That in turn trickles into the rest of my day in anything I do when I clock out. Even those things I don't enjoy doing like the dreaded " can  you stop by the store on your way home". It could be a project I have been procrastinating, cleaning up the train room, or simply taking the time to just run trains. It's just a motivation thing because for me, my job is one of the toughest but most gratifying things I do. Once I'm done with it for the day it's downhill from there. Consequently, if the day turns out to be not so good...that too has its own set of consequences as it relates to the hobby. In those cases it's more likely that I won't do much in the train room besides  go in and look at everything I've done. That can sometimes be followed with a feeling of being overwhelmed, thinking about how much I still want to do. At that point, most of the time, I exit.

Dave

I am a guy and therefore I do not know how to talk about my feelings.

I do have feelings... when I was a kid I hated my steam engine popping out away from the center line every time it went around an O27 curve. So a couple of years ago when I got back into Lionel trains, I set O48 as my minimum curve and I use wider curves to simulate easements. I never allow an O48 section of track to touch a straight section and I use O84 and O96 for "S" curves with a 15" minimum straight section in the center of the "S". As a result I love watching my trains go around curves and I am ecstatic to see a long passenger train snaking through the "S" curve.

Even greater joy and peace comes when I am preparing for a visit from the grandchildren and then entertaining them with the trains. The greatest time operating the trains comes the next day, such as today, after one of the grandkids last night said, "Grandpa, I like coming to your house. Your trains are the best." Raising kids is fine, but raising grandchildren is way better... they go home when they are tired.

My wife and I have lots of grandchildren in part because we adopted some extra kids at church who did not have any grandparents living in our area. And my wife came up with a plan 40 years ago to reduce the workload on divorce lawyers, she told me that she would shoot me if I ever tried to leave her. In a week and a half we will be celebrating our 40th anniversary of her not shooting me (God willing and the creek don't rise).

Dave, on any given day, my feelings about my life work and how they impact my feelings about our hobby are very similar to yours. Arnold

@John in California posted:

I am a guy and therefore I do not know how to talk about my feelings.

I do have feelings... when I was a kid I hated my steam engine popping out away from the center line every time it went around an O27 curve. So a couple of years ago when I got back into Lionel trains, I set O48 as my minimum curve and I use wider curves to simulate easements. I never allow an O48 section of track to touch a straight section and I use O84 and O96 for "S" curves with a 15" minimum straight section in the center of the "S". As a result I love watching my trains go around curves and I am ecstatic to see a long passenger train snaking through the "S" curve.

Even greater joy and peace comes when I am preparing for a visit from the grandchildren and then entertaining them with the trains. The greatest time operating the trains comes the next day, such as today, after one of the grandkids last night said, "Grandpa, I like coming to your house. Your trains are the best." Raising kids is fine, but raising grandchildren is way better... they go home when they are tired.

My wife and I have lots of grandchildren in part because we adopted some extra kids at church who did not have any grandparents living in our area. And my wife came up with a plan 40 years ago to reduce the workload on divorce lawyers, she told me that she would shoot me if I ever tried to leave her. In a week and a half we will be celebrating our 40th anniversary of her not shooting me (God willing and the creek don't rise).

LOL

I just graduated from East Carolina University today with a Bachelor's degree in English and I'm trying to decide about being a screenwriter or working for Classic Toy Trains or TCA's Train Collector's Quarterly. I look to Bruce Manson as my inspiration.

Arnold,

I teach 3rd grade.  I have 10 years to retirement, though I think about it every day.  Model railroading isn't an escape, it's a preparation for future structure in my life.  I came from farmers, so I may never be able to stop "working."  Thus, the layout is a piecemeal activity right now that will become my part time gig eventually.  Hope to someday shovel all of this stuff over to my son's house as payback for his "pulling me back in" to the hobby when he was two.

Arnold;

Me thinks your topic stops a little short… the same issues present themselves in retirement as well. As many know, I was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. When I got divorced (I wish I had known you then - I might still own a few amazing trains!!!), as the defrocked actuary I worked for at the time so eloquently put it, I got the house, the car, and custody of the in-laws. Well, the house was in Poconos which resulted in a ridiculous commute for 17 years - hit the road at 4:30 AM, home at 6:30 PM - wore out a couple of cars in those years. So there was no real time for my trains, not that it stopped me from buying them!!! It wasn’t until I retired that I finally got to start my first layout. But the pressures of life have the same effect on a body in retirement as they do during the working years. Sometimes it’s health, sometimes it’s other obligations (such as necessary work on the old homestead), sometimes it’s just the work on the layout - you lose that forward momentum and get frustrated. I’ve been away from work on my layout for around 18 months now - 6 months was just one of those inexplicable funks, a year has been helping my brother after a few knee surgeries - again, hasn’t stopped me from buying more trains.  Hopefully, next month, I’ll be back home and get back to more construction, maybe less buying

My take on this topic is going to be a tad different.

The last 19 years of my full-time career were spent as a road warrior, with technical management responsibilities for facilities nationwide.  Though I had fits and starts at building a train layout, it became clearer each year that it just wasn't practical, even with a new home that included plenty of basement space, because I just wasn't there on half the evenings each month and I was playing catch-up on normal household matters when I was home.  Going to shows, acquiring interesting pieces, postulating layout plans, and seeing the techniques used by modular display groups maintained my interest and increased the knowledge base for future use.

My retirement from full-time work presented the opportunity to pursue layout construction, at long last, once we got past the remodeling of our retirement home and relocation to it.  My train activities are mainly over the six months of the year when I'm not sailing or supporting my wife's pottery-peddling at open-air art markets.  After 3 winters of benchwork construction track placement, I'm finally able to run trains, with winters of scenery and detailing to come, health permitting.

I've found, in retirement, many similarities between layout construction and project management in my working life.  To some extent, the layout work fills a gap in mental exercise and maintains focus on goals, managerial paths, and pleasure in success caused by retirement.  Construction, commissioning, and operations present many opportunities for analytical problem-solving, the habits of any engineer.

But there's more to it.  There's a certain suspension of time and trigger of imagination that comes from running trains, even on a layout that's bare benchwork, roadbed, and track.  In many ways, it's similar to how my wife tells me I am when offshore sailing, disconnected from the normal everyday concerns and at one with my surroundings.

Had I had a minimum-travel career, all this might have been realized earlier.  But I'm fortunate that I have the time, means, and health (well, most of the time) to engage actively with the hobby and enjoy these benefits as long as I'm able.

I agree with Karl and Paul that model railroading can be a desirable source of mental exercise, especially for the old-timers among us.

Layout construction can provide an enormous amount of mental and physical stimulation and exercise.

For those like me who believe they have mature layouts and have no plans for major model railroad construction projects, our model railroads still need to be maintained and mine is, and probably will always be, a source of puzzles to solve. I have no hard data on this. but maybe such puzzles will help ward off alzheimers and dementia in our golden years.

I've noticed that those in my hiking group that are in their 70s and 80s seem to be flourishing in their retirement, both physically and mentally. Hiking is more physical, but has mental components: must be mindful with each step to avoid falling, the stimulating conversations between fellow hikers, etc.

On the other hand, model railroading seems more mental, but has physical components IMO: crawling under the train tables, stretching to reach something on the layout, following the train with a hand held remote, etc. I think of this physical component as my model railroad yoga, especially when contorting my body under the train tables. LOL.

Much the same could be said of other activities: music, golf, tennis and other sports, acting (my wife's passion), dancing, consulting in one's life work, etc.

Arnold

Arnold,

Looking back, I can see that the hobby reflected the pains and joys of working. Months of frustration spent in construction and wiring followed by days of pure joy watching the continuous looping of metal and plastic miniatures hauling goods and passengers from one imaginary village to another, as smoke billows out of a 70 year old Hudson.

Over the years, work colleagues transferred in and out of my life and my layout did the same. I would tear it all out and start over, multiple times, in hopes of building a better and larger mouse trap. As you mentioned Arnold, there is a fair amount of exercise and mental stimulation achieved by crawling around under a train table, searching and correcting electrical issues and so forth. It was a welcome distraction from any work frustrations that may have been going on in my life at any particular time.

Now retired, health issues have replaced work issues and it seems that every time I get one health issue resolved or under control another pops up. Its the same with the layout. Just like lifestyle modification to keep the blood flowing through open arteries, I find myself needing to correct or change this or that on the layout, so that everything can be maintained in good working order.

Life is like a layout, full of problems to be solved. We can't fill in the deep canyons or move the mountains that our lives encounter, but we can build bridges over them and tunnels through them. Have a great railroading day !

Eddie, you have much poetic prose in your above post; superb use of language IMO.

As I was reading your post, it reminded me of how exhilerating it was to design, build the benchwork, lay the track, wire and make all of the electrical connections, etc., in the initial stages of creating my current layout, often after work into the wee hours of the morning, back around 1996, when I was a younger, more limber, and more energetic man than I am now.

For me, that would be a daunting task now  that I'm in my early 70s.

I see on the Forum how some of you old timers like me are boldly moving ahead with that daunting task. How I admire those that are doing this, and how I wish you the best in your endeavors. I hope it is a labor of love for you and that you succeed in every way. Arnold

Life is like a layout – I’ve got a lot of wiring issues, poor track plans, sloppy bench work and too tight radius curves.

Arnold and members of the forum.
In 2020 to 2022 I was engaged in model railroad activities, scratch building in O scale, and reviving an old 3 rail layout to distract me from working front line in the COVID clinical environment. I can honestly say there were weeks turned into months when I didn’t know if I would ever go home again, see my family or survive a possible deadly mishap at work. There were 24 hour shifts with no relief staff arriving. Death everywhere. I felt like I lived in the ER or ICU so isolated. Finally at home, playing with Lionel trains and making structures kept me sane. I would say it was a life support to me.
I don’t think I have shared this experience here on the forum before. This forum and members were monumental  in its quality humanistic elevation. The crisis is over.
I feel very fortunate.