Would Another Hobby Replace Model Railroading?

Saltwater snail racing.  It's every bit as exciting as it sounds....

 

I also collect spores, molds, and fungus....

Hey Rip

Nice to hear from someone knowledgeable about that craft! I like Rodgers organs, but I play a Zimmer 3 manual digital instrument that uses Walker electronics- can't believe it's fake.

I play quite a lot of Bach's literature including the D minor, but much prefer the French romantic school- all dreamy and landscapey.

Have a great weekend.

Doing the "railroad thing" for a living is causing me to take long breaks from the hobby of railroading.  Understandable.  However, I expect model railroading to come and go in my activity level, as does most all of my "workbench" hobbies.  In a nutshell, my "workbench" hobby interests can be summed up with the phrase "Trains, planes, and automobiles" as in:

 

Trains - HO and V scale.

Planes - Control line model airplanes.

Automobiles - 1/32 slot cars.

 

The above has to move aside and make do with what available time I give them during my "riding seasons" for my dual sport motorcycle.  I try to fit in as much riding as practical during the fall/winter/spring seasons.

 

 

 

when my hands feel good I like to do cross stitch. But latly I've been wanted to learn how to fly RC plains.

I like to collect dust and draw flies!    LOL

Should we call you Egon from now on?

I've been in miniature railroading since Santa brought me my Lionel 2026 in 1951, and I've been at it in one form or another ever since.  So no, as long as I'm still breathing, I won't be leaving trains behind.

 

I used to be a dedicated collector and user of antique 35mm cameras, but with the dwindling availability of film and processing, I've pretty much had the door slammed in my face on that one.

 

I never hunt, but I love shooting (and working on) my collection of old military rifles.  Upgrading, configuring and maintaining the various computers on our home network keeps me busy, too.

 

Nor am I limited to any of these.  There's always something new to pursue.  Especially now that I'm retired, and have time to pursue it!

 

While the trains will have to take a back seat to my other hobby for a while, they will never be replaced. 

 

I am currently in the process of removing the pipe organ I have installed in our house and replacing it with a different one.  Half of our garage is taken up with the chassis and windchests of the "new" one.  I would like to get it out of there before the snow flies so I can put the truck back inside.  Very time consuming project.  Quite a bit of logistics in getting the old stuff out and into storage while getting the new stuff ready to install. 

 

I still have time to check out the forum, however.

 

Tom

HEAVY too! Who built your instrument? Do you play too? Good luck with your project.

It is a 'Heinz 57" right now.  I assembled it from various components that I have acquired over the years.  The new one is mostly Page. I will be using the Wurlitzer console that I am currently using.  The new one will actually be smaller than the one I am removing, but should sound much better.  More importantly,  It will be much easier to maintain.

My wife is a pretty good organist, but hasn't had much time to play lately.  I do play a little, but not all that well.  I built a roll player unit to operate the organ and that gets the most use.

 

Tom

I also breed fruit bats and slugs.

 

HEY TOM AND ALAN,

 

I once owned a Conn 650 3-manual 32-pedal electronic organ, with a rank of "speaker  pipes" on the wall, just so I could think I was George Wright or Leon Berry while I played "Quiet Village"!

 

RIP TRACK

 

 

Alan says:

"I like Rodgers organs, but I play a Zimmer 3 manual digital instrument that uses Walker electronics- can't believe it's fake."

 

Question:  Ever play a Hammond B-3 (original style) with Leslie speaker?  Those drawbars make that hard percussive sound that is hard to emulate.

So RIP, who do you think you are now????

I have played a B3 before. I can't believe what those old Hammonds sell for now.

 

 

 

HEY ALAN,

 

I haven't had an organ in the home for probably 10 years, but I do have a nice Kawai Parlor Grand piano. 

 

Another one of my favorite classical organ pieces is Widor's "Tocatta in F", which is considered a "must play" for concert organists.

 

RIP TRACK HAL

There are many cool hobbies out there but once we get bit by the Toy train bug it stays with us for life. True there are times when we may get diverted by other things but for most of us this hobby will always be home.

 

Fair enough. For the time I was away from model trains, I was always still into 1:1 scale trains!

Amen!

 

Tom

You've got yourself a Boo-Boo bear there! Big ears = Little Bear (Little Ears = Big Bear). Glad he didn't wipe out your flock!

 

Gilly

No.

No no really but when the train room gets to hot or cold some take a breaks or scrach buld buildings outside. In the fall I go hunting with my dad to or go seet shooting for a break. Any one else?  Moddel trains is the best hobby in the world !!! 

 Years ago (late 80's-early 90"s) I sorta put model railroading on the back burner,but not totally, and got into drag racing hot and heavy.

 

 I still have the cars my Dad and I raced but I just don't have really anytime at all to take a weekend off ,pack up and load the car and then haul 100+ miles now (less than 20 back then,local track closed) to devote to drag racing.

 

 It's hard enough now to get to a train show.But at least with this hobby I can take the time with my crazy hours and days off, to enjoy model trains ,in the early morning hours,or late at night what ever time I'm home and awake .

 

 But if I ever have the weekends off again and the time I will devote some more time to drag racing,but never give up this great hobby of model railroading.

Armchair railfanning.

 

Rusty

Would another hobby replace model railroading was the question?  I interpret this as being in the future. 

Its hard to say but at the present time from my viewpoint, the next generation doesn't seem to embrace many hobbies if at all. I cannot see what would replace model railroading. I have several other hobbies now and find them to be an integral part of my life. I am also a classic car enthusiast and have a fully equipped garage complete with a professional quality hydraulic lift, 5 HP air compressor, air tools, tire machine etc. I guess that could replace model railroading but why can't I do both?

       
       

LOL Gilly…I guess I’m more worried about Boo-Boo’s  Mama.



K.C.

To do this, all you need is time and LOTS OF MONEY.

Actually, model Railroading is more than just Running Trains, Its Carpentry, Electrical, Intriguing, Mystafying, Organizing, Socializing, Traveling, Assembly Required, Extreme Wood Working, Somewhat Expensive, (Depends on what one wants to invest), Brings Friends Together with one common Denominator, Fun and Relaxation.....In a Nut Shell,

Its a Hobby, Multifaceted, and A Career in Itself. Enjoy.

Nah...it's too ingrained from a nostalgia and social perspective.....Greg

Fair amount of shooters here. Maybe an OGR Day At The Range?

 

Also enjoyed atv's and slow, 4-stroke dirt bike lol ... bad compression fractures have pretty much put an end to that

 

 

K.C. Jones: LOL Gilly…I guess I’m more worried about Boo-Boo’s  Mama.

 

Boo-Boo's Mama killed a Rutgers U student hiking on a trail about 15 miles north of me this past Sunday.

Trains has always been my main hobby and will never be replaced by any other hobby.  I do love other hobbies though and when I get "burned out" from time to time I practice them. 

 

!. Genealogy

2. Photography

3. Real cars

4. Travel

5. Stamp collecting

 

Art

 

 

 

HEY EVERYBODY,

 

I HAD NO IDEA that my topic would generate such an avalanche of replies, with a few

"likes" thrown in as well!

 

Thanks for all your responses!  (I also enjoy building or buying lightning machines)

 

Another great topic that amassed a flood of replies was Scott T. Johnson's "Vignettes" topic in Scenery and Structures. 

 

RIP TRACK HAL

 

[Blue-eyed Barbie says hello)

 

Automobiles have historically occupied my "hobby place" even more than RR'ing, though they were mainly central in my under-50 days; today, I still keep up, and I buy quick cars, but the trains get more of my time, now.  

I have 2 cars, and a 2-car carport; had I a larger carport or garage, I'd have another.

If I had Jay Leno's money, I'd...well, you know. I still want that Ferrari 275 GTS, or

275 GTB....or Viper. 

=========

AMCDave - Javelin - sweet (the Alabama State Troopers used to use Javelins back in the

day for Interstate pursuit cars, in a nice dove gray "livery"; they tried Mustangs later,

but they were certainly not up to the Javelin's performance). Then there was the 2-seat

390 AMX I saw go at auction the other day for less than the price of a new minivan...

=====

Steamer - a Mopar and a Karmann Ghia - nice. My Karmann was red, also. Do I regret

selling? Duh.

Frankly I think that hobbies will go away since the younger generations are not interested in frankly much of anything at all. The less than successful ones work 2 or 3 jobs to pay rent and the rest work one job usually 60-80 hours a week because they are on a salary. I will enjoy what I have and have done the rounds from car racing, both road course and drag, car shows, restoring a couple of old cars, war gaming, computer gaming, slot cars, etc. and now came back to trains. Yes, it is a worthwhile hobby but our society does not give the younger generations any incentive to value the things learned in a hobby or past time.

I have may interests now and toy trains is one of them. Since I can remember I was interested in trains, real and model and toy trains. Just like RC cars, classic house and disco music I will love them for the rest of my life.  

Other hobbies have come and gone for me, you will pry the transformer handle from my cold dead hand.

Good point. I work in a professional job field and we have plenty of 20-somethings and most of them simply have no hobbies at all.

And we're hourly, the product of a class-action lawsuit in another state against our company, but we've all been working mandatory overtime for several years with NO end in sight, because it's cheaper for the company to pay millions in OT than hire more people with all the benefits. We have no stockholders, so there's nobody to answer to in that regard.

Heck, we were working at least 20 hours OT every week for the better part of 5 years because of new systems that made the work take almost twice as long, and we had our highest attrition rate ever (we've been around for several decades), even in the middle of the crappy economy before the company realized we did need a few more folks.

My point is, this is what the kids graduating college get to look forward to if they're lucky. And if anyone gripes, they get the knee-jerk, "You're lucky to have a job" response. God help most large companies like mine once the economy gets really good like it was for a while (nothing lasts forever, good or bad), because they won't be able to find anyone to put up with this. That happened in the last upturn; kids of college would hire on, realize they could do much better for the same money elsewhere, then immediately quit. We couldn't keep people at all. Then, the economy went south, the company got new op systems that simply didn't work for our staffing, and they could make us live at the office because few could do better as we pay the best in our industry.

I said plenty of times that if I'd wanted to have a job which didn't allow for any time off and made me work most of the time, I'd have stayed in the Army. Seriously, we can never get time off, I got denied for a request for time off for jury duty, which of course is illegal! Had to get a manager to tell the manpower tracking folks that they didn't get to tell me no for that.

I feel bad for these kids coming into the work force now. Remember when old people would say how good the younger generation has it? We can't say that anymore, I wouldn't wanna be 20-something again for all the money there is!

Last fall I sold all my extra stuff and was down to a 6x12 area running 4 trains.  Worked on the layout last winter and lost Interest.  This summer I sold everything but complete hogwarts & polar express sets.  Last weekend, I hauled the train tables up and burned them.  I worked on my train Saturday mornings.  I know spend Saturday working around the house.  I decided that I really need to drop a lot of weight.  I'm spending week nights planning meals and going in and exercising.  I do have a small ho layout that ill crack open this winter when the outside chores are done.   So I switched trains for exercising

I'll continue with p51's train of thought. I was a machinist in the heyday of the aerospace industry in southern Calif. If a young guy isn't college material today or just doesn't want to go I don't know what they can do. There still are some machine shop jobs but not near as much as a decade or two ago. And construction trades were a ticket to be solidly in the middle class.

Immigrant's finally broke the construction trades unions back and those good paying jobs are now gone.

When you have a lot of poor people competing for jobs with even poorer new immigrants guess what.

Los Angeles county has the highest percentage of people below the poverty line than anywhere in the nation.