How Finished is Your Model Railroad Layout?


I started in 1969 with a LaBelle Passenger car wood kit I bought at Lennox Hobbies.

The next 30 years I just built some modules to operate on and built lots of RR equipment of the 1930 to 1950 period -- plus lots of buildings I still have on my latest layout attempt. I have revised most of the models several times. The present layout started in a 20x20 room in 2009. It still has room for expansion but upgrading (finishing) the existing sections takes up time needed for expansion.

Over the years many things (other hobbies) took up chunks of time from the model RR efforts. career/job things of course. Building and driving SCCA racecars was the biggest hobby distraction plus restoring old AMXs and Javelins.

Next came designing and modifying radio receivers and antennas for distant reception. Playing on softball leagues and later coaching was another time gobbler for many years. Video production started in 1994 and that took time away. Retirement from engineering opened up more time. But I always drifted back to the model trains. :)
 
Sounds like you got a bit of a jump on me. Had some what of a layout in the early 60's but went into the service. In the 70's is when I started into N scale, mainly due to lack of space. When I finally got back to Montana in 1977 I expanded my N scale but really got discouraged because of the crappy running locomotives at the time and moved to HO scale somewhere in the early 80's. At least a year went into planning and finally bench work went up around 1983 I believe.

Other hobbies. Yes, other hobbies. Besides flying which I do any time I can get a chance, I love to restore classic cars. That can get time consuming. Again, thanks to the internet, it is a lot easier now than it was in the 80's. I probably spent more time looking for parts than I did actually working on the cars sometimes. My wife and I also love bowling and attend a number of tournaments each year, many of them out of state. Sometimes there is an advantege to this because sometimes I can find a good hobby shop while on the road trip.

I guess it really doesn't matter so long as you can enjoy model railroading.
 
wombat457 said:
Yes I do, that one is about 99.9% finished - BUT I let NS ​play with them :D
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LOL! Well played, I was going to bring that up but I could not remember just how close they run to your house! That is very cool, I would not mind living closer to the tracks again.
 
Hi all !

I will probably never be 100 % finished, - I have some faint views, that if everything were ready and finished on day one,
it would spoil the fun working with it. (although some have too complicated goals to try to finish) - here in my country many
sometimes forgets that dollars&cents are an important player in this game.

There is so many variants of this hobby, - som are experts in the scenery, some are experts in the electronics,
some just collect the trains and most of them are satisfied with the result.

It is also interesting to note, that the model railroad hobby is quite international.

all the best from John

PS: The outside temperature is creeping down to about 4C here now, that's is 39F.
 
I'm actually "Unfinishing" mine. It's being dismantled.

All the code 83 track, turnouts and structures are being sold along with some HOn3 turnouts, track and some shays, lots of rolling stock, vehicle kits and scenery stuff never opened. Because the benchwork is 1/4" ply with Homosote over it and the sections 2 feet by 6, 7 or 8 feet long are clean it'll make a nice starting point for someone else. Interested parties Email me.
 
I started building mine Aug, 2014 and am about 85% complete. Right now I am adding a backdrop and lights above some of the key areas of the layout. Then a little more scenery and will be sliding the entire 14 x 16 train table back into the free standing backdrop.
 
I started mine about 2 years ago. The track is 100%. Ballast is 66%. Scenery is about 25%, most basic forms are there. I keep running trains instead of working on the layout. My layout has only 6-1/2' x5' of visible space, more square feet are staging.

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I got my current layout in 2003 from an estate, moved it to my house in 2004 due to health problems. I made fine progress on it for about one year and then lost the job I had then. I ended up working mostly night shift for the next 3 years and did nothing on the layout. It's been an on-again, off-again process for the last eight years or so. I think it's about 45% complete overall, with funding having been the biggest stumbling block in the past. With the increasing emphasis on technology and ready to run over actually modeling, I'm not sure that the layout will progress much further than it is now. I am not interested in converting to DCC and all that "stuff".
 
I understand the money thing. Fortunately I bought most of the locomotives I need before I went broke. Now the locomotives I want will probably stay on my wish list. I picked an era where most of my cars are Accurail kits. I would have 1/4 the cars if modeling current era. A six axle locomotive pulling 6 cars would look funny. Running light most of the time would seem weird.

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RBMNfan:

it's not just the money thing, it's the way the whole hobby has been going. It's all ready to run, high tech gizmos and extreme detailing. Why do I need every bit of brake line piping detailed on a box car model that now costs so much I don't dare put it on my layout because if it derails it will break? I've read enough horror stories about problems with programming locos and who knows what other accessories that I don't want it on my layout. I spend over 8 hours a day at work in front of a computer that I don't need it at home too! It's that kind of stuff that is turning me off to the hobby.

If that makes me a luddite, so be it.
 
I am building boxcar and hopper car kits in 2015. At a cost of $12-15 apiece. I have 5 pieces of rolling stock that were ready to run. I don't have the skills to build passenger cars so I splurged and bought them. I do enjoy technology and use DCC. The low end DCC systems will run a small layout without complicated options you don't need. Without moving forward this hobby will die off. I always try to improve my skills. I am honestly not jealous of those with large amounts of space. I don't have the time or skills or money to build a basement size layout.

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By RBMNfan;

I understand the money thing. Fortunately I bought most of the locomotives I need before I went broke. Now the locomotives I want will probably stay on my wish list.
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I'm primarily in the buying mode now but do get some modeling done. I've got about three years to go before I retire and I plan on making most of the major purchases now. I've built some laser cut wood buildings and some white metal farm vehicles, as well as installing DCC decoders in my locos as I buy them. If I get started on my layout before I retire I would be very happy and it will be built in modules so it can be moved with us. I'm starting to concentrate more on buildings, tools and scenery items. It's hard to wait on starting but I'm planning and dreaming of when I get started. I've got a real good idea for my basic plan, now I just need to see how much room I ultimately end up having available.
 
photoman475 said:
RBMNfan:

it's not just the money thing, it's the way the whole hobby has been going. It's all ready to run, high tech gizmos and extreme detailing. Why do I need every bit of brake line piping detailed on a box car model that now costs so much I don't dare put it on my layout because if it derails it will break? I've read enough horror stories about problems with programming locos and who knows what other accessories that I don't want it on my layout. I spend over 8 hours a day at work in front of a computer that I don't need it at home too! It's that kind of stuff that is turning me off to the hobby.

If that makes me a luddite, so be it.
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I can agree with you to a point. Most of my rolling stock is old Athearn blue box cars that have been weathered. I have some newer cars such as Kadee which have excellent details but I'm not really worried about the under side of the car with all of the brake lines and such. My cars are usually on their wheels and you can't see the underside. I can put the highly detailed cars in a train with my old Athearn cars and unless you get right up close you really can't tell the difference.

I have no plans whatsoever to change from DC to DCC. What I have now has been working for me just fine for decades. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. I can't count how many posts I have seen about people having questions on decoders and problems with DCC. My layout is built for switching and the only time I run more than one locomotive at a time is when I need a helper pulling a train up a grade. If I were to try to run more than one locomotive at a time on my single track main line, without a doubt, I would have a wreck and then the undersides of my cheapie freight cars would probably show. I'm like you and sit in front of a computer all day long. My trains are an escape from technology.

I will happily admit that I do like to have details, scenery is something I do enjoy but I can't see getting carried away detailing locomotives and freight cars. Some of my early locomotives were custom painted and detailed, but I am more or less over that now. I am lucky that for the most part that my layout is fairly complete, but I will probably go back and update some older parts of the layout in time.
 
Yes Montanan is correct....a well weathered Blue Box traveling in a train still makes a statement and can add to the realism of a freight moving through the countryside.

Thanks.

Greg
 
I would guess my HO layout is probably 99% "complete", but there are always little things that can be done to enhance it. For example, I have never ballasted my track! With cork roadbed under the track, it doesn't look too bad; running characteristics are excellent without any "gravel" to bollix things up. I may add some additional interlocking signals. I have a Bachman doodlebug that needs a new power truck and a Burlington Route frontend paint job. I run mostly DC, but I wouldn't mind adding DCC and sound to at least one of my kitbashed Mantua 2-10-4's that has already been re-motored.

So far as weathering my rolling stock is concerned, I have a bunch of cars that sat around for 20 years, that have collected dust and grime. A shot of stabilizing Dull Cote took care of as much weathering as I care to do. Since this will be an election year on my layout (1948), I will take out the "Ferdinand Magellan" with President Harry Truman, Bess and a campaign aid on the rear platform, and run them on the layout. (I do need to remove the lettering proclaiming the car to be United States and the name of the car, as research subsequent to my decorating the car revealed they had no lettering on it for security reasons! The little boy sitting on his father's shoulders, waiting for the "Whistlestop Special" at Galesburg, Illinois, is still there...on the layout. The father, a staunch Republican plans to vote for Gov. Tom Dewey, but feels his 6-year-old son should see The President. The train the man and boy, and Mom, too, is sidetracked until the Special clears. (I recall we probably couldn't get within about 50-100 yards due to the crowds, but I did see President Truman on the rear platform!) There isn't room on the layout for a crowd of hundreds of HO-scale people. Just a few...selective compression, you know! So, there is always some additions you can do to your layout, short of tearing it down and starting over! ;)
 
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