Quote:Tim, you seem to be suggesting that hand-laying track in general is a waste of time, because the work involved in hand-laying your track is the same regardless of whether the gauge is 45mm, 32mm, 70mm, or anything in between. I would counter with the notion that the aesthetic of hand-laid track is unmatched by any commercial track on the market, so if you're after a particular look to your track--regardless of the gauge--then you do the work to achieve it. So what if Craig can't run trains for a little bit while he builds enough track to make running a train worthwhile. That's his motivating requirement, thus worth the effort to achieve. That's the exact same scenario my dad and I faced 32 years ago when we were planning our railroad. There was no commercial track that did what we needed it to do, so dad and I spent 2 years building our own track and switches, laying it down 6' at a time. Sure, operations were "limited" (to say the least) during construction, but the results quickly proved worth the effort. If it's important to you, don't compromise.
... As a 'younger' modeller maybe you think that time is on your side and you have forever to build to your requirements. I can assure you that your available hobby time will become very limited as life and family interrupt your life. Right now maybe you think you have all the time in the world, but family responsibility will intervene and limit what time you really have. Will you spend all this time scratcbuilding new track (reinventing the wheel) or will you simply run trains and enjoy yourself doing so on commercially available track. Only time will tell. Dreams do not often become reality.
Yes, with an incompatible track gauge, Craig has to spend time resetting the wheels on each piece of equipment he buys. So what? I spend my time scratchbuilding or customizing each piece of equipment on my railroad. There’s no difference. Each is a mandatory step to ensure the model fits in well with what we’re trying to accomplish on our railroads. An under-gauged truck would be as detrimental to the atmosphere Craig’s working to create on his railroad as a shiny box car would be to mine.
A hobby isn’t a race to be won, but a journey to be enjoyed. There will always be things to take available time away from your hobbies. The key is to enjoy the time when you do have it. No, few of us will ever build our “dream” railroads. But can “dream” railroads even be built, or are they simply a collection of abstract ideals from which we choose when building in whatever location we happen to be? The trick isn’t to build your dream railroad, but build your railroad such that it allows you to dream.
Later,
K