Large Scale Central

End of the track

General Discussion
#1

Been contemplating for sometime, last six months, about ending my long time affliction with model trains. I started about 60 years ago ! My sight is not the best, my hands are getting a little stiffer as time goes along and my body ? 75 years old is closing in too fast for me.

I do have another hobby which is no problem within reason. It is metal detecting or searching for lost items. I have done this off and on for a lot of years. Have to rest more often now but since the weather is great, I can go out anytime and do see what I can find.

Aging is great but there comes a time to say, that’s it… Lots of On30 plus HO stuff that I am putting on eBay now and someday I’ll sell the small scale logging live steamers but they will be the last to go.

Sure has been interesting along the way going lots and lots of train shows and riding many rail tourist lines. Meeting many nice fellow train people here and there and online… The Big Train Show on the rusty boat was the best. Like everything else, time moves along with or without you.

We are making a trip on Amtrak around the States this September. And if we are still able, we will do it again next spring. A very nice way to visit our children and their kids too. We get to see out first great grand son as he is due to arrive in September.

WHAT A RIDE IT HAS BEEN !

The old Fardt in Hawaii

#2

Darryl,
Glad you’re enjoying your new home and hobby.
One door closes, another opens.
Ralph

#3

Darryl -

I’ve always enjoyed reading your posts and comments. Discontinuing your activity in the hobby doesn’t mean you need to disappear from the net. Be sure to stop in from time to time, pull up a stool and say hello. We’d even love to hear about your metal detecting finds in “other hobbies” :slight_smile:

#4

Darrul… Ya times goes on and we are feeling it to due to ya, we are 75 going on 76. We did get rid of a few Ho brass stuff we really didn’t need… but was nice just to own some during the yrs.
Now like you starting to get rid of a lot of it… We still have a 40 office trailer with a large ho layout out that runs on a computer that i through i would never get in to. So nice to just start up the layout and program a few trains to run. Then set back and watch with guess that swing by from time to time.

The Garden R.R. is large and starting to get to hard to keep up. We have a get-together group that usally run once a month here and is having a run next week on july 22, fri. night…
Boy It seems like i spend all my days for the last few week cleaning it up and repairs to the yard.

Our back yard is over 3/4 of an acre and now paying for it with my body. " Boat on large pond with cat fish, Large Koe ponds, Guess just a park. oh and lots of trains. "

Anyway keep posting stuff… You never get trains out of your sys. You been in to it to long as i have. Always love to set and talk trains anytime. If around this neck of the woods, look us up. We are always on here on MLS.com.
Or… Maybe we can run one of the big choo choo’s up above on the same tracks later on…

And for as other hobbys… We all need them to… we are not dead yet…lol.

Ya… what a ride…Been good yrs. Now stay at home folks.
Noel & Jane on a hill in Rio Linda, Ca. laf.

#5

Time marches on… but sometimes I want stick out my foot and trip it as it marches by.

Good luck on your new path.

#6

Thanks fellows for the comments. Oh I’ll still be around and visit now and then. Too much trains in my blood.

Early last year my old very dear friend in Las Vegas who modeled N scale asked me to help sell his empire. I did and it took probably three months to sell everything. Must have had over 2000 freight cars and a large number of engines for starts. Since his health is failng too, he didn’t want to play with trains in fact I doubt if he ran anything in the last couple years. He’s kind of alone as far as train fellows as most have left town or passed on. At least he has a loving wife of many years so he has someone.

I hope everyone has somebody in their life.

My wife is the greatest for she puts up with me. Yesterday we lost our female Yorkie after 11 good years. Advanced Kidney failure did her in. We have two male Yorkies, one a bit over 10 years old and the other Yorkie is near 4 years old.

I thankful I’m in good company.

TOF

#7

Darryl,

don’t do it. you are 75 - so what? and what happens, if you live on for another 20 years? without trains??
keep at least one little indoors layout.

i am a lot younger than you, but that guy with cloak and scithe is peeping around the corner already (heart)
i have brought to order everything, to make it easier for my widow to be. all, but the trains.
my wife decided, that i would be unbearable without my toys.
she said, that she will carry me off the layout when its time, and mothball the trains for future grandkids.

if you fear, you might not be able to do the necessary work, go found a club, donate your trains in change for a life membership. (or something along that line.)

“Too much trains in my blood.” - well, then don’t sacrifice your blood.

#8

Daryl,
I understand where you are at. Glad I kept my layout small, but does take time to weed. Two hail storms made a big mess also. We will probably move next year. I plan a elevated layout of some sort, blocks and back fill or up on posts. No ground level! Do keep a train to run at club meetings.

#9

I have not been in the hobby very long (going on six years), even so I am always saddened to hear when folks have to give up their railroading - for whatever reasons.

Many times since construction I have had inclinations to extend my track but have always managed to keep things on a small and simple scale. Realizing that time does fly past -especially after passing the biblical three score and ten - I accept the limitations my small back yard gives. A recent five week illness made emphasis on this fact. Luckily for me my wife takes care of most of the garden: I just mow lawns, keep large bushes and trees at bay and of course run the trains. lol

#10

Darryl, others have said it, but don’t give up on everything. My old pal Broos was not even fifty when he had a mighty stroke that laid him low for the best part of a year. That was ten years ago now, and he had to give up his beloved collection of H0 trains as his fine motor skills had left him on the right side. Thankfully, there ARE bigger trains to be had, as we all know, and that, plus a lot of hard work, has gotten him back a long way along the road to what he was.

As others have pointed out, trains are not an affliction, nor any kind of malady, but are a real escape into a smaller and more manageable world that we control totally. Saving a small empire will do you the world of good, I’m convinced of it - the benefits of having such an interest as we get older, and our broad minds and narrow waists gradually change places, are too well-known in medical circles to be ignored. a friend of mine helped set up an easy-care track in a retirement home a few years back, and it has paid real dividends to the occupants there, many of whom had never been that interested before.

You really don’t want to lose touch with your trains, and we sure as heck don’t want to lose you from here.

Think about it.

Best

tac

#11

Yea what Krom said;
I’m not quite as old as you Darryl.
But I’ve had my share of setbacks health wise, and I’m still working to pay for my last major set back.
I don’t ever consider throwing in the towel so to speak.
Maybe a go for moderation is in order. Yea I know we can’t do as much as we use to, but maybe we were doing too much before.
Rome wasn’t built in a day, and they had more help. Keep doing what you did only do it in smaller quantities.

#12

Darryl,

I will be 68 in October. Lost the sight in my right eye in 2003, but still stayed in the hobby, even designing a whole new layout! I had to turn a lot of building projects over to others to build or finish for me. Had to have brain surgery in April to correct a balance and gait problem. Still recovering from that. The older we get, we just have to accomodate for the new aches and pains. Hang in there and good luck.

#13

Darryl,

I agree with the advice the other guys are giving you. Downsize if you must but don’t give up on the trains. I’m pushing 72 pretty hard but I’m in the midst of building a new RR in the backyard of our new home. Yeah it’s more difficult to do many of the physical chores required to build and maintain an outdoor RR but consider it a challenge to be overcome in order to live your life the way YOU want to, not how other folks think old guys are supposed to.

Old age creeps up on everyone, but who says you have to accept it without a fight?

Best of luck in whatever you chose to do.

#14

Sorry to hear this but you got to do what feels right with you. I have know that putting aside any hobby can be tough but sometimes you reach a point where you know its time to give it a break. I did this with plastic kits a few years ago just couldn’t motivate myself anymore. Have fun with the new hobby any hobby that you enjoy is a good hobby.

#15

Darryl,

Those metal detectors can get heavy on a hot day. Put wheels on it and run it on rails. Be a good reason to keep that railroad track! Plus you could just turn it on and let it go. :wink: :smiley: Of course I guess you could pull out the rocking chair and binoculars and do some volcano watching. hehe!

We’re the same age and I need a fellow ol’ pfhart around here for moral support vs all these kids (under 70). :slight_smile: Besides I don’t want to fade out gracefully. I want to just blow my radiator and go out with a bang totally worn out without any useable parts left.

Anyway best wishes on your coming endeavors. I hope you don’t desert us entirely.

#16

My shooting pal Rick bought a metal detector to augment his failing income as a shepherd, and amazingly, the very first thing he found was an old metal detector…

tac

#17
tac said:
My shooting pal Rick bought a metal detector to augment his failing income as a shepherd, and amazingly, the very first thing he found was an old metal detector...

tac


Now that’s funny !!! :smiley:

(Edit to fix stupid typo)