# Hi kids! Just checking in to see what's happening.



## Amber (Jul 29, 2011)

I'm stopping by to see what's going on in the world of big trains. 
Life sneaks up on a person every now and then and changes the priorities, I kind of drifted away from the hobby for a while this last winter. I still have several projects on the back burner, such as the Quincy & Torch Lake rock cars and 2 engines that I was working on. The engines are sitting on a shelf where I can see them all the time, half done...I'll get back to them at some point. I've been slowly working on a kit bashed caboose using various parts from ebay. I found a Kalamazoo caboose floor on ebay that started the process. I had bought a Bachmann combine car to take the roof for a different project involving a Delton passenger car body, and I decided to use the Bachmann combine body to cut up for the caboose sides. I've been pecking around with that for several months now, off and on, but I finally finished cutting and splicing the body parts, and it actually fits on the Kalamazoo floor pretty well. 
My big veggie garden has been keeping me busy for the last couple of months during the day, and at night, I just seem to sit in front of this computer on facebook... Better than zoning out on the tv, I guess. At least it's interactive. 

My enthusiasm for the hobby is starting to come back a bit more now, so maybe I'll even get a bit more done on my projects.


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## HampshireCountyNarrowGage (Apr 4, 2012)

Welcome back Amber. We've all been wondering where you were. I've been in this hobby for 53 years. There were dead spots along the way, but it all come's back.


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## Amber (Jul 29, 2011)

I'm not a winter person, but I live in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, just across the border with Wisconsin, and the winters are long here. I tend to get into semi hibernation mode where I just have my daily routine and not much else. Some people call it "cabin fever" some call it "seasonal affected disorder", I call it lingering depression. My garden is what gets me out of that and back into the land of the living. Then the other projects start to become interesting again.


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## NTCGRR (Jan 2, 2008)

Hi Amber 
I've been going to the backyard railroading and the 1" scale site on faceless book. really active. I'm trying to learn about their RC battery stuff that works with higher amps. 
Have one ordered to try it out. I just keep spraying weeds in the GRR. 
I have the same thing seasonal depression usually is gone in summer but now last longer each year.


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## GN_Rocky (Jan 6, 2008)

Happens to all of us at one time or another. I haven't posted on my building thread in weeks, months or whenever.
Since Oct. I've lost my Mother in law, one close pet, had my basement flood from sewer back up twice, crazy Christmas, my father almost pass in MN, then come here for rehab. Then my wife had knee surgery, then the fight over mom in laws estate with evil brother in laws. Lastly 2 trips (driving) to MN from GA, first to move dad home and then into an assisted living center -a nice one. Next trip up to MN was to clean out his house and get it ready for the realtor. All this since last fall and then trying to have a big party on the 4th which most folks bailed on due to rain. But I'm trying to get back into building the layout again. So I'm going to try a new approach and get a fellow G scaler and friend to come over to help me work on the layout. This might spark my flame to get started on building again. There' sooo much to do besides trains like hanging some more drywall and sorting/storing all the non train junk that came down in the cave since this fall. Also having 12 full sheets of drywall and 20 2x4s didn't help either. But if I get stuff moved around, get the drywall up, I could get back into the swing of things too. I plan on sending my friend home with some buildings and non Hill Lines cars I'm not using which will help me make some room down there to store more stuff. The stuff I give him will help him on his layout too









Yep, when things get tough and pile up on ya, it kinda cools down the urge to play trains.
Oh, I've built rolling stock and put interesting loads on cars these past months, and made some cool signals, but it's not been done in the Goat cave.
I've been avoiding spending time down there. Time to change back into layout mode again !!!

Rocky


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## Amber (Jul 29, 2011)

I know what you mean about SAD lingering a little longer every year, Marty, this was a long cold spring here. 
I sold off most of my O'n30 stuff last winter for extra money for large scale parts and some other stuff. I still have my scratch built stuff, one Bachmann 2-6-0, and a few modified cars that might be hard to sell on ebay. I just don't have room in my part of the house for an indoor layout of any kind, and I have drifted toward the larger scales and lost interest in the smaller scales. I started doing some modelling in 2 inch scale a couple of years ago, but I'm kind of stuch on those projects due to lack of certain parts like wheels and truck parts. I can find stuff that would work, I just can't afford to buy the parts right now. The reason I chose 2 inch scale is because it's the right size for G I Joe and Barbie type figures. I started making track sections last year for 2 foot gauge in that scale with code 332 brass track pieces. I think it works out to somewhere between 20lb and 30lb rail in that gauge, basically mine rail size. I'm starting to get the urge to get back to that now, along with putting some G scale track outside for the summer and fall so that I can run my battery powered 0-4-0T that I set up last year. I'll probably set up the track in my veggie garden again like I did 2 years ago.


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## aceinspp (Jan 2, 2008)

Amber: A good friend of mine lives near you in Ironwood and have heard about the long winter you have had but Just heard that you all had good weather over the 4th. So that should have gotten you back in the mood. I have been in the hobby for 57 years and I also take a break every now and then but I never stray far. It's a good hobby which also relives stress and other concerns. Later RJD


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## Steve Stockham (Jan 2, 2008)

For those of us that have been in the hobby for a decade or two, we seem to go through stages. My son is almost a teenager and has moved on from trains to starships and alien invasions on the X-Box. Last summer was _brutal_ on the garden! Every evergreen was burned on the southwest side down to the trunk.







I'm slowly getting the garden back together but the canine wrecking duo decided that tunnel portals were great chew toys (!) I thought I would burst a blood vessel over that one but it was when I realized that half of the bracing on my trestle had been chewed off that I really lost it!! It's bad enough that I have to deal with all kinds of weeds and that the plants need constant attention (contrary to popular belief, I am _not_ a gardener!!) Now, I have Tweedle dumb and Tweedle dumber tearing up the layout on a regular basis! (*sigh) It's getting harder and harder to put the effort needed into this hobby each year! At this rate, the layout will be ready for trains sometime in August...


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## norman (Jan 6, 2008)

Hi Amber: 

In terms of Cabin Fever you need to take up a Winter sport or else vacation down in Florida. 

Most Canadians now simply give up the Winter sport idea and take several brief Florida or Mexico escapes from Winter. 

During the Winter, I have often been reminded of the mental strength of a late Aunt who during the 1930's lived in an isolated cabin in Northern Quebec. Her husband passed away during the height of Winter following which my Aunt properly wrapped up his corps and stored him in an outside shed until Spring arrived for her to transport his corps for burial. 

No television ( 1930's), no radio, no telephone ( too isolated ) and no human contact ( husband deceast ) until Spring arrived. Now that is definitely cabin fever. 

Maybe you could relocate to North or South Carolina? That seems to be the best compromise between too hot or too cold. 

David Fletcher is lucky as his Australian location means no Cabin Fever for him and hence he is a highly productive model train builder. 

Think of Model Railroading in the same terms of reading a book or going to a movie. 

Model Railroading is not an occupation. Model Railroading is simply an activity to occupy your spare time to relieve boredom. That is all it is. Nothing more. 

Furthermore, it matters not if our modelling efforts are prototypical or of the correct scale to gauge ratio. All that matters is that the activity of building a model locomotive brings one enjoyment and relaxation. 

The truth or the fact of life is that when we all eventually pass on, our models will either end up in the landfill or sold off by our surviving relatives for a fraction of monetary value. 

Keep this hobby in perspective. It is unfortunate that there are always fellow hobbyists who do not have the presence of mind to " stiffle themselves" and blurt out how someone is in the wrong scale or is using the wrong method to power their locos and on and on. I have learned to avoid those people. They suck all of the enjoyment out of the hobby. 

What brings me even more enjoyment than a model locomotive is to build a Guillows balsa wood biplane ( rubber powered ) and release it on a warm summer's evening. That simple Guillows model transports me back in time to my carefree childhood days and flying model airplanes with my late Father. 

Amber, I have tried all of the scales except for Z. If largescale later no longer interests you, feel free to move on to another scale. Chose whatever scale or era that interests you at the time. 

A close high school friend of mine has recently committed suicide. He has left behind a Wife with a young child and created a lot of grief for all of those around him. There is an example of not keeping life in proper perspective. No prior indicatiion of any trouble. Just here one day and then gone the next. 

Hobbies are far more important for our mental health than we sometimes realise. 


Norman


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## Amber (Jul 29, 2011)

I gotta agree with you there, Norman! 
I'm actually looking forward to putting the track in the garden this year so I can do some more "garden railroad" pictures. Ya gotta haul those tomatoes out of the garden somehow.


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## Pete Thornton (Jan 2, 2008)

In terms of Cabin Fever you need to take up a Winter sport or else vacation down in Florida 
Hmmm... 
We have a little condo in Florida to escape Maryland taxes, and spending the whole winter there gets tricky. I have two sets of tools, two work benches, and trains scattered all over the place. And a nasty attack of Reverse Cabin Fever; the wife kept me so busy I didn't have time to make the two Hartford wooden ore hoppers (thanks, Amber, for the photos,) and there is a coach on my MD bench that has been waiting for me to finish it since last summer. 

The good news is that a few buddies come to FL for a vacation, some bringing trains after DH, so we go play on Andrew's track!


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## Amber (Jul 29, 2011)

Do you want any more pictures, Pete? We're going up to that area tomorrow, the weather is supposed to be pretty good.


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## Pete Thornton (Jan 2, 2008)

Do you want any more pictures 
Thanks, but no. I'm converting them to EBT hoppers anyway, so it's more a question of adjusting the wooden parts.


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