# If only I had one hobby. Do you suffer the same problem?



## Randy Stone (Jan 2, 2008)

Yes if only. I'd have the spare money to build that big fantastic outdoor G layout. But, I have American Flyer S gauge trains, HO trains, and a large toy car collections that share the mad money. Oh, yes I also am into real hot rods. A 32 Ford Hot Rod and a Z06 Corvette.
So, instead of the big layout with large radius curves, I've built a small layout on my 20 foot long by 60 inch wide table in my shop. Why so narrow, well the trains have to share the shop space with the 32 Ford, Z06 Corvette, my son's 72 Demon drag car along with the lawn equipment and all the other stuff that finds it's way to the shop.
Being I'm using 2 ft radius/4 ft diameter curves and switches, I figured I would be running my LGB 2-4-0 and 2-6-0 American Steam engines and maybe the NW2 Cow and Calf. My favorite cars are my Aristo Craft B&O 2 bay coal hoppers and USAT Center Copula B&O Cabeese. BUT, I had forgot that the Kadee 906 couplers body mounted to the hoppers and cabeese will not allow the cars to traverse a 2 ft radius curve or switch. So, yes I have plenty of MDC/Piko coal hoppers to pull, but do I want to go to the trouble of modifying the 906 couplers so the cars will work?


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## Semper Vaporo (Jan 2, 2008)

At least several of your hobbies are "train" related or at least "mechanical" in nature.

Beside my two Aster Mikes,... well... here is a wide angle view of my living room:










I no longer "acquire" new dolls, they demand too much caviar and Champaign for me to afford more of them. Besides, there is hardly room to turn around in there.

My latest "project" is a fiction melodrama novel that I am in the throws of finishing up (edit, edit, edit and edit some more!).


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## Dave Meashey (Jan 2, 2008)

Randy;

My other hobby is music: chancel choir, handbell choir, singing folk & railroad songs while playing my autoharp, and playing steel drums. I am in two steel drum bands: Feel The Steel (a beginners' band I help with) and Panamania (the Quest organization's main concert band). The lady in the foreground in the photo is my wife, Kathy.










The drums Kathy is playing are called double seconds. I play the bass drums. Imagine six full-sized 55 gal. oil drums, each holds three notes on the drum head. I'm glad the band owns the drums. Their cost makes live steamers seem cheap by comparison. It sure is fun, though.

Best wishes,
David Meashey


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## on30gn15 (May 23, 2009)

Semper Vaporo said:


> I no longer "acquire" new dolls, they demand too much caviar and Champaign for me to afford more of them. Besides, there is hardly room to turn around in there.


Around turn of centruy I had a friend who was in to collecting dolls - some of them folks play hardball with a vengeance, Carol had quite some stories to tell.

Oh, let's see:
Trains - G, Gn15, On30, HO
Kites
and less often any more:
Model rockets 
Static models, mostly space and sci fi
and in the no hurry to arrive at the destination, category:
A sci-fi/fantasy story I've on and off played at writing, and drawing stuff for, for about 5 weeks every 4 years since in late 1970s reading in school library a Star Trek short stores book where one story began with "The ship was beautiful" Okay, what would be a beautiful ship coming from out of my own person and being? And then of course its people needed a story. Given that I'm mildly autistic, it has turned out to have a different flavor from what's on the shelves in the bookstore.


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## chuck n (Jan 2, 2008)

If I had only one hobby, I'd ultimately be boRRRRed. My principle hobbies are "G" trains, fly fishing and when possible skiing.

This past Easter I was able to go skiing at Copper Mountain with my son. It was a perfect day, EVERYTHING, snow, temperature, clear blue sky. It started out with the top strap on my 30+ year old left boot breaking. It had been a couple of years since my last expedition on the boards, so I was worried if at 75 it would be a last time on the slopes. NOT. I'll need some new boots, but old hobbies never die. They just may go dormant for a short time.

Fortunately, Randy, my skis, ski clothes, etc., are at my son's house in Denver, not my garage.

Chuck


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## SD90WLMT (Feb 16, 2010)

Your garage just needs be 6 feet deeper buddy... LOL...
..not the number of hobbies..park cars in the Living room..

Think I see the Piko hopper you acquired from me..DRGW!!


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## chuck n (Jan 2, 2008)

Dirk

I have two garages, Arizona and Virginia, a car hasn't seen the inside of either for 25 years.

Skis might fit, but it wil be a tight fit. 

I'd rather leave them in Denver.

Chuck


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## riderdan (Jan 2, 2014)

Hobbies:

Trains (G and Z scales), old cars (sold my 31' Ford, taking Auto Restoration classes at McPherson College), pinball and video game machines, and reading.

The thing is, the G scale trains are my current focus, as it's something to do outside with the kids, allows me to engage in model-making and gardening, and mostly keeps me out of mischief. I'm pretty sure that as someone on here told me once, I'll never be done... and when it's time to move to a new place after I'm done with school, I expect I'll start all over and enjoy it just as much


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## JackM (Jul 29, 2008)

Suggestion to Randy - move the trains outside (if I may presume you have any room at all). You might find room for a whole 'nother car inside!

And like many, my second hobby is automotive. Only mine are not yet classics and they're all "daily drivers". Three Peugeot 405s - two are Mi16s (you gotta be really into European cars to appreciate that designation).

Advantage to having three practically identical cars: one-third as many spare parts.

JackM


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## Randy Stone (Jan 2, 2008)

I'd love to put the railroad outside, but until it can be at least 3 feet off the ground, it will stay in the shop. I just can't handle getting down on the ground and back up anymore. The other reason or depending on how you look at it, problem, I seem to be more of a collector than operator. So putting 2-3 thousand into a nice looking layout base seems risky.


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## JackM (Jul 29, 2008)

Well, if you're more collector, the garage seems like the right place for you. And since I'm a northerner, I don't know what you'd be up against outside; I just tilled up a path thru the flowerbeds, added more soil, formed, tamped and added stone. No one could be more surprised that it still looks decent. Being up three feet does sound nice, tho. 

Of course I did all that stuff back in 2009. I was just 66 then. Gettin' back up wasn't so tough. Nowadays, no matter where I work on the layout, I take with me one of those bright yellow pails Preen comes in. Makes it nicer to have something to push up against.

JackM


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## CliffyJ (Apr 29, 2009)

I hope collecting is ok Randy, because I sure do it! And you've sure got several amazing collections. 

I'm glad that you now have the option to create an outdoor layout; but that doesn't mean you're forced to. But if and when you design your layout, good for you that you've already decided that it will be comfortable: 3' high, and therefore free of many maintenance & landscaping issues that we on-the-ground guys deal with. 

So, now I'm wondering. Have you thought of a way to use what you have in the garage as a storage facility, and extend it to an outdoor loop? And perhaps gradually extend it from there? 

Cliff


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## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

Besides the railroad, these keep me out of the pool halls.

This one was used by Wheeler Dealers in the filming of the restoration of the '64 Vette. You see it in the first 2 minutes of the episode.



















Bought this one new with every option. Still have it.










That passion for back to ~1984.

But even when I as a kid I had a passion for high end JBLs. I enlarged these L200 cabinets by ~1/2 cu ft by raising them to better ear level and reduce floor bounce.

Then I cut out their backs to install the long horns and made new back covers and added the slot radiators. Horns are treated with a rubber compound to remove any "ringing."

I also redesigned and built the crossovers using high end components and by-pass caps. All components are vintage AlNiCo and have had their magnets recently recharged. Center channel is actually a 6 cu ft cabinet for the center and a 4 cu ft cabinet for the sub, a JBL W15GTi powered by a Crown PSA-2XH pushing ~800 watts RMS into the 12 ohm load in bridged mono. A Yamaha RX-Z9 runs the system and I have SACD and DVD-Audio and a turntable for analog and high definition/multichannel tunes.

That' a 2,700 watt Sunfire Signature on the floor. The military used those in the helicopter simulator trainers and it easily keeps up with the rest of the system. After having it repaired twice, I pulled the amp out of the cabinet and put it in a separate cabinet. They literally shake themselves apart and the components loose their internal connections. This also gave the cabinet a bit more internal space maybe helping the sound a bit.


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## Randy Stone (Jan 2, 2008)

If and when I do put in an outside layout, a spur leading inside will be a priority. I guess I could put my trains together inside and then run them down a long grade to ground level after exiting the back of the shop. It would be around 42 inches I'd have to descend. At a 2% grade, I'd bee looking at 200 feet? That's 2 times around the shop.


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## Trains (Jan 2, 2008)

G scale, N scale in the winter, boating, fishing and picking up trash at the lake when I walk.

Don


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## CliffyJ (Apr 29, 2009)

Randy... how about a plan view of your nice digs, showing your garage storage shelves, important walls and doors, and the real estate outside that you've been allowed to mess with?


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## riderdan (Jan 2, 2014)

Randy Stone said:


> If and when I do put in an outside layout, a spur leading inside will be a priority. I guess I could put my trains together inside and then run them down a long grade to ground level after exiting the back of the shop. It would be around 42 inches I'd have to descend. At a 2% grade, I'd bee looking at 200 feet? That's 2 times around the shop.


You just need a helix


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## Tom Lapointe (Jan 2, 2008)

My only problem is *too many money-absorbing* hobbies!  The last few days, I've been doing some maintenance on the outdoor layout to get it ready for the season. Just added two new pieces of rolling stock, a 2nd Bachmann 3-truck Shay (presently awaiting a DCC & sound decoder, Kadee couplers, & lettering), & just ordered another Bachmann Spectrum long caboose.  Also made the decision to start an indoor HO layout over the past winter for when the weather isn't suitable for outdoor running. The prime factor in getting into HO was the availability over recent years of absolutely *gorgeous*  New Haven railroad prototypes - first purchase was a Broadway Limited New Haven I-5 "Shoreliner" streamlined 4-6-4 , quickly followed by a BLI NH I-4 Pacific 4-6-2, both with factory DCC sound decoders & *EXCELLENT*  synchronized smoke units. I've also got about another 7 HO locos from Bachmann, Walthers, & Atlas awaiting DCC & possibly sound installs as well. Have a temporary 4 X 8 HO "test" layout up-&-running, & about to begin construction on a large modular New Haven - themed HO layout. 

As to other, "non-railroad" hobbies? Been a serious amateur videographer for years, with some obvious overlap for railfanning. Into home theatre to some extent, related to the videography interests. RC aircraft as well, primarily electrically-powered fixed-wing aerobatic planes, although have started playing with quadcopters the last several years as well. I've been an amateur radio operator since age 16; somewhat inactive in that hobby compared to past years, but still have a lot of equipment & some interest in it. Also serious exercise freak, in spite of a couple of serious knee injuries  about 13 years ago that (in addition to getting into the "senior citizen"  age range), have slowed me down somewhat. I've been an endurance swimmer since age 22, still try to swim a mile to a mile-&-1/4 nonstop (that's 72 to 90 times across a 75-foot pool, flip-turning at the ends) 2 to 3 times a week. Waiting at the moment to get my Catrike recumbent trike back from a local bike shop after a major overhaul so I can resume 22 to 35 mile bike rides a couple times a week (it was the bike riding that got me "into" New Haven Railroad history - all the local "rail trails" are abandoned ex-New Haven branch lines).  *Tom*


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## stevedenver (Jan 6, 2008)

Z,n,g
E type
Guitar , bass, and mandolin, amps....
Mountaineering and camping stuff
Bikes

Randy, I get having a smaller inside loop. Your up front and close w trains, they stay nice, it's manageable.and it's ready when you are. Just turn it on. Little if any track care or issues.

Outdoor efforts....pricey yes, but oh so much time, effort, and thought. However, once you commit, there's money, even if you do it over a few years. The biggest drawback, imho, is they require a lot more management for top performance and appearance. Unless of course, you run live steam and have few structures.


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## Mike Flea (Apr 8, 2014)

Besides G scale, I also build RC rock crawlers and racers. I find "toy grade" bodies in the trash or at garage sales, and put "hobby grade" frames, servo's, motor's, and axles under them. I just recently completed an early 60's Hasbro G.I. Joe Jeep.


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## Jerry McColgan (Feb 8, 2008)

No need to list my other hobbies as the older I get, the less time, energy and interest I have to do those things (losing my medical helped a lot).

I doubt I am alone in finding little interest these days in buying & building "stuff."

My goal now is to just run the wheels off everything.

Somehow I always was focused on building & expanding and somehow I found that I was 71 instead of 45. Too soon old & too late smart...

Nah!!!

I'm still having fun...

It just is getting harder to get off my knees but thankfully I built almost everything elevated.

Cheers,

Jerry


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## stevedenver (Jan 6, 2008)

Mike Flea said:


> Besides G scale, I also build RC rock crawlers and racers. I find "toy grade" bodies in the trash or at garage sales, and put "hobby grade" frames, servo's, motor's, and axles under them. I just recently completed an early 60's Hasbro G.I. Joe Jeep.


Did you chose to change those hard plastic tires???
I had one, my son has the reissue, (stored away)...always loved those huge Jeeps.


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## Mike Flea (Apr 8, 2014)

stevedenver said:


> Did you chose to change those hard plastic tires???
> I had one, my son has the reissue, (stored away)...always loved those huge Jeeps.


 Ya, it runs 2.2 Pro-Line TSL SX's, on AR60 axles, with a 55t motor, for a scale, slow speed crawl. The build thread is on RCCrawler, in the Large Scale section.


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## stevedenver (Jan 6, 2008)

Cool. Lighted headlights?


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## afinegan (Jan 2, 2008)

Combining my drone photography hobby with my live steam club at Tradewinds & Atlantic (make sure you up the quality, it is a 4k video if your machine can handle it lol)





I had my berk and hudson around the corner on the gauge 1 track lol


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## Mike Flea (Apr 8, 2014)

stevedenver said:


> Cool. Lighted headlights?


 Yes, I epoxied a couple battery powered clip-on book lights to the back of the stock headlights, and the taillights are grain-of-wheat bulbs, hooked up to a 9v battery hidden in the jerry can.


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## San Juan (Jan 3, 2008)

Same hobby I guess, but different scales.

Links layout photo pages:

*G*

*O*

*HO

*And similar in nature, but my dad and I are into collecting railroad memorabilia.

Link to that photo page:

*Rail Memorabilia*


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## barnmichael (Jan 2, 2008)

Gosh, a bunch of them. I go in cycles, play with one for a while, lay it aside, play with another, and so on. G gauge trains, ham radio, computers, FTA satellite TV, and various other things sneak in now and then. Now I'm moving after 10 years in this house. A lot to get rid of with tears in my eyes.


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