Editor’s Notebook
least a couple of evenings a week and an occasional weekend to complete. Larger layouts have the added benefit of bringing model- ers together. I have a close-knit group of modelers who come to my home every Tuesday night and help me build the railroad. I cherish their input, friendship, creativity, and, most of all, similar interests. I would not trade this part of the hobby for any amount of money in the bank. Most successful model rail-
A direct question Occasionally, I’ll hear a newbie
or a visitor comment on the cost of model railroading, especially when viewing large, completed layouts. “How do you have time to work on your railroad and do anything else in life?” Not want- ing to discourage a future model railroader, I confirm the hobby can be expensive, but I believe it to be scalable. You can definitely choose how much money (and time) you spend on it. Bigger is not necessarily better. The beauty of model railroad-
5947 East EMD FP45 5947 pulls down the lead at the Di- vision Point yard at Cen- tralia, Missouri. The train is just halfway across the Division and will be in St. Louis by sunset.
ing is that it is cumulative as well as scalable. You don’t have to buy everything at once. Locomotives I paid for and built in the early 1980s are still in service, operat- ing regularly on my Santa Fe St. Louis Division. As a young model railroader reading this, one of the greatest hints I can share with you as you dream about that “su- per layout” is purchase needed things regularly. Don’t fall into the trap of buying only locomo- tives and rolling stock. All lay- outs require foundational items, such as track, switch machines, and ballast. It may take years of monthly budgeting to accumulate enough scenery material to be able to tackle a large railroad. It is better (and easier) to purchase materials a little bit at a time versus trying to come up with the funds all at once. The same is true of how you
spend your time. Conditioning yourself to work regularly on your railroad yields great rewards. A large railroad will require at
10 RAILROAD MODEL CRAFTSMAN
roaders are good planners. I have seen very nice railroads in ex- tremely modest homes. The mod- elers who own those masterpiec- es have mastered budgeting both their time and finances. I will not even pretend to be an expert at budgeting, but I will say you have to face your limitations with optimistic realism. If you want to have a layout, you will have to learn to budget time, finances, skills, energy, and space. If you have a very high energy level and tend to finish things quickly, like my good friend Joe Kasper, then building a huge layout is prob- ably within your reach. However, if you regularly put off projects due to time or financial restraints or have hundreds of unbuilt kits lying around purchased with good intentions, undertaking a large layout may not be the best investment for you. Knowing your strengths and weaknesses will make all the difference in the world in relation to what you can accomplish.
To be successful at anything,
you must commit, and model railroading is a commitment — a scalable one, but a commitment nonetheless. How you allot your time, money, energy, and profes- sional and familial duties will have an impact on your ability to build and maintain a layout. I am a husband and a father; I spend time with my family, my church, my friends, and other worthwhile endeavors. However, you won’t find me watching hours upon hours of television, in a bar, or purchasing $100 tickets to a ball game. Instead, I have always had the drive to make progress on the layout. That is primarily why I have a large railroad. I have to admit, I am truly
blessed to have a wonderful and understanding wife, who not only encourages me to model railroad, but also joins me in the hobby. Cinthia understands the ups and downs of having an intense mod- el railroader husband. She “gets” me and enjoys my motivation and creativity. I know there are days when she wishes I would finish the bathroom tile project or bring home more “bacon.” However, she regularly tells me we share a great life, and she val- ues my creative, if quirky, drive. Cinthia understands I am insepa- rable from model railroading. We also acknowledge the hobby has introduced us to almost all our closest friends — many who we only see once or twice a year at conventions, and some who work
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