File this under "Thoughts".
When I started more serious model railroading in the 1980's, I had such glorious plans. Marvelous plans. I wanted wide sweeping tracks, long strings of freight cars headed up by monster late steam. Huge fiddle yards. Mountainous terrain. Bridges. Trestles.
All perfectly accurate.
And none of it happened, at least in HO scale.
I did make multiple layout designs, a couple for clients, helped build two, made multiple floor layouts, but not once, ever, did I actually build a true home layout of any size.
Ever.
I did read a lot, though. Studied the heck out of the hobby. What ended up happening was attrition by perfection. Plus a really severe lack of personal stability (sadly).
One of the problems was a love for older, "junk: equipment.
One of my favorite locomotives was the old Marx 4-6-4 Hudson.
This locomotive was chock full of inaccuracies. The trucks on the tender were repurposed Blomberg diesel trucks. There really wasn't a lot of detail.
And of course the flanges were deep.
But it could run and pull everything you put behind it. A Hudson, a dedicated passenger locomotive, hauling freight? Marx made it happen (the equally lamented Athearn B&M Pacific could perform likewise).
I did manage a couple of "higher end" (chuckles) locomotives, usually Bachmann, but they were so fragile where gearing was concerned.
Track was another issue. Brass Code 100 was the order of the day. All of my more serious model railroader friends were screaming at me to go to nickel silver, but since everyone was dumping brass, I could get it cheap. I just had to keep it clean. Beside, my initial layout plans eventually grew smaller.
Forty years later, nothing ever came of it.
I built cars (freight, a couple of passenger cars), modified locomotives, built structures. And nothing ever happened.
Sigh.
Yes, I enjoy running my Marx Hudson. It is a real track pounder; you can feel it go by on the layout. The Plasticville side of my layout uses Life-Like steel code 100 EZ-track because that is what I had on hand when I first built it. I have been using it for 23 years now; it has endured two moves, and had no issues with it. It has no problem with the large flanges on the older equipment or the clockwork trains.
ReplyDeleteThe Island of Sodor side of my layout is almost exclusively brass track. I think brass track is an issue only if you are working in a basement, garage, or attic that is not climate or humidity controlled. Somewhat to my wife's chagrin, mine is in the front study of the house, I have had no trouble with it.
I have a very small Western Layout that is designed to be picked up and taken to the church or the railroad museum on special days. It has spent quite a bit of time stored in the garage, and I still have not had a problem with the brass track on it.