How much time to you spend

[ezdays]

I'm curious, I've seen a lot of pictures of stuff you have all done, be it a kitbash, a layout, weathering a car or anything to do with model railroading. It would be interesting to know how much time each of you have for the hobby. How much time in a week do you actually spend building scenery, working on cars or locos or working on yours, your club's or someone else's layout or just running trains,

 

[cidchase]

Good Poll, Don! :thumb:
Sure wish I had more layout time, myself!
So what am I doing here??
(bein' a social animal, as they say)

 

[ausien]

Hi Don,
I go for the third option, but latly it should be the first but for the independently weathly part. in the last three weeks I have spent spent about 180-200 hours on the HO layout and my own layout is getting neglected, but did manage to spend saturday on the Feather river...only about 6 leangths of track to lay in the yards and the track work is completed (finaly), then its the wiring to do(its only jury riged for now)...being medicaly retired means I get to do what I like best and work on trains, mine, clubs, or anybody elses...have a good one...steve

 

[trains1972]

I am out of work right now so the wealthly part in the first one has to come out. I spend about 5 hours a day working on the layout and then several hours running the trains during the day.

 

[hudsonelectric]

Very good questions, Don. I essentially do what I can, when I can. MRRing isn't my only spare-time hobby...I also have two websites that I host and have a whole series of books that I'm currentl trying to read, too. Then there's the work on the house...the basement RR room needs finishing, I have to paint the lower portion of the house, I have to install a new toilet downstairs, etc. etc. etc.

 

[rksstl]

I try to do something every day. Even if it is cleaning up the mess i make over the weekend, and if I don't have time to clean up I'll at least run a train every day for 10 to 15 min. Helps keep the track clean ( thats my excuse and I'm stickin to it.)

 

[brakie]

After being medically retired I have become a full time modeler and railfan..IMHO it doesn't get any better then that.. :thumb:

 

[Livesteam]

Last time i remember i worked on my trains was about 3 months ago, right now with work im very busy. i hope to do something to them soon

 

[steamhead]

Hi,
I'll generally spend about 12-15 hrs./week working on the laoyout, or building structures, or whatever...I'm currently beginning to do the scenery on a portion of the layout that will soon be unreachable as I continue to lay track, so I do a little scenery,some structures, or if I'm too pooped-out, I'll give them a spin for 15-30 minutes.
Gus.

 

[Woodie]

Does spending money and browsing at your LHS count??? :thumb:

 

[ezdays]

Personally, I've been retired for a few years now and got into the hobby when I knew I wasn't going to play golf or join a local tackle football league. When you're retired, most every day is the same, just that you know it's Sunday when you find the morning newspaper takes up more space in the driveway than your car and you're off to church before you can finish reading it . I hadn't done much on my layout for better than a year. We moved to our new house a year ago April, and it took a few months to get things like we wanted. I really screwed up my shoulder in the process, and in November had major surgery on it. It's probably back to 90% of what it was before I screwed it up:thumb:, so I've been able to do a lot these past two months. I started my layout expansion a few weeks ago and try to spend a couple of hours on it every day, whether it's building the benchwork, laying track or doing planning on the computer. I try to balance my fun things with the real world things, so yeah, I now can spend a few hours every day working on my layout.

 

[phoneguy]

I just got back into the hobby this year. When I moved in 1986 everythig got put in boxes and just stayed there. I moved three more times since then. I'm not going anywhre soon so I've been working on the train room in the basement. It is 11 x 18 feet. Hope to start the layout soon.

 

[Tileguy]

I'm just wishing somebody would Medically retire me

I just keep plugging along........make a plan and stick to the plan until you find a better one

 

[MasonJar]

Mark me down for "good intentions" right now. Almost all model RR has come to a halt, due to home renos, kids' needs, and general lack of time and resources. Still manage to sneak in a bit of time for small projects like detailing, research, etc. (plus the basement is the coolest part of the house this time of year... ).

Fully intend to move up a category or two once the fall rolls around

Andrew

 

[ezdays]

This is great information, and so far we've gotten a really good response. The results says a lot, and it appears that there is no one here so far that is strictly interested in prototypes and not modeling, and no one is here by mistake or because they just like to be here. Hey, it doesn't matter since everyone is welcome.:thumb:

It's good to see that we have several members that have the resources and time to dedicate to modeling. I'm retired and do have the time, but I also like to do some woodworking, and just maintaining a house can eat into the time I'd rather spend on my layout. But it's a balancing act, and we all need to do some of the things we want to do rather than always doing the things we have to do.

If you haven't entered the poll, please do so, and your posted responses are welcome as well. I'll keep this poll open for some time yet, seeing as how we're into the summer months and some may not be able to stop by as often as they'd like to.

 

[Wyomingite]

I started my railroad after I retired which was seven years ago. When I was a kid my father was building a hudge Ho layout in the celler which I helped him with. I never had room for a decent layout but always wanted to get back into the hobby. Just before I retired I built a shop for woodworking which turned into my railroad room. A friend I hunted with showed me a n-scale railroad he built in a coffee table and I was hooked. The new table saw was great for doing the benchwork but I ending up selling it as I wanted more railroad. I work on it everyday and in the winter months I spend hours on it. In the summer it gets less time with the extra chores but I always get something done. Watching a baseball game is a great time to build structures.


Ron :thumb:

 

[507wayne]

I am retired and just getting into HO trains. I spend about 6 hours a day.

 

[zedob]

I've been out of MRRing for the past 10 yrs, but have just been able to re-ignite the flame. I work a full time job and two part-time businesses on the side. Luckily, the full timer provides me with tools to get one of the part-timers running, which happens to be related to model railroading. The other part-time job, although not related to railroads was actually the one that got me back into MRR. Kind of a win, win, win situation. I'm not complaining.

Otherwise, I'd still be arm-chairing it.
yeaaaa, I can finally have a layout, albiet a small one (more like a diorama).

BTW, I really like this forum. Keep up the good work.