# Vibe check...



## shaygetz (Sep 23, 2007)

Years ago, there were two gentlemen in the club that didn't appreciate my reconfiguring Rivarossi steam models to DCC, wishing I would stop playing with that cheap toy junk, get a real job and buy real trains. I'm assuming they meant Paragon, MTH and BLI.

Well those guys have gone the way of all men, their models picked up by buzzards who will sell them on eBay or at train shows. Me? I'm still playing with cheap toy chunk, having more fun with $5 in the hobby than they could with $5000.


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## mesenteria (Oct 29, 2015)

There's a famous epigraph on a tombstone:

_Sum quod eris_.


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## shaygetz (Sep 23, 2007)

mesenteria said:


> There's a famous epigraph on a tombstone:
> 
> _Sum quod eris_.


People play this hobby like it's the elixir of life or a full contact sport. It's neither...it's a shiny little bauble that can take someone to hell if they're not careful, just like most anything else of this world. 

Even now, I'm cataloging the big pieces and how to sell them, with orders to break up the rest into lots and sell them that way. Because of the way I aquire my models (pretty sure I have a well deserved rep as a cheap old screw😆😉👍), I literally have very little into my collection, it's guilt free and my family has never gone without anything for it. Buzzards don't have a chance.


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## BigGRacing (Sep 25, 2020)

shaygetz said:


> I'm still playing with cheap toy chunk, having more fun with $5 in the hobby than they could with $5000.


Shaygetz,
Keep providing tips and posts please, I have to use all this information to its full advantage!


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## Dennis461 (Jan 5, 2018)

Now I'm confused. First car, smokestack in back, second car smokestack in front, and third car no smokestack?


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## shaygetz (Sep 23, 2007)

Dennis461 said:


> Now I'm confused. First car, smokestack in back, second car smokestack in front, and third car no smokestack?


Such is the joy of Tyco.....😆😆😆... towards the end, they stopped fussing with details, leaving most off completely. I'm just glad they bothered to put a bulb in. As for swapping ends, they used the same shell as their four wheel bobber.


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

Dennis461 said:


> Now I'm confused. First car, smokestack in back, second car smokestack in front, and third car no smokestack?


I think the roof just snapped on, so one of them has the roof on backwards…..
the third one doesn’t appear to even have a hole for the stack, as shaygetz mentioned…..


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## kilowatt62 (Aug 18, 2019)

Heh. It never made sense to me to have the smoke jack/stove in front of the copula. (shrugs)


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## MichaelE (Mar 7, 2018)

Old_Hobo said:


> I think the roof just snapped on, so one of them has the roof on backwards…..
> the third one doesn’t appear to even have a hole for the stack, as shaygetz mentioned…..


I'd bet the molding mark for the insertion point is under the roof. I had that Tyco Pennsylvania spotlight car.


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## shaygetz (Sep 23, 2007)

BigGRacing said:


> Shaygetz,
> Keep providing tips and posts please, I have to use all this information to its full advantage!


I surely will...😉👍


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## shaygetz (Sep 23, 2007)

kilowatt62 said:


> Heh. It never made sense to me to have the smoke jack/stove in front of the copula. (shrugs)


I could just pop the shell, turn it 180 degrees, and pop it back on...but then it'll be a modified Tyco, and we wouldn't want that...😉🤪


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## 65446 (Sep 22, 2018)

shaygetz said:


> People play this hobby like it's the elixir of life or a full contact sport. It's neither...it's a shiny little bauble that can take someone to hell if they're not careful, just like most anything else of this world.
> 
> Even now, I'm cataloging the big pieces and how to sell them, with orders to break up the rest into lots and sell them that way. Because of the way I aquire my models (pretty sure I have a well deserved rep as a cheap old screw😆😉👍), I literally have very little into my collection, it's guilt free and my family has never gone without anything for it. Buzzards don't have a chance.
> View attachment 562800





shaygetz said:


> People play this hobby like it's the elixir of life or a full contact sport. It's neither...it's a shiny little bauble that can take someone to hell if they're not careful, just like most anything else of this world.
> 
> Even now, I'm cataloging the big pieces and how to sell them, with orders to break up the rest into lots and sell them that way. Because of the way I aquire my models (pretty sure I have a well deserved rep as a cheap old screw😆😉👍), I literally have very little into my collection, it's guilt free and my family has never gone without anything for it. Buzzards don't have a chance.
> View attachment 562800


Geez ! If it weren't for the horn-hook coupler, for a second there I thought it was a 1:1 scale pic !!


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## Gramps (Feb 28, 2016)

mesenteria said:


> There's a famous epigraph on a tombstone:
> 
> _Sum quod eris_.


I think this tombstone quote translates to "I told you I was sick."


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## shaygetz (Sep 23, 2007)

telltale said:


> Geez ! If it weren't for the horn-hook coupler, for a second there I thought it was a 1:1 scale pic !!


Thanks...I miss that old four meg beater...it took the best pictures...


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## Bonz85 (Sep 16, 2019)

A hobby becomes less enjoyable when you're worried about what other people think. Life is the same way I think. A guy running Life Like can enjoy his layout as much as a rivet counter. Just like someone with a a switching layout would get bored with a track that runs in circles and vice versa. I've had other hobbies where people where jealous of what I had and I'm certain non of them are jealous of my model railroad and I get more enjoyment running my trains. Worry about what you enjoy and not what others enjoy.


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## Lee Willis (Jan 1, 2014)

Well, to each his own. I would not think one should feel superior to or smarter than those guys, just different. 

I've observed over the years that some model train enthusiasts love to play with the electronics systems - they find a challenge and love setting up and getting complex and expensive control systems and model trains to work well. I figure if they have the money, the time, and the inclincation, then go for it!! I have two friends like that, and they both enjoy themselves and seem truly happy with their model railroading experience, even if they always have stories about the latest ground-plane adventure or programming code mix up (which they always talk about and feel good about solving!!)..

Different strokes for different folks. Maybe it is fifty-two years of working as an elecgtrical engineer that did me for hating having to hassle with electronics and control or costly equipment, but I hate dealing with the control and electronics. I love to run toy trains and I love to build and own intricate models, while keeping the electronics as simple and hassle-free as possible. But that's just me. Could be, I'm the outsider - in the minority of the hobby, but I have as much fun as they do. Just a different type of fun - I have what I like and they have what they like.

This is a great hobby, no matter how you make it yours.


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## Stumpy (Mar 19, 2013)

> Hobby:
> _noun_
> an activity or interest pursued for pleasure or relaxation and not as a main occupation


No mention there of how that pursuit is supposed to happen. I always figure if someone tells you you're doing it wrong, they're doing it wrong - to them it's not a hobby.

When it gets to the point that I'm doing it to appease someone other than myself, then that will be the end of it. I already have a job.


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## JeffHurl (Apr 22, 2021)

“Eram quod es, eris quod sum”: “I was what you are, you will be what I am.” It’s been a common gravestone quote, as anyone who looks at a gravestone can understand that the person buried once was alive as they are, and that they themselves will, one day, be dead as the person in the grave is. 

What a grim quote


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## shaygetz (Sep 23, 2007)

JeffHurl said:


> “Eram quod es, eris quod sum”: “I was what you are, you will be what I am.” It’s been a common gravestone quote, as anyone who looks at a gravestone can understand that the person buried once was alive as they are, and that they themselves will, one day, be dead as the person in the grave is.
> 
> What a grim quote


The church we go to goes back 150 years. My beloved's 3xs great grandfather and most of her following family are buried there or at a church half a mile up the road. My kids were raised knowing that one day, mom and dad will be buried there and that...hopefully in the distant future...they will be too. It's a fact of life often clouded by our pursuits, whatever they may be. Much of my collection of well built models were built by those who have since passed on. It simply amazes me how many of us live as though that's not going to happen...


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## Lee Willis (Jan 1, 2014)

Now that is a cool car I need one of those.


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

kilowatt62 said:


> Heh. It never made sense to me to have the smoke jack/stove in front of the copula. (shrugs)


Then for sure this caboose wouldn’t make sense to you….







e


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## kilowatt62 (Aug 18, 2019)

Old_Hobo said:


> Then for sure this caboose wouldn’t make sense to you….
> View attachment 562837


Sure it does. Only use the aft stove per direction of travel! 😆😆😆 
Makes sense right? (I’m kidding of course)


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## kilowatt62 (Aug 18, 2019)

shaygetz said:


> I could just pop the shell, turn it 180 degrees, and pop it back on...but then it'll be a modified Tyco, and we wouldn't want that...😉🤪


Shay. Of course not! lol.


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

kilowatt62 said:


> Sure it does. Only use the aft stove per direction of travel! 😆😆😆
> Makes sense right? (I’m kidding of course)


This is Canada……both are often needed in minus 30 degree weather…..but then, the windows would not be open either, so….

But minus 30 is no kidding matter….


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## Gramps (Feb 28, 2016)

Old_Hobo said:


> This is Canada……both are often needed in minus 30 degree weather…..but then, the windows would not be open either, so….
> 
> But minus 30 is no kidding matter….


That makes sense. My first thought was because it's Canada they needed a French stove and an English stove.


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## shaygetz (Sep 23, 2007)

Lee Willis said:


> Now that is a cool car I need one of those.


Walther's kit from the 60s...came in both HO and O...


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## vette-kid (May 2, 2020)

I have that Durango spot light car. I've gotten the same attitude on here at times. Although most are down with the "is your railroad" attitude. I have lots of bachmann and Tyco. It's fun to tinker with! 

Sent from my SM-G781U using Tapatalk


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## Cab4worde67 (Mar 3, 2021)

I agree with all of you. My brother and I have a large 30x30 layout and we run anything and everything. We just love trains. And they all look so cool going by the scenery that you dont even know if its a rivet counter or a old Ahearn. We even have O scale going around the outside of the room.


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## shaygetz (Sep 23, 2007)

Cab4worde67 said:


> I agree with all of you. My brother and I have a large 30x30 layout and we run anything and everything. We just love trains. And they all look so cool going by the scenery that you dont even know if its a rivet counter or a old Ahearn. We even have O scale going around the outside of the room.
> View attachment 562972


Is that an original Hellgate bridge?

Awesome layout room...will you marry me?😆


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## Cab4worde67 (Mar 3, 2021)

With the cost of lumber we have decided to start up our mill again


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## Cab4worde67 (Mar 3, 2021)

My son-in-law who takes the pics


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## Cab4worde67 (Mar 3, 2021)

We would really like to share the whole layout with the world, but none of the Mags seam to want to show it?


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