# how slow are you?



## Zug (May 4, 2012)

This may be a dumb question, but how slow are you? Today I finally felt up to getting some work done on the new layout. So I wanted to get power available to the track from the Atlas Commander to a couple terminals. I had to mount a pair of bridge rectifiers I use to lower the Commander's voltage to a N-scale friendly level and do a bit of soldering wires to the terminal strips and finally to a block detector. and staple teh wires in place. this is a 2'x8' layout.. so not a huge project but I spent about an hour at it, Which seems like a long time when I thing about it, but it's not a race either. But I think I could have done it a lot faster really. But I also have to account for a messed up right hand that's lost half it's feeling.. and close space of a apartment layout..

So just wondering, do you feel like you have accomplished mush some times in a given amount of time?


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## highvoltage (Apr 6, 2014)

I used to buzz along at the speed of light when I was working full time (at least it seemed like it). But now that I've retired I do things at a very leisurely pace.

If it's bothering you, speed up. If not, relax and enjoy the effort.


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## Zug (May 4, 2012)

highvoltage said:


> I used to buzz along at the speed of light when I was working full time (at least it seemed like it). But now that I've retired I do things at a very leisurely pace.
> 
> If it's bothering you, speed up. If not, relax and enjoy the effort.


Well it might be bothering me a bit, but probably it's just being out of practice working on the layout. Plus my last layout was less then wonderful, and I never really got it operational.. So this time around, I'm trying to recreate some of the layout I had before the previous one. With the first goal to just a working loop going then build the inner town areas. I was just wondering how many others felt like some thing took long then they thought it would. My cat wasn't even helping today either...


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## Fire21 (Mar 9, 2014)

Zug, you're moving at light speed compared to me. I have been "working" on my 4x8 layout for several years now. I have an outer loop of track completed and running. An inner folded dogbone loop is about 80% completed...two bridge spans are slowing me down. I intend to have a reversing loop in the inner loop...might get to that by the next decade. I have no scenery done.

I think I am interested in trains, but probably am not much of a modeler. I am basically lazy too, and have to summon energy to go to the basement to do any train work.

To answer your question, no, I have accomplished very little over a long span of time.


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## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

I'm very slow.

It's a Hobby, something you enjoy doing when you
have 'leisure' time to do it. No time clocks or even
calendars are needed. 

My room size HO layout has been in the works for years.
The tracks are all working and I have been enjoying
train running and switching.

BUT, only the East side and center of the layout have
ballasted tracks, landscaping and other scenic details.
I'll get around to those when the spirit hits me.

Working on the trains is like most every other 'chore'
in life...every person has their own 'speed'.

Enjoy yours.

Don


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## Panther (Oct 5, 2015)

If you don't have time to take it slow and do a great job, How will you find time to redo it ?
If I hurry a project, when it's complete I find things I should have done differently. Take your time.

Dan


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## Zug (May 4, 2012)

It's interesting to see the responses to my post. And that's mainly why I posted, just to get some activity going and see what people's experiences are. Model railroad is a great hobby because you can work at you own pace, no need to rely on others (well except in club I guess, but I'm not in one) back when I had a house and full basement I could vanish for hours and hours. In more recent years I've gotten side track/distracted by other hobbies and interests, but that are becoming less important to me all the time. I was trying to get in to ham radio for quite a while and just getting to the point it becoming a 'why bother' hobby. Sit at a radio for hours just trying to make a contact that goes in a log then on to the new.. at least in trains, even that hour I talked about in my 1st post is something that will be around a long time and be important to my layout. The stuff we build today will be around for long time in many cases.. so even though I'm slow when I think about it, that hour doing some basic wiring is the corner stone to running my trains.. If I had spend that time on the radio.. maybe i'd made a contact that would have been a log entry that I forget a few minutes later. maybe when i get the mess cleaned up a bit I may even post a couple pics


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## Ko Improbable (Mar 15, 2017)

I've been going slower than I expected, mostly because work has been draining me so much that I just want to relax when I get home, not stand over the layout trying to fix stuff up. I've been meaning to get back to it, but, this last week or so has been pretty harsh.


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## luvadj (Jul 3, 2017)

Hi Kent;

I'm curious....why do you need the rectifiers? I have a commander on my 3 X 6 patio layout in N-Scale and it runs just fine.


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## GNfan (Jun 3, 2016)

*RE:* "a messed up right hand that's lost half it's feeling". I have the same problem - my doctor says it's Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.


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## Zug (May 4, 2012)

luvadj said:


> Hi Kent;
> 
> I'm curious....why do you need the rectifiers? I have a commander on my 3 X 6 patio layout in N-Scale and it runs just fine.


The Commander and Generator combo put out a bit higher voltage then N-scale is meant to run. Using the rectifiers inline creates a voltage drop to about 12 volts and is recommended by Atlas. They use to have it on there website, but I have no idea if the page is still there now.


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## Zug (May 4, 2012)

GNfan said:


> *RE:* "a messed up right hand that's lost half it's feeling". I have the same problem - my doctor says it's Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.


two doctors have ruled out carpal tunnel since it's the wrong part of my hand that's effected. Just of a month to the testing, both dreading and looking forward to it since there's two likely answers, either surgery or can't fix it. Neither will be fun..


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## bill937ca (Jul 18, 2014)

I'm slow. Its caused by a gimpy knee including a very small fracture. Everything is slower now. I had an injection recently and it is getting better, but every time we have heavy rains the pain comes back. I tend to do one thing per day if it involves walking. I have a small trolley layout I am working on. This helps my morale. But I don't get as much done as I'd like. Just getting older I suppose. Still I am making progress with the knee (and building a new layout!).

I used to work faster, but now I am retired why rush. There is always lots of free time available.


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## Ko Improbable (Mar 15, 2017)

I'm slower than I thought I would be. Like everyone, I have reasons.

My job looks like it's going to be draining me less, so I might get back to my plan of an hour of layout work, every day, after I get home from my job.


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

But again, it's a hobby. It's supposed to be fun. I find that trying to hold to a fixed work schedule just creates stress when I can't keep to the schedule. I work on the layout or run trains when the fit takes me. If I don't touch it for a week, so be it. this is especially true in summer when I have a lot of other things to do. 

Scheduling also leads to that other problem: there's never time to do it right but always time to do it over. Personally, I like to go slow and try to get it right the first time, even if it takes far longer than i expected.


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## SBRacing (Mar 11, 2015)

I work slow. I don't know if it because of... hey look a squirrel. At time I loose interest because I get frustrated after a week of trouble shooting a derailment or etc. Other times it I have the time but no money or money and no time.


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