My other Hobby

[jaydor 345]

Being retired allows for the enjoyment of hobbies that were short on time when working. Now the important thing is to keep the mind active, as the grey matter can get lazy. So I must admit to being very lucky to be able to immerse myself in 2 good hobbies. FSX and Model trains. So apart from FSX here are a couple of shots of my American Railroad that I am still in build mode with. The scale is H0 which is smaller than the British 00 but bigger than n guage (my eyes find n guage difficult). The scene is somewhere in Wisconsin between 1950 to 1969. The mine loader actually loads the hopper cars when placed under the loader. So they back in empty and come out full (Using Gerbil dust)..

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Still lots to do with the scenery..

PC12 fanatic

[Sabre 28]

Very nice James - looks very good indeed. How do you find the space for all this and your lovely FSX set-up?

Must be nice to have time for two hobbies

[mutley 4,498]

It looks really good. I love the fact that it is period piece, even the cars are classic!

Well done James and thanks for sharing

[hurricanemk1c 195]

Ohh excellent layout there James - how big is it?

I'm currently building a British 'N' gauge layout based on a preserved depot with my dad

And just for everyone else, 'HO' is 1:87, 'OO' is 1:76 (as British trains are smaller than Continental/American stuff) and British 'N' is 1:148

[jaydor 345]

Thank you for the nice comments all.

"Quote" Must be nice to have time for two hobbies

The joy of retirement Graeme..

The layout is 10foot 8ins x 8foot 4ins. Plan below..

[ddavid 149]

I see the yanks are importing british diggers! That's some set-up, Bach! How much is gerbil dust, these days?!?

Cheers - Dai.

[brett 2,315]

Very nice, great job. Looks like alot of fun work which always beats work work .

[britfrog 180]

when my son was about 5 or 6 i bulit an N guage system for him which took up the size of his bedroom so it had to be winched up to the ceiling to give access to his room for normal purposes, however he was more into scalextric cars ( as i was at his age) and the setup was quietly junked , my father had built an enormous HO setup when i was a kid but i was into like my son ,more exciting things, girls as i remember, however there are times when i can now look back and can appreciate model railways, i admire especially the patience and the creativity that goes into them.

I wonder if as years go on whether the railway sim will replace them?

[ShrewsburyFC 215]

That looks really good James!

Sam.

[Clem Wu 1]

That is super neat! Well done

[hurricanemk1c 195]

@Britfrog - I don't think railway sims will replace them. There is something about hitting fingers nails into track and working hard to make your own layout. And the ture, physical aspect of running a train and seeing it pass (in 'OO' and above) with sound that a sim will never replicate. (Trust me - I've got 3 train sims installed!)

[needles 1,013]

Lovely James. A very nice setup. How on earth did you get permission to have 2 hobbies?

I think wifey would burst her apron ties if I took up another expensive hobby.

Thanks for sharing your pics they look superb.