NOTE: Fasten your seat belts. You have now been warned.
Well, this test layout idea has proved to be a very sobering and enlightening endeavor. It also proved to be rapid in delivering input data.
I've quickly learned a lot about "where I am" now with this hobby in view of my current stage of life. I think I've also learned a lot about what I want out of this hobby.
I'm going to try to keep this from becoming a novel, so I'll try to hit the high points:
* Working with HO track is NOT like it used to be. The smallness and fiddling nature of it (think small rail joiners that don't fit easily/etc, having to cut/file flex into small track pieces, etc, etc) creates frustration very quickly in me now. I used to hand lay track for relaxation and work with HO flex track, and it was "fun". It is no longer fun.
* The little steam engines are more finicky than I expected when actually trying to operate. VERY sensitive to rail contact. Trying to improve the contact situation will require more tedious work on all engines. (Adding additional contacts, wipers, etc.)
* The steam era cars were more susceptible to derailing. I think that's because of the pop-in trucks on the offending train set cars. To fix all cars with pop-in trucks will be yet more time consuming (and tedious) work.
* The diesel era equipment performed as expected: Essentially flawless, even though the wheels on the diesel have never been cleaned since ownership. (3 years?)
* Placing cars on the rails was easier with the diesel era cars. (The code 88 wheels on the steam era cars are more finicky.) There were no derails switching with the diesel era equipment.
* Looking at HO diesels and HO rolling stock again was rather bland. Been there, done that... for decades.
Summations:
* The thought of putzing with HO scale track no longer looks like fun. (I think it is much easier for things to frustrate me now than it was twenty years ago.)
* The time spent with the steam theme was, overall, a downer. I can't imagine facing such daunting "track and wheel hygiene" standards for a layout/equipment that is intended for relaxation.
* The thought of going back to HO diesels doesn't really sound like fun. (I would be insufficiently motivated to do the sizeable work ahead that would be needed to produce a layout-ready roster, a layout ready fleet of cars, and even the layout itself.)
* The tedious work needed to produce a "scale" layout no longer appears to be fun to me. Instead, there's a sense of dread about MANY of the aspects of same. I don't think a hobby is supposed to create the feeling of dread within one's self.
* The hassles of DCC don't look like fun. (I don't WANT to HAVE to learn how to program, okay?)
I think I'm to the point that:
* I want to simplify my hobby of model trains. I'm tired of all the tasks I still face that needs to be done in order to do the things I had hoped to do. Tasks that will require LOTS of tedious work with significant magnification, tiny drills, bending tiny little brass wire (like drills and brass wire .009 thousandths of an inch, etc, etc.), ad naseum. Apparently 40+ years of such modeling is enough. I think I've got my gut full of it.
I'm to the point I'm going to kick back from my current situation and seriously consider the implications of all of the above.
Frankly, at this point I don't think it will involve HO "SCALE" modeling.
We shall see.
Andre
