Seems each time I go to do a little work on my layout--add scenery, put in little details, landscaping, put a new building/accessory on the board--I spent more time running my trains than I spend doing my tasks!
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Welcome to the club,
Dave
Both of my layouts are completed so, these days, I run more trains and don't get any maintenance or small projects done. When I was building the layouts, I spent much more time working on them than running trains.
MELGAR
I must say that I am a long standing member of that club!
Happy railroading,
Don
So that’s a problem?
Well, if you miss "workin' on the railroad all the live long day," you can always tear the whole thing down and start over.
This thought frequently occurs to me. When it does, I am very grateful, now that I'm in my late 60s, that I am not "workin' on the railroad all the live long day," and, instead, can run and play with the trains.
Then again, it was so stimulating to design and build a brand new layout! Arnold
Yeah...that is so me!
-Greg
Once you get the track down and wired up, it's far too easy to turn on the power and let 'em run while you daydream about the rest of the details! 
Not that there's anything wrong with that. 
Am I the only one here who has become immune to their siren call?
When I go down to work, the power never gets turned on to the rails, unless I'm doing a test run or moving trains, prior to having guests over.
I have that same problem. As a result, there lots of maintenance and new build projects on my layout that remain undone!
I haven't been able to move past the oval I have because of this.
Big_Boy_4005 posted:Am I the only one here who has become immune to their siren call?
When I go down to work, the power never gets turned on to the rails, unless I'm doing a test run or moving trains, prior to having guests over.
I'm sure when my track is down there'll be some running before I continue on with more detailing. So, in a word Elliot, apparently you are the lone wolf. 
Doesn't sound like a huge problem to me. Run those trains.
Building and running go together'..I would let them run as I built.. The sounds were a great motivational tool as I populated, landscaped, and decorated....... Still do the same thing' when reorganizing and maintaining'... Running' that's the ticket'...
You say that like it's a bad thing.
Chris S.
gunrunnerjohn posted:Big_Boy_4005 posted:Am I the only one here who has become immune to their siren call?
When I go down to work, the power never gets turned on to the rails, unless I'm doing a test run or moving trains, prior to having guests over.
I'm sure when my track is down there'll be some running before I continue on with more detailing.
I take great pride in being different.
When I'm working, I just turn on my music, or whatever sport is in season, baseball or hockey. The sound of the trains actually gives me a bit of a headache if I run them too long.
That is one reason my basement is a mess . I have a method to help me change that . for every work minute I get one train minute. Please note with two major scales , I get O time & ho time .
Sometimes I forget my method & just run trains .
You know the rest .
I confess, I could use Elliot's work discipline. Ever since I got things running the work slowed drastically. Having been so busy with other's layouts over the years all I had was a train collection.
Now it is my turn.
After getting all the track down it is just too easy to "let the dogs out". Now all I want to do is to let them run, all of them! It is a challenge to see how many branch lines I can manage at once. Great exercise. For now, with selective vision and imagination, plywood, Homosote and Advantech can be a form of scenery.
Tom, I checked out GunrunnerJohn's layout building topic a couple days ago, and saw that he mentioned that "Tom" was helping with the benchwork. Judging from the style and materials, I immediately figured it was you. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Last night I had forum member Paul2 over for a visit, so I ran the train. Just one, but that's all it really takes. On my layout, in order to make a loop, a pair of switches need to be thrown twice every lap. Since a lap takes about 15 minutes, there's plenty of time to deal with it, but I still have to pay attention. One interesting thing happened, that I had never had happen before. I was running one of my new Legacy Bluetooth engines, as well as the new camera caboose. I just set the speed on the cab-1, and left it on the desk unattended, and never touched it again for about an hour. Never been able to do that before. It ran flawlessly up and down grade at constant speed, until it was time to shut down.
That said, I still can't do it when I'm working.
You're not wrong Elliot, I see Tom's fingerprints all over the place here. BTW, that's a good thing, my fingerprints would be all smudged!
Big_Boy_4005 posted:One interesting thing happened, that I had never had happen before. I was running one of my new Legacy Bluetooth engines, as well as the new camera caboose. I just set the speed on the cab-1, and left it on the desk unattended, and never touched it again for about an hour. Never been able to do that before. It ran flawlessly up and down grade at constant speed, until it was time to shut down.
You should be able to do that with any Legacy locomotive that's properly operating. Mine all keep excellent speed all around, grades, curves, etc.
Yeah John, I've seen enough pics of Tom's layout, over the years here on the forum, to spot his style. Thanks for that info on the Legacy engines. I never really paid attention to the features, but that cruise control will come in very handy when I get the computer control set up, and want to have it run some of the trains.
FWIW, both Legacy, LionChief +, and MTH DCS all have cruise control.
Interesting John, but for my purposes Legacy is the only one that matters. I don't have DCS on the layout, and it shares the same problem as the LC+ engines, which is the computer can't run them. DCS doesn't have published control codes, and LC+ doesn't use the track signal which can be controlled by the computer. I do have a few LC+ engines, but they won't be able to go down into the hidden yards, and will only be used for local service. I have jobs for them.
My layout is now in the finish scenery or add detail phase. That being said, there is a single main line, a mine run controlled by a Pocono Mountain auto reverse unit and a trolley loop. One of those is operating since they do not intersect and are generally away from where I am going to work so best of both worlds I suppose.
