Model railroader or toy trains

eddiem, 

On a lighter note congratulations to your club, the "Boothe Memorial Railway Society" on the recent article.  Your club built a very nice layout in a historic park and town.  Good luck to you Ed and Don and all your club members.  

I play with trains. I run what I want mixed with what I want. I don't worry about the rivet count, if i like it I buy it. I plug em in and just have fun.

They're toys, no matter what you want to call them to lessen the impact of knowing you still play with toys. My Camaro and VWs are toys, too.

PLAY absolutely, but when I factor the efforts exerted in my collection which I operate, what goes into a club and home layout in the areas of design, engineering, scenery (Art) its hardly play.

Additionally There are the "PLAY DATES" club activities in including open house for the community, taking a modular layout to handicapped schools and nursing home, inter club days with others clubs in the Greater NYC/Long Island area, Attending trainstock and this forum.

To me the Play aspects of this hobby are what makes it fun but it goes far beyond that.

Play is just an activity where the main purpose of the activity is for enjoyment.  The notion of it being only an activity for children is very narrow-minded.

 

We play cards.  We play sports.  We play games.  And I am not ashamed to say that I play trains, too.  Anyone that looks down on me for that is the person who has the problem.

 

Andy

 

 

1. I play with trains.

2. I am a model railroader.

3. I donate my free time to a non-profit (River City 3 Railers).

 

Peter

This!

 

I don't differentiate between playing and modeling when I am building something.

 

To me, whether it's my Vision Line Hudson, or my old Lionel Phantom set, in the big picture I cal them all toys.

 

I even go as far as Andrew says.  My '67 Camaro, and '70 Chevelle are toys, regardless of how much work I have put in or how much money I have spent over the years for parts, etc..

 

I look at it like this:  If it is something I do for relaxation that is totally unrelated to my work, it's a toy, regardless of dollars.

 

I love accurate, prototypical "models," as much as I love non-prototypical items as far as the train hobby goes.    I personally classify all of my trains as toys.  I play with them.

 

One thing to keep in mind in my little dissertation here is that I am talking about the physical items of my hobby, not the people.

 

When building a model; a building, a mountain, a vehicle, yes, I am modelling.

 

That's how I define things in hobbies.   The act of creating is modelling.  The act of operating is playing.     I.e., if I am building/bashing a rail car, I am modelling.   Once I put it on the rails, I am playing with my new toy.

 

 

Everyone has their own ways of being in the train hobby.  No one is wrong.  

I like all trains and train layouts!  Currently, I have a simple layout that is totally meant to look like  a toy train layout.   I have three children and we have many hobbies and interest that take up our time.  At this moment in our life we don’t have the time to build a realistic looking layout.    I told my wife when the kids are out of college I’ll start to build something more impressive.  For now, I have a nice 16x8 layout (I’m expanding soon) that I can work on when I have the train itch.   When I want to see something more realistic I visit one of the local model train clubs.  I respect what they do and really enjoy seeing their layouts!  They really awesome and the clubs do a great job.  I’ve seen some personal layouts on here that blow me away.  I’d love to visit a few of those layouts that are close to my house.

 

It’s funny that people think you cannot enjoy both aspects of the hobby!   When I started building my first layout last year I had no idea that people really took this issue serious.   It is almost laughable to me.  I won a Lionel HHP-8 Amtrak at a local train raffle.  It’s obviously meant for larger scale curves.  I showed a guy a picture of it running on my O-48 curves and he made numerous comments about it not looking to scale.   He was really bothered by it.    I was like “ummmm, it is a toy train, dude”.   Enjoy your trains.   If you get upset because of the type of train layout someone is creating my guess is that you probably have larger issues to worry about…..

I play with my model railroad.

 

When some wants to "dignify" my hobby they call me a train collector.

 

It is their problem not mine.

I'm a player, plain and simple.

It really is a matter of semantics: ALL of us who play/operate train models are "model railroaders". Those who scratch-build, weather trains and structures, and model their layouts in a more realistic fashion, and even use two-rail track and engines are perhaps the TRUE model railroaders.

 

Pre and post WW II tinplate enthusiasts fall more into the TOY train category and that is also part of model railroading.

 

The problem, if indeed it is a problem at all, is when the more detail-inclined look with a measure of disdain upon their THREE-rail brethren as mostly men who somehow did not "grow up" and still "play" with toy trains!

 

To me, IT'S ALL GOOD! 

 

 

I haven't 'grown up' , I have just grown old.  

I play with toy trains. 

I PLAY with my trains. (Well, except for the one I just fried this morning.) That's why I love them. They make me very happy in a way none of my prior hobbies have -- including many decades spent as a rock and roll/jazz musician.  That was fun, but trains are PLAY.

 

Tomlinson Run (but not all of them) Railroad

Interesting discussion.  I've had similar exchanges with members of my other hobbies which include LEGO and Wargaming.  Some folks will insist that they are LEGO Modelmakers or that their games are historical simulations.  

 

As for me, I'm just fine saying "I play" with trains, LEGO and toy soldiers. 

 

This got me thinking. I was also an active sometimes-paid-amateur musician until my children arrived.  Though I was "playing" an instrument and loving it, I always considered it something more serious than my other "play" hobbies even though it filled many of the same recreational and emotional purposes.  I don't exactly have a clear explanation for why.

I buy scale cuz I like the nicer stuff but I'm all about the toy aspect of third rail. I'm in it to play trains

Besides the usual sentiment that I am glad you enjoy what you enjoy however you enjoy it, I consider myself to be more a toy train fan. I am always amused by the response of many adults when they see the layout: 'Lionel' is still a magic word for them and it triggers all sorts of pleasant memories and stories of their own experiences with Lionel trains. This never happened with my N scale layouts...

And the kids are just enamored with the lights, sounds and ability to push buttons and make things happen. 

I'm a would-be model railroader if I can get cleared to build a layout.

 

Toy trains and model railroading aren't mutually exclusive. Running on 3-rails does not exclude you as a model railroader, even if you run toy trains as there are other aspects of model railroading than the trains themselves. One the flip side, running 2-rail trains on a non-scenic table of plywood doesn't make you a model railroader. Hi-railers (detailed scale environment for toy trains) are actually bothmodel railroaders and toy train enthusiasts.

The man wins a Kewpie doll

Maybe one day I'll be able to call myself a model railroader.  Right now I just play w/trains.    Hopefully I'll get to build a layout next year.  A loop of FasTrack on the floor is only so fulfilling...yet mesmerizing....

ok , my take:

I believe this hobby to be a combination of sculpting / industrial skill test / and interpretive art for the following reasons. We all create our small "worlds" from influences collected in ones soul over the years from one source or the other. We then take these thoughts and mold them into physical representations while in the process , digging further into those thoughts / memories. Industrial skills - we each have our own levels , and in most cases strive to improve , be it electrical / tools / scenery construction etc. , but still enjoy some common thread in creating with our hands. Finally interpretive art - we add motion to our sculptures which bring thoughts and memories to fruition and channel further and deeper "meditative" perceptions of realities past and present. if you put it to anybody like this , depending on how deep they are , they will totally "get it" or further think you are nuts

I will not leave out the simple audio visual stimulation we get out of "playing" with small machines that emulate the real world equipment that sparked us in the first place without having to hang out on real rail tracks , and now a days , probably get arrested for doing so!

we should really ask some doctors to analyze this...  there must be some in the forum!

Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, & Scrapiron -  I like your philosophy Scrapiron

My opinion anything with 3rd rail= toy. Anything 2 rail o ho n scale etc... Model. But who cares if you call it a toy or model as long as your happy.

I simply can't call the WW2 Jeep I did an oil change in my garage and drove around my neighborhood today, a 'toy.' Too many good men and women died while riding in them in various horrific ways, as well as killing countless enemy combatants while riding in them, all to create a free world for us all in the 1940s.

Just like I couldn't also call my documented combat-used M-1 rifle or other weapons on my collection, "toys," though I suppose my wife easily could.

David - I could not agree more!  

 

To add further, there are as many ways to BE in this hobby as there are participants.  Each one of us brings our own individual uniqueness to this hobby and that uniqueness is a great part of what makes the hobby so interesting.  There is no right way and there is no wrong way ... there just IS.  Loosing one self in the creative process, be it running our trains, creating a mountain, scratch building a structure, planning a layout on paper, setting up a train under a Christmas tree, etc. etc. broadens our imaginations, and takes our minds off our daily work a day routines. Playing with trains ( in the many ways we all do ) is a good and sound mentally healthy way to spend our free time.

Model railroading came out of playing with trains. When did it become serious? When I was buying "THE" magazine in the 1960's we were all model railroaders even if our size wasn't in it. I am comfortable with the fact that as a model railroader I go downstairs and play with my trains. How could anyone model a railroad without moving lumber, dumping coal, unloading milk cans, loading containers...?

There is a certain charm to both I like.

Unless you're modeling a subway :-).  Watch out for that third rail! 

 

(But you're right, they are just words and the important one is "happy".)

 

Tomlinson Run Railroad

I like both. Even "model railroaders" are "playing" with their trains though. It's all good...

 

Sir

 

I get what he meant by his statement. I am sure many others have too. So I will ask the question.

 

The MB: Unless you can justify as being essential to maintaining family needs. ie, work, Taking the kids to school, Doctors appointments, sole form of transportation for the family etc. Then its considered a nice to have.

 

The US Army declared the MB surplus to their needs years ago and were plentiful then. Now the MBs are considered collectables and if the numbers match, combat record established, and properly restored are worth a small fortune. There are many MBs out there that have been rebuilt, using NOS or newly manufactured bodies and those are worth less. By your own statement you consider it a living memorial to the men and woman who served and died in the 2nd World War. So why are you driving it if you feel this way?  As for the M1 and other weapon systems that have documented combat history and also had been declared surplus by the US government and have no real civilian use. Personally being used for display is great. Using them for reenactment battles are not a good idea.  

 

Now I collect and have a rather large inventory of 1950/60s era German die cast trucks and buses in 1/43. They sit in a display cases along with my 1/35 die cast M1A1SEP, M60A1, my two German Leopold tanks, and an assortment of 40s/50s/60s/and modern British trucks and busses.. Officially they are classed as toys not suitable for children under 14 even though they are considered collectables. None of them, to include my trains and my M1028( which is a daily driver ) are an essential need for my family and therefore considered nice to have.  My toys.     

Thank you Marty. Hope you are enjoying San Diego.

  When Williams came out with their Big Boy and other large steam engines I really wanted to own one. I didn't care that they weren't that detailed, I was just impressed by their size. I buy my trains to play with. I'm happy that the manufacturers try to make these engines. They may not always get it right but I don't care. My family and co-workers sometimes give me a hard time and say I haven't grown up yet because I still play with trains. I say its not that I haven't grown up, its just that you've grown old. So unless I'm driving the real thing I'm playing.

With some exceptions, like my Warner Brothers set, I like to model the Pennsylvania Railroad. Most of my trains are scale models of real Pennsylvania Railroad engines and rolling stock. I couple this (pun intended)  with reading and researching the history of railroading in general and the Pennsy in particular. I run trains at my train club on Wednesday Nights. I work off tension and stress working on the layout or building models for the layout. All my work is to make a realistic model train empire that is enjoyable to me and to visitors at the club. I am a modeler. If anybody wants to know, I am playing with my trains. After all, they are still toys.

Did model railroading in HO for many, many years.

 

Gave it up six or seven years ago.

 

Three years ago my wife gave me a 1950s era Marx 3/16 tinplate set like I had when I was ten years old... and the dang thing has taken on a life of its own.  I'm now a toy trainer, exact scale isn't all that important, exact dates aren't very important, properly dressed figures aren't terribly important, but FUN IS IMPORTANT... and it's usually less expensive, too.

 

With all the equipment, wiring and knowledge needed for command control, I think a realist would have to say we "Operate" our trains in this day and age.

 

Jack

An interesting point, but I disagree a bit.  As for "no real civilian use" for the war artifacts an M1 is a reasonably good hunting rifle for a variety of game and a vintage jeep is a serviceable mode of transport.  Could it not be said that these are:

 

Practical possessions if used ,

and/or

historical relics/collectibles if preserved and kept for display or investment

an/or

"toys" if and when they are utilized for simple enjoyment.  

 

Since he was objecting to the term Toys when it came to his MB and other military related WW2 Items and referenced the MB as a tribute/Memorial to Veterans, living and dead. Is why I asked the question Why are you driving it? As for the weapon systems. I know both the M1 and the M1911. both had civilian uses. The M1 had seen service with the Army up to the early days of Vietnam in the 60s. When it was replaced by the M14. Civilian uses included Hunting, Marksmanship matches, and law enforcement.. The M1911: Law enforcement, Pistol matches, personal protection. The Thompson machine gun: Law enforcement. Other systems The Lewis gun, BAR, 30/50 cal Machine guns no real civilian use unless you were a bad guy. I understand his passion for the WW2 reenactments and therefore his response.  In this case "toys" if and when they are utilized for simple enjoyment" would fit.. 

 

Another thing to remember. Some where in the Army regs a lobotomy is part of the requirement for all good Captains to be promoted to Major, .  

I play with my model railroad. Expensive toys - but I work hard and deserve to have SOME fun. This is what I choose. 

Vinny didn't seem to be asking about anyone's approval or disapproval of his RR activities; he seemed to simply want to know how some others defined their miniature RR endeavors.

 

To answer what I believe was his question: I consider myself a "model railroader", most certainly. However, I am not afraid to let the tinplate bones show through here and there.

I bash scale steam locomotives; I also enjoy a few pieces of Plasticville; but I "disapprove" of running trains at the speed of light; but I get a kick out of Marx.

 

Yep - model railroader, for sure. Now about that Std Gauge MTH No 9 electric boxcab that I have in my collection...purty, pardner.