for the 1st time in 2 weeks, i went downstairs and ran my trains...all of 10 minutes. the only reason i was down stairs is i turned the ac on and was wanting to make sure there wasn't water running in the wrong places. with yard mowing and just the ability to be outside, my train time is going to be minimal for a few months.
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Not me! I'll be down in my nice cool train room when it's hot and humid. Yard work or running trains. No contest! The grass is on it's own!
Me neither. Since our layout is up=stairs, when the weather is simply too hot and humid, I just turne the air condition down to 75 (from 82), and either run trains or work on something. I'm sure not going outside!
I drive into the city every night for work so it's a little different when you Live here.
Yep, the cool downstairs shop for me! The grass dies every summer anyhow, no need to get religious about mowing it now.
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Me neither. Since our layout is up=stairs, when the weather is simply too hot and humid, I just turne the air condition down to 75 (from 82), and either run trains or work on something. I'm sure not going outside!
i worked on train stuff in the back yard this weekend.
The Mustang is out of hibernation and I get to spend time on my freshly restored Wheel Horse garden tractor. Cars and gardening are my summer hobbies; trains are my cure for cabin fever.
I am however still running trains and picking up things for the layout so I have a stockpile when October comes around.
i've been picking up a few fall projects myself. i have a feeling i'll have enough by fall to keep me busy a long time!
Not a problem. I have a landscaper.
Yep, outdoor projects reduces the train time but I still get down to the basement for at least a half hour for as many mornings as possible.
Bill T
Nowhere have I read the dreaded BOAT word. You guys who don't live on the coast are lucky. If you have one, it is probably a smaller size.I am hearing Hatteras from the wife, kids, and grandkids a lot more than train room.
Pictures from my son all weekend with him and his daughter spending the weekend at the camp on the Nuese river where he went as a boy. She will call us next wanting to fish.
And yard also has a different meaning. It's impossible to do it all so enjoy today.
Well Bill, the boat is secondary to baseball right now. LOL
I still have 2 kids at home and it takes up a lot of time… But the time spent with them is Priceless!
Now that we don't have to deal with five feet of snow and temperatures that are well below zero, the nice weather makes it much easier for us to use our train room located in another building. So we welcome warm temperatures and working on the layout.
I guess it all depends on where you live.
I hate the hot weather so I run trains when ever I can. Living in a condo I don't have to cut grass or shovel snow. It's a wonderful life.
Trains are year-round for me too. The wife and I downsized to a townhouse (with train room included) that has a lawn with about a 15 minute cut-time. That's not too big a dent in my day every 5 days or so.
After a 40 minute walk in the morning, maybe coffee on the deck, it's running trains, doing something on the layout, or whatever.
Normally, I don't slow down for the seasons, but this year is a little different. I'll be back at it in June after taking May off.
I took our boat out of winter storage on Saturday, spent yesterday stacking next winter's firewood, and there will be many other things to take my focus away from the train room in the coming months--but there will no doubt be rainy days, and there are always evenings to keep working on the new layout. My goal is to have at least 1 train running by the end of the month.
Outdoor work has sure taken time away from the layout. But if I am a good boy it is sup[pose to rain this afternoon which means I can moved into the house to run trains and do some work on the layout...............Paul
nothing like retreating to the cool basement on a hot day. for now it's just warm, so spending as much time outside as possible!
My train related activities always slow down during the spring and summer. In fact the slow down has already begun. After leaving York I traveled to "Almost Heaven" West Virginia for 10 ten days of turkey hunting and trout fishing. I will be returning again before the end of May for the never ending search for that elusive gobbler. In the interim, I'll be testing out a bunch of 022 and 711 switches I have recently purchased so train operations may slow but they never completely cease.
I started the weekend off on Friday night running 2 passenger trains and cab forward on one loop and 4 steam and diesels on another loop. It was fun but challenging. Then Saturday morning and early afternoon, I had my waders on and we put 150 feet of pier, then it was on to cutting grass (2 acres). Then spray the lawn, only to find out that the pump frozen over the winter. Sunday Menards for train room lights, flag for the pier and landscape rocks. Then fishing off the pontoon boat, playing with my grandson...
After this weekend, I am hoping for rain so I can relax in the train room. But that means wiring 15 switches to a aiu, wiring power to blocks, trestle building.....
Going to start a smallish out door (g scale) set up this year. Maybe 6' x 12 ' to start and then expand as the money and the will allows
Worked on layout most of day today and it's 86 here
I too slow down in the train room basement.
Right now its the start of our PA Spring Turkey season, so until I get one its 9PM bedtime up at $AM and out the door by 5AM in the woods at 520AM. Love it!
Then its all the other yard work, fixing things, planting flowers, vegtables etc. Then vacation time. Fishing, shooting, hiking.
It's always summer here so I really have to put effort into being inside. Diving, kayaking, photography, trying to get our narrow gauge steam train going again and of course the Aloha friday parties. I am plugging along on the layout and still love it. Once I start I work for days on it but this is what retirement is about. Sure never get bored. Don
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I run trains every day.
Marty, I bet you do but my layout is a long way from being finished. I bet you do other things. Don
Bill Webb, I too feel the Luhrs of the open water, and its only 10 minutes from the house, and I'm retired.
There is no 'season' for trains for me. It's all year long. I'll take more breaks in the summer… to see real trains, go to the beach and picnics, but always come back to the train room. The basement is the coolest room in the house. I get someone else to take care of the lawn/garden stuff. I hate the bugs!
Bingo, I live close by and go often to QM. Dotty and I take the train often from my town to South Station and walk up to the market. My layout will be 33 years old on July 3. My goal was to have a finished layout that I can run whenever I want. The key to doing what I set out to do is to do the job one time and do it right.
The time to go to the QM is mid-winter, when temp is in single digits and the breeze wafts "gently" down those narrow streets.
My train related activities always slow down during the spring and summer. In fact the slow down has already begun. After leaving York I traveled to "Almost Heaven" West Virginia for 10 ten days of turkey hunting and trout fishing. I will be returning again before the end of May for the never ending search for that elusive gobbler. In the interim, I'll be testing out a bunch of 022 and 711 switches I have recently purchased so train operations may slow but they never completely cease.
Your gobbler was in my front yard yesterday.
Trains take a back seat in the spring for me. Lots of yard work to do and enjoy the outdoors. Mulched and weeded all the flower beds. Put in new annuals. Just opened the pool yesterday and need to whip that into shape so we can start to enjoy that for the season. The trains will still see some run time but the outside stuff gets the priority right now.