Marty McGuirk eats an Elephant....

Am_Fet writes:

In the latest edition of the Model Railroad Hobbyist (You know, the free-to download one from Joe Fugate), Marty McGuirk poses the question "How do people find the time to build such large layouts?"

The most obvious finding is the one were you spend at least 10 minutes every day in "da room" doing at least something. Even if thats all you achieve, thats over an hour by the end of the week. I had an email from speed demon Grant Morell today, and he has no idea how he gets so much done either...but then goes on to note he always finds "the odd hour here or there".

This next one really hit home for me though:

"Don’t spend years drawing track plans without actually trying the tools, techniques, and materials.

I must admit, as badly as I feel for would-be model railroaders who just can’t get it together, I experience sudden aggravation when I hear, “My track is going to be perfect; all my cars and engines will be prototype-perfect models; each town will reflect exactly how the prototype location looked at a time-certain; the scenery is going to be picture perfect too; every stone of ballast will sit at the correct angle of repose; and the operating scheme will be supported by accurate prototype paperwork and a working interlocking signal system,” usually accompanied by a wisp of a sneer at the sight of many imperfections on my layout.

But these lofty goals always seem to be accompanied by a raft of artificial barriers: need to find out what color overalls the engineer was wearing on that date; gotta research the very best type of room lighting; whether or not to carpet the layout room – and if so, form a panel of hobbyists to determine
which color might best communicate the pike’s placement in time. With that figured out stand back, because they’ll move smartly ahead to start thinking about writing a statement of work, getting bids, and hiring a contractor to finish the layout room – or maybe finish it themselves.

So the merry-go-round spins around again. I apologize for seemingly making light of a serious model railroading tragedy that’s all too common. But it’s a trap that’s all too easy for almost anyone to fall into, and once you’re in this place, you’ll be the only one who can’t see it for what it is: death by trivia. To avoid getting caught in this cycle:

(1) make your dreams be informed by
your reality and then
(2) act on them, not waiting for every
last fantasy to be thought out and
every conceivable problem to be
solved."

I found myself falling into this very trap with Salt Works.....I was spending way to much time tracking down photos of the salt containers used on the IA, or planning how I was going to do my super scratchbuilt DC (highly detailed to the nth degree with super slow speed) that was going to shunt the layout.....I'm sure my time would have been better spent actual cutting styrene, or sorting out the foam for the baseboard. Must stop getting trapped like that.

He also goes on to say a few unkind things about online forums, along the lines of "Too much talking, not enough doing."....Hmmmm....

And how do you eat an Elephant? One bite at a time, Gracie, One bite at a time...