It's been a while since I've written about the train gods. In a Greek- or Roman-like panoply, I guess we place the train gods above subcategories like the track gods, the electrical gods, the scenery gods, and even lesser categories of gods. Last night I was thinking about how the track gods had cursed my rather brazen statement that I had run 60 straight hours without a derailment. Given my boast, they wrecked the track in the most inaccessible spot on the layout. I formulated what I thought were the train gods first ten rules. There are probably many other rules. Here's my take: 1. Murphy's law is the primary law. Anyone who does not recognize Murphy's law will have unending troubles in the deepest, darkest regions of their layout where nothing is reachable. 2. Do not tempt the train gods in any way. Do not be boastful of your track laying skills, lest the track gods kink your track. Do not be proud of your electrical skills, lest the electrical gods invoke Ohm's law or short your wiring. 3. Run your trains at least once a week. This keeps the track clean and your soul healthy, with no stains nor blackness on your track to happiness. 4. Honor your older locos, for they are often easier to fix than modern marvels. They pull harder, so your trains can be longer. 5. Do not stomp your projects on the floor, nor throw them against the wall, no matter your frustration level. You will never find all the parts, and your projects will be consigned to a box, never to be resurrected. 6. Do not wreck two perfectly good locos to make one strange loco that has increasing operational and maintenance costs, besides wrecking your mainline. 7. Do not take parts from one loco to finish another, with the presumption you can always order new parts. 8. Do not fake your photos. Someone will always discover your falsies. 9. Do not desire an expensive Kato when you have a perfectly good Life-Like. 10. Do not wish for the headaches of someone else's larger and more complicated layout.
A corrolary to the first rule: Any problems preventing the error-free (no derailments, break-in-twos, stalls, etc) operation of your layout will surface at the most inopportune time- i.e. when the local RR club comes over to visit If you ask me, Murphy was an optomist Nicely done!:thumbs_up:
The most revered Jewish rabbi Maimomides spent a great amount of his scholarship pinning down the 631 commandments of the Jewish tradition. I'm not sure I should sully his name by suggesting that we modelers have as many rules, or more. But, surely, there are many more rules that I haven't written about?
With apologies to Geeky!! Don't count another modeler's rivets, even if you've superdetailed your locos and weathered all your cars.
Never place an open can of paint unattended next to a finished model.. Dimes to donuts, your elbow, finger, something will bump it, dousing your model with, well, you can draw your own conclusions... Never attempt to strip the paint off an expensive model shell using an unknown-strength solvent. Always test it first on someting from the scrapbox, or in an inconspicuous area.
Never but never Never but never use your soda can for an ashtray,cause if you forget,well lets just say thats not a coke classic your sipping on.:shade:
So have I - but only once. Ya know that section of track at the end of the Grandure yard? .... um, as Hemi put it - draw your own conclusions and I bet they won't be as bad as what happened.
Never completely disassemble a locomotive without the instructions or a diagram for putting it back together. Even if it doesn't run.
The Train Demi-gods have numerous servants, who often come disguised as pets and family members in order to wreak havok. The Train Demi-gods have a keen sense of irony and timing. For instance, they will give you peaceful passage under your duck-under for years, until you have stitches in your scalp.... The Train Demi-gods belong to many Nasty Godsmack Organizations, such as the Wonky Battery Supplier Council. This NGO will insure that the battery you're using in your DCC throttle has just enough juice to convince you that you can use the throttle, but the juice has a bad mojo, so with that battery your throttle won't communicate intelligebly with the command station. DO NOT TEMPT THE TRAIN DEMI-GODS WHERE DCC IS CONCERNED, THEY HAVE LEGIONS OF GRAEMLINS ASSIGNED TO THE DCC DIVISION!
Train Gods' Laws Mark: If your question is about the "Apologies to Geeky" reference: Since I was using Traingeekboy's signature quote ("Keep yer countin' to your own damn rivets!") to start my offering on Pete's thread, I thought it'd be a courtesy to acknowledge its origins as well as to apologize for twisting his signature quote. If your question was about "Don't count another modeler's rivets, even if you've superdetailed your locos and weathered all your cars.": Hmmm...it doesn't seem so clever on re-reading it. Apparently the train gods weren't sending me some divine revelation about how we should conduct ourselves. I was trying to get at the idea that going the extra steps to add details to locos or cars to make our own models look "just like the prototype", doesn't justify our making (negative) comments about how close someone else comes to the prototype they are modeling. Ah,well...I guess I'll have to stick with trains:thumbs_up: instead of comedy :teeth: or being a spokesman for the train gods.:zip:
Very appropriate Peter, well done! Friscobob, it's not Murphy WAS an optomist, it's Murphy IS an optomist. The SOB is very much active in this part of the world. Rule #11, Watchout for Murphy!!!
And if you chew tobacco, don't spit in soda can, it could be worse than cigaratte butts when you sip!mg:
Im with pete on this one. Utter not such follies as "My trackwork works perfectly" lest your rails bend and buckle, and the gauge of your diesel wheels part like the waters of the sea.
