I wanted this post to be a bit seperate because it not only deals with G-Scale, but in a way its my brain being frustrated. I'm not complaining or arguing, but venting and showcasing something new. Tonight I was finishing up my station project. I tore down the building, rebuilt it, cleaned up the misglued pieces and set it in place. But nothing worked right. Nothing I can do to this set will help. It was a used set, but never assembled right. It never will. The walls are bowing. I can't lock the building down in place. No glue will hold it and details aren't hiding that fact. I'm at the cross track. I paid 100 dollars for this set used that normally would retail close to 300. But in trying to stretch my money between house upgrades and layouts, I decided that It's time Wolfcreek stops trying to be something it isn't.... European. Nuestadt station was always my fascination because of the station setup. But no longer. As my layout has matured, so have my ideas and my feelings towards American Railroading. Don't get me wrong, I love my little European E-Lok to death, but this layout is about American Mainline Railroading; The Burlington Northern serving 2 small communities who need each other and the railroad. The towns have to scream "Hey America! We're the backbone of industry!" Even my g/f who has become ensconced into the hobby has agreed. I have a new project for 4.1 which is now 4.1.2. I'm going to go after the Tiefenbach Station, Rosenbach small building, and a NEW Nuestadt Waiting platform set (It matches the overhang of the station and I'll paint it to match). I wanted a building that wasn't sterile white (Can't paint it anyways). These Buildings links will be shown below from Piko's German website: Station: http://87.106.5.116/piko_bilder/62043.jpg Signal Box: http://87.106.5.116/piko_bilder/62041.jpg Small Building: Link Not Found Platform: Piko Nuestadt Waiting Platform (New!) The base plan remains the same: -------------------------------- Track 2 -------------------------------- ____________________________ |Signal Tower||Covered Platform| -------------------------------- Track 1 -------------------------------- ____________________________ |Station| |Small Building| Basically, I'm re-investing my money here. I'm telling myself that I'm not happy with what I have because in truth, I'm not. I can't stand having a building that is physically unable to be repaired properly. It's hard to convince myself to spend the money. Now Yes, I dropped a thousand dollars on 4 GP40's and 4 Coal Hoppers, but those were special, custom runs that were in the budget. This rebuild and replace isn't. To be honest, when my g/f says "Forget the trip to Alaska, let's go for the buildings," it has nothing to do with the fact that my g/f said buy woo woo woo. It's just I hate to see her give up her trip. I feel like an artist whose basically unable to paint anything. I've got this grand dream of a building setup in my mind, I have the money, the time, the paitence and even the skill level required. But one thing keeps coming back at me, and that's "It's not on the schedule." Things change, that's what makes this hobby so great. Heck, I planned the entire garden railroad on the fly so I can start laying and modifying. It's hard to tell yourself "Okay I'll do this." When you know someone is sacrificing a lot for the dream. I know I can get the buildings locally. I'll be doing that in a couple weeks. But it brings me down to this one very important note: She's going to have to have one helluva christmas present this year. So In July, the U25B is being forced back a couple months, and I'll be putting a progress log up for the Wolfcreek Station Project. I thought my plans were set in stone, I never imagined how far they would come and how drastically they'd change. I didn't know that this hobby was this fun and frustrating at the same time. smile: EDIT: I am keeping my recently purchased baseplate set. The entire Pola covered platform will sit on the Piko baseplates. Everything will continue to follow that plan. It's just the buildings that are changing.
I was reading your write and wanted to make a couple of comments. Everything in lif is always changing, even in the buisness world things come up and you have to make changes, nothing is perfetc and sometimes things don't stay on a schedule. It's how you adapt to the changes whether or not you win or loose. So I see you had a major set back on the station and I agree if you are running a American prototype railroad that you should have American type structures, but this doesn't mean you shouldn't have a station. You say you are tealented, so maybe you could scratch build one from balsa wood or even from plastic wall parts kits which in my Manufactures directory thier are places that make building materials. You shouldn't really stick to a schedule, you will eventually lead yourself to many diasspoinments. Just take on one thing at a time and when it's done, it's done. Who says you can't have your trip and buildings too. Ok, your money is short, sounds like you have a nice girl, take her on the trip and get the buildings you want later, like the following year, as long as you can run trains, thats the main thing. As the saying goes....... "Rome wasn't built over nite"
It's funny because we spent all night planning this out. She has a point, it's our layout, and if it takes years to get it right so be it. But with that said, we're still at the crosstracks of a decision. Ultimately it came down to "What's Alaska without our friends right?" So now we're going to go the building route that Piko has. The station linked above has some European influence, but something that isn't all that uncommon in America. It's perfect. This phase revision is going to work; It's a matter of tracking it down at the right price. I promised her East Coast this fall, and I plan on sticking to that. If it takes me another year to get to Alaska, so be it. But the problem therein lies, what do you do when you aren't handy with wood? Give me an old Ford Roadster or a Miller Meteor (Ecto-1 Anyone?) and I can make that look as pretty as the sun. Give me wood and head for the hills. But even then, with so much plastic material available... If I cannot track down the piko building I'm looking for, I have parts all lined up to custom build my own depot. When it comes to body work, nothing goes according to plan even when it does. I just figured maybe something would go right. This time, however, It will. All baseplates, buildings, detail parts, etc are going to be assembled together. The main problem has been the dilapetated awnings slamming into the Caboose Lanterns. Two options there: Don't run the Cabeese, or try and either fix, repair, or build new awnings. Not running my Cabeese is not an option in my case. The plastic is so warped on these buildings that I doubt it would resell. That manufacturer directory saved me a lot of googling. At some point I'll scan it in, but our bed was covered with 9 dozen layout ideas for the station alone. The evolution that we took, came right back to the same platform. Keep it, I thought. It's the buildings that need work. And rather then use pola's kits, as nice as they are, I wanted to match the awning of the station. The evolution and de-evolution of this station project has and will be one of constant frustration and joy. Which this situation just gives me nothing but respect for people like Tom Miller and his fantastic F-Scale layout, or our own Phantom and DMiller. I cannot begin to imagine how much that must have taken in the patience department, but It's a benchmark. On this forum alone, Phantom, DMiller, and Dave Winters have been the three names that are my inspiration. It finally opened up a new door in this hobby. And I'm stepping through it. I'll keep everyone updated on the station progress. This project isn't going to kick my rear again. As for my g/f, well, what can I say that won't get a book thrown at my head... Not much. Still all jokes aside, It's easier when you get frustrated and people refuse to let you get that way. My whole schedule Idea blew up in my face, but that won't stop me. To quote one of my Favorite Grateful Dead Songs: "What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been." In both life, reality and modeling. What else can be said for the World's Greatest Hobby?
