Hobby Thread - January 11, 2025 [TRex]

Welcome hobbyists! Pull up a chair and sit a spell with the Horde in this little corner of the interweb. This is the mighty, mighty officially sanctioned Ace of Spades Hobby Thread.

We gave the Ace of Spades Wheel of Hobbies(TM) a spin and the result was clear and unambiguous. It said model trains. Choo choo!

Are you wise in the ways of model trains? What scale? Were you into trains as a child or is it an adult hobby (or both)? How out of control is your train set? Do you build your own layouts?

Do you set up a train on the floor around the Christmas tree? Do you collect certain train pieces? Are you interested in full scale trains or just model trains? Do you have a favorite museum or public model train display? Are there any happy hobbying Hordelings that worked on or with full size trains in some capacity?

TRex appreciates model trains and has a soft spot for model train enthusiasts, but is not an expert in model trains. Small arms and a tiny brain are not good for hobbies that require dexterity and intelligence.

What are you hobbying these days? As per usual Hobby Thread etiquette, keep this thread limited to hobbying. Your participation does not need to limited to the theme. All hobbying is welcome. However, politics, current events and religious debates can live in threads elsewhere. Play nice. Do not be a troll and do not feed the trolls. Pants are, as always, optional but mind the gap.

Seems like we should start here:

The most extraordinary train display we have ever seen was near Salzburg, Austria. The Hans-Peter Porsche Traumwerk is the personal toy collection of Ferdinand Porsche's grandson. Yes, Ferdinand Porsche, the founder of the Porsche automobile company. Hans-Peter amassed quite a collection of tin toys and full size cars. He also has an immense train display. The museum is open to the public. Pictures will not do it justice.

O scale trash or treasure?

If your train set is in your outdoor garden and you live in a place that gets snow, you need a way to clear the snow. Behold, a model train car with a snow blower!

Go for a ride at the Kaeserberg rail museum in Switzerland:

Not all model railroads need to be massive. Instead of going big, why not go small? There is a whole world of micro train layouts. This one is a called a Pizza layout for its shape:

Click the photo for more background or watch the short video below:

Here is another fun micro layout. Click on the photo for build details:

Steve builds a lot of micro layouts:

We have talked about 3D printing as a hobby. Has anyone used 3D printing for their train hobby? It opens up a lot of new possibilities.

Making scale trains is a detailed process. Even if you are not into model trains, the design and manufacturing process is interesting to see in action.

James May is the perfect person to produce a two hour documentary on Hornby, a British hobby train maker. Even if you are not a model train person per se, you might find the story compelling. It a business turnaround story of a struggling company (with bonus content of a 1:24 F6F Hellcat plastic model build):

Open a window and watch while keeping tabs on the Hobby Thread or just save for later. Top tip: watch at 1.25x speed. You won't miss anything and it won't take two hours.

EnterTRAINment Junction has operated in Cincinnati since it opened 2008. It claimed to be the largest train display in the world. It was started by a hobbyist and had a lot of help from local clubs and volunteers. It featured 90 large, G scale trains run on over 2 miles of track with a panoramic journey through three distinct times in U.S. history in a 25,000 square foot display. History here.

The owner wanted to step away from the project and searched for a buyer without success for two years. The last day for the massive display was January 5, 2025.

Large pieces of the collection have found new homes. The main train exhibit layout has been purchased by a group looking to open a transportation museum in Chattanooga. They hope to open that museum by the end of 2025, or in early 2026. Other parts of the collection have found buyers, but anything remaining will be sold in a liquidation sale January 11 through 26. More information here. Entertrainment Junction

The Entertrainment Junction blog has included interesting stories over the years that might of interest to the Horde:

Who Makes G-Scale Trains?

Trains Around the Christmas Tree! How Did This Holiday Tradition Start?

HO Trains: The Most Popular Scale Model Trains

Learn your scales!

Did you miss the Hobby Thread last week with a theme of gingerbread? The comments may be closed, but you can re-live the content.

Notable comments from last week:

Happy hobbying Horde comment from the Wednesday ONT:

Words of wisdom:

"Because despite all our troubles, when things are grim out in that wide round world of ours, that's when it's really important to have a good hobby." Posted by: tankascribe at June 22, 2024 07:41 PM (HWxAD).

If you have trouble finding something in the content or comments that resonates with you, hijack the thread for your hobbying as you see fit. We will feature a different theme next time. Send thoughts, suggestions and photos of your hobbying to moronhobbies at protonmail dot com. Do mighty things.

posted by Open Blogger at 05:30 PM

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