How messy are you capable of being?


P

Pete V

CEO Bangor and Santa Fe
I am in construction on my layout and will make the big dig in Boston look like an overnight event from start to finish. At this point, Trains can actually make a full circuit on a 17 x 28 foot layout but obstructions on the track are part of my life. I'd swear that when I turn out the lights, The spike pliers tell the track nails that the track spikes absolutely adore them and by the next day, there's little nails all over the place. That's not to mention the bettendorf metal trucks I'm incapable of storing, loose cars not fit to run but not put away. A bazillion bottles of floquil. Unfinished plaster rocks. Turnouts in piles. Big rolls of 20 gauge wire on spools. Magazines falling off the nightstand. My sweetie has to tell me that she can't open the freezer anymore and I need to move stuff. The dining room table is clogged with Kadee packages and NMRA gauges. Basically, I'm a slob. Is anyone else doing this or do I need to seek professional help? My first step in self help has been bringing in a wheelbarrow. It seems like a reasonable place to store things...
 
I understand completely Pete. On a project at home I usually end up with stuff scattered all over God's little acre and half of France! Time to clean the jobsite and do a full rollback when I can't find my tools in a "reasonable length of time".:eek: That kind of house keeping practice would get me runoff on the job! Go figure.:rolleyes:
 
Well since you have a 'Sweetie' for the sake of keeping her, you may want to change your ways. And remember, the first step to solving the problem is admitting you have one. You appear to have already done that. I try to limit my mess to the designated corner of the basement, with occassional creep which gets cleaned up regularly so my Sweetie thinks I'm trying. After 36 years I think I know a little about these things.
 
I don't think I've hit my limit yet :D But I am running out of space
Cheers
Wills
 
Clean as you go. That way it never gets out of control. When you're done using a tool put it back into the tool pile. Never leave them strewn about. That includes bottles of adhesive, paints, etc. And if it's a model element like loose track pieces or parts of rolling stock that should all be sorted, maintained, and stored when not in use. Storing ON the layout is certainly encouraged, but should be on semi-permanent trackage in semi-permanent yards.

Run your model like the railroad you're modeling. They don't leave their stuff strewn about, obstructing progress. Neither should you :D
 
I tend to get very messy, particularly when I am on a roll building something. I do try to stop now and then to tidy up. That happens about once every two weeks. So, yeah, I can get very messy.
 
I started building my layout in Jan '08. The benchwork was up by May, mainline down by August, and yard/sidings by November. I also have 8 blocks of 4'x2'x6" green floral foam cut up to be hills n such for trees. I have NOT cleaned up the room since I started. Garbage can still has the 50+ turnout packages, flex track box, various Tortoise machine boxes, and trash never emptied, and the floor has rolls of aluminum screen, papaer box lids carrying structure projects, tools, rolling stock that need couplers/wheels etc. I may actually clean the floor and vacuum before I revisit the sky/background painting again. It IS a work in progress....
 
I am feeling much better at this point. I did not note that my sweetie, of 36 years is capable of covering every flat surface in the two buildings with her stuff if given the opportunity. I'm not the only OCD person in the place. I just have to shovel it out periodically so I can see what I'm doing. Trains are just so cool. What a refuge. This is just the nicest group.
 
Ok, yes it is a mess or at least looks like one but don't you dare clean it up for me, not one little thing or else I'll never be able to find it or anything else ever again.
My wife and kids once cleaned up my wood shop for me one day while I was at work. All the tools put away, lumber restacked, swept and dusted too. It took me over 2 weeks to find all my tools that I used everyday again and knew just where they were until they cleaned up for me. But I really did thank them and told them how nice it looked.
Now my train room does look like it is a mess but I do know what is where and so on. I figure it like this, its under construction I'll really clean it up and make it look pretty when I'm done building.
 
The C&S West SL has similar problems too but all track that is laid is run on most all the time so it kept free of junk but there is usually enough clutter around too. My work bench is deplorable with all kinds of scattered junk. On the up-side of that is that most often it just takes a slight bit of digging to find the screw or bell I'm looking for. :p :)

I think most of us are so enthralled with whatever it is we are working on as well as going from one thing to the next in somewhat of a sporadic fashion we don't really concern ourselves with a little clutter! :eek:

Now where did I put the hand throttle, I had it just a couple of minutes ago?! :confused: :eek: :rolleyes:
 
I'm like most of you guys & when I'm working on a project I hate to stop & clean it up because I'm afraid I might lose a part during the cleaning process.
A part of Model Railroading is the constant mess especially if the project is big.
:)
 
I tend at times to clutter just the one area I work in. I don't have a layout so there is that . But if I'm doing a loco yes I don't have this organized tool rack , wish i did. I used to use a huge plastic tackle box with 6 drawers and a removable box that clamps onto the main box at the bottom for the large stuff.

My main issue now days is finding a tool I just had seconds ago but I clean up the mess mainly for 2 reasons the cats will play and walk away and my wife walks by and I can feel her eyes yet she is amazed how fast I can make it all look like nothing ever happened.

My father was a custom home builder just him and me and everything he had , had it's proper place. I got some of that but as I got older and now have a small work place everything does not have it's place . I must admit when it does things are so much easier but sad to say it never lasts more than one project.

My workbench is a 36" x 20" three drawer section of an old metal office desk and has a slid out metal 15"x 13" type writer platform . I added casters decades ago and use three small plastic tackle boxes each with sections and 2 trays and a bottom area , this is where I keep my tools and the drawers are for the in progress and finished loco's and detail parts . Plus a lot of odd's and ends boxes that could be in the old garage I have here at this old apt or on a shelf or in a small closet along with my power tools and everything else that has collected over the years.

I have spent the last month finding things and their place I can find them in, I am perhaps 2 months away from finished. I also have tools I use for trains and other projects I like to do so I have train tools and other tools in about three different canvas zippered tool bags and they get mixed up and I have ruined many good small files and screw drivers and the like using them for projects other than trains yet I can't afford three or four of each thing.
 
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blownoutcylinder said:
Clean and organized I am not....:eek:

You'll love my 6.5 sq. in. of worktable space....:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

I was looking at your blog music and trains .

I was into music at an early age . I was born in Chicago and with my trusty 2 transister dick tracy am radio I could pick up 2 blues stations . At that time I was 8 when I wanted a cello but my father got me a clarinet . I blew on that thing until the first year of highschool around 1961 that's when i realized what that small music stand in the case was for , marching band music , that was the end of that and the Guitar came into my hands. It was around the time the Beatles came on the radio and then the garage bands which I was in quite a few.
 
running out of space is a constant problem for me also. Typically what I like to do in order to avoid space issues is to set myself twice the amount of space than I think I will need.
 
I totally understand the issue here - we're a transportation-oriented clutter factory here. Hubby does planes and ships and all things military and I'm getting back into N-scale. He's already filled one room with all of his modeling gear, plus a third of the attic area, and I'm apparently working hard to fill a second room. I have no idea where a layout might even fit in this house at the moment, so it's probably a good thing that I'm still mostly in the planning stages.
 
blues90 said:
I tend at times to clutter just the one area I work in. I don't have a layout so there is that . But if I'm doing a loco yes I don't have this organized tool rack , wish i did. I used to use a huge plastic tackle box with 6 drawers and a removable box that clamps onto the main box at the bottom for the large stuff.

My main issue now days is finding a tool I just had seconds ago but I clean up the mess mainly for 2 reasons the cats will play and walk away and my wife walks by and I can feel her eyes yet she is amazed how fast I can make it all look like nothing ever happened.

My father was a custom home builder just him and me and everything he had , had it's proper place. I got some of that but as I got older and now have a small work place everything does not have it's place . I must admit when it does things are so much easier but sad to say it never lasts more than one project.

My workbench is a 36" x 20" three drawer section of an old metal office desk and has a slid out metal 15"x 13" type writer platform . I added casters decades ago and use three small plastic tackle boxes each with sections and 2 trays and a bottom area , this is where I keep my tools and the drawers are for the in progress and finished loco's and detail parts . Plus a lot of odd's and ends boxes that could be in the old garage I have here at this old apt or on a shelf or in a small closet along with my power tools and everything else that has collected over the years.

I have spent the last month finding things and their place I can find them in, I am perhaps 2 months away from finished. I also have tools I use for trains and other projects I like to do so I have train tools and other tools in about three different canvas zippered tool bags and they get mixed up and I have ruined many good small files and screw drivers and the like using them for projects other than trains yet I can't afford three or four of each thing.
Click to expand...
You are obviously far too organized to be messy......which is fine because being organized is good.....and you might be a little bit messy sometimes none the less.....because you have a balanced approach.....which is also good.

Railfan has spoken
(lost luggage finder)
 
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