The BGR (Bruette's Goofy Railroad)


Bruette

Bruette

Well-Known Member
After six years without a permanent layout, today I finally bought most of the lumber I will need to build my second permanent layout. The day Ophelia moves through my area I decide to buy lumber. That could be considered goofy! Thankfully when I came out of Home Depot the rain had stopped and the winds subsided, thank God!

The name BGR comes from Tony aka Wombat. He suggested the name BGR (Bruette Grand Railroad). I liked BGR but I thought goofy was more appropriate than grand for my railroad. On my first permanent layout I had mostly track, trains, and accessories, little in the way of scenery. The trains were mostly Lionel O, but I also had an oval of HO on the layout. Lionel Legacy and LionChief, MPC, other traditional scale and conventional powered Lione. Mixed with Tyco, Life-Like, Bachmann, and others. Goofy seemed to fit. I might even throw in some N scale with this second build.

Don't look for anything new or innovative on my layout. No weathering or anything artistic. I am lacking in creativity and artistic talent.

In my previous home I had a permanent layout. Since I moved, I have only had seasonal layouts. mostly Christmas layouts. I also had a couple of Halloween and Fourth of July layouts.

I started this thread to mark this day, and document my progress. My schedule is still full. Ophelia provided the opportunity and time to pick up the lumber today. Hopefully, it won't be another six years before I make more progress.

Your best wishes and blessings will be appreciated.

God Bless Us Everyone!
 
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My health has been my biggest obstacle. That and I just don't have the stamina to do much of anything after working. I seldom do physical work like I did yesterday loading and unloading the lumber. The lumber is safe and dry on my back porch. I want to carry it up to the attic, but I know better. Not to mention I have yet to organize all the boxes of train stuff in the attic. I have no room for lumber yet. Today I will take the day off and let these old joints recover. I feel like I have been hit by a bus!

In life we can do anything we want, but there will always be a price to pay. Most of my life I thought I could work hard and play hard while sacrificing rest. That thinking caught up with me before I was thirty years old. I still did not learn my lesson. Each time I was discharged from the hospital I went right back to my foolish ways. I only learned my lesson when I was forced to the sidelines for nearly ten years. Those years were hard, I don't want to repeat that!

Against all odds I'm back again. To quote the Greasman, "I'm Perking and working and having a ball" Only now rest is my priority. Now I am a mere shadow of my former self. Sometimes I look in the mirror and wonder "who is that?" Obviously, I know it's me and then I think "why did I let this happen?" Nothing I can do about now.

All I can do is my best to stay healthy. I stay the healthiest when I work seven days a week, a few hours each day. The same effort everyday works best for me. My health has been mostly stable doing that for these last three years. I don't take more than three or four days off a year, usually when I'm not feeling well. My hope is with winter coming I can use the days I would be doing yard work to work on the layout. I do have some maintenance to do on my vehicles, which will take priority over the layout.

I know this won't go as fast as I like, but I'm determined to do it!
 
Here are some of the the things you may see when the new layout is up and running.
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All these photos were taken on my first layout.
 
Bruette said:
My health has been my biggest obstacle. That and I just don't have the stamina to do much of anything after working. I seldom do physical work like I did yesterday loading and unloading the lumber. The lumber is safe and dry on my back porch. I want to carry it up to the attic, but I know better. Not to mention I have yet to organize all the boxes of train stuff in the attic. I have no room for lumber yet. Today I will take the day off and let these old joints recover. I feel like I have been hit by a bus!

In life we can do anything we want, but there will always be a price to pay. Most of my life I thought I could work hard and play hard while sacrificing rest. That thinking caught up with me before I was thirty years old. I still did not learn my lesson. Each time I was discharged from the hospital I went right back to my foolish ways. I only learned my lesson when I was forced to the sidelines for nearly ten years. Those years were hard, I don't want to repeat that!

Against all odds I'm back again. To quote the Greasman, "I'm Perking and working and having a ball" Only now rest is my priority. Now I am a mere shadow of my former self. Sometimes I look in the mirror and wonder "who is that?" Obviously, I know it's me and then I think "why did I let this happen?" Nothing I can do about now.

All I can do is my best to stay healthy. I stay the healthiest when I work seven days a week, a few hours each day. The same effort everyday works best for me. My health has been mostly stable doing that for these last three years. I don't take more than three or four days off a year, usually when I'm not feeling well. My hope is with winter coming I can use the days I would be doing yard work to work on the layout. I do have some maintenance to do on my vehicles, which will take priority over the layout.

I know this won't go as fast as I like, but I'm determined to do it!
Click to expand...
Louis: Good job on getting started. I think that I am/was something like you, always doing stuff to my body and didn't give it a 2nd thought. I have always recovered from what ever happened and almost never saw a Doc. Well, unless blood was involved. My ten year hiatus was driving OTR with the wife. Did nothing but sit. Exercise was getting in and out of the truck, fueling and eating. I did actually loose weight during this time; who knows why. Fast forward to Oct 2022 when we retired. Since we had not done anything major with the house we had a list at least 53 foot. Getting going on that list was a real pain. Could only do stuff for an hour before having to rest. Heck, I even had to rest again when I rested to hard! We won't even talk about naps. Aspirin, Ibuprofen and other OTC pain relievers were the norm.

I have found that if I did something each and every day that requires bending, twisting, climbing stairs and lifting I got my self off of the pain relievers. Been about 5 months now and haven't touched them. Sure, sometimes sore in the morning but it seems to go away much faster. I still wear out faster than times of lore although I can see progress with the stuff needed to be done. I now can make it about 6 hours until ima done. Have no idea if that time will get longer or not.

As to the 'shadow of myself' part. I can't believe how much body mass I have lost in the last few years. I used to be a stocky sh.t brick house of which nobody would try their luck - except for those really little guys with a couple of shots in them!

I rambled, sorry - As a suggestion for you, keep eating food that is good for you, watch your general health and doing *something* each and every day to keep your mind busy. Plan, Plan Plan then execute that plan.

My MRR has gotten side tracked because of that list above. Winter is almost here so there will be some time to and play with trains. Next summer is gonna be busy again - garage build time. Easier doing stuff from the get-go, than the current ReDo so that should not be too bad.

Get those trains running! Pix please also.

Later
 
ctclibby said:
Louis: Good job on getting started. I think that I am/was something like you, always doing stuff to my body and didn't give it a 2nd thought. I have always recovered from what ever happened and almost never saw a Doc. Well, unless blood was involved. My ten year hiatus was driving OTR with the wife. Did nothing but sit. Exercise was getting in and out of the truck, fueling and eating. I did actually loose weight during this time; who knows why. Fast forward to Oct 2022 when we retired. Since we had not done anything major with the house we had a list at least 53 foot. Getting going on that list was a real pain. Could only do stuff for an hour before having to rest. Heck, I even had to rest again when I rested to hard! We won't even talk about naps. Aspirin, Ibuprofen and other OTC pain relievers were the norm.

I have found that if I did something each and every day that requires bending, twisting, climbing stairs and lifting I got my self off of the pain relievers. Been about 5 months now and haven't touched them. Sure, sometimes sore in the morning but it seems to go away much faster. I still wear out faster than times of lore although I can see progress with the stuff needed to be done. I now can make it about 6 hours until ima done. Have no idea if that time will get longer or not.

As to the 'shadow of myself' part. I can't believe how much body mass I have lost in the last few years. I used to be a stocky sh.t brick house of which nobody would try their luck - except for those really little guys with a couple of shots in them!

I rambled, sorry - As a suggestion for you, keep eating food that is good for you, watch your general health and doing *something* each and every day to keep your mind busy. Plan, Plan Plan then execute that plan.

My MRR has gotten side tracked because of that list above. Winter is almost here so there will be some time to and play with trains. Next summer is gonna be busy again - garage build time. Easier doing stuff from the get-go, than the current ReDo so that should not be too bad.

Get those trains running! Pix please also.

Later
Click to expand...
Great post Todd. I certainly don't see it as rambling.

I will say "we are old school" Like Jack Youngblood playing in the Super Bowl with a broken leg.

Todd, the only time I went to the hospital was when I was carried and could not argue. My wife drove me once when my doctor said I was having a heart attack. I chose riding with her over the ambulance. Just recently I rode in an ambulance, and I was awake. Once again, my doctor said I was having a heart attack. I only agreed to ride in the ambulance because the doctor told me I would skip the waiting room. Like you, in my younger days I never went to a doctor.

Even though I sometimes get unwelcome news at the doctor's office, I never miss an appointment now. My health is not what I would like it to be. But it is better than it was twenty years ago!

I'm not the man I once was, but I am happy and grateful for each day. I Thank God for every day when I wake up.

Thank you for your advice, kind words and for sharing your experience. 🙂
 
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I bought more stuff to use for the layout.

WEN 1.3 Amp Variable Speed Steady-Grip Rotary Tool with 190-Piece Accessory Kit, Flex Shaft and Carrying Case
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WEN Rotary Tool Accessory Kit with Carrying Case (320-Piece) - Much of it is redundant, but I could not beat the price!
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QEP200 sq. ft. 48 in. x 50 ft. x 1/4 in. Natural Cork Underlayment Roll - This stuff is heavy; I feel bad for the FedEx guy that delivered it.
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Now all I must do is some actual work on the layout instead of buying stuff.
That sums up most of my train hobby, buying stuff.
 
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