Reviving Your Passion: Overcoming Model Railroading Burnout

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“The godly may trip seven times, but they will get up again.
But one disaster is enough to overthrow the wicked.
Don’t rejoice when your enemies fall;
don’t be happy when they stumble.
For the Lord will be displeased with you
and will turn his anger away from them.
Don’t fret because of evildoers;
don’t envy the wicked.”

Proverbs 24: 16-19 NLT

[diedertspijkerboer]

I often find that I get demotivated when I think of the hobby as a series of tasks. I get motivated again when I think about what I love about the hobby and the atmosphere I want to create on my layout.

[joshjosh]

I have SO many hobbies! I roll with one for a while until I get bored, then I go onto the next hobby for a while.

[allenkotlan]

Balllasting fun: a friend used his train gondola cars to carry the ballast out to the track for ballasting. He did this for his whole basement empire. Had fun using trains. : )

[jamessneed]

Running trains and visiting hobby shops does it for me. 👍☕️

[Greatlefty]

Bringing in the neighborhood kids as well as Boy Scouts and showing them the layout gets me motivated watching their eyes light up, asking many questions, getting a turn at the controls, etc. Showing the younger generation works for me…

[hikerdude]

Great post, Jimmy! I've work in manufacturing all my life and found a long time ago that compartmentalizing is the key to everything. Break down all projects into small achievable goals. Write out everything you want to do and then, break down each of those items into smaller mile stones. I'm diagnosed with ADD as well so, every day, have a small goal and when its a accomplished, feel productive and you will want the next goal. I break from trains to welding to woodwork, house maintenance, dog training...etc., etc. All gets done, all is an achievable goal and all feels really good when it is done. Don't hyper focus on one thing and get burned out. Step away and have other passions as well. Thank you for the post!

[philhamsher]

My wiring had me stumped for awhile, so I went to building rolling stock its and trying my hand at weathering rolling stock. I had a friend stop by recently and asked how it was going on my layout. I showed them and they had a helpful suggestion that got me back to my wiring. I can now run trains! sometimes we just need an outside perspective. Thanks, Jimmy for all the videos.

[NSSCOTTTEAGUE]

motivation, never had any trouble. I love to see a scene come together. I set a goal of what I want to get done on that day and go at it.

[NorthernBandit]

Jimmy you nailed it quite right...as with any hobby knowing when it's time to step back and come back later is really important, for your love of what you are doing and your sanity.

[diedertspijkerboer]

My inspiration partly comes from model railroad vids like yours and, quite often, ones that are not about perfection. Also, ones that are about train travel and the feeling of trains and model railroads. I think, in the end, it's about how our model railroad makes us feel and how we translate that into a layout.

[christophermondone]

I've been a model railroader for over 60 years and do all scale's. So I never get burned out on anything. One has to balance there time out equally. Take time out and do other things as you need to. It's what works for me, when you get bored with the layout, nothing is permanent on my train layouts, anything and everything can be changed as I want including my track plan. Even the lighting buildings and street lights can all be switched around.

[willeveritt]

Key to avoiding burnout for me is spending time with friends in the hobby. An ops session or seeing a layout at a friend’s place spurs me to work on my layout. Don’t have friends in the hobby? Join your local NMRA chapter!

[chrisjones]

Well, during a storm 4 weeks ago, a wall in my basement collapsed it took almost 1/2 my layout and damaged several locomotives! at the time I was updating my carnival scene! Now I'm really motivated to get back up and running again! I'm an Optimist, so I take it as I'll correct a few things that I wanted to get too!! Great Video!

[TheTrainFreak]

Jimmy, I really needed this video. Man I haven't done much on my layout over the past few months and it's a struggle to try and find a way to get back into it even though I have a list of projects that I want to do to move forward. One of the things that encouraged me to learn new things (including some I haven't done yet) is the NMRA Achievement Program. It was designed to get you as the modeler outside of your comfort zone and try new things and that is a requirement in order to become a Master Model Railroader. - Jason

[kenshores]

I had a hugh N scale layout. I built a structural table with 2 wings. We moved and I took it apart. I kept acquiring new locomotives and rolling stock. Just a different phase. I discovered Kato Unitrack and then decided to do modules. I like running trains on the carpet. Agree with your points. I also visit train museums and ride excursion trains. Rail on. BTW Shawn has made money off of me. Thanks for the introduction.

[frankgulla]

Jim, great video about osing your "mojo" for the hobby and how to get it back.

[tczephyr]

I would add, take photos and videos of your layout. It’s fun to do and show up a lot of ares on your layout that need improvement. I started doing this as a way to keep my brothers, who live a good distance away, informed on my progress. Sending them videos ended up with me creating a (very modest) YouTube channel, because email files were not big enough. All of that really kept my interest going.

[roydrink]

You missed one thing, kids. Getting your kids or grandkids to experience model railroading is inspiration to keep going. Seeing your layout through their eyes gives motivation for new things. If you don’t have kids, neighbor’s kids (with their parents permission) is another way to experience motivation. If they don’t like it, at least you’re giving them memories for the future.

[vitovolpe]

No coffee Dr pepper shake love your videos
I spent time with wife

[danbalmer]

Great thoughts. I model in HO, N and G and switch it up a bit if I get restless or frustrated with one. I also changed a few things up for instance, I model HO in steam to diesel transition era NYC RR, and N in Modern freelance 90s -present with occasional guest spots of some vintage passenger trains. I may get tired of couplers and work on buildings for a while. Currently designing my next N layout and that is fun too. And since my busy summer work season is coming, I'll have less time, and may just run trains for a bit when I have a chance. Hopefully I can do any and all benchwork outside while its warm too.
I had a longer period when I was just overwhelmed and didn't do anything, but found again that it relaxes me and started putting a little time into it about a year or so ago. An hour or half hour a day gets you so far a year later. I built two small N layouts and got my HO ballasted and partially scenicked. It can go in phases. Take your time and enjoy-it's a hobby!