Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Melbourne man discovers extensive model train network underneath house

sbs.com.au

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

151–160 of 162 posts

Re: Melbourne man discovers extensive model train network underneath house

#151

Post by mensetmanusman »

lynx97 wrote: post #145
mensetmanusman wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Independent in the context of modern capitalism means attaching to more and more support nodes as everything that was serviced by family/clan in the past is replaced by individual entities that can be activated with cash transactions. (Everything except actually caring for you as a person, those require a strong third place).

I take a cash transaction over my patronising and frankly borderline crazy mother every day. This iddealisation of family has to stop, it is a cruel lie.

The genes say otherwise. Strong families are the only ones surviving prosperity induced population collapse globally.

Re: Melbourne man discovers extensive model train network underneath house

#152

Post by latentsea »

rusk wrote: post #67
latentsea wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Is there anything particularly "neuro divergent" about having a hobby? Hyperfocus can make one take hobbies to fairly extreme levels.

Indeed. And such hobbies are a healthy and productive outlet for this kind of energy

That depends on what the hobby is of course. Also, it's not necessarily healthy. Being unable to switch your attention away from your hobby tends to cause problems in other areas of your life like neglecting the housework, your partner, your children, your health etc. That's part of the reason why these things are classed as disabilities.

Re: Melbourne man discovers extensive model train network underneath house

#153

Post by nandomrumber »

mensetmanusman wrote: post #151
lynx97 wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I take a cash transaction over my patronising and frankly borderline crazy mother every day. This iddealisation of family has to stop, it is a cruel lie.

The genes say otherwise. Strong families are the only ones surviving prosperity induced population collapse globally.

Infect, Israel is the only Western nation that has a fertility rate above replacement.

Probably because it is predominantly comprised of Jews and Muslims, who seem to value family much more than us heathens.

Re: Melbourne man discovers extensive model train network underneath house

#154

Post by mykehunt »

The article says it wasn't touched since ~ the 1960's. I see an old MRC TECH II powerpack (two button as compared to three - on/off, direction only.)

>> This out dates me but didn't those come to market in the 80's? Too new to be old but too old to be new.

>> Also pretty sure I saw a blue Conrail GP-40-2 in the background of the Youtube clip. (Not too up on diesel. Know more about steam.) but either way Conrail wasn't formed until the late 1970's?

Re: Melbourne man discovers extensive model train network underneath house

#155

Post by mykehunt »

mykehunt wrote: post #154

The article says it wasn't touched since ~ the 1960's. I see an old MRC TECH II powerpack (two button as compared to three - on/off, direction only.) >> This out dates me but didn't those come to market in the 80's? Too new to be old but too old to be new. >> Also pretty sure I saw a blue Conrail GP-40-2 in the background of the Youtube clip. (Not too up on diesel. Know more about steam.) but either way Conrail wasn'…

Bump for the Miniatur Wunderland - reason enough for anyone into to trains to visit Germany/Hamburg. You can easily spend two half days there. Their behind the scenes tour will give anyone with or thinking of building a layout enough ideas to keep them busy for years.

Their attention to detail, not only on the front end but also the backend is incredible. My wow moment was their staging. Since the trains run for the duration of the hours they are open - they get hot so they switch between two trains for each line so the motors don't burn out. Underneath each 12-18 inch riser section in the staging area is a separate smoke detector. (~20 smoke detectors in each staging area.)

https://www.miniatur-wunderland.com/ https://www.youtube.com/@MiniaturWunderlandOfficial

Re: Melbourne man discovers extensive model train network underneath house

#156

Post by mykehunt »

gadders wrote: post #94

Maybe he had to keep it a secret? "A businessman who secretly built the UK’s biggest model railway feared his girlfriend would dump him if she learnt about his ‘dull’ hobby." Train-mad Simon George, 53, spent £250,000 and a staggering eight years on his 200ft-long project. https://metro.co.uk/2021/12/07/man-spent-250000-secretly-bui...

The vast majority is probably rent/property taxes. With a distant second benchwork (lumber).

Half a mile of 2-rail O-scale track (3-4 mainlines in a 200 foot loop) at today's pricing is under $8 a foot retail. In bulk and pre-pandemic well under $10k total. Considering the budget his roster of engines and rolling stock seems questionable.

Outside of collectable Lionel. Even the high end, magnificent museum quality KOHS brass compounded steam engine will run you ~$8,500. While he is running diesel.

I can understand the appeal of mainline/realistic operations. O-scale has its limitations (normally space) but an NTRAK meet up shows more creativity.

The clip of him using the knock-off Faller Grassmaster is kind of funny. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-Mcgp6Dtq8

Re: Melbourne man discovers extensive model train network underneath house

#157

Post by mykehunt »

mykehunt wrote: post #156
gadders wrote: post #94

Maybe he had to keep it a secret? "A businessman who secretly built the UK’s biggest model railway feared his girlfriend would dump him if she learnt about his ‘dull’ hobby." Train-mad Simon George, 53, spent £250,000 and a staggering eight years on his 200ft-long project. https://metro.co.uk/2021/12/07/man-spent-250000-secretly-bui...

The vast majority is probably rent/property taxes. With a distant second benchwork (lumber). Half a mile of 2-rail O-scale track (3-4 mainlines in a 200 foot loop) at today's pricing is under $8 a foot retail. In bulk and pre-pandemic well under $10k total. Considering the budget his roster of engines and rolling stock seems questionable. Outside of collectable Lionel. Even the high end, magnificent museum quality KO…

You don't need a warehouse to scratch that itch. You can run an O-scale GG1 or Big Boy in the living room of a modest Manhattan apartment. They look great on a bookshelf too.

Kohs GG1 https://www.kohs.com/PRR_gg-1_pages/gg-1_home.htm

Key Imports Big Boy https://www.brasstrains.com/classic/Product/Detail/054489/O-...

Re: Melbourne man discovers extensive model train network underneath house

#158

Post by defrost »

mykehunt wrote: post #156
gadders wrote: post #94

Maybe he had to keep it a secret? "A businessman who secretly built the UK’s biggest model railway feared his girlfriend would dump him if she learnt about his ‘dull’ hobby." Train-mad Simon George, 53, spent £250,000 and a staggering eight years on his 200ft-long project. https://metro.co.uk/2021/12/07/man-spent-250000-secretly-bui...

The vast majority is probably rent/property taxes. With a distant second benchwork (lumber). Half a mile of 2-rail O-scale track (3-4 mainlines in a 200 foot loop) at today's pricing is under $8 a foot retail. In bulk and pre-pandemic well under $10k total. Considering the budget his roster of engines and rolling stock seems questionable. Outside of collectable Lionel. Even the high end, magnificent museum quality KO…

There's a 15 minute World of Railways interview with him at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrjIgfk5C_s

and more, including moving the entire 200 ft setup: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=heaton+lodge+ju...

Re: Melbourne man discovers extensive model train network underneath house

#159

Post by rodface »

mykehunt wrote: post #156
gadders wrote: post #94

Maybe he had to keep it a secret? "A businessman who secretly built the UK’s biggest model railway feared his girlfriend would dump him if she learnt about his ‘dull’ hobby." Train-mad Simon George, 53, spent £250,000 and a staggering eight years on his 200ft-long project. https://metro.co.uk/2021/12/07/man-spent-250000-secretly-bui...

The vast majority is probably rent/property taxes. With a distant second benchwork (lumber). Half a mile of 2-rail O-scale track (3-4 mainlines in a 200 foot loop) at today's pricing is under $8 a foot retail. In bulk and pre-pandemic well under $10k total. Considering the budget his roster of engines and rolling stock seems questionable. Outside of collectable Lionel. Even the high end, magnificent museum quality KO…

That price is astonishing. My modeling knowledge is limited to plastic aircraft kits, so I have no idea what I'm looking at here. I'm not sure what it would take to pay that kind of money for a model aircraft, it would have to be the size of a coffee table and made by PLASMO or an equivalently (freakishly good) builder. I assume that KOHS engine is handmade of brass sheeting (the detail and workmanship do look exquisite)? How much of the cost is from its internal componentry (I assume it has a high-quality electric motor?)? Or is this just what it costs to play at the top of the model train game?

Re: Melbourne man discovers extensive model train network underneath house

#160

Post by rodface »

mykehunt wrote: post #156
gadders wrote: post #94

Maybe he had to keep it a secret? "A businessman who secretly built the UK’s biggest model railway feared his girlfriend would dump him if she learnt about his ‘dull’ hobby." Train-mad Simon George, 53, spent £250,000 and a staggering eight years on his 200ft-long project. https://metro.co.uk/2021/12/07/man-spent-250000-secretly-bui...

The vast majority is probably rent/property taxes. With a distant second benchwork (lumber). Half a mile of 2-rail O-scale track (3-4 mainlines in a 200 foot loop) at today's pricing is under $8 a foot retail. In bulk and pre-pandemic well under $10k total. Considering the budget his roster of engines and rolling stock seems questionable. Outside of collectable Lionel. Even the high end, magnificent museum quality KO…

After some further investigation, the unbelievable level of attention to detail (the shape of the individually modeled rivet heads, the overlapping of adjacent sheetmetal) explains the price of these models.

https://www.kohs.com/Technical_Pages/Sheet_Meta_Detail.html https://www.kohs.com/Technical_Pages/Rivet.html

Post reply on HN