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Melbourne man discovers extensive model train network underneath house

sbs.com.au

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Re: Melbourne man discovers extensive model train network underneath house

#71

Post by fatihpense »

alnwlsn wrote: post #41

Reminds me of an estate sale I went to one time. Unassuming place, one of those tiny postwar homes about the same size as the one in this article - but with at least double or triple the density of this train layout in the basement. The owner must have been a very thin person, as the narrow winding paths around the basement in places measured no more than 8 inches, and the widest parts were only about 2 foot wide. In…

Now I see the real value of games like Factorio. That kind of poison needs to go somewhere or it ends up in real life projects

Re: Melbourne man discovers extensive model train network underneath house

#72

Post by nandomrumber »

perlgeek wrote: post #61
specproc wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there anything particularly "neuro divergent" about having a hobby? Anyways, I doubt his wife's making him do anything. Totally normal domestic arrangement to have a space for one's thing(s), whatever it may be. Well-conducive to a happy marriage, IMHO. I'm not fortunate enough to have a whole basement to play with, but my study's piled high with my books, electronics, painting gear, art and models. I'm thankful t…

> Is there anything particularly "neuro divergent" about having a hobby? No, but how obsessive the pursuit of that hobby is, that's the question. There are some model train enthusiasts that, over their life time, spend several millions of EUR on their hobby, so they basically work to finance their hobby.

Could be worse.

Could be working to barely scrape by, going to bed early to save on heating costs, unable to afford to save a deposit to buy a house, worry how you’ll afford the next dentist or mechanics bill.

Being able to afford a hobby is a luxury.

Welcome to Australia.

Re: Melbourne man discovers extensive model train network underneath house

#73

Post by dkdbejwi383 »

perlgeek wrote: post #61
specproc wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there anything particularly "neuro divergent" about having a hobby? Anyways, I doubt his wife's making him do anything. Totally normal domestic arrangement to have a space for one's thing(s), whatever it may be. Well-conducive to a happy marriage, IMHO. I'm not fortunate enough to have a whole basement to play with, but my study's piled high with my books, electronics, painting gear, art and models. I'm thankful t…

> Is there anything particularly "neuro divergent" about having a hobby? No, but how obsessive the pursuit of that hobby is, that's the question. There are some model train enthusiasts that, over their life time, spend several millions of EUR on their hobby, so they basically work to finance their hobby.

Isn’t that just normal life? I know that I, and almost everyone I know, only works to finance the things we actually enjoy.

Re: Melbourne man discovers extensive model train network underneath house

#74

Post by rbanffy »

I'm not really into trains, but it would be great if one day I found a 1970's computer room in my basement, complete with cold water lines, 3278 and 3279 terminals, and some tape drives...

I'd be happy to discover a basement, even if the first thing I'd do would be to call the police to check if nobody went missing near my neighborhood in the past few decades.

Re: Melbourne man discovers extensive model train network underneath house

#75

Post by alias_neo »

nsomaru wrote: post #56
emmelaich wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Home inspectors (at least in Australia) are next to useless and expensive. The one I bought a report from never looked under the house or in the attic.

Why don’t get sued into usefulness when issues inevitably arise in properties they’ve inspected? When you pay an expert and rely on their opinion, you have recourse

My experience here in the UK, despite getting the highest "tier" of survey carried out on my (current) home when buying it, was that within the 74 page report they produced, there were at least a dozen occurrences of the surveyors recommending a "specialist".

They avoid any liability by saying, "we couldn't survey under the floor", we recommend getting in a specialist. "we can't assess the roof structure", we recommend getting a specialist.

By the time all was said and done, we were looking at tens of thousands of pounds in further "specialist" surveys, which nobody realistically is going to do only to decide after that you won't buy the house.

I can imagine once you're looking at houses priced in the millions it might make sense, but blowing the equivalent of your deposit just isn't tenable.

Re: Melbourne man discovers extensive model train network underneath house

#77

Post by lynx97 »

randomtoast wrote: post #70
nandomrumber wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tangentially related, re hoarders and death traps, have you come across the story of the Collyer brothers? Homer Lusk Collyer (November 6, 1881 – March 21, 1947) and Langley Wakeman Collyer (October 3, 1885 – c. March 9, 1947), known as the Collyer brothers,[1] were two American brothers who became infamous for their bizarre natures and compulsive hoarding. The two lived in seclusion in their Harlem brownstone at 207…

Cause of Death: Langley Collyer (born October 3, 1885 - died c. March 9, 1947): Langley died first. He was crushed by one of his own booby traps - a makeshift tunnel of newspapers and debris - while attempting to bring food to his paralyzed brother Homer. Langley was buried under a massive pile of junk and his body was not discovered until April 8, 1947, weeks after his death, due to the concealment caused by the deb…

> Without his brother to care for him, he perished in the same house.

Great example why you always need to strive for independence as a disabled person. If your family tries to directly or indirectly slow that process down, they are a danger to your well being.

-- signed, a blind man

Re: Melbourne man discovers extensive model train network underneath house

#78

Post by cjbillington »

danielheath wrote: post #10
brunker2 wrote: post #3

How? It was accessible through a door. Nobody - not the seller, agent, himself or any other prospective buyers, or the building inspector he presumably engaged to check the place over before signing contracts - thought to look behind the door? How can you buy a house without checking out the foundations/basement yourself or by a pro?

The Melbourne real-estate market is _mad_. Prices (relative to wages) are exceptionally high and continue to rise, spending half your take-home income on housing isn't super uncommon. Widespread sentiment that if you don't buy something ASAP, you'll never be able to - meaning lots of buyers skimping on due diligence to close a sale.

Melbourne property prices actually haven't recovered from their 2022 peak, and that's before adjusting for inflation. I believe rents are down in real terms as well.

Things have been crazy for a long time, but I am actually optimistic for Melbourne specifically - the construction rate is up and the state government has been decreasing the power local governments have to block or delay development. If this continues, housing affordability should improve. My main concern is that a change of government may put an end to it, but I hope not.

Some details about what VIC is doing differently in this AFR article if you're interested (archive link because original is paywalled):

https://archive.md/yeDxF

Re: Melbourne man discovers extensive model train network underneath house

#79

Post by ludicrousdispla »

fatihpense wrote: post #71
alnwlsn wrote: post #41

Reminds me of an estate sale I went to one time. Unassuming place, one of those tiny postwar homes about the same size as the one in this article - but with at least double or triple the density of this train layout in the basement. The owner must have been a very thin person, as the narrow winding paths around the basement in places measured no more than 8 inches, and the widest parts were only about 2 foot wide. In…

Now I see the real value of games like Factorio. That kind of poison needs to go somewhere or it ends up in real life projects

I am certain there are more than a few Minecraft bases with extensive rail networks beneath them.

Re: Melbourne man discovers extensive model train network underneath house

#80

Post by thaumasiotes »

lynx97 wrote: post #77
randomtoast wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cause of Death: Langley Collyer (born October 3, 1885 - died c. March 9, 1947): Langley died first. He was crushed by one of his own booby traps - a makeshift tunnel of newspapers and debris - while attempting to bring food to his paralyzed brother Homer. Langley was buried under a massive pile of junk and his body was not discovered until April 8, 1947, weeks after his death, due to the concealment caused by the deb…

> Without his brother to care for him, he perished in the same house. Great example why you always need to strive for independence as a disabled person. If your family tries to directly or indirectly slow that process down, they are a danger to your well being. -- signed, a blind man

It's a terrible example of why you should strive for independence.

>> Langley died first. He was crushed by one of his own booby traps - a makeshift tunnel of newspapers and debris - while attempting to bring food to his paralyzed brother Homer.

An independent paralytic is a dead paralytic. You can't be independent and paralyzed.

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