These guys aren't dreaming. They are DOING. I sincerely hope the majority of people reading this know the difference. Stop dreaming and start doing if you want to have anything real to show for your efforts.

The outdoor no resources approach makes for the least practical, most expensive possible job once you consider the real cost, not just directly charged dollars changing hands. Just because it can be done doesn't mean it should. I'd rather you fund a work space before funding the work - it will cost less and produce better in the overall reality.

Last winter I spent a nasty cold day in a wet ditch beside a 0-4-0T tearing down a valve chest to try to find an intermittent leak. I found a few possibilities, but what really was a problem was the only tool we had to move the valve chest cover was a 2X10 that was covered with mud. We had no nearby means of cleaning. We pretty much coated it with grainy lapping compound by default and bolted it back together BECAUSE WE HAD NO DECENT PLACE TO WORK or other alternative. Now there are probably many more leaks across the balancing plates. It would have been better to have left it alone.

This is what we call stupid - not desirable, profitable or admirable in any way. A concrete pad with a track running through it with a hose bibb would have made all the difference, and an engine hoist would have helped a lot. A building would of course be much better. The job's hard enough without setting yourself up for a battle to even accomplish the simple small stuff by denying yourself the basics.

dave