Browser keeps "waiting for localhost" - node.js

Question

in my index.js file:
const express = require('express');
const router = express.Router();
// Do work here
router.get('/', (req, res) => {
res.send('Hey! It works!');
});
module.exports = router;
I am able to make the first request just fine, but every subsequent request just waits for localhost until it times out.
app.js looks like:
const express = require('express');
const session = require('express-session');
const mongoose = require('mongoose');
const MongoStore = require('connect-mongo')(session);
const path = require('path');
const cookieParser = require('cookie-parser');
const bodyParser = require('body-parser');
const passport = require('passport');
const promisify = require('es6-promisify');
const flash = require('connect-flash');
const expressValidator = require('express-validator');
const routes = require('./routes/index');
const helpers = require('./helpers');
const errorHandlers = require('./handlers/errorHandlers');
// create our Express app
const app = express();
// view engine setup
app.set('views', path.join(__dirname, 'views')); // this is the folder where we keep our pug files
app.set('view engine', 'pug'); // we use the engine pug, mustache or EJS work great too
// serves up static files from the public folder. Anything in public/ will just be served up as the file it is
app.use(express.static(path.join(__dirname, 'public')));
// done! we export it so we can start the site in start.js
module.exports = app;
the start.js file looks like this. I should add that this is not my own code - it's part of the node.js tutorial from Wes Bos.
const mongoose = require('mongoose');
// import environmental variables from our variables.env file
require('dotenv').config({ path: 'variables.env' });
// Connect to our Database and handle any bad connections
mongoose.connect(process.env.DATABASE);
mongoose.Promise = global.Promise; // Tell Mongoose to use ES6 promises
mongoose.connection.on('error', (err) => {
console.error(`🙅 🚫 🙅 🚫 🙅 🚫 🙅 🚫 → ${err.message}`);
});
// READY?! Let's go!
// Start our app!
const app = require('./app');
app.set('port', process.env.PORT || 7777);
const server = app.listen(app.get('port'), () => {
console.log(`Express running → PORT ${server.address().port}`);
});

Answer 1

Managed to solve my own problem, so I'm reporting back for anyone who may have encountered the same issue coming from the Wes Bos Node.js tutorial.
The solution was to double check my variables.env file - I had stupidly left arrow brackets around the username and password fields. If you're having this issue, make sure your DATABASE environment variable looks something like this:
DATABASE=mongodb://dang:dang#ds057833.mlab.com:57833/dang-thats-delicious