How Good is Good Enough?

A conundrum, an enigma!

• Why do some "Average" students excel and some "Gifted" students fail?

• What drives some to excel in certain areas and care less about others?

• Why don't we always do our best?

• Why do we sometimes let certain things slide?

• How do we determine which is which?

How Good is Good Enough?

This discussion was brought about by posts on a group's site where a skilled modeler posted pictures of his fine model railroad car.  While most members replied in very positive praise, others, who were contest judges, began a civil critique as they would a contest entry.  Some noted minor mark-downs, but the attention quickly centered on the bottom of the car where detail was good, but not impressive.  The builder replied that he intended the model to be a true and accurate representation of the prototype, but not a contest entry.  Additionally, since the model was intended to be in regular service on his model railroad layout he only detailed the bottom to the extent viewers would see from the side while it was setting on the track.


Like many group forums, this thread quickly found a life of it's own, branching like a young tree in Spring.  Issues that I can recall sounded something like this:

• Some sites are just "At A Boy" compliments.
• Why would anyone submit a picture not expecting serious critique?
• Good modeling improves the hobby, poor modeling degrades the hobby.
• Just lurk until you reach the level expected on the site, then post.

 Near the end someone posted an article by the late John Alan, a master of just about all that was model railroading during his time.  In the article John questioned why anyone would bring a model to show the public that did not exhibit their very best efforts?  That got me to thinking as I am one of the dwindling number of people who met John on his home G&D layout.
Like many people of genius, John could be a bit eccentric.  Our Lockheed model railroad club was visiting from  San Jose and John was a polite host, but set out a few simple rules; no-one would touch the train but John, operate in a prototype way, and NO flash photography.  This was in the day of ASA 12 and I had brought my camera and flash, so I have no proof of ever entering the basement.
As our club had several electrical engineers we used a home brew 50 amp power supply that was also a possible welder.  While discussing electronics and transistors John admitted not knowing a lot about transistors and preferred using electro-mechanical means to achieve results.  Some things I recollect from almost 50 years ago are:

• He created momentum by using an electric motor to slowly turn the rheostat up or down.
• He measured water usage of a steam loco by back driving a home electric meter, thus forcing the engineer to use good practice so as not to  run out of water while still on the line.
• He placed a hump in a switch lead requiring a careful hand to just carry the hill with out banging into the cars ahead.
• He used Baker couplers.

About the only thing I ever saw as criticism of John was his propensity to use catchy, non-prototypical names.  John could do it all.  He retired early in life, never married and could spend almost all his efforts on railroading and photography.  Most of us have more distractions in our lives, have less drive, less talent and perhaps, more outside interests and desires.
We are not John Alan!   But, we can learn from him, appreciate his contributions to the hobby and endeavor to contribute to the hobby in our own way.

I, as a person, have delt with the opening questions and only have simple answers for complex questions.

• Bordum.
• Laziness.
• Short attention span.
• Loss of interest.
• A new interest.
• Costs, Time, Space, Other Needs.
• Health.

More and more I see modeling as an art rather than a science.  Why do we read the comics in the paper or watch them on TV?  Perhaps we are really artists who use science (electricity, tools, paint, adhesives) to create our model railroads, doll houses, airplanes, cars, rockets, etc.  As in art, some like modern, others realism, oils or pastels large murals or tiny sketches.  We have all heard the expression, "If we all liked the same things it would be a boring place."

I think this photo shows that I am pretty good at shingles and eight sides roofs.

This photo shows that I may have to work a little harder at my backgrounds.

The fact that there are several greeting card companies working in the States gives Hallmark Cards the reason for their motto, "When you care enough to send the very best!"

Perhaps in our modeling lives there are times for just a little pick-me-up modeling, in contrast to when we wish to do our very best.


Armchair


P.S.   Scroll down to the bottom of the home page and click on the box of paint bottles, "An Oldie But Goody."  That was my first post and was sort of philosophical.


P.S. 2   Do you like the new home page collage?  Hate the site?  5,000 hits but only 13 comments.  What do I need to do to stir up some conflict?  I must do something wrong from time to time.  Let me know.

I Feel a Rant Coming On

I hate it when it happens to me.  I like to think of myself as an open minded person, accepting people where they are in their station in life, their circumstances, abilities, desires, etc.  Then it happens, I open a site and violate what I wrote yesterday about being "contributors."  A modeler had been asked to write an article about how he built a depot using foam core board.  I read through the article, began looking at the pictures and there it was "The chimney is the wrong size!"  I have become the dreaded rivet counter, or as POGO used to say, "We have met the enemy and he is us!"

Our prejudices are just laying there under our skin, waiting to jump out at our most embarrassing moments.  Most of us say that we are not prejudiced, it is not the politically right thing to be.  We want to be better people, more understanding people, less offending people.  When ever those thoughts spring up we push them down and overcome them at that moment.  But, if the right thing happens at the wrong time, or the wrong thing at the right time, those pushed down thoughts and feelings squirt out like a popped zit.

I believe it would be better if we would just admit that we are flawed humans, not bad humans, just not perfect humans.  For most of us, modeling is a modest part of our lives.  He have our spiritual part, family part, work part, community part, maybe even more parts.  When we see the efforts of another modeler we are  only seeing that limited part of them.  Maybe, when we see someone's modest efforts and say "I could do better than that" we should say thank you for being an encourager, pushing me to set a higher goal and improve my efforts.

An Expert? Who? What? How? When?

A long time ago it was said that an expert was "someone over a hundred miles from home."  In modeling an expert might be someone who is a better modeler than I, therefore if someone believes I am a better modeler than they then I am an expert.  So, in that case, we all may be experts in another person's eyes.  What I mean through all this convoluted mush is that in our hobby we all contribute something of value.  Maybe we should think of ourselves as "contributors."  Tom contributes on track-work, Mary on scenery, Joe on structures, etc. I like building layouts, but the 4'x4' Camp Swampy is the only one that runs.  But I do make great shingles.  I had a great time doing the clinic on Building a Diorama, and do know I encouraged some to pursue putting scenery on a layout, but when I see the work of others I see my own lack of expertise.

I've said it before and I will say it again, sometimes I believe that the "really great"  layouts scare away some from our hobby because it sets a bar higher than they believe they can achieve.  Believe it or not, even my feeble efforts in "Building a Diorama"  have elicited such comments.  We all will become more proficient in our efforts as we practice our trade so from now on I will try to see the contribution a modeler brings to the table that will encourage someone to pursue our hobby, reach a little higher or in a direction they have not yet pursued.  And let us all remember, it is a hobby and should be fun and enjoyable.


As Roy and Dale used to sing "Happy trails to you"

Armchair

For the Robotic, Geek, Techies

For those of you who may find my postings a little shallow I want to introduce you to my oldest son's site, http://henrytherobot.com  .   Tim is designing and building a robot of a puppy that thinks and acts like a puppy.  It is beyond me, but I hope some of you will find it interesting.

Armchair

Dark and Not So Hot in Yuma

As many of you (in the USA) may have heard, we had a MAJOR power blackout Sept. 8, 2011, in the Southwest USA covering San Diego and Orange county California, Northern Baja Mexico and Yuma county Arizona.  With temperatures in the low 100's F we lost our NEEDED (for modern society) air-conditioning.  Much of the business community shut down with no electricity for lights and operations.  People, like me, were driving miles around looking for ice, gasoline, and a place to eat or stay for the night.

With the gas pumps out of power it reminded me of my years in Sierra Leone, West Africa, 1978-1979.  Over there the power was questionable but you were always able to get gas.  The stations would attach a crank to the pump and have a young boy crank.  People get ingenious when they have to and when the governments don't get in their way.

Summer must be about over as we are looking forward to 4 or 5 days of below 100F temps.  The winter visitors will start coming back in October and the rest of you can "eat your hearts out" come January when we have days in the 70'sF.

Armchair 

Hot in Yuma, Arizona, USA

You move slowly, but hop quickly when it is this hot; 110F to 116F all week.  Air-conditioning is what makes the modern Yuma work.  How did they do it a hundred years ago?  Agriculture is why people live here and the Imperial Valley 50 miles West in California.  Cotton is just beginning to be picked, wheat was done about 2 months ago.  Carrots, lettuce, melons, onions, alfalfa, grasses, corn, dates, oranges, lemons, almost every fruit and vegetable is grown in the region.  Very few frosts, little bad weather, 2"-3" rain per year, everything irrigated with Colorado River water.

Other big industries are the military air services because of the almost unlimited days of flying weather.  Desert training and testing are another item that relies on our unique hot climate and desert terrain.

Another interesting detail about the area is the altitude; Yuma about 100 feet above sea level, Imperial Valley about 40 to 150 feet below and the Sultan Sink about 265 feet below.  The Sink was flooded in about 1903-4 when a diversion dam on the Colorado River broke and the river flowed into the area for about 2 years.

Armchair

Folk Arts and Crafts

Folk Arts and Crafts Modeling:

In the great unwashed middle of the USA, often referred to as 'fly over country' by those on the East and Left coasts, live a lot of humble people who went without electric power, paved roads, indoor plumbing and other 'big city' things until after WWII and the late 1940's.  I lived there.  Nebraska, in particular, is often thought of as the home of hicks and hayseeds.  Into the 1950's there were only 10 cities with a population of over 10,000 in the state.  Even today, the third largest city is Memorial Stadium in Lincoln when the Huskers play a home football game, population, 87,000.  I only remember one hobby shop while growing up.  But, people did make things, little trinkets, whirly-jigs, bird houses, doll dresses and doll houses.  With no TV, and little to guide us we built what we saw or experienced.

Carnival Rides:

During my 8th and 9th grades I met a local shoe repair man, a simple, unread, old man.  Each year, in this town of about 750 souls, a carnival would set up on the main street for a few days and from his observance he began to build miniature rides.  He had a marry-go-round, Farris wheel, octopus, maybe more.  He built these from what he had around the shop and what he could find at the local hardware store; wire, wood, nails, cardboard, tin, etc.  While not to any particular scale they all fit together and anyone who saw it knew instantly that it was a carnival.  If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, it is a duck.

He inspired me to do my first scratch building, a marry-go-round, hanging swing, ride with 4 airplanes.  Our store basement had a dirt floor, work bench and a light bulb, all you needed for Folk Arts and Crafts building.  Tools were my fathers hammer and saw, supplies were some wood scraps, coat hangers, nails, wire, aluminum paint and toilet paper rolls.  No plans, no instructions, just imagination.  At Christmas it claimed the center of one of the front windows of the store and people stopped to look and enjoy.

Railroad Trains:
Like most boys of that time I did have an electric train, an American Flyer S scale 2 rail system, not a layout, just track and train.  During those years grown men wouldn't play with trains, but some did build them.  At Pioneer Village in Minden, Nebraska, there is a large scale train running around the walls, just below the ceiling.  The cars are about a foot high, maybe 3 feet long and built with the material someone found around his home or farm.  From the number of cars it must have been done over many years of cold winter nights.  While crude by today's standards, people are amazed by the detail and handiwork required to accomplish such a feat.

Automobiles: 
During high school, 1954-1957, a friend's brother built a riding, one person, model T.  It had 4 bicycle wheels, a lawnmower engine, metal body, sliding convertible top and ran.  While some made fun of him (one of the geek types), he was proud of accomplishing something no one else in town had done.  And done with the little money he earned.

Flour Sack Dresses:
During the 1930's the flour companies shipped their flour in cloth sacks printed like the cotton fabric you would buy at the store.  Thrifty housewives used these sacks to make dresses for their little girls and other needed items around the home.


Doll Houses:
My late Father-in-law, Bob Herrick, was a produce manager by trade, but enjoyed working in the garage.  After retirement they moved to Oregon where scrap wood was plentiful.   He found a travel trailer company scrap pile, collected and filed the clear wood by size and length, filling a whole wall of his garage with boxes.  From this supply he built doll houses for the grand-daughters, daughters  (see Intro to Building a Diorama) and even some for sale.  His greatest one was a three part, eleven room, Victorian, done on commission.

Conclusion:
The collective thing for all these is that they used material found, not bought.  A make-do attitude of self reliance born out of hard times.  A lot of the joy of building these Folk Crafts was more in the doing than in the finished product.  They weren't built to be sold, but to be built, maybe given away, maybe just kept.

When Kids Had Jobs

Sacked Potatoes at four years old: 
When I was quite young my parents had a general store in rural Nebraska.  Needing a few cents for a soda I ask if there was any work I could do.  They showed me how to weigh out 10 pounds of potatoes in a paper sack and would pay me 1 cent per sack.  They were surprised when they found I had filled over ten sacks.


Tended Our Motel:

When I was between eight and ten years old we had a motel in Southern Oregon where I helped my parents by showing the rooms, checking in guests, carrying their bags, cleaning the rooms and making the beds with 'hospital' corners.

Picked Blackberries and Hops:

During the summers a friend and I picked and sold blackberries door to door.  Another time we went with his mother to pick hops in the field along with transient adults.  I was allergic to the vines but we stayed with it and made between one and two dollars a day.  It was there that I first experienced seeing two men in a fist fight.

Set Pins, Collected Scrap and More:

During my fifth and sixth grades I set pins in a bowling alley for 5 cents a line.  The evening leagues had five  players bowling three games so I could make 75 cents.  Soon I learned to set two alleys at a time and doubled my earnings.  If I set both early and late leagues I could earn $3.00 plus tips.  All this was not without risks as sometimes pins would fly out of the pit and through a window.  Once I was tired, let my feet drop a little and had a pin hit me in the head.  The manager took me to the hospital and I checked out OK.  Some friends would help unload cream cans from the truck at the creamery and earned some cash.  The Korean war was on so we would collect scrap metal to sell to the junk yard.  I also had a small route selling Grit magazine on Friday afternoon, making a penny a copy.

Full Time Summer Farm Work and Other Jobs:

My seventh, eighth and ninth grades found me with paper routes, working at the swimming pool, mowing lawns, scooping snow and even working a couple of weeks on local farms as well as my parents store.  The rest of my high school years were more of the same with the summers working full time on a farm.  We worked 12 hours a day with lunch provided, six days a week for $25.00 a week.  During my last summer our high school building burned and I got to play fireman and take a hose inside.  Before we were called out I could see the hallway wall bowed in about 6 inches.  These jobs got me a 1949 Cushman motor scooter ($65.00) and the next year a 1937 Buick Special ($55.00).  I graduated high school in 1957 and went straight to Basic Training at Lackland Air Force Base, ending my youthful jobs.

Conclusion:

I am sure that many of you have similar memories, done without worrying about government regulations and onerous child safety laws.  Doing these jobs taught us about work ethics, respect for our elders, the value of money and prepared us for our adult life.  Today adults deliver the papers, automatic pinsetters set pins and most kids are forbidden to work similar jobs.  I believe WE were the lucky ones, gaining knowledge you can't learn in a classroom.

My "Little Boy's Toys"

Long before X-Boxes, Smart Phones, skateboards and Wii, there were scooters, roller skates, chemistry sets, crystal sets and books filled with do-it-yourself toys.  This was a time before lawyers took the fun and pain out of playing.  As an 'old timer', born in 1939, I invite some of you to go back with me and remember this simpler, and I believe 'funner', time.

Our scooters had two wheels about 8 inches in diameter, no lights, a friction brake and back-up parking stand.  They would take us to school or store and only wore out the sole of your pushing foot.

Roller skates had steel wheels, toe clamps, a leather strap to keep your heel in place and a skate key that hung around your neck on a loop of string.  That key would do all the adjusting needed to keep you skating.  When your shoe did slip out of the toe clamps the skate would ride up your heel and take some skin, leaving you hopping along with one skate on and the other flopping around your ankle.  We often combined an old skate with some boards and a wooden crate to produce a scooter more similar to what we see today.

Wooden swords were made by nailing a short piece of lathe (remember real lathe and plaster walls) across a longer one sharpened with an ax or old butcher knife.  These battles usually ended with little more than a knot on the head and some slivers.  If they did draw blood Mom was usually there with a "Band-Aid" and kiss.  If it was more serious she would get out the iodine that caused more pain than the injury itself.  (blow, blow, blow)

Cooping saws, wood burning sets, hammers and nails were other fun tools for unsupervised craft  projects that we would later proudly present to our adoring parents.

BB Guns and slingshots were about the only things that were forbidden or sternly warned about (You will shoot your eye out!).  Old inner tubes kept us with an endless supply of elastic material.

Before transistor radios there were crystal sets you could order for maybe 50 cents.  They consisted of a little bar with a "cat whisker" on the end that we moved about on a small "crystal" mounted in a piece of lead, all attached to a copper wire antenna and ear phones. When we were lucky we could listen to a nearby radio station.  This must have seemed like a miracle as it used no outside power.  These could be upgraded with a tuning coil of copper wire wrapped around a toilet paper roll with a slider made out of a tin can.

Tin cans were the metal of the day for us as they were plentiful and every basement or garage had tin snips.  Combine the end of a tin can with a wooden thread spool, a nail, a brad and a sawed off end of a broom handle and we could have helicopter blades that would sail 50 feet into the air.  Of course this could not be completed without cutting your fingers on the sharp tin, but we all had a lot of that.

Chemistry sets were the pride of geeks to come.  They contained many elements that are banned in mail shipments today.  We could turn water red, heat test tubes until something burnt and create nasty smells along the way.

As I said, most of this was done with little, or no, supervision.  I guess they felt we had enough 'common' sense to not get too badly hurt, and if we did we would learn a good lesson.  And I was a town kid that envied the farm kid who could do so many more fun (dangerous) things.

Stay tuned for "Kids Used to Have JOBS."

Who Am I? An inside look at this blogger.

Who Am I?  A rambling bit of my thoughts about things.

I just completed watching "Musical Minds" on Yuma's Public cable TV channel 8.  The program was about how music had intertwined with the minds of handicapped people and changed their lives in this narrow section of their lives.  Music has almost always been part of my life, from family times around the piano with my father playing his violin, to piano lessons on and off from age 5, to school bands - trumpet, drums, bass horn, French horn, choirs - soprano in 4th grade to base in college, organ concerts and finally ragtime washboard.  The piano has always drawn me and I am hard pressed to not set down at any keyboard and play - always in the key of C and always by "ear", mostly improvised - just a melody in my mind expressed through my fingers.

By now you probably think "Wow, an accomplished musician," until you realized I disappointed many music teachers by never going beyond the basics - "I can play the instrument, now on to something else."  On the keyboard I quit reading notes as soon as I learned the melody.

But, back to handicaps.  Among my accomplishments were; not lettering in sports in spite of going out all four years and playing my freshman year on a football team of only 13 players, screwing up my 8 note French horn solo on "Over the Rainbow" in 7th grade, never making the honor role, almost flunking college English because I couldn't pass a spelling test, etc.  When our boys tested gifted in grade school, we learned about the stress of raising and teaching gifted students.  Sometime later I tested for, and was admitted, to Mensa, the high IQ organization.

Yes, being intelligent can be an handicap.  My spelling is bad - in college I typed with the dictionary next to me, now it is spell-check.  Finding most things easy does not prepare you for the tough things.  I can't read music or transpose keys.  I have had about 35 jobs in 60 years, most less than 2 years.  I finally graduated from uiversity in 1999 at age 60.  I have no friends beyond my last three years of high school in Nebraska.

But, through it all there has been music, not always accomplished music, but music.  My first record club was classical, I sang a solo at my confirmation, remember a sacred harp concert featuring The Holy City, went to a theater organ concert in the fifth grade, first "popular" record was Al Jolson's  "The Jolson Story".  My first rock purchase was a CD, Eric Clapton's "Unplugged".  In the late 1940's I could have aced "Name That Tune", and still knew all the WWI songs my parents did, and they were both born before 1900.

Whether music is in your soul, or heart, or mind, I don't know.  But, I know that it is "there."  In the late 1980's we lived in Sedalia, Missouri, and attended the Scott Joplin Ragtime festival.  During the festival I would come home feeling creative and would sit down at the piano and play.  When I was sad the music would become more somber, when happy more joyful.  I had an opportunity to play a $35,000.00, 9 foot, concert grand and could feel the music coming out of my fingers, it just flowed and it was GRAND!

The TV program also investigated why some people like music and some don't.  They found that the brain not only distinguishes between pop and classical, but even between Bach and Beethoven.  Maybe that is why I have all five albums of Mitch Miller's "Sing Along With Mitch" and have no knowledge of, or desire for, all the 1960's through today's popular music.

 

Well, now you have taken a little peek into who you are reading; a bit odd, a lot sarcastic, quite opinionated, intelligent, but not street smart.  My first car was a 1937 Buick Special, 2 years older than me, my present car is a 1983 Datsun 280ZX.  I live in Yuma, Arizona, where Summer has finally arrived, it will be over a hundred degrees all this week.  Maybe the sun has fried my brain a bit.  And people think you are crazy.

Me and Model Railroading

I guess I don't rank very well with real model railroad modelers.  I don't have a favorite road, or era, location or scale.  I do like to see favorite engines or trains, UP Big Boys, ATSF PA & PB War Bonnets, CB&Q Pioneer Zephyrs and others.  I am not into fine scale modeling and I like to collect some things I can't run, UP Big Boys.  I do like steam engines, billboard refers, ore cars, colorful trains of all kinds and have some engines that never ran on the road painted on the tender.
Our little club, Rail Roadrunners of Yuma, doesn't have a layout of our own so we setup our portable layouts where invited and able.  Most people who view our trains are not too sharp on prototype so enjoy seeing a variety of trains, Red ones, Holiday ones, Freight ones, Passenger ones, Old ones, New ones--I think you get it.  My fellow club founder, Marvin, will be disgusted when, not if, I get Thomas the Tank Engine.  Marvin is Pennsylvania, PRR, through and through, knows diesels beyond 4 axle or 6 axle, and steamers by builder and railroad.  Me, I like trains.  If I see something I like, or think is different, -- or even "cute", -- I might buy it if it is cheap.  Marvin likes Homosote and I like extruded foam with cork.  Marvin is N scale and I am HO.  One thing we are together on is that we are both sarcastic and grate on each other.  Oh, Marvin is a Democrat and I am a Republican.  We suffer together for the sake of the group and even work at the same place 2 or 3 days a week.
I know I had an idea in mind when I started typing, but old age and time have stolen it from me.  I guess the theme would be that model railroading can be almost anything you want it to be and we can still be friends even if our desires are different.

"Suffer your elders their ramblings as their fate will soon enough be yours."  WOW 101:1

Armchair

An Oldie But a Goody!

Using Theatrical Arts in Model Railroading

A

fter many years in model railroading, I was introduced to the inner workings of live theater.  Live theater is very much like model railroading.  It takes a story with situations and people in the real, infinite, outside world, and compresses it in time and space to fit on a small, finite stage.  It is also limited by restricted time, money, effort, and sometimes, knowledge.  Live theater is presented in acts and scenes, using sets, props, costumes, lighting and sound to set the stage.  But, it is the actors that bring the story to life.

And so it is with our model railroads, we need a progression of acts and scenes filled with scenery sets, props, costumes and actors, and our actors are the trains.

The various theater designers begin by reading the script to find out everything about the play, its subject, local, era, season and look for references to authenticate their subject.  Then, and only then, do they sketch their designs, add color and texture, and present them to the director.  Rehearsals begin, materials are located, and work begins in earnest at various locations around the theater.  Not everything goes well and changes may have to be made.  Finally there is the dress rehearsal and still more changes are made.  Then comes opening night and the public will speak.  Is it believable or not?

Comparing  again to our model railroads, we see track plans coming together, scenery and backgrounds being constructed, railroad prop details to fill out the view, rolling stock being cleaned, painted and finally checked out on the installed track. 

Many in the model railroading hobby advocate that much of the above should be applied to our hobby, find out all you can about the subject railroad, it’s local, era and season, and then find authentic references.  At this point I disagree!  The problem for most of us is, “We don’t have a script!”  Without a script we wander about like a kid in a candy store.  Everything looks so good.  Remember our dilemma when told we could have only one?  What if we choose the wrong one and we don’t like it?  However, what if we had been able to taste several of the candies before making our decision?  We might get a taste of chocolate, a lemon drop, an orange slice and a bit of peanut brittle.  We would still have a decision to make, but, it would be an informed decision.

A script takes a story based on facts, fiction, tragedy or comedy and adds, subtracts and arranges the elements to fit a stage.  Most of us have some sort of story in mind, often based on facts, a prototype with local and era.  Other times we use a fictional situation and build a railroad to service that need.  Some have used fiction and comedy together to produce enjoyable and entertaining layouts.

But, writing a script without knowing the basics of what a theater performance  entails, the sound and lighting, the costumes, props and sets, would likely give us a play that won’t work.

Many of us would like to start out with a full-blown room full of trains running through realistic scenery the first month in the hobby.  But, that is like giving the closing, last, performance without going through the important steps to get there.  I believe there should be a succession of developing layouts, tasting the variety of skills and interests model railroading provides.  The successive layouts would display the new skills acquired from earlier efforts and the new interests that have developed.  With this knowledge in hand we can now develop a story and write a script that will work. 

I believe that model railroading should be a growing, progressing hobby that we can enjoy over our lifetime.  Take the bull by the horns and build a small track plan, run some trains, build a few kits and paint some scenery.  Sure, much of the original equipment may be cheap and unsuitable for long-range goals, but it can be replaced with quality once experience dictates.  Why buy an expensive steam locomotive and then decide you want to use diesels?    Sometimes little of the earlier efforts can be included in the newer upgrade so we must encourage people to not be afraid to demolish existing work.

How many people have passed up our hobby when told about all the skills and work it would take to have a model railroad.  If new people to the hobby were introduced to growing a simple layout, adding and removing details as skills develop, they might be less hesitant about getting started and maybe later, changing their layout to suit changing interests and needs.

Our model railroads are much the same as presenting a play.  We can’t model a complete railroad and therefore compromises have to be made.  We compress, delete, add and modify until it looks like a railroad.  At best we can SIMULATE how a prototype railroad would run.  These compromises and simulations I like to call “caricature”.  We present a staged view that is convincing because we emphasize or exaggerate details that identify the scene as a railroad and eliminate unnecessary details.

The difference is the same as the difference between a photo and a painting.  We have all seen photos where a telephone pole rises out of some-ones head.  The artist would not have included the pole at all.  It is not important, it does not add to the scene, and is not necessary.  Now I know many will disagree, saying I advocate tinplate vs. scale.  No, not at all.  I like detailed engines and layouts.  Even Thomas the Tank Engine is real to the kids and adults who watch it on TV.  To the visiting public, if it looks like a railroad, and runs like a railroad, it is a railroad.

When we chase trains across the country, most of the time we see the trains from one spot at a time.  It arrives, we see, and it leaves.  We then hop in the car and speed to the next viewing spot.  In reality we see a series of scenes that could be duplicated in a series of dioramas.  Only if you think of yourself as the engineer do you follow the train through its entire run.

This could be simulated by having a round viewing space where the train leaves the depot, passes under a bridge and disappears.   It could continue around the room on hidden track and only then come into the second scene.  This provides a realistic illusion of time and distance.  By using lighting only when the train is in that vicinity it highlights the travel of the train and alerts the visitor to the next important scene.  Using a double track main you could have two trains, running in two directions, in more or less automatic mode, with detection circuits turning the lights up or down. 

A long time ago a model railroad magazine had a series of articles about a model railroad that grows.  The object was to start with something simple, and, in several stages, grow the layout into a more complex, challenging and fulfilling layout to operate.  We all realize that real railroads don’t go around in circles.  They were formed to perform a function of moving goods from one place to another.  We can simulate that by operating a point to point layout, but that denies one thing many of us want, continuous running.  An eight foot shelf layout will never allow you to see your passenger trains up to speed, however, if that is all you have, you may be able to simulate the train coming into the depot, boarding and un-boarding passengers and pulling out.

I have designed, but not yet built, a show layout allowing passenger and freight traffic in a space of 3 x 10 feet.  It utilizes two, hidden, 3 foot diameter train turntables, one on each end of a 4 foot stage with depot and some facilities.  The turntables each have three tracks that will stage and turn short trains.  This allows east/west traffic.  A train enters the scene, slowly passes the depot, and departs.  Or it may stop momentarily and then proceed off stage.  All the visitor sees is the central 4 foot stage with all else hidden. Using a variety of equipment I will be able to simulate a regular day at this particular station. 

My main gripe with modular layouts is the long, almost endless stretch of straight track.  It reminds me of the causeway through the Great Salt Lake, straight and level.  This could be changed by having the track pass through the scenic background and reappear somewhere else.  FreeMo modules add directional change but little else for elevation.  A variation of module design utilizes a center scenic divider which would allow the train to immediately go from scene to scene, but not be obvious to the viewer as they only see one side.  These devices are often used by foreign modelers to hide fiddle yards.  I recently read a picture article about a layout that had mountains and valleys.  The track was on all one level, but by going around scenery, had the illusion of elevation change.

One thing that is always happening is change.  We find we like one thing and not another.  Some like to build models, some like to run trains, some like operation.  I recently got interested in ‘card modeling.’  I built a grain elevator from a cereal box.  The box was free and I “only” spent about $20.00 on tools, paint and brushes.  Later I thought about building a log cabin.  I bought 4 sticks of 1/8 inch dowel for about $1.30 and began the building.  I decided to add ground cover, then an outhouse, a well and finally a wood pile with a chopping block and ax.  I spent about 20 enjoyable hours working out all the details on an HO scale diorama measuring 4-1/2” x 9”.  It impresses people, and only after closer inspection do they realize the logs are not notched, and only every other log extends beyond the mating wall, but it looks like a log cabin to passing visitors.  Which brings us to the conclusion, it doesn’t have to be real, but, it has to be believable.

In the end we must decide who we are trying to impress; the visiting public, ourselves, other modelers or contest judges.  As every champion knows, there is always someone out there who will be better than they are.  Pick a level you are comfortable with and go with it.  Do what makes you happy, you can always change your mind.

Think about how a museum displays a work of art.  Accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative.  The space does not distract from the object displayed.  The surroundings are subdued and the object is highlighted.  If you have a master model with the ultimate of detail you display it on a sparse track so people see the model details and are not distracted with a beautiful diorama.

Armchair   from March 29, 2011