Looking back at our covers

One neat thing about doing quality control checks on the upcoming Classic Toy Trains archive DVD is getting to take a second look at long-forgotten material. Our production schedule can have us working on three issues at the same time, so there is little day-to-day time for reflection on long-published features or photos.

I was struck by that fact when I took another look at the cover of the October, 2007 CTT. This cover hit the spot for me in showing imagery of what the toy train hobby is all about.

Here is a veteran Lionel 6-8-6 Turbine. While clearly a toy, it also captures key detail pints of the prototype – solid pilot, forward screen, and unusual piping down the side. So the rivet counter can see that while it was a toy, it was not a work of fiction.

The aspect of drama can’t be underrated either.

Posed on roadbed with a slightly devil-may-care incline, I can almost anticipate the gust of wind as it blasts past. Six leading wheels, six trailing wheels, and eight drive wheels (connected with most atypical side rods) even now suggest something futuristic.

Green empty fields and wide-open skies suggest a train rolling through Middle-of-Nowhere, Indiana speeding toward Big Town U.S.A. Hauling who knows what, but getting it there a wee bit ahead of schedule. And even though our layout maybe a 4x8 or a holiday loop on the carpet, who doesn’t see drama like this in our mind’s eye? The toy train world is as much about drama and dreaming as it is in getting cork roadbed, track, and ballast down on a plywood surface.

And if looking at that cover provoked my thinking along those lines, I guess it did its job.

What is your favorite CTT cover? Which is your favorite pose – a diorama shot like this one, a photo of a scene from someone's home layout, or a stark product photo such as our July cover? Which best captures the drama of railroading in O or S gauge for you?