Yesterday after finishing up a project on my railroad I told my wife "well, it will never make the magazine."
Would it not be great if the magazine had a spread in each issue featuring us operators with the smaller layouts?
RUDY JAGER, CEO OF THE LONE WOLF RAILROAD
TRUST ME--I USED TO WORK FOR THE GOVERNMENT!
IO:
Type it up and submit it. They cannot print it until someone writes it.
Tom Trigg
They used to publish smaller layouts all the time in years past, the emphisis on larger layouts has happened along side the growth of both 1/29 and 1/20.3 scale as the two most manufactured scales now in LS. Both often require wider diameter curves 8' min, 10' common, even 20' not uncommon, so as a result the shear size of most layouts began to grow exponetially. So once upon a time where a nicely detailed 8' x 20' layout was once considered a fair sized layout and a good example for the magazine, it today is considered simply to small to compete with the yard size layouts needed to run the larger sized equipement which is now the common standard.
Its a connundrum, small layouts must make up the majority of layouts, but they are the least represented today, and thats a shame because the publishers are sending a wrong message, when I pick up GR I'm often struck by the impression that unless you have an enormous yard and very deep pockets, your not going to get very far in LS.
I suspect we may see a return to smaller layouts, with the huge increase in track prices and LS $ increases across the board, smaller layouts and smaller stocks look much more approachable.
Have fun with your trains
Independent Operator Yesterday after finishing up a project on my railroad I told my wife "well, it will never make the magazine." Would it not be great if the magazine had a spread in each issue featuring us operators with the smaller layouts?
As a long time published writer I know all editors look for articles that are of interest to their readers. Most of us on this forum are readers of GR; we should know what readers are looking for. I’m not that interested in how large or small a railroad is, but the enjoyment of peering at works by my peers. And ideas I might pilfer mindful that plagiarism is the greatest of compliments.
Send a query as suggested; editors like those one and two pagers for fillers.
Good luck, Rob
g. gage Independent Operator Yesterday after finishing up a project on my railroad I told my wife "well, it will never make the magazine." Would it not be great if the magazine had a spread in each issue featuring us operators with the smaller layouts? As a long time published writer I know all editors look for articles that are of interest to their readers. Most of us on this forum are readers of GR; we should know what readers are looking for. I’m not that interested in how large or small a railroad is, but the enjoyment of peering at works by my peers. And ideas I might pilfer mindful that plagiarism is the greatest of compliments. Send a query as suggested; editors like those one and two pagers for fillers. Good luck, Rob
Rob:
If you ever get to the Monterey Area give me a heads up (rudolf_jager@yahoo.com) as I'm constantly changing, deleting and adding things to my layout now that I'm fully <sigh> retired and you can pilfer at your will. BTW--the sigh was not a sigh of releif but a sigh of "why in the heck did I retire.....
vsmith They used to publish smaller layouts all the time in years past, the emphisis on larger layouts has happened along side the growth of both 1/29 and 1/20.3 scale as the two most manufactured scales now in LS. Both often require wider diameter curves 8' min, 10' common, even 20' not uncommon, so as a result the shear size of most layouts began to grow exponetially. So once upon a time where a nicely detailed 8' x 20' layout was once considered a fair sized layout and a good example for the magazine, it today is considered simply to small to compete with the yard size layouts needed to run the larger sized equipement which is now the common standard. Its a connundrum, small layouts must make up the majority of layouts, but they are the least represented today, and thats a shame because the publishers are sending a wrong message, when I pick up GR I'm often struck by the impression that unless you have an enormous yard and very deep pockets, your not going to get very far in LS. I suspect we may see a return to smaller layouts, with the huge increase in track prices and LS $ increases across the board, smaller layouts and smaller stocks look much more approachable.
I've got DVD's of the last four National Garden Railroad Conventions tours (except for the one that they did not make a dvd of) and the size and magnitude of those layouts are so large and expensive that I know I'll never have any thing like that. Down here in the Monterey area there is only one other person that I'm aware of that has an outdoor layout and he spent a fortune on it. At the local annual train show given by a group of model railroaders only one of them has G gauge and his display is so badly presented that not many people look at it long. People where I worked knew of my backyard projects and the disinterest was so large that over the last three years not one person came to see it with their children. Not even my neighbor across the street that has youngsters has ever brought them by. I fear the day is coming when prices and lack of interest will mean that G gauge will be only for the big operators.
Is the Rudy of Survivor fame a GRR person?
Rudy,
I agree that prices have put a crimp in the spread of our hobby. People have changed too. They don't get away from their TV sets or break away from their overpacked schedules to visit with their neighbors very much anymore.
I tried something to change that with this layout. I moved it to the front yard where people see me everyday out there "working-on-the-railroad". They actually stop, get out of their cars and trucks and talk for awhile. The kids have been stressed about not talking to strangers but once they visit the layout with their parents then it seems to be okay to come over and play with the trains anytime. I've had a ball and met so many people including the police. I think I've had the whole Pinetop police force visit the layout. The only damage to the layout was not from vandalism but from the snow plows dumping on the tracks they couldn't see winter before last. Nothing was damaged this year as the word got out. There is a lot of labor and love that goes into building a layout and naturally we want to show it off. Maybe that takes a special invite to an open house weekend to the neighbors to get that started?
Anyone else with ideas on how to get people to come to your layouts?
Rex
Rex in Pinetop Rudy, I agree that prices have put a crimp in the spread of our hobby. People have changed too. They don't get away from their TV sets or break away from their overpacked schedules to visit with their neighbors very much anymore. I tried something to change that with this layout. I moved it to the front yard where people see me everyday out there "working-on-the-railroad". They actually stop, get out of their cars and trucks and talk for awhile. The kids have been stressed about not talking to strangers but once they visit the layout with their parents then it seems to be okay to come over and play with the trains anytime. I've had a ball and met so many people including the police. I think I've had the whole Pinetop police force visit the layout. The only damage to the layout was not from vandalism but from the snow plows dumping on the tracks they couldn't see winter before last. Nothing was damaged this year as the word got out. There is a lot of labor and love that goes into building a layout and naturally we want to show it off. Maybe that takes a special invite to an open house weekend to the neighbors to get that started? Anyone else with ideas on how to get people to come to your layouts? Rex
Rex:
If I did my railroading in the front yard I'd be in for problems. First problem is the wife would not allow it. Second problem is Seaside eventhough it sounds like it would be a small resort town is full of low lifes and my track would be gone the same day I lay it. Doing an open house for the neighbors would not work as some of my neighbors don't need to know what I have in the backyard. We don't live in the Hood but it's only a few blocks away. Good neighborhood and all but we keep the doors and the gates locked around here.
I don't live in a HOOD, but all the littel boy's in my naborhood have grownup with the look of HOOD's as they walk by my house with there beady eye's looking in the car's and trucks parked on the street and yes I do keep the gate locked only my side nabor's and trusted visitors know about my trains and my wife's snoopy colection.
Dave
The head is gray, hands don't work , back is weak, legs give out, eyes are gone, money go's and my wife still love's Me.
After Patricia and I read this thread we knocked it around a bit and came to the conclusion that an open house might be the best way to show our railroads. We have many friends and acquaintances that see our tracks and a building or two and ask questions. We also belong to the Northern Nevada and Sacramento Valley GRSs. An open house is a selective way to meter who knows or sees what we have.
Admittedly we live in a town with less then 900 population, heck the whole county has only 3600 people with a density of 2.5 per sq. mile. They say 100% of the crime is committed by 1% and here we know the 8.5 suspects.
The media gives the impression there are great deals during this recession, however I see mostly rising prices. A long time ago a friend expressed amazement at the size and complexity of the US rail system and asked how it came about. Surprised the answer spilled from my lips, “They spiked two lengths of rail to ties and repeated it over and over again until we have what we have today.” If we want a railroad we buy a piece at a time and eventually we will get what we want.
Life is too short to live in anxiety, have fun, Rob
Please write up an article for GR. The latest GR main article about the Irish narrow gauge layout by Neil Ramsey was so welcome. I loved the 'Railway at a glance' bit where he says the railway is 30 yards long! (longer than mine)
Take some photos, write a bit and send it to Marc. One of the things editors look for is variety. The small projects and things I think I might have a go at are the things I tend to read first. Peter Jones was always mentioning little things he was doing and for many became the most interesting part of GR.
Have a go!
Matthew.
Capt Bob Johnson Is the Rudy of Survivor fame a GRR person?
I don't know about that Rudy. If I was that Rudy I'd own an island and run trains all over it
Takasaki Matt Rudy, Please write up an article for GR. The latest GR main article about the Irish narrow gauge layout by Neil Ramsey was so welcome. I loved the 'Railway at a glance' bit where he says the railway is 30 yards long! (longer than mine) Take some photos, write a bit and send it to Marc. One of the things editors look for is variety. The small projects and things I think I might have a go at are the things I tend to read first. Peter Jones was always mentioning little things he was doing and for many became the most interesting part of GR. Have a go! Matthew.
Matthew:
I'll have to put that on my list of things to do. My wife has a list of her own of things for me to do now that I'm fully retired and somehow she thinks her list superceedes mine
The strange thing about my train hobby is that the last time I was on a train was in 1956 when I was a young lad in Alaska. I never got on any of the trains in Japan either when my ship was homeported in Yokosuka in 62-63. Too busy doing non-train things in port when on liberty Go figure!
Now that I have the time though I plan to take the wife up to Felton and ride the Roaring Camp trains. Really looking forward to that.
Independent Operator Capt Bob Johnson Is the Rudy of Survivor fame a GRR person? I don't know about that Rudy. If I was that Rudy I'd own an island and run trains all over it
The USCG gave ten of us an uninhabited ¾ mi. x 290 yd. South Sea island for a year; great snorkeling, but glad to leave. Incidentally that Rudy’s Palau was the most southely in our Loran chain.
Be careful what you wish for, Rob
g. gage Independent Operator Capt Bob Johnson Is the Rudy of Survivor fame a GRR person? I don't know about that Rudy. If I was that Rudy I'd own an island and run trains all over it The USCG gave ten of us an uninhabited ¾ mi. x 290 yd. South Sea island for a year; great snorkeling, but glad to leave. Incidentally that Rudy’s Palau was the most southely in our Loran chain. Be careful what you wish for, Rob
What, and maybe more importantly, why? were you stuck...I mean stationed way the heck out there near Palau?, which Admiral's daughter did you have to insult to pull that duty?
I think I have cornered the market on the small layout ...all I need is the magazine spread!
vsmith I think I have cornered the market on the small layout ...all I need is the magazine spread!
Vic: I doubt that they would accept your article, I think they have a rule about feature articles filling at least one page.
If they were to accept your article, I'm sure it would be a first! First feature article with a single photo covering the entire layout! There would be no need for a diagram of the layout showing camera angles.
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