prototype vs freelance - I HAVE SEEN THE LIGHT

[robengland]

I've always been a big fan of Tony Koester. Not the AM layout, great as it was, but his thinking about this hobby. I've read him right back into RMC days and always enjoy it and usually agree.
So Tony has always been a proponent of prototype modelling. Oh sure as an editor and as a columnist he has to do that inclusive thing you Americans get hung up on. He qualifies every article with some statement about whatever turns you on is just fine and how this great hobby has room for everyone, but in his heart you KNOW he likes prototypical modelling, and the more accurate the better.
And then he'd jump through all these intellectual hoops to rationalise the fact that the Allegheny Midland was a freelance layout. This caused me some amusement, and some relief too, because my own South Pacific Lines is a freelance one - a compromise I made because I want to model New Zealand but all the cheap readily available gear is American. If it was OK for Tony then it was OK for me.
So then he gets rid of the AM and starts on what looks to be turning into one of the world's great model railroads: a prototypical model of the NKP. And the relief in his writing is almost palpable, as he can take a purist position now without having to explain away his own basement.
Dang. What do I do now?
Truth is I thought I was pretty clever when i first rewrote the history of New Zealand to rationalise F7s and Mikados charging about the place on standard gauge track with SPL and ATSF markings all over them. But I was getting a bit sick of explaining the whole scenario to folks, and the vast expanses of blue foam didn't look like anything to anyone but me. The vision was all in my head and no-one else's.
My SPL layout has always been intended as a learning layout, to be scrapped when the layout room is ready. Turns out the concrete tank under the house earmarked for the layout doesn't contain residual asbestos after all, the renovations on our house are proceeding at a good pace, and my bonuses have been good. So suddenly the demise of the SPL is in sight, maybe a year maybe two by the time I get the new room finished.
I started thinking I'd like to model the Wellington and Manawatu Railway. I know that won't mean much to most of you, but just accept for now that it is a local prototype from about 1880-1906 (from memory) that ran nice Baldwin locos alongside huge Briti***ank locos through amazing NZ scenery and came within a mile of my current house.
Today I was sketching a track plan and on it I wrote Belmont and Ngaio and Paekakariki and Foxton and Thorndon, and it occured to me that i didn't have to write anything else for local modellers to know exactly what was to go at that point on the plan. The Belmont trestle, the wild Ngaio Gorge, the long Paekak incline, the Foxton flax swamps, the Thorndon harbour reclamation: they all leap out of the plan with just one word. If folk need documentation I just hand them the books on the WMR.
Tony said it would be like this. He explained how easy it makes things when you are true to a prototype.

I HAVE SEEN THE LIGHT. No more "yes but if" for me. No more making up colours or architectural styles or yard layouts. No more deciding if a loco will fit. Next layout I will follow prototype. It feels right.

[ericboone]

I actually just saw a video a couple weeks ago about steam in New Zeeland on one of the satelite television stations we get. (RFDTV on DirecTV, for those who are curious). I forget the details of the particular railroads, but the scenery was gorgous. It is definitely the mountain railroad modeler's dream.
Of course, for the same reason you mentioned, I'll be modeling a relatively flat railroad through Michigan, USA. It ran about 1/4 mile from the home I grew up in. It seems a large percentage of prototype modelers model railroads that they grew up next to or still live near.
I do find prototype modeling exciting. The research is fun and the sense that your recreating history is rewarding. Of course, I've visited several very nice freelanced railroads, but I've always prefered the prototype layouts myself.
Like you, I am on the verge of building my first large layout. The basement is ready to get finished and I am currently planning my layout with CAD. It is a fun process.

[robengland]

it will be interesting to see how disciplined I am about sticking to prototype. I'm already wrestling with my first 'test of faith": WMR was 3'6", same as most NZ rail. How much 3'6" gear have you seen around in any scale? Yup, just about zilch. I'm not the most patient modeller - I find it hard to imagine scratchbuilding everything.

[Anonymous]

Great, that it feels right for you. Change can be good and a change in approach may help keep interest fresh. I also admire Tony Koester's work but feel no need to adopt his changing philosophies or follow his lead however. If it makes you feel more comfortable with your current work, the idea that "whatever turns you on is just fine and this great hobby has room for everyone" applies to folks from New Zealand as well as "you Americans." It almost sounds as if you feel that employing creative license in layout design & operations is a cultural flaw and peculiar to Americans. It's a time-honored idea enjoyed worldwide.

I'm quite happy working on a freelance layout with historical and prototypical influences and some flights of fancy. My new layout is set in the early years of the 1900s and runs through the Adirondack Mountains of Northern New York. Prototypical operations would depict NY Central and Delaware & Hudson trains running through the area, setting fire to hundreds of thousands of acres of woodlands, picking up lumber shipments from sawmills whose logging operations clearcut entire mountains and valleys, or iron from mines whose charcoal operations clearcut many other thousands of acres. I'm willing to sacrifice all that destruction with my rewrite of history and won't feel the least bit obligated to provide documentation when visitors demand to know why my trains are rolling through green forests instead of charred, barren and devasted wastelands. If a history lesson is required I'll show them the photos I have in local history and railroad books or send them to the local library where there is a photo exhibit. On this road, on this layout however, people acted more responsibly. Non-prototypical, I'll admit but who really cares? Not me, and thus far, that's who I'm building this for.

There is also a lot that could be said about the freedom and lack of limitations that non-prototypical modeling allows. I like to remember that the name of the hobby does not end in "ology" and a dissertation or years of research is not a prerequisite for enjoyment. I do enjoy the research though, and through it I know the that the Shay I'm getting was actually built a few years later than the period, the Central stopped running the coaches I'm using years before. And the Tofu Packing plant with all those Swift Tofu Reefers likely wouldn't have found been up here in a northern mountain town during the First World War.

I'm glad that you've "seen the light" and it reflects in your enthusiasm. It reminds me of times when friends have told me that they have been "saved" or "born again" and how their lives have changed overnight. This is what I tell them: "Whatever turns you on is just fine and this great hobby has room for everyone." I'm quite content with both my freelanced layout and my freelanced spiritual life.

It doesn't have to be a "prototype vs freelance" world. Couldn't it be a "prototype and freelance" one?

Enjoy the new layout!

Wayne

[robengland]

Great response Wayne, thanks. I'm a bit of a stirrer, sorry. I was making fun of the American tendency to be nice to everyone, not freelancing. We aren't so polite out here in the colonies [:)]

And yes, the point is well made that it isn't a binary thing. All prototype modelling involves some freelancing, if only the distortion of time and space and the deletion of detail.

I love the sound of your "better world" layout. Part of almost all layouts is the idealising of the world, isn't it? even those who model "grunge" and "underbelly" scenes.

I guess my point is I struggled to feel comfortable as my re-interperetation of history and geography got more and more removed from reality as I dealt with each new inconsistency and illogicality. For me a few things clicked into place as I began exploring this idea of modelling a prototype.

My message unto others is it is not as hard as it may look. Freelancing doesn't necesarily make things easier. For me at least, it made some things harder.

But now, as another thread shows, idealism meets reality when I contemplate modelling 3'6" gauge locos, and you may well be treated to the spectacle of me tumbling off the soapbox soon [:)][:)]

[Bikerdad]

QUOTE: I was making fun of the American tendency to be nice to everyone, not freelancing.

Gee, that's something us Yanks don't hear very often anymore. [:o)]

One thing that is unfortunate about many model railroaders is that there isn't a substantial crossover with science fiction readers. There is a thriving sub-genre of alternative history, which can best be thought to have found its genesis with Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. From that not so humble start, the genres of time travel SF and alternative history SF (i.e., what happens if the Yank doesn't return) have grown. Reading some of the better works can give us a better handle on how to create coherent, consistent, and enjoyable alternative history to support our freelanced lines.

My MRR is inspired by both decades of Science Fiction, and Williamsburg. [:p]

[robengland]

QUOTE: Gee, that's something us Yanks don't hear very often anymore.

I was refering to Yanks as individuals rather than the nation as a whole [:D] Still one of the most polite peoples outside of Asia.

Anyway my boldly stated principle that prototyping is the way to go is running smack into the cold hard reality that hardly anyone makes the prototype commercially. Looks like I'm about to become a scratchbuilder [:I]

[Anonymous]

Rob, good luck with your new vocation. You will always be welcome back here in the freelance world with the rest of us happy heathens.

Any other modelers in your area modeling that gauge? No need to reinvent the wheel unless necessary. I see that your road has an active historical society : http://wmry.netfirms.com/

Wayne

[robengland]

Indeed they do. there are a couple of excellent reference books too.

Your point is well made: I've asked around informally, not found anyone yet. I fear they will all be modelling in 1:64 Sn3.5 which is the conventional scale around here for modelling local prototypes. My layout room is 6'6" x 19'6", before I line it [:O], so I'm not sure about S scale, even narrow gauge.
Plus if I'm gonna spend the rest of my life making locos [sigh], I'll need ready access to a good range of off-the-shelf Victorian era buildings, vehicles and people.
I'll keep looking to see what others have learnt...

[West Coast S]

You Guys have some great sources for domestic , being in S scale I drool over the New Zealand Finescale website trying to justify how an Americanized WD class 2-6-2T could be in Southern Pacific service in 1946. Also give Railmaster Imports a look over. Hope this helps.

[BRAKIE]

I have always preferred free lance short lines over prototype modeling.Of course me being a shot line addict that is understandable..
However,I also have a collection of C&O and Chessie units as well as some NS units..Plus several prototype short line CF7s.
With that said my pride and modeling is in my Columbus & Hocking Valley..The name comes from the real Columbus & Hocking Valley before it merged with the Columbus & Toledo RY to become the Columbus,Hocking Valley & Toledo..Or the Hocking Valley.The CHV&T was controlled by the C&O and was finally merged into the C&O in 1930..
All I did was use C&HV and had decals specially made for my short line.Beyond using C&HV it completely free lanced.

[MickEnright]

"Prototype Freelancing" is not simply another oxymoron, like "Tight Slacks" or "Action Plan".
Tony Koester's AM was an excellent example of a freelanced road that was concieved, designed, built and operated just like a prototype railroad. That was his goal from the onset, and he achieved it marvelously. I see layouts like Jack Burgess' Yosemite Valley as the flip-side of that coin. He has modeled the YV exactly as it looked in August, 1939. His layout offers a fantastic glimpse at a railroad in a time many of us are not connected with in any other way. I suspect that was probably one of Mr. Burgess' goals, too.
I guess that's what is really important--that we set goals that mean something to us, and have a great time reaching them. For me, I stick to the prototype as much as possible, but I like to think that I "freelance" the time thing, trying to stick to a 15-year window. I don't think I would ever have that kind of dicipline it takes to model a specific MONTH! But I see our modeling as an opportunity to "bend" time a little bit. Michigan's iron ranges looked a lot different in 1964 than they did in 1978. But one of my goals is to show both ends of that spectrum without compromising plausibility.
Have a great time reaching for your own goals, whatever they may be!

Mick

"Banging your head agianst a wall burns 150 calories per hour."

[Anonymous]

I'm a mix'n'matcher myself:

Prototype - CSX and B&O
Freelance - private industrial shortline

...works for me!

[MickEnright]

QUOTE: Originally posted by KenLarsen

...works for me!

That's what really counts.

Nice job on the boat models! Those Cliiff's boats were classics!


Mick

[bcawthon]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Bikerdad

[One thing that is unfortunate about many model railroaders is that there isn't a substantial crossover with science fiction readers. There is a thriving sub-genre of alternative history, which can best be thought to have found its genesis with Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. From that not so humble start, the genres of time travel SF and alternative history SF (i.e., what happens if the Yank doesn't return) have grown. Reading some of the better works can give us a better handle on how to create coherent, consistent, and enjoyable alternative history to support our freelanced lines.

My MRR is inspired by both decades of Science Fiction, and Williamsburg.

"The Prototype Patrol" has been a pet peeve of mine for some time. Yes, the hobby is called "model railroading," which implies there is a model of a railroad involved somewhere. However, the name doesn't say anything about a prototype, so presumably we are free to create our own, whether it's the Nickel Plate or the Island of Sodor, where operating sessions are fun, if a bit bizarre.

I like Tony's writing and respect his skill as a modeler, but prototype isn't inherently better than freelance. It all depends on what you want to do with what is, after all, yourrailroad. If down-to-the-last-rivet reproduction with car cards and fast clocks is your cup 'o tea, nifty keen and so be it. On the other hand, there's nothing wrong with running ex-SP F7s through the North Island countryside. Had the Wellington and Manawatu Railway remained in existence, there is a reasonable chance they would have opted to stay with American locomotives. And I certainly don't think Rob should worry about the 3' 6" gauge, unless that is a particular sticking point for his enjoyment of his pike.

Loren Neufeld and I created the Grimy Gulch Scenic Railway, which is about as freelanced as you can get. After all, how many model railroad layouts include dinosaurs, Old West towns and a 9-hole golf course? Yet we often have visitors tell us "I've been there!" when they see one of our scenes. We strive to create an illusion of reality even though there was never a prototype.

The one thing we did was to create a ficticious backgound for our little railroad and then we stuck to it. Everything has grown from those two pages, which were based on history.

So perhaps we created what Bikerdad called science fiction. It's certainly an alternate reality.

BTW: Loren and I have long toyed with the idea of creating a real science fiction railroad. That is, one located on another planet, in a future time. Trains are a natural for developing commerce on a newly colonized planet.

[Anonymous]

I am a freelance model railroad. My HO Eastern RR Uses PRR locos only because I loved the Pennsy. I only prototype my railroad in the way I run the trains on my layout. The name of the towns and other location on Eastern RR is made up.

[robengland]

I've certainly never been a rivet counter: "good enough to go" is my approach. Every model railroad is representational at best: symbolic not exact. But if we are prototype modelling, then we are trying to capture the essence, the look and feel of a railroad. And 3'6" is part of the essence of the WMR. I fear it just won't look right on standard gauge.

The LIGHT I HAVE SEEN is not about prototyping's superiority over freelancing. It is about how prototyping really does make a lot of things easier that i thought would be harder, for me anyway. I'm not a prototyping zealot: If I weren't doing the WMR project, I'd love to do a Furlow-style "cartoon" of New Zeland rail, with huge dripping rainforests and rattling little bu***ramways and sheep everywhere etc. that might be the next project... But in the past I stayed away from prototyping altogether. Now it is part of my toolkit.

[Anonymous]

well put, robengland! my opinion is: it's your layout, so who cares what's on it! good luck with your endeavor!