A capital idea...

[Anonymous]

I was recently at one of my favorite hobby shops when I got into a conversation with another customer while looking at engines. Finally the question came up as to why each of us where there that day, and I told him I was looking for people, automobiles, signs and things like that for my town on my layout, while he said he was there to buy engines and rolling stock, and that he had no need for people or any of that because his layout had scenery only. He said that way, he could run any era of train he wanted without having to change anything out. Now why didn't I think of that ?... And I was so proud of myself too for designing my layout so that I could change out the cars, buildings and so forth to go from one era to another. It made me stop and think just how much money I have tied up in that stuff when I could have had a nice pine forest with a lake and underbrush. Oh well. Live and learn. Maybe next time I'll do things the other way.

trainluver1

[cacole]

Yeah, BUT,

with only forests and no towns, factories, etc., what's the purpose of the railroad?

For those who just want to have trains running around in a circle this is a good idea, but for people who prefer to stop now and then and switch cars in or out of the consist...

[JohnT14808]

QUOTE: Originally posted by cacole

Yeah, BUT,

with only forests and no towns, factories, etc., what's the purpose of the railroad?

High speed runs of the newest French passenger designs?? Wind tunnel experiments for new auto carriers....and how about actually testing that new 4-8-8-4 to see if the sound keeps up with the engine going a scale 125 mph???? (...assuming of course that you have 50 inch radius turns and few turnouts.....)[8D]

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by cacole

Yeah, BUT,

with only forests and no towns, factories, etc., what's the purpose of the railroad?

For those who just want to have trains running around in a circle this is a good idea, but for people who prefer to stop now and then and switch cars in or out of the consist...

I think the point is that you can run any train from any era and from just about any country if all you have is natural scenery. However. You can always sit a depot and water tower in somewhere if running steamers, or other structures that you can quickly and easily remove. I'm seriously kicking the idea around...

trainluver1

[Jetrock]

Definitely sounds like a "scenery man" vs. an engineer-type...that is indeed the problem--it's fine if you just like to watch trains go 'round and 'round, but a working model railroad (one that operates) calls for some sort of structures, even if they're just trackside details, shanties and way stations.

I suppose you could base operation around a remote interchange, but there would doubtless be some sort of sign of human habitation--signals, roads, power/telephone poles, sheds, etcetera.

Besides, such a railroad wouldn't be much fun for someone like me who enjoys modeling cities, building structures, and doesn't feel like a layout is complete without people and vehicles.

[chateauricher]

I guess he also didn't want to run any passenger service of any era.