riogrande5761 mlehman It's just that the real world has changed so that even when we do that, darn, there's those computers intruding again. Not necessarily a problem for many of us. My comments in this thread were aimed at balance, or lack of balance such that one of our new young members is hyper active on the forums but doesn't appear to be stepping away from the keyboard much and taking the good advice and suggestions of our many experienced members here. It's all theory and virtually no hands on. Maybe the best thing that can be said about our often unfortunate encounters with technology is that we can learn that we can control it by making good choices - or we let it run our lives. Largely, people are not making good choices. I've been reading more and more articles as evidence that "we" as a society, are not learning to control it. Where I live, I very frequently see drivers surfing their smart phones with their eye's only briefly glancing up to the road before going back to the smart phone. It's alarming. From what I'm reading, research is showing that even though people "think" they can safetly drive and use a smart phone, they can't and are distracted and taking major risks. The the consequences are more and more accidents or close calls. I was rear-ended in stop and go traffic which was going fairly slow - there is no reason the guy behind me should have hit me if he was keeping his eyes on the road - I'm sure he was a distracted driver - probably smart phone. Even people who aren't driving are so addicted to their electronics that they walk across streets in traffic oblivious and expecting cars to stop for them. Things are starting to change slowly. In Hawaii, they have passed a law that it is illegal to cross streets while surfing your phone: http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/29/us/smart-phones-crosswalks-hawaii-illegal/index.html I carpooled with a co-worker for a short while a few years ago and he drove holding his smart phone in his right hand the whole time without letting go - stroking it as if it were his precious. Having a smart phone is basically like having a computer in you pocket or hand all day long. The younger generation is particularly addicted. My wife is a nanny for a family who has several ADHD teenage boys and she has noticed a pattern of behavioral dysfunctions in them which she is convinced is a result of too much time on electronics (computer, Ipad, smartphone). Her son, who is now 23, has had some behavioral problems of his own and we have seen some significant changes in him by gradually getting him off the electronics and getting him out into the real world. He hasn't had a paying job yet, but he is going and volunteering at some offices to get real world experiece and move toward paying jobs and independance. If a computer is standing on the way of one's modeling, instead of facilitating your involvement with the hobby, then it's running you and not vice versa. Yes. And I suspect it stands in the way of more than just the model train hobby but relationships, marriages, and many other things. My guess is, the computer is in someway standing in the way of our reletively new members progress and growth as a model railroader - who is in a cycle of indecision rather than putting into practice some hands on stuff, stepping away from the computer and coming back with somethings to show us. Others here are noticing this as well, so we might as well address the elephant in the room.
mlehman It's just that the real world has changed so that even when we do that, darn, there's those computers intruding again.
Maybe the best thing that can be said about our often unfortunate encounters with technology is that we can learn that we can control it by making good choices - or we let it run our lives.
Largely, people are not making good choices. I've been reading more and more articles as evidence that "we" as a society, are not learning to control it. Where I live, I very frequently see drivers surfing their smart phones with their eye's only briefly glancing up to the road before going back to the smart phone. It's alarming.
From what I'm reading, research is showing that even though people "think" they can safetly drive and use a smart phone, they can't and are distracted and taking major risks. The the consequences are more and more accidents or close calls. I was rear-ended in stop and go traffic which was going fairly slow - there is no reason the guy behind me should have hit me if he was keeping his eyes on the road - I'm sure he was a distracted driver - probably smart phone.
Even people who aren't driving are so addicted to their electronics that they walk across streets in traffic oblivious and expecting cars to stop for them. Things are starting to change slowly. In Hawaii, they have passed a law that it is illegal to cross streets while surfing your phone:
http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/29/us/smart-phones-crosswalks-hawaii-illegal/index.html
I carpooled with a co-worker for a short while a few years ago and he drove holding his smart phone in his right hand the whole time without letting go - stroking it as if it were his precious. Having a smart phone is basically like having a computer in you pocket or hand all day long. The younger generation is particularly addicted.
My wife is a nanny for a family who has several ADHD teenage boys and she has noticed a pattern of behavioral dysfunctions in them which she is convinced is a result of too much time on electronics (computer, Ipad, smartphone). Her son, who is now 23, has had some behavioral problems of his own and we have seen some significant changes in him by gradually getting him off the electronics and getting him out into the real world. He hasn't had a paying job yet, but he is going and volunteering at some offices to get real world experiece and move toward paying jobs and independance.
If a computer is standing on the way of one's modeling, instead of facilitating your involvement with the hobby, then it's running you and not vice versa.
Yes. And I suspect it stands in the way of more than just the model train hobby but relationships, marriages, and many other things. My guess is, the computer is in someway standing in the way of our reletively new members progress and growth as a model railroader - who is in a cycle of indecision rather than putting into practice some hands on stuff, stepping away from the computer and coming back with somethings to show us. Others here are noticing this as well, so we might as well address the elephant in the room.
[/quote]
I really wanted to disagree with all this. I still want to give said youngster a chance. Hopefully just overly excited with all these train guys to talk to- I hope he puts the forum down for a bit (seems like he has, maybe school started back up???), builds something awesome and we eat our words. Unfortunately I think the above is correct. My daughter is just over a year old. We've already had to hide the iPad.
T e d
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
riogrande5761 mlehman riogrande5761 But you do have to get off the computer and show up. Of course, you do not really have to even completely give up the computer. There's this new thing I've heard about called "smart phones" - my experience with them is mostly turning old ones into new wireless throttles by adding an app. So you really can have your computer and use it on the layout, too, with today's technology. Let me rephrase. One needs to get off the collective electronic virtual world devices and get into the physical world and go to a club. What a concept, which may be especially difficult for the younger generation
mlehman riogrande5761 But you do have to get off the computer and show up. Of course, you do not really have to even completely give up the computer. There's this new thing I've heard about called "smart phones" - my experience with them is mostly turning old ones into new wireless throttles by adding an app. So you really can have your computer and use it on the layout, too, with today's technology.
But you do have to get off the computer and show up.
Of course, you do not really have to even completely give up the computer. There's this new thing I've heard about called "smart phones" - my experience with them is mostly turning old ones into new wireless throttles by adding an app.
So you really can have your computer and use it on the layout, too, with today's technology.
Let me rephrase. One needs to get off the collective electronic virtual world devices and get into the physical world and go to a club. What a concept, which may be especially difficult for the younger generation
Completely agree.
It's just that the real world has changed so that even when we do that, darn, there's those computers intruding again.
I still avoid toting a cellphone, but I also carry a iPhone 5 everywhere now that I use as a camera (another useful feature around railroads, big and small) as well as a throttle. It's a hand-me-down from my wife and it - thankfully - never rings because it's no longer an actve phone. Even more wierdly, since Xmas I've been doing SMS text on it via something called a goTenna. It operates completely indpendent of the internet and conventional wireless system infrastructure. At crowded events where cell service goes down because od demand, goTenna still works.
Maybe the best thing that can be said about our often unfortunate encounters with technology is that we can learn that we can control it by making good choices - or we let it run our lives. If a computer is standing on the way of one's modeling, instead of facilitating your involvement with the hobby, then it's running you and not vice versa.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
rrinkerTwo of the finest photographers in MR, Bob and Ben King
.
Ben King was amazing.
I remember an article he wrote for Model Railroader about a small switch tower build.
He built the windows board by board just like the prototype. WOW!
I could nevber duplicate his work. He needed a small layout. Each building probably took 3 years to build!
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Two of the finest photographers in MR, Bob and Ben King - Ben only had a rather tiny little layout where he made those amazing pictures, often with cameras he built himself. So no, you do not need a big layout to make amazing pictures.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Railphotog I've never had a layout since I was a teenager. Been doing HO scale modules for the past 30 years, they are now retired. Much of my photography has been on dioramas and scenes set up for photography. I have painted a wall in a hobby room with blue sky and clouds for my backgrounds. Eleven of my 30 magazine cover photos were staged on dioramas. Many of my scenes and how they were taken are demonstrated in my model railroad photography website in my signature below.
I've never had a layout since I was a teenager. Been doing HO scale modules for the past 30 years, they are now retired. Much of my photography has been on dioramas and scenes set up for photography. I have painted a wall in a hobby room with blue sky and clouds for my backgrounds. Eleven of my 30 magazine cover photos were staged on dioramas. Many of my scenes and how they were taken are demonstrated in my model railroad photography website in my signature below.
I remember liking your work in MR and RMC in the early 80's, my formative years.
Bubbytrains
Bob Boudreau
CANADA
Visit my model railroad photography website: http://sites.google.com/site/railphotog/
Jimmy_BraumI do hope my regular contributions for WPF makes me a valued member of the forum.
Absolutely!
It's really not even the size, quantity, or skill of what someone contributes here so much as the fact that they're making a sincere effort to contribute, an effort to improve their skills, and an effort to help others by sharing it.
Nobody starts off as a young John Allen, probably not even John Allen. It's seeing how we grow as we post that is among the most truly useful and inspiring parts of this forum's aid to this hobby.
Sometimes you get stuck with half a layout. Happened to me, twice now. While my first two builds were concerted efforts over a few months, ending with a nice layout, my last build and the latest stalled at times. Most recently, I went about a year without so much as a glance at the sub-roadbed on risers and the open frame as I walked past to get something in the rest of the garage.
It took a long time to get even a whiff of motivation, but I remembered that old saying, "A journey of 1000 miles....." I eventually walked into the garage, turned left, and began to ponder how to put my sub-roadbed up, then laid the cork, then the rails, and so on. I'm finally running trains, except no scenery, not even ballast.
Build dioramas. Make them part of your dream build so that you can insert them seamlessly into your layout, just like a piece of a cardboard picture puzzle. You can take them out into the sunshine, with a real partly cloudy sky, and take amazing photos.
rrinkerThere's always room for trains!
Russell
Even that didn;t stop me. I rented a 2 bedroom aaprtment, slept in the smaller of the two bedrooms (how much space do you need for a bed and a coupel of dressers anyway?), and built a layout in the other bedroom. Freestanding, on legs, so no damage to the walls. Built in sections so it could come down and be removed (and after 3 years of sitting in my new basement, hauled away as scrap). I actually previously planned that layout for my old apartment, which did not have a spare bedroom - it was going to be a 2x8 (2 modules) switching layout against the wall in my dining room. Was going to run over the bookcases that held my magazine and book collection.
There's always room for trains!
Renting right now, so I don't have the space for a layout at present, but...I'm still building up my roster for my "Someday layout". Although, I' mplanning to start a small (8 square feet or so) L shaped layout so I can switch stuff around, and run my stuff without going to the club layout. I do hope my regular contributions for WPF makes me a valued member of the forum.
(My Model Railroad, My Rules)
These are the opinions of an under 35 , from the east end of, and modeling, the same section of the Wheeling and Lake Erie railway. As well as a freelanced road (Austinville and Dynamite City railroad).
More than one scene pictured on the cover of MR was just built specifically to be a cover photo and was not part of a real operating layout. Same with the photos in virtually all of the advertising.
riogrande5761But you do have to get off the computer and show up.
ROBERT PETRICK 7j43k I'll just add that I, too, don't see a requirement to have a layout, or even want one. Or even be a model builder, for that matter. An interest in model railroading and sharing that interest with others is all I see needed to be here. You don't have to own a train or even a single boxcar. Just show up at the clubhouse completely empty-handed <snip> Easy. Robert
7j43k I'll just add that I, too, don't see a requirement to have a layout, or even want one. Or even be a model builder, for that matter. An interest in model railroading and sharing that interest with others is all I see needed to be here.
I'll just add that I, too, don't see a requirement to have a layout, or even want one. Or even be a model builder, for that matter. An interest in model railroading and sharing that interest with others is all I see needed to be here.
You don't have to own a train or even a single boxcar. Just show up at the clubhouse completely empty-handed <snip> Easy.
Robert
You don't have to own a train or even a single boxcar. Just show up at the clubhouse completely empty-handed and they'll give you a throttle and point you to the sign that says 'To The Trains'. Show up on Thursday night for the work session and they'll give you scissors and glue and a #11 x-acto and a stool to sit on. Easy.
LINK to SNSR Blog
SeeYou190 In another thread, one of the younger and more enthusiastic members stated he could not photograph his own models because he does not have a layout.
In another thread, one of the younger and more enthusiastic members stated he could not photograph his own models because he does not have a layout.
As tstage noted in the that other thread/topic, the issue may not be so much not having a layout, but listening to the ABUNDANT advice already given over the past 6 months and "actually" putting it into practice. There lies the crux of the matter. Until that happens, we can talk ourselves blue in the face and post even more reams of advice and suggestions and photo's, but it's all moot if it isn't happening in real life. But, as my wife from England would say ... "crack on" and who knows?
From what I'm seeing, we may be well past the point of diminishing returns. But I've been wrong before. My uncle used to have a plaque in his boat which stated: "I once thought I was wrong, but I was mistaken".
I haven't had a layout since re-entering this hobby; it just re-focuses where and how you participate. Because I don't have a layout, I spend a lot more train time reading and researching. I know a bit more about how trains actually run - and the type of layout I eventually want to build has changed significantly as a result.
I used to buy any old loco I liked the look of - a Southerrn 2-8-0 here, CNJ Blue Comet 4-6-2 there, and hey, those SP Daylights sure are pretty... But now I'm working on collecting a cohesive roster for a plausible future protolance layout (pre-diesel PRR in Central PA/MD). I never learned to properly weather rolling stock before, so that's the next frontier - and very hands-on.
I really should think about a 2x2 or 2x4 'diorama' for photographing models. That will be a great excuse to build some structures, play with modern scenery materials (static grass, etc), give a try to handlaying track, and play with block signaling.
The more I think about it, the more I realize I couldn't even build the layout I'd be happy with right now, even if someone handed me the keys to the space for one. There are a lot of elements to this hobby, and building a layout without serious flaws requires pre-existing competency in many of them... or a lot of rebuilding.
Hey, kids.
It's Mr. Free-mo. Again. And again.
Just want to say that you can have a layout without having a layout. Just build a module and get involved with Free-mo. Bring your module and do a set-up with the others.
I don't have a real layout. But I expect to be running on a 30 x 60 layout the first weekend of June. Which hopefully will give me the time to actually finish the scenery on one of my two modules. To the surprise and delight (I hope) of my buddies.
OK. Mr. Free-mo has gone down to the basement to work. I'll just add that I, too, don't see a requirement to have a layout, or even want one. Or even be a model builder, for that matter. An interest in model railroading and sharing that interest with others is all I see needed to be here.
Ed
Nothing wrong with dreaming..."Dream, Plan, Build"...but you don't want to get stuck there.
However, "having a layout" is not and has never been the price of admission to the hobby or to gain respect within it in any fashion, old or new.
First, it's about building models. Having a layout to put them on is nice, but strictly optional.
Second, in the old days, much of the hobby activity took place at club layouts. After WWII, economic expansion meant many of us could afford the kind of space that supports home layouts, but never, ever ALL of us were that blessed.
Third, in any form - NMRA or other convention contest, RPM, show display - most or all of the judging and assessement, ranked, judged, or popular vote - it's all abut the models, not the layout as a whole.
I could go on...
But while it's a great thing to operate on or simply display what you got, a ;ayout is completely optional. If you got one, share it, but if not, that's OK, too.
SeeYou190I am also "sans layout" right now. I have had a lot of fun phtotographing my models for "Show Me Something" and "Weekend Photo Fun" using this 24" by 24" set up.
Mike
If i would ever finish that Woodland Scenics diorama kit.....
Seems to me you have a lot going on and are well immersed in the hobby. IMO, you certainly don't need a layout to be a valuable part of the forum.
But it would sure be nice if one was a model builder or had first hand knowledge of stuff like RR operations, DCC and signal electronics or any field applicable to the enjoyment of the hobby.
Wishful thinking is fine, but it is not an endall in itself. A stream of "I'm gonnas" only goes so far..........
ENJOY !
Mobilman44
Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central
I am also "sans layout" right now. I have had a lot of fun phtotographing my models for "Show Me Something" and "Weekend Photo Fun" using this 24" by 24" set up.
I have a lot of scenic elements I can pose for various scenes, and it allows me to participate. This scene was shot on the board using some wargaming terrain and a few scenic props.
I think this kind of thing is easy if you want to play along.