So my much anticipated copy of Model Railroad Planning 2018 finally arrived in the mail a few days ago; and I got to say its been a great read. However one of the commentary boxes labled "Learning Points" on p.17 in the article about Doug Tagsold's layout caught my eye: "Colorado remains a modeling magnet."
Glancing at this article was not the first time I have wondered; why? How does one state in the union draw such a fascinaiton by model railroaders?
For some context, I do get the appeal of a lot of the classic Colorado scenes. My first trip to the state was in 2011, when my Dad and I worked our way down from our home in Utah to the Four Corner's region up into Durango. We rode the Durango and Silverton and it was one of the most spectacular train journey's I have ever had the privledge to take. I'd love to go back to experience Durango again, along with the C&T, Royal Gorge, and the Museum in Golden. I am fully aware of the allure the region has since I have experienced it myself.
But... to say my best train experiences have been exclusive to Colorado and the range of the DRGW would be false. The west desert of my homestate Utah, the high mountain ranges and logging lines of California, the Pacific Coast were commuter trains from San Diego speed past beaches and coastal communities, the climb through the Columbia Gorge, the busy commuter traffic coming in and out of New York City, the pastoral emptiness of the Great Plains, plus my international experiences in Las Pampas of northwest Argentina watching beat up EMD's crawl along battered branch lines. All of them are great locations that scream to be modeled, unique locals just as iconic as what I saw in Colorado... Which brings me back to the question, why do so many pick Colorado when a plethora of equally enticing stuff exists?
Its not like Colorado was the only place that had narrow gauge mining railroads. Or mountain vistas. Or ramshackle western towns. Its not like its the only place Class 1 mainlines had to struggle up steep grades and use helper engines to surmount the struggle. Yet it seems to be the place many many skilled modelers rush to, and many many great pikes are built in its honor. Yet with some of the greatest talent going into modeling Colorado... let me say that it is all beginning to feel a bit "samey" to me. I also worry how it affects the model industry, since it seems many companies might neglect other areas of the country to instead focus on DRGW/RGS and other Colorado lines to feed into the ever building Colorado obsession. For example talking with the some people at ExactRail it sounds like they know that any of their DRGW stuff will be in high demand and will figuratively 'fly off the shelves,' so it feeds them into making even more DRGW stuff.
Now I know a lot of you here do have DRGW/RGS or other Colorado set layouts, and I would love to hear your logic as to why you picked up on that theme. Remember, as I already there is a very skilled lot of modelers who go into Colorado modeling; far better than me and my 'flex track on some foam board' modeling skills! But I want to know what the draw was to pick Colorado over so many other enticing options. I also want to hear, if any of you are starting to feel like me with the amount of Colorado modeling in the hobby press/social media sphere if you are starting to feel it is all becoming a bit "samey." Frankly I am just curious as to were all of this fascination with Colorado began in the community and how it is viewed in the modern age.
I guess we'd have to ask all those who apparently can't get enough of the western terrain and steam experience. They see something, that is certain. Maybe it's the novel terrain...novel as compared to the bald prairie on which they live, or the treed hills that surround them in the Appalachians' various ranges. Maybe the pines smell different in the drier air? Is there something a bit more intimate about a narrow gauge excursion? Maybe the terrain's structure, strata, coloration and the sky take on a more appealing look to them.
Dunno.
It is because so much of our film history comes fron the southwest or is thought of coming from this area like spaghetti westerns.
If you think that there's a lot of Colorado now, you wouldn't have cared for the situation 30-40 years ago. Colorado (especially narrow gauge) was even more common in the commercial press.
There are probably a few reasons that combined. The Colorado narrow gauge ran longer than nearly anywhere else, so the equipment was better-documented and thus easier to research and build for the model manufacturers. For the same reason, modelers (pre-Internet) could find more books on the Colorado NG lines to inspire and guide. The vertical scenery offered options that were welcome to many modelers in limited space. And a few very talented modelers and photographers chose Colorado and then created attractive magazine articles.
All that taken together mutually reinforced Colorado, in my opinion.
Byron
Layout Design GalleryLayout Design Special Interest Group
xboxtravis7992How does one state in the union draw such a fascinaiton by model railroaders?
I always wonder why there is so little interest in railroading in other countries on this forum. If you like to study operations, I don't think it gets more interesting than the Indian railroads. If your interest is engineering, feats, Europe and South America come to mind, especially when it comes to mountain railroading. I could go on and on, however, the reality of it is, there are only so many hours in the day, so at some point, you choose and move forward. If people had the time to study other parts of the world, they may change what they model.
Even in modeling, Mountain railroading offers more challenges than running a line across the prairies. The Rockies are the best eye candy in North America for me, so that is the backdrop for my MRR.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
Personally, I'm blaming John Denver and that **** song. Wyoming is every bit as high and every bit as beautiful, but that other square state gets all the publicity. But that's okay . . .
Robert
LINK to SNSR Blog
Sure, other places had narrow gauge railroads, and ramshackle mines. But how many of them still exist, and better yet, still run trains?
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
I guess John "Denver" sounded better than Henry John Deutschendorf Jr. But I never figured out how his "West Virginia" song fit into all the Rocky Mountain stuff.
Jim
I moved to Colorado after vacationing for many years exploring the old narrow gauge right-of-way. Was modeling the DSP&P in Sn3 at the time. Even bought land up in Southpark just outside of Fairplay. Few places capture the battle between man and the elements like the old Colorado lines. Small steam engines and steep mountain grades.
Interestingly, after moving here, my modeling interests in Colorado narrow gauge waned. Maybe too much of a good thing, or why model whats just outside. Switched interests to the Southern Pacific in the LA area.
I'm in the process of buying a farm in North Carolina and will be leaving Colorado soon. Lol, probably go back to modeling Colorado narrow gauge again as soon as I start missing the Rockies.
Ray
Colorado Ray Even bought land up in Southpark just outside of Fairplay. Few places capture the battle between man and the elements like the old Colorado lines.
Yeah, but did they have to kill Kenny?
Chip
Building the Rock Ridge Railroad with the slowest construction crew west of the Pecos.
Colorado?
Isn't that the state below Wyoming, where the UP operates?
Ed
Colorado??? What is this "Colorado" ??? I prefer California's scenic mountainous rural country... (ya know the part they want to make "New California" the 51st state?)
Steve
If everything seems under control, you're not going fast enough!
BATMAN xboxtravis7992 How does one state in the union draw such a fascinaiton by model railroaders? I always wonder why there is so little interest in railroading in other countries on this forum. If you like to study operations, I don't think it gets more interesting than the Indian railroads. If your interest is engineering, feats, Europe and South America come to mind, especially when it comes to mountain railroading. I could go on and on, however, the reality of it is, there are only so many hours in the day, so at some point, you choose and move forward. If people had the time to study other parts of the world, they may change what they model. Even in modeling, Mountain railroading offers more challenges than running a line across the prairies. The Rockies are the best eye candy in North America for me, so that is the backdrop for my MRR.
xboxtravis7992 How does one state in the union draw such a fascinaiton by model railroaders?
if you wanted to do heavy duty narrow gauge railroading in the mountains, you need look no farther than South Africa.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=thPfSnqcR8Q
Andre
While there are plenty of other great prototypes, it was in Colorado where the narrowgauge persisted along woth some very fine standard gauge mountain railroading. It was in Colorado where my own interest in narrowgauge started after visiting the Silverton Branch briefy in 1967. If all that other great railroading had still been around and operating, it would have spead the narriwgauge fever much more widely...'
BUT it wasn't.
As for foreign RR modeling, I don't do much of that yet, but my interest is there having traveled some when I was younger.
Along the Rhein when I was about 18.
Switching at the north end of the Gotthard Tunnel
A bridge crew on the Nicaraguan narrowgauge in 1984.
Sorry for the pic quality, but when you'e working with a 110 camera...
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
I am sure that a big part of the facination with Colorado is the mountains.
Some modelers seem to feel that they are required to add a mountain to their layout or it isn't a layout.
Me? I model Chicago where it really counts. Totally flat layout, large downtown passenger station, turntable and roundhouse. Steam and diesel in transition. Bridges all over the place, bascule and lift. Lots of Class 1 railroads.
Yeah baby.
Rich
Alton Junction
"Colorado remains a modeling magnet." Glancing at this article was not the first time I have wondered; why? How does one state in the union draw such a fascinaiton by model railroaders?
I can tell you why based on my experience having lived in or visited 45 of the 50 states. In Colorado's case I've driven through it a number of times and was struck by the majesty and beauty of the Rocky Mountain vistas. IMO, anyone who has to ask the question "why", I would wonder if they have been there to experience it for themselves.
I've lived in and traveled around the northeast quite a bit in the last 20 years, all over Pennsylvania, the Berkshires, the Adirondacks etc. "Pretty and scenic" sure, but no comparison to the Rockies - no comparison at all.
I've spent time up in Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, and of course raised in California so the mountains are very grand IMO a greater order of magnitude to the relatively worn down and much geologically older appalachian reagion.
Maybe the old saying is true for many: "to know me is to love me". To know in a personal experiencial way.
When I spent 6 weeks trapsing all over Montana and Wyoming climbing up and down the mountain sides with a rock hammer, 10% hydrochloric acid and notebook and we came away from there with a T-shirt with a logo saying: "It isn't the end of the world, but you can see it from here". The west is something you have to experience in person to appreciate the expanse and wonder of it - it makes a major impression on you. IMO, that is a major factor of why western modeling is popular. The environment, the setting.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
Well, I've been to Colorado, and it was interesting. Stood on a mountain top at 12,000 ft.
But I will take the lush green of Appalachia any day. A drive down Skyline Drive, standing at the banks of the Potomac and Shenandoah in Harpers Ferry, these are views I love.
As for modeling, I've always been more interested in the action of a busy Class I (or two, or three) than in a sleepy narrow gauge line.
Guess I'm not "typical", like not being interested in the "trains of my youth"......
Why other people model what they model, I have no clue.
Other countries? They have trains? Seriously, I know there are some great trains elsewhere, but I am very happy to be provincial........
I model places close to where I have lived my whole life, but I model them in a time before my lifetime...........
We had narrow gauge - the East Broad Top.
We had 1900 vintage steam still pulling wooden coaches until 1953 - The Ma & Pa (ran right past the 1901 house I live in). You can still ride one of those coaches behind steam an hour up the road at Strasburg.
Modeling western scenery does nothing for me, sorry.
But I have all those John Denver records, about Colorado and West Virginia....
Sheldon
richhotrain I am sure that a big part of the facination with Colorado is the mountains. Some modelers seem to feel that they are required to add a mountain to their layout or it isn't a layout. Me? I model Chicago where it really counts. Totally flat layout, large downtown passenger station, turntable and roundhouse. Steam and diesel in transition. Bridges all over the place, bascule and lift. Lots of Class 1 railroads. Yeah baby. Rich
I'm with you Rich, big railroad action, not big mountain scenery.......
I like to have some out in the country side scenery, but I'm modeling a railroad, not mountains.
ATLANTIC CENTRAL until 1953 - The Ma & Pa (ran right past the 1901 house I live in)
I only saw the Ma & Pa cross York Rd once, in Towson, a nothern suburb of Baltimore. No idea if it was steam or diesel. I think I remember seeing steam in Pennsylvania. Too bad for me. I did have a dream, where I was in downtown Baltimore and there were 0-6-0 switchers everywhere. For a couple weeks it seemed real, but there was really no place I traveled as a child where I could have seen that, had it existed in my lifetime.
I loved the million dollar highway that I toured years ago in Colorado. There are numerous abandoned mines you see on the way from Denver to the ski resorts. But, like Sheldon, that is not what I remember as a kid, on family trips to my grandparents near Johnstown PA. Modeling the places I don't remember as a kid, have no interest for me.
What some guy writes in a modeling magazine doesn't have to have any relationship of what we model. He is getting paid by the word or the page. It has to sound reasonable to get by the editor. It doesn't even rise to the level of fake news. It's just creative journalism.
If you are involved in other hobbies and subscribe to other magazines, people spin all kinds of facts about what is good, popular, effective, great. That sounds perfectly reasonable when you are new to the hobby. Once you have opinions, base on real experience. You realize they are just filling up space in the magazine.
PS to Sheldon, we went to Beartooth Pass in WY. There was a road stop park with a sign on top of the hill at 11,500' My wife assured me it said "There is no oxygen up here"
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
It's quite obvious that Western railroading is popular--look at the sales figures.
Kinda weird, really. The West is "wide open spaces". Something model railroaders rarely experience when they build layouts.
I actually can't think of a location in the US that DOESN'T have something I could happily model. I'll even throw in the Big Island. And Alaska, of course.
Foreign railroading has some nice things going for it, too, if you get into it. The French, Germans and Brits all had some neat steam, I'll tell ya. And that's just Europe.
If I was a bazillionaire, I don't know where I'd stop. Maybe Conrail. And CSX and NS DOES leave me cold. But not the places where the tracks run--I'd just pick an earlier period.
Yeah, Colorado is indeed railroad-cool. But so is everywhere else.
Especially Lyle WA, on the north bank of the Columbia.
I've been accused of modeling Colorado but my layout is actually made to look like Nevada or New Mexico. Even so, among others I run trains from the north east and the north west...
I think the responses here in this topic demonstrate there is no rational answer to the original posters question. I can only say, some see the Colorado Rockies and have a John Denver reaction.
Some obviously haven't been smitten with the grandeur of the Colorado Rockies, possibly due to a bias as to where they have already bonded too and spent many many years during formative years and beyond. My first wife was like that, she took trips out west and missed the green of back east.
I would conjecture one possible reason I was smitten is because I was a military brat, and moved around a lot as a kid, I didn't get anchored into any region or geography, such as appalachia, the northeast or the blue ridge mountains, or the piedmont or the Pacific northwest or the south west deserts. In essence, I was all over the map so I didn't have a stong bias toward a geography. So when I did go spend some time in the rockies, all I could do is gawk as I drove through it. I did alot of gawking up in the Bitter Root and Tobaco Root mountains up in Wyoming and Montana too.
I will say this about the northeast and mid-Atlantic regions. It's pretty, yes during the green season, but after the leaves fall it looks like a brownish gray dull desert for nearly half the year. Ug. Half a year doesn't cut it for me. At least in the Sierras and Rockies, the evergreens keep much more color all year round. From that stand point, it's a no brainer for me what is visually the most appealing and grand.
As for modeling, I've chosen to model western Colorado into Utah so while do find the Colorado Rockies gorgeous and more grand than the eastern lower and more eroded counterparts (pretty yes), I chose a different theme because I also find beauty in the desert regions.
But back to the OP, it seems clear than no matter how hard some of us may try to answer the question, not everyone will find those anwers satisfactory. I assume it's because the old saying still has merrit: "beauty is in the eye of the beholder", and not everyone beholds the Colorado Rockies equally. Ultimately, that is about the best answer there may be - however insufficient.
I don't model Colorado and I've always been more enamored by California and Nevada narrow gauge than Colorado narrow gauge, but one visit to the Narrow Gauge Railroad museum in Golden would explain it all.
riogrande5761 I think the responses here in this topic demonstrate there is no rational answer to the original posters question. I can only say, some see the Colorado Rockies and have a John Denver reaction. Some obviously haven't been smitten with the grandeur of the Colorado Rockies, possibly due to a bias as to where they have already bonded too and spent many many years during formative years and beyond. My first wife was like that, she took trips out west and missed the green of back east. I would conjecture one possible reason I was smitten is because I was a military brat, and moved around a lot as a kid, I didn't get anchored into any region or geography, such as appalachia, the northeast or the blue ridge mountains, or the piedmont or the Pacific northwest or the south west deserts. In essence, I was all over the map so I didn't have a stong bias toward a geography. So when I did go spend some time in the rockies, all I could do is gawk as I drove through it. I did alot of gawking up in the Bitter Root and Tobaco Root mountains up in Wyoming and Montana too. I will say this about the northeast and mid-Atlantic regions. It's pretty, yes during the green season, but after the leaves fall it looks like a brownish gray dull desert for nearly half the year. Ug. Half a year doesn't cut it for me. At least in the Sierras and Rockies, the evergreens keep much more color all year round. From that stand point, it's a no brainer for me what is visually the most appealing and grand. As for modeling, I've chosen to model western Colorado into Utah so while do find the Colorado Rockies gorgeous and more grand than the eastern lower and more eroded counterparts (pretty yes), I chose a different theme because I also find beauty in the desert regions. But back to the OP, it seems clear than no matter how hard some of us may try to answer the question, not everyone will find those anwers satisfactory. I assume it's because the old saying still has merrit: "beauty is in the eye of the beholder", and not everyone beholds the Colorado Rockies equally. Ultimately, that is about the best answer there may be - however insufficient.
Agreed, just a few points.
It may also have to do with climate. When I was in Colorado, I can't say I enjoyed the weather.
And nothing about any desert sounds like any place I want to be either.
As for winter in the Mid Atlantic, come on now, 6 months? Not hardly. Most of the time trees are pretty with fall leaves into late October and bloom in March, with January and February being the only "cold" months.
And if we get a good snowfall, it is pretty for a minute..........
Colorado allows you to model vertical scenery where nature is winning and the trains exist only by her permission. For some modelers I can see why this is a draw.
.
I want as much track as I can in the available space, Colorado is not for me.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
ATLANTIC CENTRAL It may also have to do with climate. When I was in Colorado, I can't say I enjoyed the weather.
When I move, the thing I will miss most is the Colorado weather. Don't need a jacket if it's above 45 degrees, Seldom too hot. I live in a higher elevation southern suburb of Denver and normally get about 120 inches of snow a year. But, it snows overnight and usually melts by noon. Nothing like a continuous upper Midwest snow cover.
Moving to the southeast where it's been colder this week than in Denver, biting humid cold. Ice storms instead of snow. Summers are hazy hot and humid. My son was a pilot, and I remember flying with him on summer days where you had to be instrument rated because the haze was too bad for VFR.
Colorado Ray ATLANTIC CENTRAL It may also have to do with climate. When I was in Colorado, I can't say I enjoyed the weather. When I move, the thing I will miss most is the Colorado weather. Don't need a jacket if it's above 45 degrees, Seldom too hot. I live in a higher elevation southern suburb of Denver and normally get about 120 inches of snow a year. But, it snows overnight and usually melts by noon. Nothing like a continuous upper Midwest snow cover. Moving to the southeast where it's been colder this week than in Denver, biting humid cold. Ice storms instead of snow. Summers are hazy hot and humid. My son was a pilot, and I remember flying with him on summer days where you had to be instrument rated because the haze was too bad for VFR. Ray
Yes Ray, the southeast is humid, no question. But the current winter weather there is unusual for them.
I live in the Mid Atlantic, we have all four seasons, but our "extremes" are still pretty mild compared to north or south of us.
Where you are, I did not like the cold night/hot day effect. To each their own.
ATLANTIC CENTRAL I live in the Mid Atlantic, we have all four seasons, but our "extremes" are still pretty mild compared to north or south of us. Where you are, I did not like the cold night/hot day effect. To each their own.
In Wyoming we have only three seasons: Almost Winter, Winter, and Still Winter. Right now it's Winter. Hasn't been above freezing since Thanksgiving. Every three or four years we get something that passes for summer for a week or two during mid-August. Then on Labor Day it snows. No big deal. Wool underwear is not as crazy as it sounds.
ROBERT PETRICK In Wyoming we have only three seasons: Almost Winter, Winter, and Still Winter. Right now it's Winter. Hasn't been above freezing since Thanksgiving. Every three or four years we get something that passes for summer for a week or two during mid-August. Robert
I spent about 6 weeks during June and July in Wyoming in 1984 for geology field camp. I wore shorts and a T-shirt the entire 6 weeks - gorgeous weather the whole time - very warm. If you only get a week or two that passes for summer, 1984 must have been an "off" year.
ROBERT PETRICK ATLANTIC CENTRAL I live in the Mid Atlantic, we have all four seasons, but our "extremes" are still pretty mild compared to north or south of us. Where you are, I did not like the cold night/hot day effect. To each their own. In Wyoming we have only three seasons: Almost Winter, Winter, and Still Winter. Right now it's Winter. Hasn't been above freezing since Thanksgiving. Every three or four years we get something that passes for summer for a week or two during mid-August. Then on Labor Day it snows. No big deal. Wool underwear is not as crazy as it sounds. Robert