Refelection on our hobby and art, rather long, apologies in advance.

[grayfox1119]

Coyote....excellent job of summing up all the talents and expressions that make up this great hobby. We may not possess strong talents in all areas, but we ENJOY what we do as we learn, and take pride in seeing results. After working 48 years in industry, I realized what was missing all those years, AFTER I retired and began MRR again after a long hiatus....it was never seeing the final product, a result after a days work. I only saw the small piece of what my group did, and later in management there was even less satisfaction. We all need to see the fruits of our labor, what WE create.
My talent lies in electronics and wiring, soldering, and photography. I will need to learn the art of landscaping and creating scenes in my layout, but I will see the results of what I do and the feeling of my accomplishment. We all need this, especially in todays world.
Great job Grandpa Coyote

[selector]

Model railroading as art....I wish I could remember that wonderful photo that Joe posted for us with the dieself in morning fog. Joe, if you are keeping an eye on this post, please post it again. Then we'll talk artistry.

[underworld]

Everything exists for itself,
yet everything is a part of something else.
The one and the many contain in themselves the principles of time and space.
The way up and the way down are one in the same.

underworld

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by DavidJ611

Coyote,

I really enjoyed reading your musings. Ditto all the positive comments already expressed. I think (IMHO) that your thoughtful and well composed editorial above is worthy of the glossy-print pages of our forum's gracious host. [8D][tup]

...MR editorial staff, are you 'listening'[?]

-Dave

Coyote:

So glad I found this thread. This has been a great read. I second, whole heartedly, Daves suggestion of having this published in the MR.
I agree with others that something of these thoughts have occured to me in days past when, one particularly good friend, found it "fun" to denegrate my hobbie to 'playing with childrens toys'.
When I went into detail as to all of the different talents that are included in this hobby, he admitted that none of this thinking had ever entered his head. My friend will never pick up a copy of MR, but there will be many first timers/newbies who, having read your article, will find it a hobbie that can be filled with many challenges.
Admittedly, I fall short of excellence in many of the 'art' forms that collectively make up our hobbie, but that is where the formation of a 'club' can be very helpful and fulfilling.
Trying to identify the 'feelings' that your article has generated, for me, I wonder what kind of a thread could be generated on the thought of expressing how each of us was drawn into the hobbie.

Thanks again, Coyote.

[loathar]

Dull coat stops reflection and let's you get on with running your trains.[}:)]( sorry Grandpa, I had to say that). Vicoden, Huh? I had a lot of time to reflect when I had Shingles about a year ago.Try staying awake for 3 or 4 days staight because of the pain and all you reflect on is what caliber round your going to blow your brains out with if the pain doesn't stop. I do get your point though. Such deep thought just gets me in trouble.

[rtesta]

At the risk of being redundant, (I didnt have time to read all this yet!) model railroading is the best medium for mixing art with engineering. While we dont all enjoy all aspects of this art/engineering process it is hard to completely seperate the two. Just as real rr's abound in engineering marvels, from all disciplines ME, EE, CE etc, Model Railroading offers a taste of each to those who wi***o "go there". I love the engineering of a grade or track planning as well as wiring a tortoise, as well as ballasting and weathering or building hills; you get the point.

No other modeling art form, such as planes, ships (even RC ones that fly/swim) doll houses, RC cars or making clay pots provides such a complete and complex list of disiplines ready for the taking. Personally, I thrive on the process of engineering and the execution of the art!

bobt

[Anonymous]

Actually rtesta try 3-D computer graphics. To make a scene requires(respectivly) designing, modeling, detailing, texturing, rigging, framing, animating, lighting, dynamics(effects), & rendering, Whereas model railroading takes planning & research, designing & fitting, benckwork, laying down track, wiring & lights, adding roads, scenery, detailing, weathering, & operation. Art is an expression of yourself, in the case of model railroading, in a layout.

[robengland]

Sorry mac4884 but I beg to differ. Any computer-based activity requires only one physical skill: sitting still and clicking a mouse. Sure there are a wide range of mental skills, as there are in MR, but MR requires us to also be physically adept at sculpting, painting, soldering, drilling, carving, assembling, cutting, gluing, sanding, hammering, coupling, re-railing .................................... No comparison.

[davekelly]

I don't know. I think some of the computer modeling I've seen is quite fascinating, not my cup of tea, but impressive all the same. Remember, we could easily say that in painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo only had to do one physical skill, dip the brush into the paint and dab it on the roof - heck he didn't even have to sit, he did it laying down! [:D]

[robengland]

I agree about Michelangelo, that's why model railroaders are much more versatile broadly-skilled Renaissance persons than he was [(-D][:-^] I bet he didn't even assemble his own scaffolds

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by davekelly
[ Michelangelo only had to do one physical skill, dip the brush into the paint and dab it on the roof - heck he didn't even have to sit, he did it laying down! [:D]

Seems to me that I read somewhere that he didn't do much of the actual painting himself, but directed his helpers what to do. Sort of like a railroad dispatcher!

Bob Boudreau

[robengland]

There was a great editorial from Terry Thompson shortly after he took over at MR mag, about how the model railroader is the modern Renaissance man. The term refers to someone who has interests in many things instead of being too specialist. Much as we have been slagging Michelangelo, he was as much a sculptor as a painter. But the term refers more to the likes of Isaac Newton, who did great things in mathematics and physics but also investigated spiritualism and all sorts of other stuff, or of course the ultimate Renaissance man, Leonardo da Vinci. I describe myself at work as "broad and shallow" which is as much a reference to my physique as to my knowledge base [:D] It's the same with this hobby. Dig up Terry's editorial, he said it quite well. We can dabble in historical research or welding, backdrop painting or fine tuning couplers, modelling trees or soldering electronics, railfanning or casting plastics, super-detailing or collecting plastic toys, photography or operating....

[whitman500]

I had a somewhat different take on the model railroading as art form. I think a big part of what defines art is the appreciation for the aesthetic. This is what allows photography to be considered an art since the photographer, while not creating the image, is selecting an image from the real world that has aesthetic value and that he, as the artist, is able to see.

By this definition, I would argue that in some ways the current trend towards modeling the prototype versus freelancing is undermining model railroading as art. By placing realism above all other concerns, we constrain our ability to pursue the aesthetic. A layout that is visually stunning because of its combination of mountains, plains and shorelines is denigrated for not matching real world topography. I think sometimes we lose sight of the fact that a layout can be beautiful (and therefore an art form) without being realistic.

[SpaceMouse]

QUOTE: Originally posted by whitman500

I had a somewhat different take on the model railroading as art form. I think a big part of what defines art is the appreciation for the aesthetic. This is what allows photography to be considered an art since the photographer, while not creating the image, is selecting an image from the real world that has aesthetic value and that he, as the artist, is able to see.

By this definition, I would argue that in some ways the current trend towards modeling the prototype versus freelancing is undermining model railroading as art. By placing realism above all other concerns, we constrain our ability to pursue the aesthetic. A layout that is visually stunning because of its combination of mountains, plains and shorelines is denigrated for not matching real world topography. I think sometimes we lose sight of the fact that a layout can be beautiful (and therefore an art form) without being realistic.

I would almost agree with that except, that since you cannot model 1:1, you must pick and choose what to model. You have to pick what will represent the whole at the same time give the illusion that it is all inclusive. If modeling the whole by representation is not art, well...

[robengland]

so freelancing is to realistic prototype modelling as painting is to photography

[SpaceMouse]

or surreal to sublime

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by robengland

There was a great editorial from Terry Thompson shortly after he took over at MR mag, about how the model railroader is the modern Renaissance man. The term refers to someone who has interests in many things instead of being too specialist. Much as we have been slagging Michelangelo, he was as much a sculptor as a painter. But the term refers more to the likes of Isaac Newton, who did great things in mathematics and physics but also investigated spiritualism and all sorts of other stuff, or of course the ultimate Renaissance man, Leonardo da Vinci. I describe myself at work as "broad and shallow" which is as much a reference to my physique as to my knowledge base [:D] It's the same with this hobby. Dig up Terry's editorial, he said it quite well. We can dabble in historical research or welding, backdrop painting or fine tuning couplers, modelling trees or soldering electronics, railfanning or casting plastics, super-detailing or collecting plastic toys, photography or operating....

I have to put in my personal opinion of the ultimate Renaissance man. Benjamin Franklin. Writer, Publisher, Statesman, Inventor of the air tight stove and bifocals and scientific theorist, investment counsler.

[nbrodar]

As often stated, beauity is in the eye of the beholder. Some, like Tony Koester, see the operation as the highest form of art. Others, like Malcom Furlow, soaring scenery is the ultimate goal. Whose right. They both are.

As a professional railroader, I know that operation is art, particularly switching. Watching a skilled switch crew classify cars, or service customers is like watching an intricate ballet. There is also no denying that imaging and building a miniature landscape requires creativity.

Whether, realistic or whimsy, the layout is your expression of the model world. And that is the truest of arts.

Nick Brodar

[SpaceMouse]

QUOTE: Originally posted by bukwrm



I have to put in my personal opinion of the ultimate Renaissance man. Benjamin Franklin. Writer, Publisher, Statesman, Inventor of the air tight stove and bifocals and scientific theorist, investment counsler.

And if he hadn't invented electricity we'd be running our model railroads with wind-up keys. (Just tying that back to model railroading as art.)