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I think you've actually asked two different questions. Let me start with the first. Prototype or Freelance? Actually, there is a third option; Protolance, which is what I do. A prototype modeler takes a real railroad, and tries to duplicate it in exact scale dimensions. The freelance modeler simply makes up or creates whatever they want without any boundries or limitations. The third option, Protolance, takes a real railroad (in my case, the Missouri Pacific) where you can draw off of a rich history, but you can freelance the future part. For example, in my world, the Missouri Pacific became the dominate partner in the 1980 merger, and the UP disappeared as part of the new MOPAC. Now I have history, and paint schemes as a base, and can take the new railroad anywhere I want. I think this is the easiest of the three, but not always the "best". After reading your post, you also seem to ask the question of playing trains or operations. I have noticed there have always been three types of model railroader; modeler, railroader, and collector. The modeler tends to build things either from kits or from scratch. Their enjoyment comes from the construction phase, and I've seen people tear-down beautiful layouts because they feel they are "finished" and they can begin construction again. Then there is the railroader. These people like to run trains. Sometimes just in circles, or all the way to full-blown operations. To them the scenery and added details tend to be secondary. Then you have the collector, a person who neither builds much, or runs much. Mostly their trains are in display cases, and they search for unique items to add to their collection. I would have to fall into the railroader catagory. My layout is almost completed as far as track work, but not much scenery. I do operating sessions almost nitely. This is too intense for most, so I only invite others over sparingly. Which is best? All. None. The best part of this Hobby is that fact that we can all participate, at what ever level we choose. It's strictly up to you. You can challenge yourself to achieve higher levels (I never even dreamed of scratch-building turnouts when I started), or you can choose not to do so, and use the time simply to relax. It's a wonderful, and perhaps the "greatest" hobby! <br />MOPAC 1 <br />
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