Login
or
Register
Subscriber & Member Login
Login, or register today to interact in our online community, comment on articles, receive our newsletter, manage your account online and more!
Login
Register
Home
»
Model Railroader
»
Forums
»
General Discussion (Model Railroader)
»
"Rivet Counting".....Some Perspective
Edit post
Edit your reply below.
Post Body
Enter your post below.
Excellent post Mondo <br /> <br />A brief story about "rivet counters" that is only slightly off topic. <br /> <br />Many years ago I was in a missile squadron up in Washington. We had an MMT (Missile Maintainance Technician) assigned who was one of those "I-know-everything-and-if-you-don't believe-me-I-will-tell-you-everything" individuals. I will admit that he <i>was</i> pretty knowledgable about the Titan I missile and their missile complexes. But it took him six weeks to find the Imperial 400 valve. <br /> <br />For the uninitiated, you found the Imperial 400 valve after you were done shaking "it" and reached up for the handle to flush it - that was the Imperial 400 valve. <br /> <br />I offered this short vignette to raise a two cents worth observation - most "rivet counters" will, sooner or later, choke on a gnat. Their's is not perfection; somehow knowing a great deal about some particular detail gives them a sense of superiority. Ask them about the Gazornan Factor (Robert Heinlein wrote a short story about a (sinister) computer that self-destructed when it tried to perform a calculation utilizing the Gazornan Factor - there, of course, being no such thing. <br /> <br />I'm in N-Scale. I body mount couplers because I find them more reliable particularly when pushing long cuts of cars; most, I suspect, run with truck-mounted couplers. I don't pay as much attention as I should to car weight. I have a long term project to eliminate cast on detail, particularly stirrips and handholds, from my freight cars and replace them with detail parts. I don't really care about how many ribs or panels a particular class of boxcar had/has. The Seaboard and Western Virginia Railway runs most of its equipment (including locomotives) straight out of the box, at least initially. And I do enjoy favorable comments about my efforts. I would hope they would be inspirational to other modelers. <br /> <br />What you do with your railroad is your business. I may find a caboose to be somewhat of an anachronism running behind an AC4400 - you can be an idiot if you want to. I enjoy the hobby - when I bring something home from the hobby shop and put it on the track and watch it go through curves and switches I get a real rush of satisfaction - and start thinking about body-mounted couplers and .........
Tags (Optional)
Tags are keywords that get attached to your post. They are used to categorize your submission and make it easier to search for. To add tags to your post type a tag into the box below and click the "Add Tag" button.
Add Tag
Update Reply
Subscriber & Member Login
Login, or register today to interact in our online community, comment on articles, receive our newsletter, manage your account online and more!
Login
Register
Users Online
There are no community member online
Search the Community
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Model Railroader Newsletter
See all
Sign up for our FREE e-newsletter
and get model railroad news in your inbox!
Sign up