Since Model Railroader only puts about 6-10 feature articles in each issue and one or two of them are on generic scenery or construction topics. So of the 60-80 articles per year, 48-60 of them will be in some way associated with an era. If 20%, one fifth of all articles were on "modern" subjects, that would still be only 9-12 articles, you could still have less than one article per month even with a HUGE proportion of the count.
Modern modelers should feel lucky, they at least get several articles per year. I model 1900-1905 and pre-WW1 modeling gets maybe an article every other year, maybe two a year if its an extraordinary year. We don't even get product reviews since major manufacturers that get the reviews don't make models for that era.
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com
BamaCSX83 I'm 26, and while yes, my modelling will be the modern or "contemporary" era, I wouldn't mind building a steam, or steam/diesel transisition, but the truth of the matter is that I only live about a block away from the tracks, and I can't easily find the information I need to model the earlier eras that a lot of people love to model. I guess in my case I can more easily model what I do see, versus what I might need to try to study (considering I can't find any information on an earlier era coming through where I live (which is the area I plan to model).
I'm 26, and while yes, my modelling will be the modern or "contemporary" era, I wouldn't mind building a steam, or steam/diesel transisition, but the truth of the matter is that I only live about a block away from the tracks, and I can't easily find the information I need to model the earlier eras that a lot of people love to model. I guess in my case I can more easily model what I do see, versus what I might need to try to study (considering I can't find any information on an earlier era coming through where I live (which is the area I plan to model).
BCSX:
Yeah, and that's a big problem...I always find myself wishing I could just take the Time Machine to Pittsburgh on today's date in, say, 1928, and just walk around and take it in. But if I had a time machine, I wouldn't need to build models.
Fortunately, the old books are still out there, and people like John Nehrich have made it their quest to dig up steam-era information...and the more you find, the more you want. America's everyday history becomes a hobby in itself, and it's a story hidden from most of the population, who only hears of wars and a few select pop-historical moments - some flappers doing the Charleston, followed by a bread line, followed by FDR, followed by the war, followed by color TV...but in the meantime, what was going on?
Everything. People lived, painted their houses, took the streetcar, worked, ran the trains. That's the fascinating part.
Folks:
I'm 32 and my favorite trains ran forty years or more before I was born. Of course, I do watch trains, and I watched trains when I was a kid, but I have come to realize that what I was interested in then, more than anything, were the ghosts that hung around everything.
I think we forget about that possibility. There's an unwritten rule that modelers all like the trains of their youth. Well, I think mine were a boring mess of EMD toasters, but the "RE 1937" molded into the rail, the ghostly rails peering through asphalt, the old coal tower in Meadville, THAT fired me up.
I don't think I'm unusual. I do think that if more people read the old books, and talked to the old-timers, a lot more people would realize just what we've missed!
(The golden age of rail was NOT the 1950s!)
Pelle Soeborg's work is great...but...it's nowhere I want to be. This hobby is a time machine. The dial says "Horseshoe Curve, 1938", and "By the Burger King, 2009". No contest!
riogrande5761Interesting. I"m only 2 years younger than you but I started getting to know loco's in the 70's and 80's. I only have knowledge of earlier loco's from books but little first hand experience. I find mostly 70's and 80's as my interest because those are the trains I grew up watching as a teen and 20 something train fan. I can't relate to steam much at all because it was long gone on America's mainlines by the time I was old enough to even know what a train was. I have always been a fan of F units just because of the "classic" diesel look - as such collect Rio Grande models as early as 1965 and as late as about 1990 - which is the breadth of my modeling era.
This sounds a lot like me; I'm in my late 30's and I am most interested in what I remember from my youth (late 70s/early 80s). Though I appreciate all eras and often find it difficult to pin myself down, it seems that most folks like the era that first got them interested in railroading.
riogrande5761 Personally, I have very, very little interest in modern trains. In fact there is not one modern loco that I can "indentify". I stopped keeping up with the "new" locos and equipment in the early 70's. I choose to invest my learning in those things that will benifit my modeling goals. Interesting. I"m only 2 years younger than you but I started getting to know loco's in the 70's and 80's. I only have knowledge of earlier loco's from books but little first hand experience. I find mostly 70's and 80's as my interest because those are the trains I grew up watching as a teen and 20 something train fan. I can't relate to steam much at all because it was long gone on America's mainlines by the time I was old enough to even know what a train was. I have always been a fan of F units just because of the "classic" diesel look - as such collect Rio Grande models as early as 1965 and as late as about 1990 - which is the breadth of my modeling era.
Personally, I have very, very little interest in modern trains. In fact there is not one modern loco that I can "indentify". I stopped keeping up with the "new" locos and equipment in the early 70's. I choose to invest my learning in those things that will benifit my modeling goals.
Interesting. I"m only 2 years younger than you but I started getting to know loco's in the 70's and 80's. I only have knowledge of earlier loco's from books but little first hand experience. I find mostly 70's and 80's as my interest because those are the trains I grew up watching as a teen and 20 something train fan. I can't relate to steam much at all because it was long gone on America's mainlines by the time I was old enough to even know what a train was. I have always been a fan of F units just because of the "classic" diesel look - as such collect Rio Grande models as early as 1965 and as late as about 1990 - which is the breadth of my modeling era.
To explain just a little more, I have always had a big interest in all aspects of history, so to go backwards rather than forward from my begining point with model trains seemed quite instinctive and natural for me.
My modeling interest of 1953/1954 is based on an interest in both steam and diesel, an interest in early intermodal (piggyback) and the fact that is was actually an era of great modernization of the rail industry. Lots of new neat stuff, piggyback, first generation diesels, roller bearings, bright paint schemes, mechanical reefers, etc, with the old glory of steam, passenger trains and the railway post office still alive. It was tuely a great era for the rail industry.
In the late seventies/eighties I was way too busy with family and work to railfan, so that too made it easier to study railroad history from books rather than be railside to study the present.
Sheldon
FlashwaveFrom what I';ve learned, In most cases that's true, but it is usually assumed that :"Modern" is the 80s-to now, the way Transition is the 40s-50s-(60s?) unless the context of the sentencence applies otherwise. If I guy is talking about a steam layout and says a modern facility, than your right to raise he flag. And you hit the nail sqaure on the head with application. I love it.
And you hit the nail sqaure on the head with application. I love it.
I'll pretty much echo that "modern" is 80's to now, and perhaps "contemperary" is the post ditch lights and graffiti era - which I personally don't care for that much. Its kind of sad seeing the railroads I grew up with changing and in some ways for the worse. With the graffiti and "paint overs" and generally horrible looking freight cars, dare I call the "fright cars"
By limiting my upward era limit to about 1991, I get at least double stacks into the mix bu much of the newer HO model freight cars from the mid-90's are easy for me to resist buying. What is still somewhat of a hole is the 1970s - especially autoracks from the early enclosed era. We have open (Accurail) and closed modern (Walthers) covered.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
Chuck, Check out www.LanceMindheim.com. He has an excellent modern CSX layout based in Miami under construction. He has written several articles for MR and you can find his East Rail layout in last years MR Special issue. His web site can give you a lot of motivation to improve your layout.
Tom
Most innovation in model railroading is probably happening but not given to much covereage as people would rather do than write about it. Until that changes there will always be a debate and complaints about a lack of articles about modern railroading.
I am 60 now and came back to N-Scale after a 21 year absence fromt he hobby. I stil got the magazines most of the time but never had time to dso anything with them. But things in terms of complaints and questions haven't changed in those 21 years.
Irv
Chuck,
I don't know how old you are, but to echo some of whats been said, and add some addtional perspective, I'm 52. When I started in this hobby in 1967 at the age of 10, there was only about 120 years of railroad history to learn about or choose to model. Now, there is considerably more. Forty more years of changes, advancements, mergers, bankruptcies, etc,etc.
I model 1953-54, for me a large percentage of what appears in the MR press is too modern for my needs. BUT, as others have pointed out, there is often someting to be learned even if it does not apply directly to your modeling.
I do have modeling friends who model current times, one of which has continiously updated his rolling stock as time has marched forward - for some 20 years now. I personally could not even imagine doing that. But to each is own.
The model press seems to have a good mix from where I sit, but as I have expained, where I sit is a vastly different perspective than many younger people.
markpierce Paul3 We're at now now: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNIwlRClHsQ Stop it Paul..you're killing me. Mark
Paul3 We're at now now: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNIwlRClHsQ
We're at now now: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNIwlRClHsQ
Stop it Paul..you're killing me.
Mark
Paul---you kind of conflixed maybe? Those two sure look a little mixfused---
Any argument carried far enough will end up in Semantics--Hartz's law of rhetoric Emerald. Leemer and Southern The route of the Sceptre Express Barry
I just started my blog site...more stuff to come...
http://modeltrainswithmusic.blogspot.ca/
R. T. POTEET,We're at now now: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNIwlRClHsQ
Paul A. Cutler III*******************Weather Or No Go New Haven*******************
IMHO, I think that there is a great mix of modern, transition, and "old."
Although I prefer the modern because it is more personally attractive, I absolutely do not mind older stuff. I'm even considering getting a steamer and using it for excursion trips.
Just my
My Model Railroad: Tri State RailMy Photos on Flickr: FlickrMy Videos on Youtube: YoutubeMy Photos on RRPA: RR Picture Archives
BRAKIE rtpoteet wrote:THE HOBBY PRESS PUBLISHES WHAT IS SUBMITTED TO THEM BY THOSE WHO READ THEIR PUBLICATIONS --------------------------------------------------- Psst..Wanna buy ocean front property in Ohio? They print what is in demand not what's submitted. The biggest problem is the majority of the modelers doesn't understand modern railroads.
rtpoteet wrote:THE HOBBY PRESS PUBLISHES WHAT IS SUBMITTED TO THEM BY THOSE WHO READ THEIR PUBLICATIONS
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Psst..Wanna buy ocean front property in Ohio? They print what is in demand not what's submitted.
The biggest problem is the majority of the modelers doesn't understand modern railroads.
I also stated that publishers print articles which they deem will be of interest to their readership but THEY HAVE TO HAVE THOSE ARTICLES IN THE FIRST PLACE!!!!! and I must ask: in "demand" by whom? There has been great lamentations here on the forum about the lack of N-Scale articles in Model Railroader magazine . . . . . although the current issue--July, '09--has one . . . . . and how, boo-hoo-hoo, "Model Railroader is just an HO-Scale publication and they are only interested in publishing HO-Scale articles and I am going to quit buying the magazine and . . . . ." boo-hoo-hoo!!!!! I say this: if you are modeling in N-Scale and you want articles on detailing N-Scale equipment you go to either N-Scale magazine or N-Scale Railroading magazine. I don't expect to find articles like that in Model Railroader; neither, for that matter, would I expect to find an article titled something like Kitbashing an XYZ Railroad 56 foot Grain Service Boxcar in HO-Scale from an Accurail Kit gracing the pages of the two N-Scale specific publications.
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BRAKIE There is one other thing about "modern" modeling which needs to be kept in mind; keeping a railroad in the "modern" era will prototypically require the dispostion of less-than-modern motive power ---------------------------------------------- Yes that's why you still see SW1500s,GP38s and other locomotives built in the 60s still plying their trade. Don't sell those GP30s out the door by any "cut off" date.. http://www.trainpix.com/bnsf/EMDORIG/GP30/2402.HTM Then how about those rebuilt NS SD9s? http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=171292&nseq=2
There is one other thing about "modern" modeling which needs to be kept in mind; keeping a railroad in the "modern" era will prototypically require the dispostion of less-than-modern motive power
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Yes that's why you still see SW1500s,GP38s and other locomotives built in the 60s still plying their trade.
Don't sell those GP30s out the door by any "cut off" date..
http://www.trainpix.com/bnsf/EMDORIG/GP30/2402.HTM
Then how about those rebuilt NS SD9s?
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=171292&nseq=2
You do still see a lot of '60s era equipment in use here in the '00s of the 21st Century. My point was that if you are modeling the Puddlejumper and Northern Railroad and you have an affection for ALCO RS11s for example, then to be prototypically correct your railroad has to cease operations on the last day of August in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighty-nine because the only place you would find ALCO RS11s on that date was white-lined on the dead track at Soretoeville! If you want to be prototypically correct and model the PJ&N Railroad in '09 then you have to do it without any ALCO RS11s!
So also some railroads have, for various reasons of economy, rebuilt and upgraded their older model locomotives and you will still find them plugging away here in the 21st Century. My own Seaboard and Western Virginia Railway still has a sizeable fleet of GP40s but these would now be flatland locomotives used in local service and they have been rebuilt and deturboed and they no longer sport dynamic brakes. I acquired a number of SD35s with the hope of 'bashing them into SDP35s which I was then going to desteamgenerator but they would not fit into a circa today theme and therefore will have to be sold to somebody read: disposed of through sale.
Those modelers modeling, say July, 86, have a financially easier time than, say, those modelers who are always modeling now! Not now-locomotives don't fit on a now railroad!
From the far, far reaches of the wild, wild west I am: rtpoteet
BRAKIEEven with that MR has ran several modern railroad articles but,still the majority of the articles focuses on the transition era and as you know that era still has a strong following even with the younger modelers
Yes. I did say that that is true--but OTOH, one could hand over a few pages of space to those who do model the "modern era". And so one could submit articles still--even if it is a somewhat Sysiphian proposition here. After all, where are the new writers going to come from if'n they never submit anything?----having given up because everyone be telling them to give up------
blownout cylinder Many shortlines still use RS's and SW1500's and GP7's even. Depending on serviceability there will be the odd loke from the 60's being used. As for the comment regarding the demand on what gets published I'd still think that you could still submit articles. After all, I'm not so sure that there is a permenant staff that will be kept writing until they're in their 90's. New writers will have to come up sometimes..That is unless you begin to get tin hat-ish and start suggesting that computers can generate those articles---BTW some people already have suggested just that in other fields------
Many shortlines still use RS's and SW1500's and GP7's even. Depending on serviceability there will be the odd loke from the 60's being used.
As for the comment regarding the demand on what gets published I'd still think that you could still submit articles. After all, I'm not so sure that there is a permenant staff that will be kept writing until they're in their 90's. New writers will have to come up sometimes..That is unless you begin to get tin hat-ish and start suggesting that computers can generate those articles---BTW some people already have suggested just that in other fields------
Barry,The transition era is still popular so,articles on that era is still in demand so,regardless of how many modern railroad articles that gets submitted the chances are slim that they will be publish.
In short you print what is popular among your readership.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
I condsider my self a modeler of the modern era. All my older engines are still used by the railroads. That might come to pass soon because of the economy and price of fuel. Most of my older engines are being stored or scraped or sold by the railroads at the moment because they are not fuel efficient enough to keep in service at this time. i would agree most people would consider "modern era" as the late 80's through today because most engines from the 80's on still serve the mainlines today.
BRAKIE rtpoteet wrote:THE HOBBY PRESS PUBLISHES WHAT IS SUBMITTED TO THEM BY THOSE WHO READ THEIR PUBLICATIONS --------------------------------------------------- Psst..Wanna buy ocean front property in Ohio? They print what is in demand not what's submitted. The biggest problem is the majority of the modelers doesn't understand modern railroads. ------------------------------------------- There is one other thing about "modern" modeling which needs to be kept in mind; keeping a railroad in the "modern" era will prototypically require the dispostion of less-than-modern motive power ---------------------------------------------- Yes that's why you still see SW1500s,GP38s and other locomotives built in the 60s still plying their trade. Don't sell those GP30s out the door by any "cut off" date.. http://www.trainpix.com/bnsf/EMDORIG/GP30/2402.HTM Then how about those rebuilt NS SD9s? http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=171292&nseq=2
I to think most people do not understand modern railroads. At train shows i get asked questions like "why did you do that", but if you had an understanding of modern railroad those questions would be gone. I guess its all about what people like to run.
MR has fairly frequent coverage of Eric Brooman's Utah Belt, a now model railroad. Mr Brooman's (model) railroad--it was my pleasure to visit his railroad in 2001 during that year's NMRA national convention; unfortunately I did not have the pleasure of visiting his original Utah Belt which is the one which I became enamored with a quarter of a century ago--is always representative of railroading as it exists circa today. His only restriction is the current availability of equipment and, more specifically, locomotives; in that regards he must always wait for one of the manufacturers to produce a model of current locomotives in order to absolutely achieve the modern era. As was true of a lot of smaller railroads the UB maintained an all-EMD roster but a few years back management perceived the handwriting on the wall and the road acquired its first GE units.
The reason that MR has this frequent coverage of the Utah Belt is because Mr Brooman takes time to sit down and write about his modeling and MR deems it of sufficient interest to publish those submitted articles. There are, I am quite sure, many modern (model) railroads but neither you nor I will ever hear of them if their brass hats do not sit down and write up an article about their modeling. This has been commented upon on numerous occasions recently but it is worth repeating: THE HOBBY PRESS PUBLISHES WHAT IS SUBMITTED TO THEM BY THOSE WHO READ THEIR PUBLICATIONS.
One of the reason for so many articles dealing with the '50s and '60s and '70s is because the passage of time has delivered a vast quantity of models pertaining to that era into our hands. One of the things one frequently reads in an article on a layout is that the layout is set in, say, 1977. It's your layout and you can be anachronistic if you wish but to me an SD70M-2 would have no business running on a layout set in 1977; so also I would find it just a little incredulous for a railroad set in 2009 to be maintaining a fleet of ALCO RSD15s. To a real railroad locomotives are supposed to run right, not look right.
There is one other thing about "modern" modeling which needs to be kept in mind; keeping a railroad in the "modern" era will prototypically require the dispostion of less-than-modern motive power . . . . . . . . . . and a lot of modelers cannot bear to do this and hence they set their railroad at the 24th of August 1987 because to set it at the 25th of August 1987 would require all those GP30s to be deadlined. Real railroads do not engage in the acquisition of motive power for the purpose of seeing how many units they can amass over a passage of years. New motive power acquistions inevitably result in dispostitions of old motive power and if you are going to model the modern era you must be prepared to dispose of motive power which your railroad, whether freelanced or prototype, has deemed to have become excess to the company's needs and requirements. There aren't a heckuva lot of--perhaps none--ALCO locomotives gracing the rosters of Class 1s today; the same is true with such past stalwarts as SD40s, SD45s, and U-boats; Baldwins, never very numerous in the first place, can be found in only a few select places.
I like--perhaps, in a way, even prefer--modern layouts; to me railroading is not a chuffing steam locomotive wasteing beaucoup dollars out the stack but rather 20,000 horsepower on the head end of a one hundred car stack train. I have a problem in this regard: I have not been disciplined in my motive power purchases and I, therefore, have a roster scattered from hell-to-breakfast all the way from the fifties--SD7s/SD9s--right up till today--SD90s with most of my diesel fleet appropriate for the late '70s-early '80s. This will require the disposition of a large number of SD60s, dash 8-40C/CWs, dash 9-44Cs, and those SD90s. There is, I'm afraid, going to be a supersized yard sale in my future.
What about Krauses, or something like that, back last Nov. with his excellent photos on his present day N-scale UP? BILL
ccaranna It just struck me that I cannot recall very many (if any) articles where a modern Class I railroad was represented either in a free-lanced or prototypical layout. I would guess that there are quite a few modelers out there that model the present..
Maybe that's because HARDLY ANYONE wants to/can write an article on modern Class I representations on layouts, or perhaps your perception is wrong. Nevertheless, there is so much contemporary information available if one is willing to get out of their house and drive 15 minutes to two hours to observe what's happening now, or even subscrube to magazines on contemporary railroads such as TRAINS. Frankly, much of the information in Model Railroader is too modern for my modeling interests, but I still subscribe.
One thing about contemporary railroads. They only apply to today. However, information on earlier periods is usually relevant to current times. For instance, there is an ATSF steel viaduct crossing Alhambra Valley three miles from my home. It was built over 100 years ago. So, an article on its construction at the beginning of the 20th century is still relevant to the 21st century. On the other hand, an article on a model of a 21st-century-built locomotive has absolutely no relevance to my mid-twentieth century modeling.
Well, there's enough for me, and I'm.......
They actually have quite a balance of era's depicted, and as a modeler I can learn from articles on any era and apply them to my modern layout. No complaints from me, only that folks in Foreign countries get their issues before I do just a few hundred miles from Kalmbach.
Mine doesn't move.......it's at the station!!!
ccarannaI've been an on-again and off-again subscriber to MR for at least 10 years and have been a reader for longer. It just struck me that I cannot recall very many (if any) articles where a modern Class I railroad was represented either in a free-lanced or prototypical layout.
Far too many to mention.
Pelle K. Soeborg
randybc2003 OK - kWhat IS modern? I think it depends on what era you prefer to model "Modern " could be anything after "your" date. Troop Trains of WW II could be modern. Diesel Streamliners could be modern. Or Amtrack Superliners. Most modern Railroads are configured to proces large shipments of unit cargo. Think 100 car "double-stsacvk". Modeling facilities to lhandle such trains could be challenging. "Small" branch lines would be more practical to model . They serve as "feeders" to the main line. May MR descdribes such a ATSF branch line - supporting Grain movements. If you want Really modern stuff, look for Pele S's (I can't spell the guy's name or pronounce it - but I know him when I see it) layout mimicking the Union Pacific & Western Pacific over Tehatchipi (sp - I am terrible) & Donner Passes. That is modern railroading on the Mainline! Rexcent passenger train artixcles have rexcognised Amtack Superlines. As you read each Mag issue ask ;yourself - how is this adaptable to modern?" Randy
OK - kWhat IS modern? I think it depends on what era you prefer to model "Modern " could be anything after "your" date. Troop Trains of WW II could be modern. Diesel Streamliners could be modern. Or Amtrack Superliners. Most modern Railroads are configured to proces large shipments of unit cargo. Think 100 car "double-stsacvk". Modeling facilities to lhandle such trains could be challenging. "Small" branch lines would be more practical to model . They serve as "feeders" to the main line. May MR descdribes such a ATSF branch line - supporting Grain movements. If you want Really modern stuff, look for Pele S's (I can't spell the guy's name or pronounce it - but I know him when I see it) layout mimicking the Union Pacific & Western Pacific over Tehatchipi (sp - I am terrible) & Donner Passes. That is modern railroading on the Mainline! Rexcent passenger train artixcles have rexcognised Amtack Superlines. As you read each Mag issue ask ;yourself - how is this adaptable to modern?"
Randy
From what I';ve learned, In most cases that's true, but it is usually assumed that :"Modern" is the 80s-to now, the way Transition is the 40s-50s-(60s?) unless the context of the sentencence applies otherwise. If I guy is talking about a steam layout and says a modern facility, than your right to raise he flag.
-Morgan
This is the age old problem since the beginning of model press. Not enough of one thing/ too much of another.
There are a lot of modern rail modelers, why not so much in print? Supply and demand. Many readers want older railroads represented, and fewer modern articles are submitted for publication. I would be happy to write some articles on modern rail, my job keeps me traveling to all parts of the country and I work with all railroads, so I have an unlimited opportunity to photo things and gather info. My problem is I have no idea how to submit something for print, and even if model railroader mag is interested in short articles on modern prototypes..
The Dixie D Short Line "Lux Lucet In Tenebris Nihil Igitur Mors Est Ad Nos 2001"