Others to add are the following (in no order):
- Atlas trainman
- Athearn's ability to view their PDFs to get build dates
- MB Klein's fast shipping and outstanding customer services
- A robust MR forum
- Walthers providing interesting histories and uses of various structures
There are prob more but can't think of anything.
- Cheap craft paint
I agree with a lot of your choices but would put KD couplers #1 on my list. Never was a brass collector and bought only one basswood rolling stock kit which I never got around to assembling. Loved Allen Keller's video and Evergreen styrene products have been a big part of my layout building. DCC in general might be my #2 choice. Never was interested in hand laying track so flextrack would find a place on my list. Photo realistic backdrops would make the cut as well.
cv_acr riogrande5761 I never considered myself an elitist by any means, but I didn't like to buy multiples of a freight car with the same road number - that actually kept me from buying more. That's not just about being elitist. If you do any sort of operating with car cards or switchlists where movements are based on car numbers, every car needs to be unique - just like the real thing. If every box car on your system has the same ID number, you can't even do it.
riogrande5761 I never considered myself an elitist by any means, but I didn't like to buy multiples of a freight car with the same road number - that actually kept me from buying more.
I never considered myself an elitist by any means, but I didn't like to buy multiples of a freight car with the same road number - that actually kept me from buying more.
That's not just about being elitist. If you do any sort of operating with car cards or switchlists where movements are based on car numbers, every car needs to be unique - just like the real thing. If every box car on your system has the same ID number, you can't even do it.
I do switching with car cards and waybills but my operating system allows for blocks of freight cars that remain permanently in the consist of through trains so if I have a car with a duplicate number one of them will go in these blocks. These blocks are at the front of these trains while the cars to be switched are on the rear. I also have a couple industries that receive 3 car blocks of cars from an off the layout shipper which are always switched together and I use one car card for all three so it doesn't really matter if the individual numbers are the same.
How come nobody has mentioned Santa Fe Warbonnet F-7s?
I'll pitch in with Ring engineering Railpro.
I mean wow, what a good idea. Consisted locos that are actually talking to each other via direct radio and real-time 1000 speed steps matching, no matter how geared or aged your locos are.
All the DCC features and more, for less hassle.
That is a good idea.
Antoine
This biggest one I take for granted so much that I totally forgot about it:
Walk Around Throttles! Running trains is so much more fun when you can go on a journey with them instead of watching from a remote location. As a kid I connected Tyco slot car throttles to my Tyco train transformers so I could walk around the layout. I still had to throw the direction switch on the transformer but I wasn’t stuck there. I could walk around with my train. Now I have two DC power CMI Super Blue transformers which are walk around, and I love them.
ELECTRICITY.
Without it, the hobby as we know it would be orders of magnitude more difficult.
Even though electricity is not specifically for model railroad use, it does enable so much in the hobby that it should be reqarded as a sine qua non ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sine_qua_non ) for the hobby even ignoring its use as a locomotive power source.
How would you like to light your layout with gas light, whale oil lamps or candles?
Wanna build a layout without the use of power tools (battery or otherwise)? Then again, it's always possible to have semi-portable power tools operated by foot treadles similar to a 19th Century dentist's drill http://collections.museumvictoria.com.au/items/56743 , but they're kinda klunky to drag around. It should be possible to beef that up a bit so you can make the foot powered equivalent of a battery operated drill/driver.
Of course, you could always have a steam powered shop https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zI0iozg3Ns , but that seems to me to be a bit excessive.
Of course, without electricity, there'd be no internet available to enable moaning and kvetching about customer service, prices, disappearing brick and mortar hobby shops and the imminent demise of the hobby. On the brighter side, there'd probably be no hobby in imminent danger of demise.
Andre
kasskabooseA robust MR forum
andrechapelon Of course, without electricity, there'd be no internet available...
Of course, without electricity, there'd be no internet available...
Or, as George Gobel used to say, "If it weren't for electricity, we'd all be watching television by candlelight." Probably internet, too...
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
Southgate How come nobody has mentioned Santa Fe Warbonnet F-7s?
That's what got me started in 1959...
A 4x4 twice-around to which my dad added a 2x4 piece onto which I could switch stuff around.
Good times.
MC
WP Lives
softail86mark Southgate How come nobody has mentioned Santa Fe Warbonnet F-7s? That's what got me started in 1959... A 4x4 twice-around to which my dad added a 2x4 piece onto which I could switch stuff around. Good times. MC
I threw that out there in jest, but this reply does bring up an aspect of the list to considder.
1: Great ideas in the past that got the hobby to here today, whether or not they are gone now, and
2: The great stuff (services, resources, products) available now that KEEP people in the hobby.
Irv Athearn revolutionized the hobby with the AFFORDABLE twin flywheel, all wheel pick up diesels, what with their old inefficient motors, steel wheels, (better than raw brass) diecast trucks, wide bodies and all, yet they were FAR better than the train sets that got us hooked initially. AND THEY STILL RUN!!! By todays standards, they are rather rough around the edges. But what a huge contribution overall.
And blue box type freight and passenger cars, also lacking by modern standards, did back then fill the void of better-than-trainset rolling stock. All the steam loco kits out there... MRC Rheostat power packs that at least gave better control and didn't burn out.
Suydam structures are no match for todays structures, but for many they helped keep the hobby alive to GET us from then to now.
Who remembers big mail order stores like AHC, HFM, other big discout sources advertised in MR that are gone now? (Ohhh, I couldn't wait for that UPS trick!)
Kadee has been brought up many times, and their contribution past and present just can't be overstated.
And NOW? We have stuff we couldn't dream of even in the '80s, much less before that.
Every item in this thread is valid and obviously stands on it's own merit.
Personally speaking for myself, Athearn locos, Kadee couplers, and Atlas NS flex track provided the solution to what to me were the Big Three frusterations that would otherwise have made me lose interest and drop out. Todays new stuff, including the various services, internet contributions, etc, just keeps the excitement going.
Enjoyable lists in this thread, and I would add:
Caboose Industries ground throws. Yes, I know and anticipate the "oversize" comments, but I also remember what we had to work with before these came out. It is a great example of what a good model railroader - Aubrey Olson in this case - can develop.
Bill