This message from Charlie Getz is being shared in the craftsmen groups on Facebook:
This is so sad to hear.
I just finished reading an article on the millions that are still suffering from long covid.
Condolences to his family and all those close to him.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
He was a truly creative model railroad artist.
That is terrible news! My thoughts are with Jennifer and the family, and his many friends. I always enjoyed his articles and his videos. The hobby has lost another great. RIP Malcolm.
RIP Malcolm
"The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination."-Albert Einstein
http://gearedsteam.blogspot.com/
I remember him from the mid 80s.
MR did 4 layout video tours which were well done back then. His San Juan Central is at the 25 minute mark. Well worth watching the entire video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D892NsNiT44
Very sad, this horrible plague has claimed another great person and model railroader.
Jim
Sad news. I always enjoyed his articles. He obviously enjoyed what he was doing and was able to inject a light-heartedness into each.
I never understood the pro or con arguments about his work. I thought it was outstanding but not what I wanted for myself. I still enjoyed it, though, and he was definitely an amazing artist.
Sorry to hear that also.
Thanks for letting us know about Malcolm's passing, we've lost a good one; fine artist, innovator and catalyst. RIP Malcolm Furlow
kbaker329I never understood the pro or con arguments about his work. I thought it was outstanding but not what I wanted for myself. I still enjoyed it, though, and he was definitely an amazing artist.
For me, my admiration was 90% for his photography.
If a layout feature stated "Photography by Malcom Furlow", I was excited.
RIP Malcom. You were an inspiration of mine.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
We are sorry to hear of Mr. Furlow's passing. I followed his MR articles "back when" and also visited his gallery/showing in Taos NM.
I too, never understood the debate of whether he was a real MR or not. He was an artist at heart, and built a wonderful layout from an artist's point of view (IMO). And the result was absolutely outstanding!
While model railroading was not his "life's endeavor", his layout accomplishments sure makes him a "real" model railroader to me.
ENJOY !
Mobilman44
Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central
Condolences to Malcom's friend's and family. Truely a great artist who will not be equalled.
Ricky W.
HO scale Proto-freelancer.
My Railroad rules:
1: It's my railroad, my rules.
2: It's for having fun and enjoyment.
3: Any objections, consult above rules.
Furlow was one of my heroes. I have always strived to match the level of detail in his works. To hear it was from Covid strikes me personally as anyone who got the damn thing badly would understand. I was vaxxed and boosted and it still at 60 knocked me flat on my can for two weeks. It can be a truly miserable experience and long Covid is just horrible horrible horrible. RIP Malcolm, I'll have to dedicate a section of my next layout to him.
Have fun with your trains
He was a breath of fresh air and fortunately his early fame in the hobby coincided with the time when Model Railroader began to consistently reproduce color photos with real clarity and sparkle. I think he was a real beneficiary of that.
In an earlier era circa 1960 two other modelers, Francis Lee Jacques and Paul Detlefsen, anticipated many of the things Furlow became famous for, but their work was in a time of lower quality of reproduced photos in MR. One common theme to those two modelers, shared with John Allen, to a certain extent John Armstrong, and then Malcom Furlow, was the deliberate creation of portions of a layout which right from the start were built as stages for great photography opportunities of specific scenes. (Armstrong even called his area "Photographer's Curve").
I was not aware of how disliked his version of exaggerated reality was in some quarters until I began to read it in the early years of these Forums, and Sam Posey kind of used Furlow as the oppposite of Tony Koester in his book "Playing With Trains," more perhaps to make points of his own about what kind of modeler he (Posey) was. Furlow and Koester were in fact friends. There was never a question about Furlow's skills as a craftsman, layout builder, or photographer. But the prototype modeling movement wing of the hobby had and has other priorities.
Now and then MR and others would dangle in front of us the news that Furlow was getting interested in model trains again. I am sorry to learn that we won't be seeing the results of that renewed interest.
Dave Nelson
dknelsonI was not aware of how disliked his version of exaggerated reality was in some quarters until I began to read it in the early years of these Forums.
Same here.
The first time I heard anything really spiteful about Furlow was right on these forums.
I was on the receiving end of the same thing back in the mid 1990s. The local model railroad club elite took my view on "Complete Freelancing" as absurd. This was during the time when "Protolancing" was becoming a more common term.
SeeYou190 dknelson I was not aware of how disliked his version of exaggerated reality was in some quarters until I began to read it in the early years of these Forums. Same here. The first time I heard anything really spiteful about Furlow was right on these forums. I was on the receiving end of the same thing back in the mid 1990s. The local model railroad club elite took my view on "Complete Freelancing" as absurd. This was during the time when "Protolancing" was becoming a more common term. -Kevin
dknelson I was not aware of how disliked his version of exaggerated reality was in some quarters until I began to read it in the early years of these Forums.
Sad to hear about Malcom's passing, he was a tallented artist.
Model trains is a big tent - sometimes too big for people on one side of the tent to have a clear view of the other side of the tent.
OR, maybe the people on one side of the tent are happy where they are, and feel a little put upon when someone from the other side of the tent runs over and says "look at this, Bobby did this, isn't this great!, you should try this".
And it is the last of those comments that often stirs up trouble - "you should try this".
The media is known to present new things in exactly that light.
Malcom moved back toward "casual whimsy" at a time when the hobby was headed in the opposite direction.
Personally, like all of us, I have my own views and tastes about modeling. They don't really include Malcom's work or George Sellios work - One is a fun caricature, the other is a depressing caricature.
Yet I do like the "idyllic Chirstmas Garden" type modeling as much as I like more realistic styles. My own style is somewhere in between those two.
Interestingly on facebook I am seeing a lot of nice layouts built by younger people in the "idyllic Chirstmas Garden" style with some very high levels of detail and accuracy but without much weathering, kind of like a day on Main Street at Disney World.
Nobody needs to talk nasty about the work of others, but it is ok to say "it's not my thing".
In real life there are always things that are new and perfect, things that are old, worn, dirty and rusty, and all manner of conditions in between.
How we choose to represent the world on our layouts is very personal. So while I like to see what others do, I'm not much for the media putting a particular style on a pedestal.
Maybe unintended, but some of the press about Malcom's work came off that way - likely not his doing......
DISCLAIMER - There is no "high brow" modern art on the walls at my house.
Sheldon
I really enjoyed the work of Malcom Furlow, and was inspired by his articles and photos from the 80's. Recently I visited the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento and made it a point to visit the NMRA exhibit upstairs. Here are 4 photos I shot of the San Juan Central layout when I was there:
I love the turntable hand crank on the last photo. R.I.P Malcolm, your model railroading skills and artistic vision were great.
Jeff B
Very sad news. I found his artistic, visually-oriented and fun-loving approach to model railroading very inspiring.
ATLANTIC CENTRAL SeeYou190 dknelson I was not aware of how disliked his version of exaggerated reality was in some quarters until I began to read it in the early years of these Forums. Same here. The first time I heard anything really spiteful about Furlow was right on these forums. I was on the receiving end of the same thing back in the mid 1990s. The local model railroad club elite took my view on "Complete Freelancing" as absurd. This was during the time when "Protolancing" was becoming a more common term. -Kevin Sad to hear about Malcom's passing, he was a tallented artist. Model trains is a big tent - sometimes too big for people on one side of the tent to have a clear view of the other side of the tent. OR, maybe the people on one side of the tent are happy where they are, and feel a little put upon when someone from the other side of the tent runs over and says "look at this, Bobby did this, isn't this great!, you should try this". And it is the last of those comments that often stirs up trouble - "you should try this". The media is known to present new things in exactly that light. Malcom moved back toward "casual whimsy" at a time when the hobby was headed in the opposite direction. Personally, like all of us, I have my own views and tastes about modeling. They don't really include Malcom's work or George Sellios work - One is a fun caricature, the other is a depressing caricature. Yet I do like the "idyllic Chirstmas Garden" type modeling as much as I like more realistic styles. My own style is somewhere in between those two. Interestingly on facebook I am seeing a lot of nice layouts built by younger people in the "idyllic Chirstmas Garden" style with some very high levels of detail and accuracy but without much weathering, kind of like a day on Main Street at Disney World. Nobody needs to talk nasty about the work of others, but it is ok to say "it's not my thing". In real life there are always things that are new and perfect, things that are old, worn, dirty and rusty, and all manner of conditions in between. How we choose to represent the world on our layouts is very personal. So while I like to see what others do, I'm not much for the media putting a particular style on a pedestal. Maybe unintended, but some of the press about Malcom's work came off that way - likely not his doing...... DISCLAIMER - There is no "high brow" modern art on the walls at my house. Sheldon
My condolensces to his family. I always enjoyed seeing photos of his model railroad work, especially his original Denver & Rio Chama railway. That inspired me as a young modeler.
ATLANTIC CENTRAL Model trains is a big tent - sometimes too big for people on one side of the tent to have a clear view of the other side of the tent. OR, maybe the people on one side of the tent are happy where they are, and feel a little put upon when someone from the other side of the tent runs over and says "look at this, Bobby did this, isn't this great!, you should try this". . . . Personally, like all of us, I have my own views and tastes about modeling. They don't really include Malcom's work or George Sellios work - One is a fun caricature, the other is a depressing caricature. Yet I do like the "idyllic Chirstmas Garden" type modeling as much as I like more realistic styles. My own style is somewhere in between those two. Interestingly on facebook I am seeing a lot of nice layouts built by younger people in the "idyllic Chirstmas Garden" style with some very high levels of detail and accuracy but without much weathering, kind of like a day on Main Street at Disney World. Nobody needs to talk nasty about the work of others, but it is ok to say "it's not my thing". In real life there are always things that are new and perfect, things that are old, worn, dirty and rusty, and all manner of conditions in between. How we choose to represent the world on our layouts is very personal. So while I like to see what others do, I'm not much for the media putting a particular style on a pedestal. Sheldon
. . .
Attuvian1Sheldon, I appreciate the balance provided in your entire post just above. But it lead me to think that, for many of us, what we get to after a while in our modelling is not really what we envisioned, but as close to it as we were able to get with our skills and time. Or were willing to go without drudgery. In that sense, our preferred "style" becomes not what we wanted, but rather what we can accept for ourselves. And we may still have a preference for something else that we can't attain. I suppose that's the elusive point of some sort of dynamic satisfaction. And if others can't handle it, we offer diplomatic encouragements to go pound sand elsewhere (or maybe not ). As for when we're looking at their stuff, I need to sense whether or not they've achieved something acceptable for them. And if so, hope to default to "You've done well" rather than "Okay, but it's not for me". Attuvian1 John
John,
Interesting thoughts.
How I feel about modeling that is highly visible in the model press and how I might act or feel in the basement of a modeler who invites me to his home to see his layout are two different (and in my mind unrelated) things.
I considered a much more involved reply, but thought better of it.
I am confident in my skills to provide the enjoyment I am looking for in the hobby.
I have been doing this a long time (1967-age 10), worked in this business from age 14 to 22, and was blessed to learn from some exceptional modelers, my father, the masters at the Severna Park Model Railroad Club, one of the earliest NMRA Master Model Railroaders, and others over these 55 years.
And still I often find the most "average" efforts of many modelers most interesting and satisfying.
I'm not much for trying to guess the psychology going on in the minds of others - taking care of my own mind is a big enough job.
The narrow gauge community sure lost a couple of legends over these past few weeks. Not only Malcolm but we also lost Harry Brunk on Feb 27th. (He was the author of Up Clear Creek on the narrow gauge in the Gazette) Malcolm and Harry's articles were the primary things that got me into narrow gauge. Sad to hear we lost both in such a short time.
ATLANTIC CENTRAL How I feel about modeling that is highly visible in the model press and how I might act or feel in the basement of a modeler who invites me to his home to see his layout are two different (and in my mind unrelated) things. I considered a much more involved reply, but thought better of it. I am confident in my skills to provide the enjoyment I am looking for in the hobby. I have been doing this a long time (1967-age 10), worked in this business from age 14 to 22, and was blessed to learn from some exceptional modelers, my father, the masters at the Severna Park Model Railroad Club, one of the earliest NMRA Master Model Railroaders, and others over these 55 years. And still I often find the most "average" efforts of many modelers most interesting and satisfying. I'm not much for trying to guess the psychology going on in the minds of others - taking care of my own mind is a big enough job. Sheldon
For those of us who started in the 1970s or earlier, it's been sad watching the modelers whose work we grew up admiring leave us. Furlow was one of those guys whose work turned my head: I always had it in the back of my mind to stop by Taos and find his gallery, and just say "hey, thanks for creating something that turned me on to Colorado railroads. Your work opened up a whole corner of the world to me that I might otherwise never have found out about, and that discovery enriched my life in ways that are hard to completely explain. I never knew you, but you made a difference in my life."
But I never made it, and now I never will.
http://mprailway.blogspot.com
"The first transition era - wood to steel!"
ATLANTIC CENTRALpeople on one side of the tent are happy where they are, and feel a little put upon when someone from the other side of the tent runs over and says "look at this, Bobby did this, isn't this great!, you should try this". And it is the last of those comments that often stirs up trouble - "you should try this".
Interesting comments as usual from Sheldon but I don't think the problem is with being told "you should try this." That's just plain vanilla enthusiasm of which fortunately the hobby has a never ending supply.
Rather it is the "do it this way or you're just posing as a model railroader" that gets the fur to flying.
Or stated another way too much of "yes it's a big tent. I hate sharing this tent. I want a smaller tent."
MidlandPacificI always had it in the back of my mind to stop by Taos and find his gallery, and just say "hey, thanks for creating something that turned me on to Colorado railroads.
Well drat.
I was in Taos a couple of years ago and had no idea he had a gallery there.
dknelson ATLANTIC CENTRAL people on one side of the tent are happy where they are, and feel a little put upon when someone from the other side of the tent runs over and says "look at this, Bobby did this, isn't this great!, you should try this". And it is the last of those comments that often stirs up trouble - "you should try this". Interesting comments as usual from Sheldon but I don't think the problem is with being told "you should try this." That's just plain vanilla enthusiasm of which fortunately the hobby has a never ending supply. Rather it is the "do it this way or you're just posing as a model railroader" that gets the fur to flying. Or stated another way too much of "yes it's a big tent. I hate sharing this tent. I want a smaller tent." Dave Nelson
ATLANTIC CENTRAL people on one side of the tent are happy where they are, and feel a little put upon when someone from the other side of the tent runs over and says "look at this, Bobby did this, isn't this great!, you should try this". And it is the last of those comments that often stirs up trouble - "you should try this".
Well, agreed, I think there are some people on every side of the tent who would prefer it be smaller.
I will say this about myself, I recognize that my time and resources are limited and that my goals are very focused and narrow. Hence my saying about myself "I was once well rounded until I learned what I really like".
So I look at new things and quickly evaluate their value to me.
Unlike some I do not feel threatened by views different from mine, but I'm pretty good at being indifferent.
Can this please be a simple memorial thread?