Modeling Railroads of the 1950s Special MR editon

[MRTerry]

Thanks for all the kind words about the magazine.
To answer a few questions:
1) All the articles are new, including the Armstrong article,
2) while we might do a follow-up, the early 1900s aren't the most likely era (we did an article on modeling that era in January 2005, though),
3) If you don't have your issue by the middle of next week, please call Customer Service at 1-800-533-6644 and let them know.
Thanks for reading MR,
Terry

[andrechapelon]

QUOTE: Originally posted by MReditor

Thanks for all the kind words about the magazine.
To answer a few questions:
1) All the articles are new, including the Armstrong article,
2) while we might do a follow-up, the early 1900s aren't the most likely era (we did an article on modeling that era in January 2005, though),
3) If you don't have your issue by the middle of next week, please call Customer Service at 1-800-533-6644 and let them know.
Thanks for reading MR,
Terry

Got mine today. Superb issue. Favorite articles were the ones by Bob Smaus on the citrus biz, closely followed by Keith Jordan's on the AT&SF Surf Line. We moved to Southern CA from Denver in early 1952, and one of the most vivid memories I have is of driving down Foothill Blvd (US 66) between San Bernardino and Pasadena and seeing miles and miles of orange groves. I also seem to remember that the Pacific Electric had a line that went up the center divide on Euclid Ave which runs between Ontario and Upland. If memory serves, that line not only served the citrus industy, but also an Arrowhead Water bottling plant as I seem to recall a cut of tank cars marked for water service trailing an ALCO switcher. My Aunt Florence had a brown 1948 Pontiac that stalled at a railroad crossing in Pomona shortly after we move to California. Car was demolished by a UP freight. Fortunately, Aunt Flo bailed out in time. God, I'm getting old.

BTW, my only real "criticism" is the Bob Smaus article on making orange trees. I'll reread to make sure I didn't miss anything, but I swear that Bob neglected to mention his source of HO scale "oranges". C'mon, Bob, is this one of those "if I told you, I'd have to kill you" pieces of information???[:D]

Andre

[Anonymous]

I work for a Magazine Wholesaler, depending where you are look for it Friday or Monday at the soonest to be in Stores.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by andrechapelon
BTW, my only real "criticism" is the Bob Smaus article on making orange trees. I'll reread to make sure I didn't miss anything, but I swear that Bob neglected to mention his source of HO scale "oranges". C'mon, Bob, is this one of those "if I told you, I'd have to kill you" pieces of information???[:D]

Woodland Scenics item # T47 - "Apples and Oranges". [:D]

[Fergmiester]

My wife picked it up and went through the pages, then commented "There's a lot of old pictures of the fifties in here" ! Then she read the front cover.

I picked it up two days ago and can say I will be reading this one for a while as it has a lot of pertinent stuff in it.

Well done guys!

Fergie

[Anonymous]

How come you guys have already gotten it? According to this it shouldn't ship out until the 30th.
http://store.yahoo.net/kalmbachcatalog/model-railroading-model-railroader-magazine-special-issues.html

[selector]

Still...(cough)...waiting....

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Lotus098

How come you guys have already gotten it? According to this it shouldn't ship out until the 30th.
http://store.yahoo.net/kalmbachcatalog/model-railroading-model-railroader-magazine-special-issues.html

That's the retail ship date -- we all pre-ordered it at a special price. In my case, the pre-order offer came with my subscription renewal.

[novacoach]

I'm with CBQ guy here - I liked it but was left wanting more - I'd I have liked more "how" as well as "what" for example - the billboards - where did Paul Dolkos get the ones he used? I'm not meaning to be critical and there's much good stuff but I'm a little dissatisfied.

Chris

[CNJ831]

Like nova and CBQ, I would have liked to have seen much more "how to" and "characteristics of the time" than was actually included. While helpful, the scope of the work seems more of a brief overview of the period and a call for you to do your own research than any sort of actual reference volume.

I believe it was Andy S. who wrote a detailed WWII era reference piece in MR a few years back which I found decidedly more helpful when it came to what railroading was all about in those particular years.

CNJ831

[Anonymous]

Odd, I went to my LHS today and there were copies to the ceiling! I ended up buying just one though he wanted me to buy a dozen, seems the delivery guy was quiting his job, didn't want to drive all over the country.

Tons in Peoria!

Seriously, I just went to the LHS and got mine, I like the stories, the detailing section is very good.

[SilverSpike]

YEA!!! YEA!!! YEA!!!

After some waiting, I have just recieved my copy today!

Can you say time warp?

I'm gonna make a tall chocolate malted milk shake, put on some BB King and Elvis music and read my 1950's special MR edition.

[Anonymous]

Over all well worth the wait! Enjoy Elvis BB King and the 50's.
Will

[BRVRR]

Its on the shelf in the LHS here in northeast Ohio. I'm going to pick one up this weekend. Have a train show to go to first though.

[MudHen_462]

Got It !!! I think MR did a great job on this one.... they could run another one or two volumes as annuals, and not really scratch the surface of this era, however. This is definately a "library copy" for me....

Bob

[Anonymous]

I purchased this copy at the Hobby Shop today.

I like it. I also got the "Industries Along The Tracks" as a sort of a filler.

[dinwitty]

got mine at the hobbyshop. I have back issues of trains/ Railroad/ RMC/MR and a few others dating into the 40's, so I have tons of info, but its not enough. Theres also railroad specific books.
Still not enough. Since I model specific areas I try to find something that works.
I will be modelingf parts of the South Shore, and the best thing I found was a cab run video from South Bend to Chicago shot around the 50's. I can snag images from it and use that.
The mag will touch you on the 50's and has info I havent seen, the Dearborn Station was good to have, that made me buy it.

I try to model an area close to exact but with selective freelancing to fit for the modeling area (That will happen a lot) I try to catch the flavor however, since I will model downtown chicago, theres no room for all that, so its a freelance interpretation.
It'll work for operating concepts.

If you want to continue 50's modeling, check ebay for old issues of Trains/Railroad/MR/RMC etc mags or other places selling old mags.

[tcf511]

I got mine. In one of the photos, the roadway clearly has yellow lines down the middle. I was under the impression that highway departments didn't start using yellow until the 60s and that I should only use white lines. Can anybody confirm one way or the other? Just curious.

[SilverSpike]

I have read up to page 30 and what an issue it is. The first few articles have very good information on prototype operations of the era including the transition from steam to diesel and the move from heavyweight passenger to lightweights. This issue has me wondering if there is a complete list of motive power with the years of operation for each unit and the railroad it was operated under. It would be interesting to see a matrix or spreadsheet of all the locomotive types, not just a roster list but with info on the period of operation as well. It would be helpful in running various time periods on the layout.

[Adelie]

I had mine before I got shipped from the east coast to Alaska, back and then to New Mexico and back. So, I had a lot of time to read it cover to cover. I model the fall of 1958.

I wish it was about three times its size, but I guess it should leave you wanting more! Great publication and I'm extremely glad MRR put it out and I ordered it.

[davekelly]

Just got it this weekend from Barnes and Noble and I HATE IT! It's given me way too many ideas to think about and my "to do" list is now twice as long!!

Seriously. I loved this issue. Even if some of the articles could have used "more meat" it did start the brain churning. I loved the article on placing the era through use of billboards, clothing etc. Although I guess I knew all that before reading it, reading it really gave me more of an appreciation on how to set the era.

I hope Kalmbach continues along this line. Perhaps a special issue on the 60's? A quarterly or bimonthly update in Model Railroader? Maybe something along the lines of the old "Railroad You Can Model" - every now and then an article pertaining to a specific time period. The possibilities are endless!

[Piedsou]

Picked my issue up at Borders. All of the local bookstores (Waldens, Borders, Barnes & Nobel) as well as the hobby shops have it.

My own observations:

For someone who was 3 to 13 in the 50's and models that era, I found the issue wanting.
I'd rate it a C-. The town photo on page 8-9 gave me more modelling ideas and info then the rest of the magazine put together. I wi***hey would have included more of these type of pics. There have been many great photos in Classic Trains taken in the 50's and it was these type of pictures I was looking forward to seeing but found lacking.

Why, when having specific articles on the Santa Fe and Southern Pacific, did they have to use pictures of SF and SP engines in their article on locomotives of the 1950's? Any other railroad would have been preferred. Too much Santa Fe. Again, no southeastern railroad was represented in the magazine, photos or otherwise.

Paul Dolkus' article "The billboard did it" was nice. However, it would have been nice if they had included some billboards in various scales that could have been cut out and used like they have done with various monthly issues in the past.

Bob Smaus is an excellent modeler, but the citrus grove article would probably have been better off in a monthly issue of MR instead of a special issue for the 50's. Way too specific.

Overall, just not enough specific info on bringing back and refreshing the memories of what the 50's really looked like.
Just my own opinion and hopefully constructive criticism; I'm sure many others will find the issue fascinating.

Dale Latham

[Anonymous]

Overall it was pretty good, lots of ideas, but you'll still have to do more research. I agree with Dale there should have been more real photos to compare with. The one thing I felt it lacked was the late fifties,'57, class 1 NYO&W abandoned,Highways were getting better,trucking was taking lots of rail traffic, more commuters were taking the buick to work,airlines were grabbing both mail and passengers for cross country traffic,it would have been a great seguay to the sixties,2nd generation power,less maintenance, mergers etc. The early fifties were great but as the decade got older there were many changes to come.

[davekelly]

Sounds like bunches of ideas for a second volume!

[Anonymous]

[:D]I just bought mine! [:D]

[Trainnut484]

I bought my copy from the LHS over the weekend. Indeed a great wealth of information [^].

Russell

[rrinker]

Just picked up a copy at WalMart tonight. Haven't cracked it open yet.

[selector]

Mine came either yesterday or today...just picked up the mail. After a cursory glance, I think it was worth the money..all things considered. I would have liked MORE specificity in some areas, more how-to information. As it is, there is a lot of appreciated history, something necessary for those who are younger and interested in modeling the era, but I would have liked more details of what to...well...detail! I was raised in the 50's and 60's, so I have a good feel for the times, but I would have preferred more of the hands-on information for modeling, as the title of the document inferred. More details pointed out in a few more photos, too.

All-in-all, I'd give it a C+ to a B-, at first glance.

[CNJ831]

QUOTE: Originally posted by tcf511

I got mine. In one of the photos, the roadway clearly has yellow lines down the middle. I was under the impression that highway departments didn't start using yellow until the 60s and that I should only use white lines. Can anybody confirm one way or the other? Just curious.

Tim - Where in the magazine do you see a prototype photo showing yellow striping being employed? The only illustrations I found with them were of models. A quick search of DOT rules and regs didn't turn up a transition date but I got my driver's license in the 1950's and, at least in my part of the country, yellow striping certainly wasn't used until years thereafter.

There also seems to be a suggested trend in the posts above. I suspect many who are giving rave reviews to the publication were born after the 1950's, while those who personally experienced that time are rather less enthusiastic. Definitely, I think that there was an awful lot of significant period material that could have/should have been addressed for modeling purposes and wasn't. Downtowns in the 50's look nothing like they do today and they were always crowded. In the later half of the decade there was a major recession, which resulted in a lot fewer brand new cars being sold, so the vehicle age cross section on the roads was quite different than one might expect. And there are many other examples.

CNJ831

[dinwitty]

I call the issue an introductory for the 50's, perhaps make you wanno go out and research more, theres plenty of info to find, the issue has pics and stuff I havent seen before so its worth it, Does it cover everything for the 50's, well, no..