The Most Realistic Model Railroad ever

[Dad Howe]

Way, way back (like maybe 25 to 30 years) I remember reading a piece in what I think is MR about a visit to "the most realistic model railroad ever." The model was built to duplicate railroading in the 1970's when nothing worked right, maintenance was a fond memory from the past, and the service offered by the railroads was abysmal. The builder of the model had programmed everything to replicate a rail system serving a major metro area. The author described the underlying philosophy of the owner in quite some detail (it was quite cynical, to say the least), and described in some detail the operation of the model system, particularly the various programmed "breakdowns" and service interruptions.

My question is, what magazine was it in and when? I have searched through the Trains.com index of magazines to no avail. Any one else remember reading this article? I would like to get my hands on it again.

Thanks for your help!

Dad Howe

[DavidH]

I am thinking that I also remember that article, but I also seem to recall it being one of those infamous MR April Fool's pranks.

David

[Anonymous]

David,
I can't help you out, but if you don't find it - consider the excellent "No Track" article in MR. Model an abandoned line - for example the Quintett tunnels in British Columbia.

[thirdrail1]

Dad Howe, I, too, recall the article, but I also agree with DavidH that it was one on the April Fool spoofs that MR was, and still is, famous for. Back then, some of them ran several pages with doctored photographs. Unfortunately, they were generally part of a column and not a separate article, so well may not be indexed by subject at all. BTW, when I retired from the industry in 1999, service was STILL abysmal![xx(][xx(]

[Dad Howe]

Well, these all help. I will have to narrow my search. Fortunately, the large metro public library near here has MR's going way back. I can distinctly remember the impression this article made on me and the many thoughts regarding realism it fostered, even if it was a spoof. It was one of the best written spoofs I've ever read!

Dad Howe

[Anonymous]

Hello Dad Howe. About fifty five years or ago I used to get every issue of Railroad Magazine, I think that was the name, and it had realstories of rr and homemade stories. Maybe I saw something like that in there. I really wi***hat magazine was still around. I guess it had a hundred pages or less, and waas about the size of readers digest. I was a lot younger then and the stories made me think I was there and part of the stories. Lots of fun. Bernt T

[CNJ831]

owenapc - undoubtedly the magazine you were referring to was Railroadman's Magazine, which had a publication run spanning most of the first half of the 20th Century. I expect the lives/stories of modern-day railroad employees would hardly make as interesting reading.

As to MR's Aprils Fool layouts, I found the Lunar Railway the most creative example. Some time later there was a note in MR that at least one example was actually built by a hobbyist!

CNJ831

[Anonymous]

The New England Rail layout of the Nashua Valley Railroad Association

[BRAKIE]

Not withstanding the ever famous April fool jokes found in MR..A layout can be design and built to look like the railroads of the late 60s and the 70s..This is not hard to do..Remember that not all railroads had soddy track during that time frame..The PC comes to mind in the road having the worst track in the eastern part of the nation.Rock Island and the Milwaukee Road also comes to mind..There where others as well..

[Dad Howe]

I first asked this question a number of years ago(!) on this forum.  Now, Model Railroader has opened its digital archives!  And I cannot find the article for the life of me.  I have searched all the April issues from 1960 to 1990 and a number of others.  I lack time to look through every issue and the search feature seems to let you look at only the current issue on the screen, not do a global search of all issues.

 

So, has anyone come across this article about the Most Realistic Model Railroad ever?

 

I'd still like to look at it again.

 

Thanks!

 

Dad Howe

[andrechapelon]

This is completely from memory, but I vaguely remember the article. I believe the the title was something like "Zuberdustie's Delight". I definitely remember the phrase "filthy, realistic mess" in the article in regards to this most realistic of all possible railroads. I wouldn't want to swear to it in court, but I think it was an April Fool article. The April, 1978 issue is the one that most readily comes to mind. I don't know why that is, but I've found that the first thought is often accurate. If you start with the April, 1978 issue and look at every April issue between 1973 and 1979, I think you might find it.

I could be full of crap, but, then again, my memory may be reasonably accurate. Who knows?

Andre

[jeffhergert]

I remember that article too.  I think it was 1972 to 1975 era.  I don't believe it was an April Fool's type article per se, rather a commentary about modelling, and maybe the then current state of railroads.  About how we go to great lengths to be as realistic as possible, but our railroads can never be completely realistic because they are too perfect.  Sure you can have problems with your model railroad, but they aren't the same as the ones the real ones have.  Plus who wants to model diesel engines konking out just as a drag freight pulls out on the main in front of the passenger train.  (I recall part of the article centered around a dirty pre-Amtrak passenger train trying to get over the road, always being stabbed by some problem or another.)

Jeff

   

 

 

[Dad Howe]

FOUND IT!  September 1972, page 40, by Charles Small.  Jeff, you win!  The passenger train in question never does make it to the terminal.

 

The article is titled "? The Most Realistic Layout."

 

THANK YOU everyone who responded to this thread in the last twelve years(!) 

 

Dad Howe

[chutton01]

jeffhergert

About how we go to great lengths to be as realistic as possible, but our railroads can never be completely realistic because they are too perfect.  Sure you can have problems with your model railroad, but they aren't the same as the ones the real ones have.  Plus who wants to model diesel engines konking out just as a drag freight pulls out on the main in front of the passenger train.

And yet, 40+ years later, we have modelers attempting to outdo each other modeling dirt, grime, rust (many doing a rather great job), the dreaded G-word (Graffitti - although in the early 1970s it was more more single-line spray tags and words rather than the mini-murals of the late 70s and after) on our rolling stock & buildings, weeds & litter in the ROW (and beyond it to), potholes and cracks in the roads, beat-up fences and trash-filled empty lots, intentionally uneven trackwork (as opposed to unintential unevenness due to benchwork warping) - and discussions on operations often concern adding cards/events for mechanical breakdowns, track work, slow-orders and other operational challenges.

So...I guess we made progress in realism in the past 40 years...Yay?

[dinwitty]

I subscribe to the Yahoo Rail Chicago and its more newsy than fansites, and almost every digest theres a train hitting a truck or a pedestrian halting the train delaing everything....with todays dcc and computers you could do that article...heh

[rrinker]

andrechapelon

This is completely from memory, but I vaguely remember the article. I believe the the title was something like "Zuberdustie's Delight". I definitely remember the phrase "filthy, realistic mess" in the article in regards to this most realistic of all possible railroads. I wouldn't want to swear to it in court, but I think it was an April Fool article. The April, 1978 issue is the one that most readily comes to mind. I don't know why that is, but I've found that the first thought is often accurate. If you start with the April, 1978 issue and look at every April issue between 1973 and 1979, I think you might find it.

I could be full of crap, but, then again, my memory may be reasonably accurate. Who knows?

Andre

 

 April 78 is the Lunar Railroad one.

If you want to find the others on your own, stop reading now

 

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SPOILERS BELOW!

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77 was the Unbdec. RR

76 was growing your own lichen

75 is well disguised, I didn't see it in a quick skim

74 is giant tacks on freight cars

73 I WISH was reporting the deaths of John Allen and Paul Larson.

71 and 72 - pretty well hidden, didn;t stand out.

79 is the Jello railroad

80, well hidden, I didn't see it.

 

                    --Randy