Dan’s Train Blog

The locomotive is not just what makes the train go, it’s the thing that dictates everything about your layout: turntable size, minimum radius of curves (and turnout frog number), engine house size.

All of these are dictated by the size of locomotives you *want* to run. Availability of locomotives ends up dictating other crucial choices like the railroad being modeled and era – if you want to faithfully model a particular railroad during a particular time you can be stymied by the lack of appropriate model locomotives.

Why is this an obstacle? Of all the things a model railroad needs the locomotive is the one item that is the hardest to build from scratch. Therefore locomotives are the one item where the modeler is the most reliant on manufacturers and importers to supply what the modeler wants.

I model the 1920s and consider myself an advanced modeler. I have no problem building freight cars, passenger cars, houses, boats, bridges, track, power supplies, DCC electronics, layout wiring, etc.

But scratchbuilding a locomotive worries me — mainly because it is so easy to do it badly. The level of precision and design required in making a reliable mechanism (especially in the smaller scales) is very high. For this very same reason, there are only a fairly small number of mass-produced locomotives available.

It is an expensive proposition to bring a mass produced model locomotive to market. In the 1960s, as labor costs rose and the quality and detail demanded by the modeling consumer rose it became extremely expensive, and therefore extremely risky for manufacturers to bring new models into the market. From the 1970s through the early 1990s there were very few new mass produced models introduced.

During this period the batch production brass market thrived. These importers reduced the risk of bringing out a new model by making small batches. While the cost for these items was high, so was the quality.

A recent change is that China currently provides very cheap labor for manufactured goods and this has been applied to the production of mass produced model locomotives that sometimes approach the quality of batch-produced brass models but at 10-20% of the cost (hundreds of dollars versus thousands of dollars).

Despite this opportunity I do not see manufacturers taking advantage of this situation by bringing out a wider range of locomotives. Take for example the fact that there are now at least FOUR models of the 4-8-8-4 “Big Boy” available (Trix, Athearn, Precision Craft, Rivarossi), two USRA Mikados, etc. I agree that there are more new locomotives available, but it seems like manufacturers are still being very conservative.

In the HOn3 Group at Yahoo! (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HOn3/) there was a thread going about what eras people model and what models get commercially produced. In particular there were calls for more (or ANY) early narrow gauge locomotives in HOn3 such as basic Baldwin 4-4-0s and 2-6-0s.

These small engines were popular on narrow gauge lines from their beginnings in the 1870’s-1880’s through to around WWI. By then, most surviving narrow gauge railroads had started moving to heavier motive power: 2-8-0’s, 4-6-0’s, and especially big 2-8-2’s typified by the D&RG K-class engines. These later, larger engines are really just about all you can get in HOn3.

Has anyone tried making HOn3 engines produced in China like Bachmann’s excellent HO models? Yes, and guess what they produced: D&RG K-class Mikados.

Why be so conservative?

Maybe it’s the customers fault? In the same thread on the HOn3 group mentioned above several people estimated that a retail price for a classic 3-foot gauge Baldwin 4-4-0 would be $250 with a “street price” of something like $150. This tracks closely to the pricing of Bachmann’s new modern standard gauge 4-4-0s.

When the same group was asked how much they would be willing to pay for a classic 3-foot gauge Baldwin 4-4-0, the response seemed to be “much less than that.”

I can see that marketing to model railroaders is not for the faint of heart.

Agh!

It is so hard to keep making progress on a big “spare time” project like my model railroad in the face of life’s distractions. You know: work, family, chores, sleeping, new computer games, etc.

I generally hate posts of other people’s posts but a guy at work passed this link around recently and it has really helped me. Summary: just grab something, anything, and do it: Rands In Repose: Trickle Theory

The examples are geared towards software developers (my day job) but I feel this appraoch is applicable to anyone who feels overwhelmed by the tasks in front of them.

As an example, this morning I was kicking myself for not getting “more” done. There are two issues in that statement: I actually get a lot done, it’s just that I spend a lot of time doing things that are not really that important in the long run.

Just Grab Something and Do It

This morning I spent 30 minutes and processed images I shot in July and got them ready for posting to the blog as a layout building progress report. I feel better already.

What make a great issue of a magazine? In this web age magazines are having a tough time. It’s easy to gripe so now I’ll do the hard part. What works? What makes a great magazine issue that I’ll put post-its into the pages and come back to 30 years later?

Here are some examples I find flipping through all the marked articles I tagged for this series of blog postings.

Great layout building series. I’ve mentioned the bad ones. Here are the good ones I remember from the last 40 years.

• Brandywine Transit series by Walter R Olsen — a traction / trolley layout from the mid 70’s. I’m sure some of the techniques are a bit dated but I think this would still be a reference point for starting an HO traction layout.

• Jerome & Southwestern by John Olson – I still look at the book collection of these articles.

• San Juan Central by Malcolm Fulrow – obviously I liked this since I based my layout on this one.

What was good about these was that they were visually inspiring (or at least technically inspiring in the case of Brandywine) and you really got the idea you could do it yourself.

Great model building techniques. These could be in the form of how-to articles, cover photos (discussed in this post), or simply drawings.

Here are some examples:

August 1966: From Timber to Tidewater by James Sabol. A great article describing operations on logging railroads.

August 1976: The transofrmation of a caboose by Merk Hobson. How to scratchbuild in wood. Timeless good techniques.

August 1982: Building your first wood structure kit by Bob Hayden. I read over this article every time I start a wood craftsman kit.

August 1998: The HO scale Lilliput Logger by Iain Rice. I don’t hate ALL 4×8 articles. I love Iain’s work and his track plans are inspiring. I have all his track plan books too.

August 2005: Painting and weathering plaster by Bob Mitchell. This is a simple article but I know I’ll want to review it before working on my next plaster kit.

Other good articles:
An article series from another magazine is currently saving by butt as I’m building my turnouts are Didrik Voss’s articles on measuring and adjusting turnouts in the September and October Scale Rails.

40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 1

40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 2

40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 3

40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 4

40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 5

40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 5½

40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 6

40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 7

40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 8

40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 9

What were the worst issues in the last 40 years?

Instead of listing specific issues I tried to get an idea specifically what it was that would make me think an issue was just not interesting.

1. A worthless 4 x 8 track plan inserted just to pad out the issue.

In several issues (at least three issues) that had NO interesting articles you could find a 4 x 8 track plan. Is it written somewhere that MR needs to publish a 4 x 8 foot track plan every year?

2. A (Stupid) Railroad You Can Model article.

The typical example is the Yancy RR described in the August 1974 issue. “You can model every track switch (both of them) on the prototype” And this is GOOD because …????

WHO wants to model a railroad that has virtually no traffic, no scenery and no significant history?

What I want are ideas on how to convey that I’m running the Santa Fe on 10 feet of bookshelf space. I want railroads pulling ore out of the mountains, lumber from the hills, or moving tonnage over the Rockies – NOT shipments of dog food.

In fact, the August 1979 issue is choice for WORST August issue. It has EIGHT articles about the Fonda, Johnstown & Gloversville Railroad, a stupid railroad nobody would want to model.

I’ll pay $1 to anyone who can prove to me they actually devoted an entire layout to the pathetic FJ&G RR.

40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 1

40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 2

40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 3

40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 4

40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 5

40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 5½

40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 6

40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 7

40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 8

40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 9

What were the best August cover pictures from the last 40 years?

My top five:

Number 5, August 1969. A cover by the late Ben King. Ben’s little layout, precise models and beautiful photos were years ahead of their time.

Number 4, August 1973. Another cover by Ben King. Not happy with available cameras, Ben is showing the beautiful photos his scratch built pin hole camera could take.

Number 3, August 1976. Irv Schultz and his St. Clair Northern.

Number 2, August 1967. An engine servicing area on John Allen’s Gorre & Daphetid RR. John’s work always had a spark that was missing from most of his contemporaries’.

My number 1 favorite issue of August in the last 40 years 1980: Malcolm Furlow’s Denver & Rio Chama Western. Malcolm’s model building was not as good as John Allen’s but the composition of his scenes was always powerful and inspiring.

40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 1

40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 2

40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 3

40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 4

40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 5

40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 5½

40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 6

40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 7

40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 8

40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 9

So Model Railroader (MR), my NMRA membership, and Railroad Model Craftsman (RMC) subscriptions all came up at about the same time.

I usually subscribe to Model Railroader two or three years at a time. Sorry MR, not this year: I signed up for one year. RMC gets a two year subscription and the NMRA one more year.

40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 1

40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 2

40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 3

40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 4

40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 5

40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 5½

40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 6

40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 7

40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 8

40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 9

How do you judge whether an issue is good or bad? I do it by how many good articles are in the issue. A “good” article is one that I will still refer to years later – either for content or visuals.

In looking at this stack of magazines I see that I also weigh in some other factors – in this order:

The cover image. Sad but true. A good cover image really pulls me in and makes me want to look inside. If the picture on the cover is good I’m more than half way to feeling the whole issue is going to be good.

The articles. Next clearly are the articles in the magazine. A good series like Olson or Furlow’s layout series almost make it a slam dunk.

Lastly: editorials and regular columns. If the first two things are good; the cover art and the articles, I am much more likely to settle down and read all the editorial and regular column content.

These are what I found when I would go through all these issues trying to get a handle on what made an issue “good” versus “bad.”

As I looked at each issue I would give it a score of one for each item that I liked about the issue. I found that editorials and regular columns did not really count in my overall scoring: if there was a lousy cover and no good articles, it simply did not matter that Wescott’s editorial was brilliant.

Scores ranged from 0 = bad issue to 3 = great issue.

Just looking at my color coding things seem to go to crap around 1987. After that there are occaional good or great issues (2′s or 3′s)  but lots of loser issues. Mostly loser issues. Although the magazine grew in size under Larson, the quality of his last six years looks much lower than his first 10 years.

Sperandeo batted about 375 (3 issues out of the dirt) but only two great issues over 8 years. Admittedly, I’m only looking at August but frankly, this does fit pretty closely what I’ve felt about Model Railraoder for a long time.

On this survey it’s hard to tell how Thompson is doing. That one 2005 issue was really good. I hope he can keep it up.

I’ll be continuing with some concrete examples of what I think are good articles and covers — as well as some exmples of bad stuff.

40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 1

40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 2

40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 3

40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 4

40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 5

40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 5½

40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 6

40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 7

40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 8

40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 9

Sean asked how or if the page count correlates with the editor at the time. Good question. Did the editor do it? Looking at August issues Model Railroader since 1966, it has had four editors.

Linn Wescott from 1966 to 1977

Russ Larson from 1978 to 1993

Andy Sperandeo from 1994 to 2001

Terry Thompson from 2002 to 2006

Linn Wescott and Russ Larson were the editors while the Model Railroader was growing.

Things went poorly during Andy Sperandeo and Terry Thompson’s leadership. I do not know enough to say they caused the decline seen in MR but it’s clear they were unable to prevent the decline in Model Railroader.

40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 1

40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 2

40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 3

40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 4

40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 5

40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 5½

40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 6

40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 7

40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 8

40 Years of August in Model Railroader – Part 9