Buried in the MRVP comments for the video tour of the Naugatuck Valley, owner David Popp infers that the railroad is no more, and that he is looking forward to a new endeavor. My first reaction was the same as it has been when learning of the demise of other well known railroads, layouts like the Allegheny Midland, The Virginian & Ohio, The West Hoosic Division, The Bona Vista, the list goes on and on. The reaction was emotional, it was one of feeling betrayed.
Now hold on there for a second, before you dismiss this as a rant hear me out. I am well aware that I have no grounds for feeling betrayed. These folks are in no way, shape or form obligated to cater to my wants. Yet by virtue of becoming familiar and fond of these layouts through their media exposure a part of me feels as though they should.
Ridiculous I know, but it is human nature. We embrace the familiar, and look upon change with disdain. As proof I offer the recent thread on the NEB&W. The changing dynamics of being a student organization have caused a shift in their ability to be a public entity. For some that change has been hard to understand or accept.
And there is a certain amount of envy involved too. It is unlikely I will ever have the space, time or talent to accomplish what these folks have, so being familiar with their work allows one to feel a small part of the overall whole. When the whole is no more, however, one feels a certain amount of loss.
So, to what point my rambling? Simply this. Regardless of my own selfish reaction, I respect the difficulty that comes with “parting ways” with your model railroad. Know that I for one have enjoyed seeing your efforts, and I applaud you for choosing to share your work with us. And when the time comes to start that new chapter in this hobby, I hope that you will take us with you on that journey as well.
One of the worst modeling days for me was when the MR editorial announced that John Allan and Linn Westcott had died and the Gorre and Dapheted had burned following Johns death.
There has been several famous layouts that been dismantled over the years that I liked but,the Allegheny Midland and the Virginian & Ohio was the saddest.
FWIW I think there’s a huge difference between someone dying and someone saying “that’s as far as I can go on this layout” or “I’m retiring and moving to Arizona” so they’re starting a new layout.
I do think it’s too bad no one has filled the void left by Allen Keller ceasing production of the “Great Model Railroad” video/DVD series. It’s nice to know that even if a certain layout no longer exists, it can be revisited in the future via those programs.
Saying you feel betrayed seems a little unfair but sure, I’ve felt sad or disappointed when a model railroad I really enjoyed reading about has been torn down. Some of those includes David Barrows Cat Mountain & Santa Fe, Doug Tagsold’s D&RGW, and Lee Nichols did a nice D&RGW theme layout on a ficticious line to Salt Lake City. Another classic was Brian Holtz layout from Denver to Fraser CO.
Layouts are ephemeral, and so are real trains as we discover as the years go fleeting by. Betrayal? No, but we miss them anyway if we found them inspirational and especially immersive to us.
When Paul Dolkos showed me his B&M layout, he mentioned that he felt that he had gone as far as he could, and was ready for a new challenge. I was a bit surprised, but could see that he was sincere. He mentioned Baltimore as a possible focus of a future effort. A year or two later I learned that he was doing exactly what he had mentioned. I was glad to hear that the old layout had been disassembled and sold, so the layout — or at least elements of it — continue to exist as far as I know. I still pull out old videos of Paul’s layout, and Lou Sassi’s, from time to time. I wonder if Paul and Lou do, as well.
For many of us, the fun is in the building, I’m sure David Popp feels it was simply time to move on. That’s the great thing about hobbies, they are completly dependant on each individual’s whims and fancies! Recently, I considered tearing mine down and starting over in a different scale as I thought I would like the new challanges. I reconsidered this, taking into account my age and the fact that all I would really be doing is changing the size of the nodels and figured I’d be better off rethinking how I model what I have.
I think it’s also a safe bet that no one decides to tear down an existing railroad, lightly.
Mark,I agree…I even have a tough time deciding if I want to tear out and redo any small ISL I ever built including the one I decided to redo recently…It had a seldom used runaround track and I decided that space could be used for a new industry and a trailer drop lot-I even thought of using a large square piece of Evergreen plastic or Mattboard to represent a razed industry’s old flooring turned trailer lot…
Gotta chime in with Larry and agree with Mark here. It’s a hobby, not like joining some religious order where you pledge the rest of your life to a certain belief and the only way out is feet first.
I could see feeling disappointed there won’t be more stories about a departed layout, but “betrayed” is pretty strong language…a problem commentators and headline writers on our national scene seem to be infested with. Probably a bad influence on the OP, but I wouldn’t hold it against him. [;)] Relax, it’s just life and people do stuff you might not.
How very true, as our discussions on that topic demonstrated recently[swg]
Keep in mind that those who do make a practice of writing for the hobby press sometimes simply run out of fresh story ideas on a layout that’s gotten a lot of exposure. Ever try writing? It helps to have some significant inspiration. A new layout is just what the doctor ordered to extend your writing career.
Many layouts are temporary. Lots of reasons. It may be a scene, branchline or industry you’ve always wanted to model. It may be that you just don’t have space for that dream layout you’re planning and saving for. It may be that a sudden job offer or reassignment has you moving and the layout not.
Some layouts are meant to be terminal. I don’t mean they’re fatal, will give you a heart attack, or drive you crazy…although all that can happen with more temporary layouts, too. . Then you get to the point in life where it looks like you’re settled, you’ve got space and a plan to use it,
Thats the point I was trying to make. It is unfair to feel that way, but I’m being honest about how I initially felt. I quickly realized, however, that I was looking at it from the wrong perspective.
The folks I admire are not Hollywood A-listers. They are people like David Popp, Tony Koester, Lou Sassi, and Jeffery Wimberly, to name a few. I grow accustomed to their talent and their style, enjoying the journey I am taken on when they choose to share their accomplishments and experience. To me everyone’s layout is art, but as many have pointed out, this art is transient.
Be it life or new interest, things change, new oppurtunities arise, and the old must make way for the new. My post was not about crying foul (that was the knee-jerk reaction), it was about saying thanks (that was the point of the post).
So again I give my thanks to all who have shared their work in this hobby with others, and my wish that they enjoy whatever new direction the hobby takes them.
When that happened, a foundation of the hobby shifted for me. (Not that I’m happy about what that says about my age)
What we build is not forever. It is more like a garden that will fade quickly when our efforts are gone. Still, I work the garden for the joy and beauty it brings now.
So go and make the world a better place. (Trains count here too.)
Years back a gentleman named (I think) Chuck Hitchcock had a beautiful Santa Fe passenger rail themed layout called the “Argentine Division”. Saddened me when I read that he dismantled it.
Years ago now, I was very unhappy about the CSI museum removing the great O scale Santa Fe layout. I had visited it several times including twice when steam locos were still used on the layout. That probably dates me, but after visiting the new layout in 2003, I realized the new HO layout was really more interesting and represented the present day BNSF very well. Maintenance work on many of the older home layouts probably was a factor in some layouts being torn out.
It is always sad to see a layout being torn out since many thousands of hours of work went into every one of the great layouts mentioned in the posts.
Two thoughts to help counterbalance that sense of loss:
The status quo - isn’t.
The only constant is change.
I first saw my present home area in 1961. If someone had told me that that dusty little burg with a half-dozen casinos and a LOT of empty desert, located in the approximate heart of nowhere, would grow into what exists now I would have suggested that a shrink might do something about those delusions.
OTOH, not one of those original casinos is still there.
At least layout demolition isn’t (usually) accomplished with a carefully planned grid of specialized explosives…
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - in a North Las Vegas, NV, garage)