Though, man, they sure are embracing sound. It’s neat to see what can be done in such small scales.
I don’t mean to digress, but that is the first time I have seen BNSF referred to that way. Is that a common reference? If so, what does it mean?
Regards,
John
Even as a kid I would be “simulating” RR operations. I had an operating barrel car and I would load the car up and after a bunch of loops around my track the train would arrive at its destination and the barrels would be unloaded. When you are a kid, your imagination fills in a lot of the gaps, but you still feel like you are running a real train.
As an adult, I would say that not much has changed. [;)]
Regards,
John
Just a little harsh. Each to his own. If that is what makes their world go around, OK. I don’t let them fly as fast as I use too. Looks better moving at slower speeds.
I don’t care how fancy of layout you have, none of us come close to simuilating actual railroad operatons on our layouts. Until someone says that he is using TNT to daylight a tunnel on his layout or the has a rock fence that can detect a slide which automatically changes the signals to red, I rest my case.
In fact, does anyone run a wheel greaser or hot box detector on their layouts?
When I was in VA there was a guy in the train club that had a stack of cards which told him what he had to do each run but no he didn’t have 4 or 5 guys there calling each other on phones to report and get clearence. you did have to (by his cards) to drop off this car or that car and other things but not to the exstent your talking about or I don’t believe.
We also had guys that had to run there trains per scale speed and no more and had limits on there layouts that they followed as to top speed for this section like 45 and the train would craw thru there lol.
Hmmmm… when I am alone in the train room I like to be able whatever I want to do. I’m designing my layout so I can just run trains, or switch levels, reverse directions, pickup/drop off stuff on sidings, change train configurations in the yard, load/unload stuff in the yard using the gantry crane, etc.
I know when I’m with friends running trains I like to set them and forget them - just let 'em run. We then sit and talk about a mirad of different things, sometime the trains, sometimes the areas in reality we THINK our layouts represent, things to do and see that are train related, etc. I mostly enjoy the discusions on why we like a particular paint scheme on an engine, or why we like a particular engine vs another one… kinda like Fife’s and my conversation on GP9s, GP7s, GP20s, GP30s, and GP40s.
I try not to get too involved in wondering why others do what they do. Some guys are wired different and there isn’t anything wrong with that! Hey there are guys that just COLLECT trains, never run them, never display them… I’ll never understand it, but hey - to each his own!
Now where’s that throttle…
Let’s face it. The guys that read “model railroader are the artist thjat paint the"Mona Lisa.” We at CTT.,are still drawing stick figures. Hopper
Nonsense. The value of the work is not a product of scale fidelity.
John,
Here on the old Frisco main, we lament the loss of our great road, having been swallowed by the Be Nuthin’ which transmagorified into the Been Nuthin’ Since Frisco. We miss our Coonskin Herald, our Racehorse E-8s, and our gilded Greek fretwork on the sides of the tenders (especially since the 1522 has gone back into retirement).
Nostalgia is a powerful fuel, ya know?
Event cards! I made a pack of them ages ago when I was in N scale. I wonder if I still have them. Sir Hatt to visit. All engines return to shed; Clear main line for breakdown train. Derailment ahead, use Down line instead of Up. 3rd car in your train is bad-ordered. That sort of thing. The randomness was fun.
That reminds me. Have you ever known a modeller who built his layout scenery first, then set the track amongst it - like in the real world Buckeye refers to - John Allen did a bit of that I think. But then again, he was a careful planner.
But gentlemen, if you stop your train, uncouple, pull ahead, throw a switch, back your milk car/coal car/culvert car/log dump car…etc into the industry siding, perhaps pick up another empty/loaded car, pull out on the main, align the switch, couple back to your train, then continue on your trip—>have you not just simulated RR operations?
Discuss.
I agree. That is how I run my layout. Ultimately, it is wherever your imagination takes you while you operate your layout. For some it may be really detailed as outlined at the start of this post and for others it may be as basic as turning the transformer on. [:)]
Regards,
John
I disagree. I’ll put our Sunday Photo Fun up against their Weekend photo fun any week, any month.
Thank you for the explanation.
Regards,
John
C’mon you all. The most avid operators & readers of CTT that have money,go out and hire some contactor to build them a layout to show off in the magazine. the guys that follow Model Railroader are deep into their practices & build everything themselves.that’s the beauty of it.Don’t get me wrong,I love my trains & what they do for me,they allow me the flexability to be loose with scale practices.I was into HO but gave it up,because I couldn’t attain the realism I felt was needed. Hopper
[#ditto][#ditto]
Some guys seems to be taking this thread a little to seriously. But I just couldn’t imagine having an internal telephone system on a personal layout, with the intent of calling in (for real) to notify that my train had passed a milemarker. And then with these car cards, that another person has to verify the information on the card, and underline each data item indicataing it has been verified. This level of detail is fine for those that build ships in bottles, count rivits, etc… But I would be going nuts.
[#ditto][#ditto] [;)]
Sounds like"homeland security,:" to me.I would make sure we also saw a valued ID & Visa before I would let that sucker thru. Hopper