Anyone remember Rand Hood. Whom I remember as one that did some fantastic articles in Model Railroader back in the late 90s. I remember them being sort of D&RGW based Colorado area articles and were some of my favorite articles that ever appeared in MR.
What ever happened to him?
How could I miss those articles! His dioramma’s were some of the most realistic I had ever seen. I read that is pretty much only what he made - diorammas and not an operating layout. If those scenes were operational, whoa! Haven’t seen a peep for a long time now.
I think many hobbyists here would be surprised by the number of very highly accomplished, but “flash in the pan” author/photographer model railroad enthusiasts, the pages of MR (or any publication, for that matter) sees over time. Having written for a magazine over a long stretch, myself, I can vouch to having seen plenty.
To be sure, there are a lot of really great, but still largely anonymous, model railroaders abroad in the land. Occasionally one will get the urge to write some things down and do it well, or shoot some outstanding pix of his layout/diorama. If these get published in a prestigious magazine like MR, these fellas will usually knock out a few more examples in quick succession. However, most soon find that these endeavors are real work and quite time consuming when done properly. Having already climbed the mountain of getting published, they soon tend to move on either looking for new areas to conquer, or simply go back to working on their layouts.
I suspect Rand was one of these.
CNJ831
CNJ831, I would like to read some (or all?) of your past published articles. I’m a huge fan of your layout via pics online and have appreciated the help you’ve given me regarding things like elevated stations, etc.
I see that your bio./profile is empty and assume you’d like to retain your privacy, but if you’re willing to respond via PM I’d like get a list of your published work. My father was a prolific magazine article author (Popular Mechanics/Science, Photography magaines, etc. so I understand the “climbing of the mountain” comment!
We had a wall of rejection (slips) in our house on display between copies of checks paid from magazine publishers.
If you’d rather keep your life private I understand. If you’d care to provide any confidential info. I’ll honor the promise to keep it confidential.
At any rate thanks for sharing your knowledge with us all here.
Capt. G - check your PMs for my response.
CNJ831