Linn Westcott: "The Greatest Hazard of the Hobby"

From all the foregoing, and adding my own observations and musings to the mix, I’d say a General Rule of Model Railroading ought to be the following: The more dimensionality one’s approach to the hobby and the actual rendering, the less likely one is to get bored or to develop a lasting dissatisfaction with it.

In other words, if all one does is place track sections together and let trains run, the vast majority of us would not be happy very long. Add scenery, the interest rises and the effect lasts that much longer. Add a prototypical component to the modeling, even moreso. And so on…

Are you serious? MR had color covers in the early sixties, 18" radius was never considered huge, it was common sectional track and fit the ole’ 4x8, kits were around, nickle silver was the norm for '68, just that brass was considered good and cheaper than ns, same with fiber tie strips. Price still dictates how many modelers shop. Ditto the 4x8 layout size.Manufacturers still take liberties with paint schemes to increase sales.

Larry, you’re right, seems time clouds the memory. mike h.

You are absolutely correct, Selector. I can say that any serious modeler of the past I ever knew continued to enjoy the challenges of the hobby for decades without ever growing bored. The endless variety of modeling avenues to go down and embrace prevented this from happening. It was the hobby dabblers unwilling to invest in modeling skills that rapidly came and went.

The concept of what Linn was trying to advance in his editorial at the time was more complex and rather double-edged than is probably realized or appreciated by most here. One requires an historical perspective to appreciate it fully, something almost always lacking in this forum’s posts.

First off, what Linn was saying was mainly directed toward newer modelers at the fringes of an evolving hobby, those not willing or unready to become serious model builders, those looking more or less for simple, less challenging aspects of participation in the hobby. Sadly, the hobby as a whole is currently moving more and more in just that direction. Eventual boredom is today a major reason why one sees so many people come and go here in such short order…often indicating so before they leave. As the hobby is reduced ever more to one of simply acquisition, it will become i

Mr CNJ,

You are an enigma to me, In on breath you say that what Linn says parallels what is going on to day and in the next you are saying it is being taken out of context and by implication naive in it’s presentation here.

Of course, it is being taken out of context. But to point out relevancy and criticize it is as irrelevant in the same breath defies my ability to comprehend. Unless it is to say that you see the relevancy but the rest of us don’t.

Regardless of the push in the industry, Linn was saying that to stay interested in the hobby you had to plan more to encompass your personal growth in the hobby. In other words, allow in your planning of your railroad, an avenue of growth, where that be of a artistic nature or towards the running or a railroad. And by artist here, I mean everything from the creation of scenery to all aspects of modeling.

Chip,Indeed Linn did promote general interest in the hobby by trying different approaches to ALL modelers…Doug Smith was the inventor of the car cards/waybills we use today…This was also one way Linn said one could stay interested in the hobby by operation.Planning a layout with switching opportunities was another.Scratch building,kit bashing,hand laying track and switches,stagging yards( called fiddle yards) etc was other ways.

So,many things we enjoy today isn’t a modern thought because it has roots in early years of the hobby especially in the 50/60s.This includes the development of the drives we use today,Code 70 rail,RP25 wheels etc.

What?

Where in the world did you get the idea that 5x10 was “really big”? John Allen, Whit Towers, Frank Ellison, John Armstrong, Minton Cronkhite, and many, many others had basement-sized layouts long before 1968.

“Most” were “just small circle of track”? Again, where’s the evidence to back that up?

And I have the first Model Railroader with a full-color cover. It was the March, 1941 edition.