I know I am probably opening a can of worms, but I am going to ask anyway. As I approach my second anniversary in this hobby, I realize there is no way I could have learned all that I have learned without the information available via the Internet, most significantly access to all of the members of this forum. I know that I would not have been able to accomplish all that I have accomplished, at least not in the same short amount of time. Actually, I doubt I would have stayed in the hobby; I would have given up long ago in frustration.
So, here is the question to the old time hobbyists. How did you maintain your interest and develop your skills when information and assistance was not so readily available? What was your support structure, or did you even have one? I admire the dedication and devotion it must have taken.
Purchased and read many books and magazines. Reading and studing is integral in this hobby. Asking questions and doing what is learned. That is what I have done for over 30 years and I have quite a library of books that I refer to from time to time. The Forum is a wonderful tool but don’t forget reading books. They sure have helped me over the years. Doug
When I started out, other than a couple of general books I found that were dated even by the standards of the day, I found old editions of MR very helpful. The local library had a somewhat incomplete collection stretching back a few years that I was able to check out. I soon caught up with digesting all that, then found the various how-to books published by Kalmbach (and to be truthful, Carstens, too) helpful. Then it was mostly learn by doing.
Since virtually everything was built, either kit or from scratch, there was a decided empahsis in virtually every article on the skills needed to create things. Now, it mostly knowing about what and where to buy stuff and what NOT to put on the layout because of some imginary worries about rivetcounters shaming you.
One thing’s for sure. Complaining about much of anything was the furtherest thing from my mind. I was having tgoo much fun. It took the internet before I found out about THAT side of the hobby. Fortunately, the chronically complaint-oriented seem to be far more rare in real life than they appear to be in the virtual world.
Fifty plus years of reading Model Railroader and other related books and magazines, trying new things and learning while often failing the first time and often taking a break to think about alternatives. The most important thing was the enjoyment after something that I had been fooling with worked.
I started in the 1950s, way before computers and the Internet. My main and practically only source of information was Model Railroader magazine or some of the other, though not as readily available magazines, and trial and error construction. Atlas snap track was about the only type I could afford back then.
There was no hobby shop in my home town, so mail order had to suffice. Two mail order stores in New York City and New Jersey named America’s Hobby Center and Standard Hobby Supply, where an order blank and payment had to be mailed in, then wait for weeks to either receive the order or a notice that the item(s) were not in stock, was the norm back then.
Practically everything I bought was in kit form, including Model DIe Casting locomotives and rolling stock from MDC, Athearn, or Bowser.
I think the most expensive piece of rolling stock I owned back then was a LaBelle Woodworking passenger car kit.
Model Railroader was my most frequent source of info. I looked forward to getting the next issue and learn what’s going on in the hobby. I also bought some extra books on the subject. Actually what I learned then outweighed anything I could find on the internet today. A lot of the stuff on the internet is questionable and not necessarily done by experts. I like to learn from the best. I also joined NMRA www.nmra.org , truly a great organization as it gets you into a network of people and experts as well as material so that you can see things done right in front of you so that you can ask questions and not just watch a video. They also set the standards and recommended practices. Train clubs of course helped a lot as did some shops.
I’m not saying the internet doesn’t have value that would be crazy. I use it myself. But, I have seen some things said that just isn’t correct on the internet. Thankfully with my prior training I can see the issues.
I also very much agree with those who have said basically–learn by doing. Kits and scratchbuilding were the order of the day. Building an elaborate passenger station could take months by the time you did all the research, found the correct materials and built it.
In my case, the hobby of model railroading can’t be separated from the hobby of studying the history and practice of 12" = 1’ 0" railroading. My dad and I would go down to the local railroad yard on summer evenings where we would chat with the working railroaders there. The B&O was known as a very friendly and welcoming railroad, and I learned a lot from those old timers. Magazines helped me to connect what I saw at the yards with the means of replicating it in model form. As I got older, I tried to make as many contacts as possible with more experienced railroaders and model railroaders. I bought a lot of books and magazines, most of which I still have. The learning process changed over time, but it never stopped. Now, over 50 years later, I’m one of the old timers.
Like the others, I read anything I could find on model railroading, from libraries, books, and magazines. Hobby shops were still around then and the folks that worked there were modelers themselves. I also joined clubs when I could. I also have a collection of books purchased over the years. MR had their How-To books, even back then, and they were good. The primary source for information was my Model Railroader subscription. Occasionally I would buy Craftsman or other model railroad magazine off the rack. I also learned by doing. Building wood kits and scratch building from magazine articles in MR. Mistakes came often at first, but then you get better.
Richard, I have always been a lone wolf in the hobby because of where I live but that did not stop me. I read and did and failed and read again and succeded and tore out and read and up graded what I had done and was happy with the end result.
But! because of all that, is the reason that I have a new build after all those years. This is what I have been working on. It is basically the same size as before but upgraded with new skills, (mine), and new tech of today. For me, one of my favorite things is the building of the layout. Yes, I love to run trains but I also love to plan and build. As far as mentors, they exist in all the books, magazines and now days the forums that I read and use everyday. Doug
Let me just say I am impressed. For what it is worth, I am a fifty-something so I remember life with out computers, when a research paper meant hours in the library. I honestly don’t know if I would have lasted in the hobby.
Of course not - that was what the letters column in all those Hobby magazines were for… [:P]
On of the more helpful things I have found with the web (remember, we had the internet back in 1970, but just try accessing it) is Google Satellite and Bing Bird’s eye - and we didn’t really have those until the 21st century (TerraServer, anyone?). Really helps you understand the layout of things, which in the old days you’d need to get lucky and get some published aerial photos of the site (now relegated to HIstoric Aerials).
Still, we made do with at least 5 MR Hobby magzines in the 1980s/early 1990s, plus various books and the Walthers Catalog (and in some cases VHS and DVDs too). I certainly never felt unconnected or out of it in those days…
Books, more books, and magazines. Talking to peopel at the hobby shop when I could get there. Or at clubs when visiting. Learned most of building layouts from my Dad. The rest, by doing, and figuring it out.
Certain things I just read over and over until I got the concept - for example, we had a couple of 50’s RMCs around, and in one of them,t he Layout doctor column was about what is wrong with the way most people draw plans. The submitted sample, I could almost see exactly what was wrong, but the text picked out a dozen or so points an explained what was going wrong. Some of it was obvious, like curves drawn so sharp it’s doubtful a Birney car could go around them. Others were more subtle, like leaving room for yard leads and ladder lengths. I probably read that one article a dozen or more times until I understood all of it, all of the issues presented. This is long before I had heard of John Armstrong or any of his books, some of which I now have in multiple editions, but it was the start of hinking about planning layouts that woudl actually fit the available space AND allow the trains to run.
I joined the Pittsburgh Model Railroad Club and the NMRA and met people that way–it turned out that Don Cassler (Great Model Railroads Video 5) lived about two miles from me, which was a boon, to say the least. Also, the B&O Historical Society started about five years after I got into the hobby (and right about the time I decided that I wanted to model the B&O) and that was a useful thing.