On another forum a poster was complaining that the latest Kalmbach/MR how to on building realistic layouts was all steam era photos. I haven’t bought it, but from what i remember looking through it, most of the stuff was pretty general and not era specific.
It would be interesting if MR printed two editions of their next how to book, both with the exact same articles. Just one would have modern era photos and the other steam era photos and see what the reaction was.
Dave H.
The steam version would sell out. The modern version would be still hanging around in a year. [(-D]
Seriously, much of the content appears (I haven’t read it all) to be applicable across eras although some is dated. But really, steam through the transition era is what most people model. It’s like being in a scale other than HO. You don’t have to limit yourself to articles in just your scale, all of them are helpful. Likewise don’t limit yourself to just articles on your era.
Enjoy
Paul
Some people just have to face the fact that the transition era is more popular to model (due to it being the end of steam). I like modelling the present day because, well, thats all I’ve been alive to see. Geeps, F40PH’s, and 50 foot or longer cars, and I think modern equipment is more asthetically pleasing…But there’s something about watching a steamer’s siderods in action that I really enjoy- roller bearings on modern equipment will never be that cool…But back to the original topic…
I could care less if they feature mostly steam era content, just as long as the article is informative, and I learn something new…my favorite part is going “Wow, that’s a realistic patch of vegetation” or “they did a damn good job on that MOW equipment!” Stuff like that…
Davo
If the magazine had a firm commitment to be entirely and comprehensively inclusive in each of its various issues and publications, it would produce one three-inch thick document yearly. It would be both large enough and priced high enough to choke the proberbial horse. Who’d buy it?
Instead, they produce special editions that are carefully designed to have the broadest appeal. Necessarily, that will leave out the interests, or many of them, of a great many people. But in balance, I’d say the recent Pelle Soeborg article went a long way to reach out to those who prefer to model modern settings.
My [2c]
It is a situation where no matter what you do some one is not going to be happy. I find that Model Railroader’s coverage is very broad and general for my tastes. In fact I have to subscribe to 4 other magazines to get a “complete” train magazine fix every month. So diverse are my interests.
James
I don’t do steam, so I’d be bored. If the ‘modern’ era means low nose diesels, I’d be equally bored. I like diesel locomotives that were built during the 1940s and 1950s.
I’m in a strange place on this.
I just recently stopped buying transition-era stuff for “modern (1980)” stuff. I plan to have a dual-era layout that can serve as PRR one month and Conrail the next.
Yet I’m finding, however boring the motive power from 1980 may seem compared to steam, the rolling stock is the opposite. In 1980, you had an awesome mix of modern cars and some survivors from the transition era, all in plenty of neat, loud, and sometimes ugly schemes. But colorful and fun to weather.
My transition-era fleet, on the other hand, is 90% boxcar red or black. Yawn. Variety? That comes mainly in the form of the different types of 40’ boxcars.
I’m really starting to appreciate the “modern” era more than I used to. I used to just ignore it.
Strange.
I like modeling the steam and diesel era up to 1967.
In general I think the engines were not as colorful as the modern-day diesels but nothing can compare with the variety of merchandise service cars, private reefers, auto and boxcars.
Remember the orange and black New Haven, red, white and blue State of Main and the Western Pacific feather car. I could go on and on.
Not to mention specialty name trains like the Broadway Limited, Blue Comet, East Wind, etc. or all the trains used in Transcontinental Service. They were all so colorful and different in many ways that the modern Amtrak cannot compete with.
I believe the model railroad manufactures don’t offer enough of a variety in models today and this limits the customer’s ability to obtain them. Most people don’t want to scratch build and decal so they depend on what is on the shelf. But the era did offer a variety of color and style.
Doc
I hear ya on that Dave, that’s why allowences were make for billboard reefers.
Before I got married my wife and I were discussing the eventual layout. One of the things that came up was that modern rolling stock is by far more varied in color if not scheme. I had pointed out billboard reefers and some of the later PS-1 schemes. She decided (funny how that works isn’t it…) that the law that banned the billboards had died a messy death in committee in Congress and were still being allowed and run into the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s. This also allowed her to look into the different PS-1 schemes. I don’t know how many GN PS-1’s the saluting/waving goat was on but she is shooting for at least a dozen.