I’m just kinda wondering if I’m that only guy who has these spells. First, a bit of background: Back around 1954-55 I began my scale model railroading with 3 Kix boxtops and $3 to General Mills. It got me a dummy Varney F3, and 3 Varney freight cars, including an SP outside-braced boxcar, a caboose, and (I think) a gondola. All (except the F3) had sprung trucks and dummy couplers.
Fast-forward to the present: I happened to see on eBay an exact duplicate of the Varney boxcar, at a very reasonable price, so I bid on it and won. Certainly not up to today’s standards of model, but I’ve had an urge recently to get back “in touch with my roots”, so to speak, in model railroading. I have converted most of my powered turnouts to manual operation with Alexander (ex-MEW) ground throws, most of my locos are old-school technology, I run DC, not DCC, and I’m switching back to sprung trucks.
The question at hand is: Have I gone completely around the bend (a distinct possibility to those who know me), or are there others out there who are showing signs of this condition, and if so, do they care?
[(-D]
Oh, yeah - anybody who wants to get rid of some MEW/Alexander S-2 ground throws, get in touch off-forum…
Gary, I would say…yes…sort of…but not with the hobby. It would be with sets of books, such as My Book House, or the Children’s World Book of Knowledge, that I read voraciously when I was very young, probably starting on my Mom’s lap at age 3. I love going back through them occasionally, and I get very sharp pangs of nostalgia, almost painful.
I don’t have enough history in the MRR world to have such feelings, but I guess I should hope to…in about 30 years. [:D]
No. I haved saved all my HO stuff from when I first started 35 years ago. At some point I’ll build a small layout and run it all just out of nostalgia. I have some old Tyco, Central Valley cars, etc. In my case they take me back to my early hobby days when everything was cool and I didn’t care that I was running an 1870’s Rivarrosi 4-4-0 with pizza cutter wheels and a Bowser K4s on the same layout with my Tyco 2-6-2 and MDC Boxcab Diesel. Sante Fe, PRR, and everything in between was okay.
It’s the same reason I go back and read an old Hardy Boys book now and again. A return to simpler times when life wasn’s so serious and complex. And model railroading was just fun. So even though I enjoy the more serious modeling of today, I recognize that some of the wonder was lost along the way.
Gary,At one HO club I am a member of can look like a HO museum some operating nights…You will see old Penn-Line,Hobbytown,old brass steamers from the 50/60s,wide body Athearn…Some nights you see these operating antiques right along side of the newer offerings.
As far as “today’s standards of models” from my observations from visiting several clubs that just may be more of a forum saying then a actuality in real life.I have visited clubs in several areas and seen a lot of things hasn’t changed.Of course there was 2 “advanced” clubs I have visited that was 100% DCC and more modern as far as locomotives.However,their freight cars was the Athearn,Atlas,Accurail types.
Much of my rolling stock ran on my layout when I was a teenager, back in the 1960’s, and some of it was second-hand even then. I get a good feeling when I bring an old car back to life. Mostly, they just need a bit of cleanup and a coupler replacement, and they are ready to go. I’ve got a few running with sprung trucks, but some of them had poor running characteristics so I had to replace them, too.
Many of us choose to model the past. The hobby is about nostalgia. Feel free to enjoy it completely, with my blessing.
On a wall above my layout there is a shelf that contains a Lionel train that I recieved for Christmas as a child in 1953, still in excellent condition. In a bookcase in the house there’s a copy of the book ‘Wind in the Willows’, that a very nice lady gave to me when I was 7 years old and going through a difficult time in life. The book took a child away, if only for a while, to a place there were no troubles.
I think we all have something we’re nostalgic about and I see nothing wrong with it.
Nostalgia is everywhere these days. Just look around and you will see people are really getting nostalgic with the way the decorate their houses, the way they dress etc. Look at the new Dodge Challengers, Ford Mustangs and Chevy Camaro’s, all three are a throw back to 1969 and 1970. Nostalgia is the new “it”.
I’m not sure its nostalgia or sentiment, but I still have a number of Athearn metal cars and and Varney cars. They look just fine, and not every new piece of rolling stock on my layout is some $35 super detailed RTR wonder, still buying lots of Athearn, etc.
I convert almost all my freight equipment to sprung trucks for a host of reasons - let me explain. In a quest to improve pulling performance I began searching for reduced rolling resistance, but I had already converted a large number of freight cars to Kadee sprung metal trucks (which didn’t roll that well by todays standards). Rather than junk them, I began to study the problem. Without boring you with all my research, the answer was new wheelsets in the Kadee trucks - Intermountain wheel sets and the smallest drop of oil in the journals. Funny thing was this combination has proved to be even more free rolling than ANY of the rigid plastic trucks so prized for their free rolling qualities. So, I’m still using metal sprung trucks because they look better, run better, and are more like how we did it in the 60’s.
I still use DC but use Aristo Wireless throttles and relays for advanced cab control and signaling.
I use mini slide switches as ground throws for any turnouts that would be ground thrown on the prototype.
I run mainly Athearn and ConCor 72’ passenger cars because even with my 36" plus curves I like their selectively compressed appearance.
I don’t use sound because it sounds to tinny and “low quality” to my ears.
You might be surprised to find how many are still “modeling” with older technoligies.
It isn’t nostalgia, nor is it silly sentimentality. Everyone longs for a return to some previous time when everything was perfect and the world was full of wonderful things. If they actually lived through that time, I attribute this phenomenon to selective/faulty memory - the good parts are vivid, while the bad parts have faded away.
As for modeling nostalgia, I can’t plead guilty - for a very simple reason. My main purchases of rolling stock took place in the 60s, and a few of my locomotives (and a corporal’s guard of freight stock) date back to the 50s. I still own my first scale model locomotive, a Mantua Shifter, class of 48 - and it still runs (but rarely, since it’s obviously PRR, not JNR.) All of those things have been in continuous use since they were purchased. Two of my three oldest teakettle tank locos are sitting in staging right now, heading up a work train and a short freight respectively.
I don’t have to go back to my roots. The tree that grew out of them is still spreading across the floor of my layout space, a little at a time.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - since 1961!)
Locomotives: Mostly older brass from 1960 to about 1980 (because that’s the only way you can STILL get steamers for the railroad that I model).
Cars: Lots of newer ones, but I still have my collection of older Athearn metal, and Silver Streak wood cars. Still run them with updated couplers and wheelsets. PLUS Varney, Roundhouse and Ulrich.
DC: Too expensive to convert my loco fleet to DCC, besides I’ve heard too many horror stories about older brass not running well that way. And my older brass has been ‘tinkered’ with enough to run just fine on DC.
Setting for my MR–1940’s early 1950’s. Nostalgia? You bet. And I’m happy there.
If it helps, my favorite movies are all from the 'forties and 'fifties, also. I’m happy in my Time Warp, LOL!
Among the donations to our club layout at the Boothbay RR Village were a number of Varney (some people say the’re Roundhouse) cast metal boxcars. We sold most of them off at Springfield for fund raising; but I could not let all of them go. I saved one of the better ones, did a few minor repairs, added Kadee couplers, and put it on the layout for display running. It fits in with all the new plastic cars and runs well. Does not matter that it’s probably older than most of our guests. [:D]
As for nostalgia, a couple of weeks ago I saw a well restored late 60s Corvette; it had Maine Antique Auto licence plates. Am I getting too old?
it is all good if you keep things in perspective. example / old automobiles are neat but for the most part, they do not drive or ride as good as their modern counterparts. not to mention tune ups at 12k and a valve job every couple of years. all the varney locomotives i ever owned had egg shaped wheels.
Many people have pointed out that the nostalgia you describe is what has kept Lionel in business all these years!!
Someone starts out with a train set and adds a few relatively inexpensive things as a kid, then as an adult switches to say HO or N, or leaves the hobby for a while. Then in their fifties when the kids are grown up and they are the peak of their earning ability, they decide to build a big three-rail layout and buy all the things they wanted when they were kids and couldn’t possibly afford - a NYC Hudson, a Santa F3 A-A set and cars, or a 2-8-4 Berkshire; and a bunch of working accessories like the coal loader or milk cars etc.
Life has been pretty stressful for me lately. I think that’s why I got back into model trains after 25 or so years. I also find myself reading issues of MR from the 70s and surfing the Tyco collectors website…It was a simpler time for me (I was 10!)
There’s a Tyco collector’s website?? Got a link?? [:O]
Like many folks I got in HO thru a Tyco trainset back in 1971. Sadly the stuff disappeared somewhere along the line (perhaps sold in a move to a different scale in the later seventies?) but I did later buy several of the cars I used to have on ebay - ATSF “El Capitan” 50’ boxcar, silver “VIRGINIAN” hopper car, etc. Brought back some good memories.
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Nostalgic is fun and we all love to remember the old days . Although it is selective memory. Don’t forget the bomb shelters, Korea, and other small stuff. Most of us were young enough that we paid no attention to the news. Now I play with my trains and try not to read the paper.
