Kind of goes with the John Allen and 75th Anniversay thing. I have a large collection of MR going back to the 50’s, and lately I’ve been reading them all in order (again). Here are soem things I have observed:
In the 50’s and 60’s, the emphasis seemed to still be on model building, seeing how well detailed you could amke a loco or structure given that you had to make nearly everythign yourself. Running was important too, espeically pulling power, earlier on - witness the various pulling contests at meets in the 40’s and 50’s. A few people were doing actual operation, but outside of Frank Ellison and John Allen, they didn’t get very much press. Most modelers seemed to have collections heavy on locos, and in many cases a variety of roads. A lot of the layouts pictured in the magazine had little or minimalist scenery
Moving into the 70’s, we started seeing operations articles by Bruce Chubb. By the mid-70’s there were many articles on operations, and in one particular issue was focused entirely on operation. Many schemes for simulating waybills were presented, from tacks to paper flags to metal tabs with magnets in each car, plus car cards. MR seemed to have limited mention of Allen McClelland, probably because he was wiritng a lot of articles for RMC. But they did mention the Dayton area railroads quite a bit. MR featured Bruce Chubb and Stew Marshall. One thing in common with many of these layouts is that they were freelanced, and ran mostly home road lettered equipment, plus cars for the other associated layouts. Most had interchanges on their layouts for the others. Scenery, structures, and rollign stock were nicely detailed but not superdetailed contest showpieces. The emphasis was on working like a real railroad.
The 80’s seems to be a somewhat barren time for some reason. Seems liek there was a lot of stagnation, perhaps a downturn in model rialroading while peopel turned to RC cars, not sure really what wen
I happen to be hunting for some of the late 50’s to early 60’s MR’s
Things like a 5 issue section on how to learn about interlocking, how the signalling and track works in such a place and why towers were built the way they were.
Throw in articles about operation with many layouts that appeared to be drawn into the pages by hand and explained in great detail how they would be run and why.
Industry got in depth coverage along with suggestions on how to operate one, so many of this car in and so many of this car out loaded with x stuff.
Yes those MR’s may be oldies but in a age of model railroading unaffected by 9-11 and the internet (There was none back then) you had some good reading.
MR was not the only magazine out there. I believe Trains, Craftsman and a group of others did a good job as well.
I think in the next 10 years a great volume of older MR’s will end up in the landfill lost forever as folks pass on and thier estates get cleared out. I am guilty of this as well, having gotten rid of about 20 years worth of MR due to the sheer amount of space they take up with the associated dust, mold and other issues of storage that was not doing anyone any favors.
One hobby shop sells em for a few cents to whatever they may be, I still get em when I find em from time to time. Much cheaper than the 8.00 PDF’s that is offered on Kalmbach today.
I hope to ahve ALL of them someday, but I’ve figured that’s darn near impossible. Even thr reprint of the first year they did in the 40’s goes for astronomical sums. If I can get post WWIi to present that would be fine. One thing I have noticed is that the paper MR is printeed on, and was printed on way back when, is far superior to the other mags. The oldest issues of MR I have still have nice flexible pages that I cna read without fear of tearing out. COmpared to the couple 50’s era issues of RMC I have that have all but disintegrated, as well as a couple of 70’s issued of Railroad Modeler which are well on their way to becoming brittle like the RMC’s.
I’ve come across a boxful of ‘Railroad Magazine’'s from the 40’s that have a fair bit of model railroading stuff in it–mostly scratchbuilding info which is my hobby[soapbox] at the moment. as for MRR of that era you’re looking around — the wallet begins to develop talons and grips your leg and won’t let go…[banghead]
The interlocking machine was a long row of vertical levers or a big wooden box (about 4 feet high, 4-5 feet wide and as long as required). So interlocking towers were rectangular to fit the shape of the machine, with the axis of the machine basically parallel to the tracks. They lots of windows so the operator/s could see the approaching trains and the tracks, although after watch some operators in a large interlocking at a major passenger station, I don’t remember them looking out the windows, they were entirely focused on the board and the switch machine handles.
Randy - I’d have to say that my take on the the hobby as seen through an extensive collection of MRs (mine extends 1940 to the present) is really quite different than your own.
Indeed, the 40’s, 50’s and to an extent into the 60’s, was an era when intensive coverage was given to practical modeling and nearly as much to prototype railroad operations of all sorts. But I do not perceive layouts as any more rudimentary, nor simplistic in appearance, than most are today, given what modelers had to work with. Everything in the way of scenery had be to made by the modeler and even basic materials were scarce. I would point out that modeling highlites of this era were the introduction of Zip Texturing and the use of foam insulation board for terrain, by Linn Westcott, which raised the degree of realism on most layouts significantly. From that point on, plywood pacifics were the realm of the dabbler.
It was also a time when the audience of the magazine was mainly skilled craftmen who, in many cases, built everything from scratch, models which many of today’s hobbyists would still love to have on their layouts. As a result, for a time those who were more in the way of novices were set aside with their own simpler magazines (HO Monthly. et al.), rather than dilute the content of the parent magazine.
While the 60’s and 70’s certainly brought steadily more in the way of operations to the pages of MR, it was largely as a result of the magazine “pushing” the subject. In fact, it had begun to do so almost as a crusade from at least the mid 50’s onward. But in spite of this, little interest in it was shown for several decades. Most model railroaders of the period were builders, typically perferring to run their trains more on a whim than in any regimented fashion. While MR liked to make it sound as if operations were “The” thing to be doing if you wer
Yeah, it seems much the same to me. My MR collection goes back to bound volumes from 1945 through 1961, with individual issues to present, and you’ve summed up the basic trends of the hobby. I too have lamented the passage into the current phase of RTR and “Look at Joe’s beautiful model RR!” Diesel locomotives are selling for three times what the best imported brass steam locos cost back in my early adulthood. (Not that I expect prices to stay back in the '50s-'60s mode, but my Social Security doesn’t adjust the same way as the prices!). It doesn’t bother me because I’m set up for scratchbuilding anything I want. The trouble is, I’m downsizing yet again—and I realized a few years ago that, baring a financial miracle (and how many of those have you heard of lately?), I’ll never again build so much as a diorama.
I just threw out 20 years of 48/ft., O scale News and 12 years of quarterly magazines from the Milwaukee Road Historical Association and the Chicago & North Western Historical Society because I won’t have room for them in a smaller studio apartment. What hurts is that I’ll have to dump about 15-18 years of both MR and RMC (I have these from 1960 to present) for the same reason. I’ve always reread my magazines from beginning to mid-'70s or so, calling it my Pa[er Time Machine because it puts me in touch with the Good Old Days as a replacement for working on a layout. It scares me that I might have to give up my workbench, hand tools, two jewelers drill presses and micro lathe, as well—not to mention boxes and boxes of raw materials and parts.
I hope the hobby isn’t dying, but wonder if more are dropping out (and dying off) than new people are coming in.
I started in model railroading in 1971 but also was kinda out of the hobby for a few years in the eighties, but like you I was in college so it might just have been a time issue on my part. I graduated in 1982, and began planning a new layout that I finally was able to start in 1984 after some time being unemployed. Keep in mind that between the Great Depression and now, the worst economic downturn the US has gone thru was the early 1980’s. Unemployment when I graduated college in June 1982 was over 10%, so some of that “barren” time might just have been people not having money to do as much in the hobby?? Then again, one of my favorite model railroads to be in MR was Jim O’Roarke’s “Whiskey River RR” which was in I think the Dec 1982 (or 1983?) issue.
BTW glad you mentioned Stew Marshall. He seems to be forgotten now, but his South Troy, English and Wycliffe RR (if I remember the name right) was an important model RR at the time, one of the first to feature walkaround control for example. I think there’s a picture of it in Bruce Chubb’s “How to Operate Your Model Railroad” book.
I think I should point out, however, that that’s a pretty restrictive “outside” there, because Ellison and Allen were frequent contributors - it’s just as hard to consider 1950s model railroading without Ellison as it is to consider later eras without Allen McClelland.
Operations was definitely an area where mid-50s MR was ahead of mid-50s RMC. John Armstrong was already publishing track plans with detailed writeups on suggested train operations.
The loco-collecting scene is certainly still with us, and my railroad isn’t the only one I’ve ever seen with rudimentary scenery. In fact, the layouts I see in those old Trackside Photos articles are quite representative of the typical hobbyist’s layout, to this day - although with the advances in photo techniques, the polished photos in today’s mag might just be the one finished scene of a similar layout. Heck, Lou Sassi might even be able to make my road look slick - which would be an accomplishment similar to Charlie Brown’s Christmas tree decoration.
What a great issue. There’s a simple but elegant 4x6 layout with decent operations, which are discussed at length, two bigger Armstrong plans, again discussed at length (and the apparent coinage of “Gasmeterszag”), some simple technique articles, two more elaborate const
Interesting summation of the hobby through the years.
Of my Model Railroaders that I have kept, the one thing that I miss the most from my older issues are the scale drawings. I guess it confirms the trend from scratch/kit building to ready-to-run. So I can see why they ended them. But those plans are still relevant today. One thing I bet Model Railroader doesn’t even consider with those old plans are that they are great for using as templates to create 3D models for Microsoft Train Sim.
Guys,It wasn’t as bad as many recall…We ran trains for hours on brass track,switch cars,etc…The combination of brass wheels on brass track also give the engine a tad more pulling power.Many of us “young bucks” operated our trains in a prototypical fashion and used many of the early operating ideas like color tabs on the roof of the car so we would know where to spot the cars by matching the color on the industry with the car color tab…Simple but,efficient.
As far as RTR…RTR has always been around in one form or the other…The only different today then in the 50/60s its readily accepted by the masses.
CNJ831 said:While the 60’s and 70’s certainly brought steadily more in the way of operations to the pages of MR, it was largely as a result of the magazine “pushing” the subject. In fact, it had begun to do so almost as a crusade from at least the mid 50’s onward.
MR has always pushed ideas from operation to DCC/Sound…So,MR hasn’t changed in that department.
As far as RTR…Yes MR pushed that idea and still pushing it…
I agree a lot of modelers is losing basic skills like repairing a locomotive,decaling,painting,knowing how to choose the best locomotives or cars without asking for comparisons etc…I didn’t really realized this until some younger club members needed help in fixing easy and minor problems or they took their newest pride and joy apart and needed help getting it to run after they reassembled the locomotive after they went through a rant about buying a “junk” locomotive.When said P&J was taken apart and correctly reassembled it ran smooth as silk.
What I have been doing is going through the older issues and cutting out the pages of just the articles of interest or that contain information (plans, proto info, how to’s, etc.) I can whittle a 50 page magzine down to about 10 pages pretty quick. Then I put the pages I’ve saved into binders. I know its drastic, but its better than just tossing the articles.
My collection goes back to 1950 (all but 6 issues in the 50’s) plus several from the late 40’s. My perception is that early on model railroaders had to do a lot of building because what RTR there was, was not of an acceptable level of quality - both appearance and operational. As we move forward through the latter part of the 20th Century, RTR has enabled more model railroaders to build a layout and get to operations. Larger layouts are more practical now as well. Today one can get a pretty nice layout up and running without having to build a building, boxcar, locomotive, or a turnout. With advances in turnouts where they are dcc controlled and the parts are in the roadbed base, it gets even better. I see all of this as a positive advance for the hobby.
Second, It isn’t that the number of people who love to scratchbuild has declined. Rather it is that the people who don’t love scratch building don’t have to anymore. It turns out that they are the majority.
My perception of Model Railroader’s main thrust over the years is that it hasn’t changed. It has always been about getting a model railroad up and running. What’s changed is the steps to getting there.
I think this is the Golden Era for the hobby. Each of us can focus on the parts we love the best.
I miss all the prototype plans myself. I wish there was more of these, without having to go back to the old issues. It was nice to see one in the 75th anniversary issue. I may not build the structure, but it does give me ideas for something similar.
I’m pretty lucky in that I live within a 30 minute drive to the Sacramento Rail Museum and Rail Library. The Rail Museum is great, but the Rail library is what brings me back. They’ve got a pretty full collection of Model Railroader (at least from the 50’s onward) as well as a great collection of MRC. I unfortunately didn’t save all the MR’s I bought when I was just getting started in the 70’s but a trip to the rail library is a great consolation. Plus they have a great collection of books and pictorials, so researching something (or just browsing) is pretty easy for me.
I agree that this is the golden age of model railroading (until an even better age comes along 8-)). But I disagree that it enables us to focus on the parts we love best. Many models that were offered as kits are now ONLY offered as RTR. For those of us who liked kitbashing, its difficult to kitbash without a kit. And its not a matter of taking apart the RTR model, many times the RTR models are glued so well they cannot be disassembed without damaging significant portions of the model. And fewer models are offered undecorated so those of us who paint and letter our own models have to remove paint and letering from a detailed model (without damaging the details) and then letter it (working around some of the details. Its not impossible, just very inconvienient.
I think this is a major reason for the appaent shift away from the scratchers of old and the RTRers of today. A good number of old names have been lost in the last few years, a trend that will just continue, model railroaders will likely decrease in numbers, but I think it will reach a certain level and stay there as long as kids weened on Thomas and Harry Potter sets grow up still interested in trains.
People who started in the hobby recently are far more likely to have been spoiled by the fact that you can simply buy a pre painted pre weathered RTR building, take it out of the box and plop it on a layout, the learning curve that previously had honed the modeling skills of the old timers back in the 50’s and 60’s just isnt there anymore in any degree like it used to be. Even in my generation the vast availability of plastic kits cut deep into those scratching and bashing skills alot. Also there is a remarkable trend recently that if you have enough money you could simply pay someone to build a 1st class layout for you, wheres the skill levels needed for that…signing a check as an NMRA Master Modeler skill??? (Lets see how this trend does in a recession)
The “instant gratification” culture also may have a rude awakening if this is a serious recession. One good thing may be a “rediscovery” of bashing old models and buildings to save money, heck I’ve been doing this for years now. I’ve noticed a steady stream of old beater buildings and stock at train shows. as the belt tightening continues, maybe some new “old” skills will also be rediscovered by todays RTR modelers.
I heard it said that model railroaders are losing their skills. Other than old hands shaking more, the skill of the skillful remains the same. On the other hand, RTR has opened the door to the less skilled person and the person who has too much building and operating to do–and would rather spend the money to not have to worry about it.
This creates a problem for those of us who do like building things ourselves from time to time. The overwhelming trend toward RTR has lowered demand for parts, so many of the parts manufacturers that do niche items (like N scale PRR cab signal boxes for hood diesels) simply don’t stay viable for long.
RTR is not a bad thing by iteslf; I have plenty of RTR items on my layout. But unfortunately when I want to do an extensive project like building a steam loco or scratchbuilding a prototype structure, I have significant trouble finding the parts I need because the company that made them either stopped making them or closed up. Maybe this isn’t as bad in HO as it is in N right now, but it’s pretty frustrating in N.
So on the one hand, if Model Railroader A wants an all-RTR layout (like the recent project layout MR did) that’s completely his/her choice, but Model Railroader B is impacted when he can’t find parts because there are so many more Model Railroader As than Bs…
I have hundreds of issues of model railroading magazines, and I have access to thousands of model engineering and mechanical hobbyist mags covering the last 80 years or so. The voices of the great masters speak to me from those pages. I can, if I wanted, build a live steam loco from metal stock AND construct the necesary tools and jigs to enable it’s construction. Perhaps I will one day build a fine power pack for my Lionel trains from the plans in those magazines, I can start by winding my own step down transformer. I find no excuse whatsoever why the modern hobbyist is having problems making what they need if it’s not available RTR.
Dave V, I respect you dude. As a veteran you and I have chewed much of the same sand and seen the same toilet countries of the world, but sh^t man, you’ve got the brains to build an N scale loco, why are you using the excuse of having no parts? The only thing stopping you from being on of the “Great Ones” is that over the shelf mentality. I really hate seeing your genius go to waste like that, don’t fall into the trap that you yourself pointed out.