“Time in a Bottle”
My Question For This Week:
If you could select one item from your layout, or your train memorabilia to place into a time capsule to be opened 100 years from now-- what would you select and why?
As always, I’m interested in your thoughts and opinions!
John
P.S. Apologies for the late hour, I’m stuck here at work-- have been here since 4:30 this morning… likely will still be here at the same time tomorrow morning! 
Nothing. If I don’t care now, who would by that time? [swg]
Wayne
Hmmmmmm…That’s a tough one, John. Since I model the NYC, I might be tempted to put in either my J-1E Hudson or my J-3A “Dreyfuss” Hudson. However, I would probably include one of my scratch-built exterior light poles, as that was the first scratch-built project that I developed myself.
Well, this thread should get some pretty interesting input from forum members…
Tom
This model of a snow plow/flanger. It consists almost entirely of wood and all of the many pieces needed to be cut/shaped. Because it took the longest of any rolling stock for me to build.
Probably one of my magazine articles… As much as I enjoy the fleeting recognition of my work on the internet, there’s something “permanent” about appearing in ink… Plus the article not only shows some of my modest work, it also provides the text and context that helps it make sense.
Besides, since I run DCC, 100 years from now, the technology may no longer exist that enables an actual model to operate!
Lee
I asked myself, what on my layout (or past layouts) is meaningful?
And then I realized, this is not a hypthetical question for me. I just did it in real lifeTuesday evening. I donated one of my models to be placed in a museum for posterity. Back in 1968, I was thinking about building a layout based on the piney woods of East Texas, AND since I lived inb an apartment with limit4ed space, I was thinking of trying out this new N scale. Right in Corpus Christi where I lived-- and som 300 miles from the piney woods scene- there were some “shotgun” houses in a Black neighborhood reminiscent of some I had seen in the pinbey woods. The houses were being torn down to make way for a rent subsidy housing project, I think part of a lagte 60s Great Society war-on-poverty program. I went down where the demolition was going on, and sketched and measured some of them. The demolition allowed me to see how they were put together- the internal structure, framing, etc.
As a “feasibility project” to see if it was possible to model in N scale, I built one of those houses as my first N project.
I have shown in here and on train related boards a few time. About 18 months, I got an email from an architectural historian in Lake Maricaibo, Venezuela, asking about the shotgun houses. He is studying a theory that the design of these houses in the American south was influenced from the Phillipines by way of the Spanish trade routes 300- 400 years ago from the Phillipines to Acapulco, across Mexico to Vera Cruz and then on to Cadiz, Spain.
Also a year ago met a prominent “pioneer” educator in Corpus Christi who is working to preserve the heritage of the neighborhood from which I modeled the “shotgun” house. She is establishing a museum room in a once-segregated school building.
Tuesday night, I
Oh yeah, I forgot about my May 1971 MR article.
One-hundred years is a very long time. Think of what happened in the way of technological advancement between ancient Rome and 1900, and then look at what advancement took place in the last 100 years.
I could put a flash drive with photos of my layout loaded in the capsule, but who would be able to read it?
A plastic-shelled locomotive might not resemble its factory issue by the time 100 years have passed. A brass one is probably going to do better, all things considered. But would a locomotive be the most meaningful thing I would want to put in such a capsule? Why not a copy of Classic Trains Magazine…they are wonderful. Don’t know what it would look like by then. A CD-ROM might be plastic dust by then.
Probably a tiny diorama with some tracks running through it would send the right message. If we could keep mold from growing over it, and if we could ensure the plastics, paints, and glues survive…
Maybe a glass photographic paint with silver oxides, well protected, showing a dad and son, both grinning, playing with a train set. To bring it all together, include one or two items from the train set.
Crandell
That’s pretty cool, Leighant…
What would I put in a time capsule?
Well, it´d be probably one of my mini-modules, with a steam train on it. Just to remind the folks then looking at it how it all began [swg]
I would include my S scale ACL watermelon car kit by Ambroid.
In a hundred years people will still know history, but the kits from the early years of the hobby may not be still around to be seen and appreciated.
Enjoy
Paul
Easy choice for me. I would put my Rapido CN Turbo Train in the capsule because it is such a long forgotten piece of history. There really wasn’t many Turbo’s built and not a lot of people actually seen them in person.
I might put my NWSL USRA 0-6-0 in a time capsule. Its original owner was Lynn Westcott and it might cause the person who finds it to look him up. Then they’d know something about our hobby.
It would be a little tough to part with, but it’s the wrong era for me. I bought it and keep it just because of that connection to Westcott. It’s also a beautiful model (full backhead detail and sprung drivers) and it runs really well. I’m into slide-valve steam, so a piston valve model like this one is a little too modern for my tastes.
The family farm. It already is a time capsul in that the farm is over 150 years old and all the buildings are now gone. Though there are pictures, this the only model. Four generations are in the picture and 2 more are now around. I hope there will be more in another 100 years. The last pic is of Great Grandmother Hill at age 100 coming out of the egghouse after grading eggs.
you could select one item from your layout, or your train memorabilia to place into a time capsule to be opened 100 years from now-- what would you select and why?
IMHO one item doesn’t wexplain what the hobby was about…
So…Here’s my list.
A MR, N Scale Railroading,N Scale,Trains Magazine,Classic Trains RMC and Railfan. I would add a Walthers HO and N Scale catalog.
Why magazines and two catalogs? To help explain what the hobby was all about.
I think I would choose the Penny Lane station of my subways:
It’s the part of my layout that evokes the strongest images from my childhood - the subways of New York. It also contains the kind of anomalies that befuddle historians, like the PCC car, more reminiscent of the Boston system, and a station name taken from a Beatles song, with the footnote that my wife is named Penny.
My goal for many of the scenes on my layout, and for the layout as a whole, is to put the viewer into a place and time that I remember or imagine. It’s not a replica, nor is it meant to be, but I’ve tried to hit some “triggers” in our neurons that bring back a small flood of memories. For me, the subway station does it best.
I think it would be the model of the cabin of my parent’s place in the Upper Peninsula. It’s typical of places people built in the 1930’s up there and is somewhat tied to the old Manistique and Lake Superior, otherwise known as the ‘Haywire.’
I like this the best. It says who we were, not what we played with.
I’d preserve myself. Being a DC diehard, I’m already something of a relic…
Jim
I would put in the episode of “Life After People”. You know the episode where they follow the deterioration of some of the worlds greatest layouts. That way we would know for sure what materials are best for a long lived stable layout. Future inhabitants could avoid all the arguing and get right down to building there empires.
I think the episode was called “Last Train Standing”[:-,]
Brent
