"The Model Railroader began publication in the summer of 1933, with a cover date of January 1934. A press release announcing the magazine appeared in August 1933, but did not receive much interest. The bank refused to loan Kalmbach any money, many felt sorry for him, and a few told him he was crazy.
His first wife, Bernice, herself a journalist, encouraged and helped Al putThe Model Railroader together. Though they originally saw it as a sideline business to their commercial printing operations, soon they were devoting seven days a week to the venture.
The magazine was well received by model railroaders, and the young publisher carried the entire first press run (272 copies) by streetcar to be mailed. By July 1934, paid circulation exceeded 1,000 copies. Growth continued, but the magazine was not an immediate success. The magazine became profitable after three years. It took Kalmbach seven year
Hard to say but in general terms I do miss articles by Linn H. Westcott.
Most Onerous?
I do enjoy all aspects of this hobby but one task that is difficult for me is the installation of Tortoise Switch Machines.
Scratch Building?
I operate a small logging railroad and scratch build most of my rolling stock: flat cars (and various derivatives), box cars, cabooses. These are all simple designs, but with plenty of detail, and have turned out very well. It is very satisfying to say: “hey, I need another box car” and then just make one.
I don’t think I can pick a favorite issue but if I had to it would probably be the very first one I got in the mail when I was a kid. My dad subscribed to it and renewed it in MY name, I was probably 8 years old and it was my very first piece of mail. It was probably the January 1973 issue which I no longer have.
I absolutely HATE wiring feeders and soldering rail joints. It is not fun and it is very annoying to me.
I’ve never tried to scratch build a loco but I’ve built a few pieces of rolling stock. My first one was a 40’ boxcar and it ended up looking like a big turd. My lack of skill was the major problem with my turd like boxcar. I’ve built a few more since and now I’m at the point where they look like they should. Store bought!!! I’m working on a couple flat cars right now and have a few old pickle car pics and drawings that I plan to try to build.
I’ve only been subscribing for a few years, and I bought most issues at my LHS for a while before that, so I don’t have enough of a baseline to pick a favorite. I will say, though, that I think the quality of the articles overall took a big step up when the current editorial staff took over.
I hate installing a sound decoder into an engine that wasn’t designed for it. There’s just so much that can go wrong. They’ve all come out fine for me, but it’s still a task I dread. Right now, I’ve got a new engine, a Tsunami and a speaker sitting at home, and if it hadn’t have been for this thread, I might have completely forgotten about that project. (Well, OK, I’ve got too many other projects, but installing sound decoders is right up there with root canal.)
Best Issue? Probably the 25th anniversary issue in 1959. I really enjoy issues from the late 1940’s and early 1950’s. Plenty of scratchbuilding articles. Also, I model 1947 (the year I was born), so anything from that era is great source material.
What I enjoy least is soldering.
Over the years, I’ve done more and more scratchbuilding, an outgrowth of building from kits. I scratchbuild all of my structures and have scratchbuilt a wooden passenger coach and a gondola. I enjoy it very much and plan to do more.
I’ve only been getting MR off and on for ~6 years now; not much of a base to make fair comparisons from. However, I would have to say that the 2005(?) Bill Darnaby article on interlocking towers was the most enjoyable for me.
An “onerous” aspect of MRRing? [^o)] Hmmmm. I honestly can’t say there is any aspect that I really loathe or find troublesome…so far.
I’ve scratch-built the following rolling stock or structures:
NYC emergency war caboose
Small watchman shack
Single ball signal
Double ball signal
Wooden fence
Most have been experiments and not the final version but I’ve been relatively happy with the results. I really enjoy scratch-building and kitbashing. I find that it allows me to create and add something unique to my layout, or embellish something that is already a good and viable model.
Favorite issue? Can’t pick put one, but the top 10 will probably not include many from the past 5-10 years.
Onerous? Rewiring, adding pick up shoes, adding lights, remotoring and adjusting steam engines.
Scratchbuilding? Can’t remember when I didn’t do it. Mostly rail cars and buildings. Also “scratchbuild” switch linkages, switch building jigs. I hand lay my track, I model the 1900 era which means the majority of my cars are either an extensive kitbash, a craftsman kit or scratchbuilt.
Pretty much all my scratchbuilding efforts have turned out well. Over the years the tools and materials have vastly improved. Styrene and resin are much more versitile than balsa wood and cardstock. But the availability of the finishing parts is possibly worse. Fewer decal manufacturers, fewer sources of trucks, possibly fewer sources of detail parts.
“Best” issue: As for actual articles, I’d have to say they were the ones Jim Hediger wrote about various types of industrial modeling - can’t recall exactly what year/month, except it was during the late 1990’s. However, there is one issue that sticks out in my memory: December 1995. I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when I first opened it. This issue contained the Walthers 2-page announcement for their Steel Mill ‘cornerstone’ model series, and that totally recharged my enthusiasm for the hobby. I had always dreamed of modeling a steel mill railroad but dreaded the thought of trying to scratchbuild all the signature structures.
Onerous: That would be soldering trackwork and running the wires underneath the benchwork, hands down. A close second is installing hard-wired decoders.
Scratchbuilding: I haven’t done any locos or rolling stock, but I have scratchbuilt numerous structures of various shapes and sizes.
Best issue: That´ll be the January 1969 issue of MR, not really for a specific feature, but for the fact that it was my first issue of MR, which turned this at that time 12-year old into a true aficionado of US model railroading.
Most onerous work: Make that soldering. In nearly 48 years of model railroading I still have not learned how to solder properly. At least I know someone who does [swg] . Second to that is ballasting.
Scratchbuilding: Yes, I´ve been there, done that. I have scratchbuild a HOn3 box car of pseudo-German prototype for the club I was a member of - more than 30 years ago. I may invite trouble with this statement, but I can do without… [;)]
Favorite issue
Anything that had plans for anything. Particularly if there was an article to go with it on how to build it. I think MR should start including at least one plan or scratch building article per month. Even if they have to go back and get them from older magazines. I don’t think us old timers would mind. The point is that the newer generation should have something they can look at and learn from, even if they aren’t quite ready for it yet.
Most Onerous
Wiring has to be it. I’m a wiring guy, but just because I understand it doesn’t mean I like to do it. Why? Because it is tedious, and must be done absolutely correct or things don’t work right. There is no fudge-factor in wiring.
Scratchbuilding
I have always been scratch building something. Not to much any more, but mostly when my funds were tight. I have built RR cars, bridges, buildings, you-name-it. Bridges mostly because they almost have to be made to fit. Learning to scratch build makes building kits easier too.
I agree with Wayne. My first run in the hobby was from '69-'77 - the end of the Westcott era. When I returned to the hobby I “re-upped” for Model Railroader, but it was not as satisfying. Once I read that Westcott saw the charter of the magazine as being about model railroaders (people) as well as model railroading. I kind of get the sense that the magazine is missing some of the people stuff that it had under Westcott.
In terms of a favorite, there was one in about '77 or '78 in which they published an extensive interview with Westcott. It was a delightful and engaging perspective on the hobby.
By the way, I had saved all of those magazines and had them in a box in a self storage unit, along with my custom car and an old coffee table. The storage unit was burglarized and guess what they took. Yep, I stlll have the coffee table and the car. I’m planning to buy the DVD compilation, primarily to re-read all of Westcott’s old At The throttle columns.
Most Onerous?
For me it’s trackwork. I have to get into sort of a perfectionist mindset in order to get it right. Still, I believe that it is a must to have nearly perfect track; it makes everything else more fun.
Scratch Building?
This loco is more “parts built” than scratch built:
I built the frame and drive-train and fashioned the boiler, but the rest is from various parts I’ve accumulated. It’s not really finished; I work on it when I get the urge. There is no prototype, but I was trying for something more cute than beefy - sort of a plaus
I think it was the December 1981 issue. The cover had John Allen’s Gorre and Daphetid on it and I was hooked. My aunt gave me a whole stack of issues from the early 80’s and that was my favorite one.
Most Onerous:
Probably wiring. It’s not that I mind it so much, it’s just that it seems that I haven’t made much progress on the layout because everything I’ve done is underneath the layout
Scratchbuilding:
The only thing I have scratchbuilt is a couple of structures. I have a hard enough time doing a decent job on a freight car kit, let alone from scratch.
The one which hasn’t appeared in my mailbox yet. I’ve already read the others (clear back to 1949) so there aren’t any surprises…
Most Onerous?
Anything that involves standing on my head under the benchwork. That’s why I’ve engineered my electricals to run along the fascia.
Scratchbuilding?
I grew up on MR “Dollar” models. I was also an Engineer Cadet, spent years bending wrenches on Sam’s flying fleet and started to tinker with things as soon as I figured out which end of the screwdriver went in the slot. So, whether the project is a one-hole privy or a Double-Mallet Garratt quadruplex, I don’t consider it any great challenge. (The real challenge, for the latter, would be acquiring two ruined Big Boys to provide mechanisms.) To me, scratchbuilding is as natural as breathing - and just about as difficult.
I normally don’t respond to the Philosophy threads. I don’t know why, but I will respond on this weeks.
Favorite issue, I really don’t have a particularly favorite issue. I’ve only been a subscriber for 6 years now. I do like most of the Step-By-Step articles.
Again, I haven’t been serious in the hobby as long as many you fine people have so I really can’t comment.
I have scratch built, but it has been open loads on flat cars. Some of them have turned out good, others I wouldn’t want to enter in a contest.
I recall 1969-I think-was the issue that had an in-depth article on John Allen’s “Gorre and Daphetid” in it. As a kid, I had seen some of Varney’s advertisements, and they featured John’s layout a backdrop. I don’t know if it was a bit of surrealism, John’s massive talent, or just Gordon Varney’s products, but the bug bit and bit down hard. I especially remember that “Little Joe” (0-4-0) pulling three ore cars, all of which Varney produced, and all ofthat came crashing back through the door when I received that issue!
The best issue is December 1971. It was my second issue and the beautiful East Broad Top plan really hooked me on the hobby. This is closely followed by the July 1976 issue which featured a track plan for the early B&O.
The most onerous part of the hobby is driving to train shows. The best is about 3 hours away.
Scratch building. I have scratch / parts built some boxcars and some structures. Haven’t done a locomotive yet. Haven’t done much lately since getting a layout up and running takes up my available hobby time. But I plan to do some once the track is done.
Best issues: The 6 issues from the early 70’s in found in a suitcase in a used book store when I was a young teenager. Read them more than 10-times each…
Onerous: Wiring. I’m useless with electricity. I never wired anything on the club layout, NOTHING. Good thing both other members studied electronics when in college. However, I take my revenge in layout design, rolling stock and structures.
Scratchbuilding: My first scratchbuilt was a small trolley used for cable. The same year i got my old MR issues. I just reproduced a scratchbuilt model that was featured in the model of the month column. THe only thing I didn’t built was the Bachmann F9 truck with pancake motor that powered it. I still keep it in parts in my junk boxe. I was so proud when it run for real on a friend layout back then. Since then, kitbashing and scratchbuilding became my favorite aspect of this hobby.
My MR’s go all the way back to the early 50’s when I sold my Lionel trains at 13 and went into HO. So when I tried to remember all the way back, I could not pick an individual favorite issue because the hobby has changed and so have I.
It finally dawned on me that there were actually 11 issues that were my favorites and I could remember them all. They were my 11 anniversary issues each of which, usually had the most pages, the most stories, summarized the previous five years as best they could as to what was important and who was important during that time period and also tried to predict the future of the hobby.
When threads similar to this appear, these are the issues I usually think of and turn to.
ANY issue with John Allen in it, but my FAVORITE was the issue with the guy who built and operated a fully-functioning hump yard complete with retarders and everything else.
Can’t pinpoint a particular stand out, but I can say the Clinchfield project series baited the hook, and first spread on the Reid Brothers’ Cumberland Valley reeled me in. Odegard broke the ice with the Clinchfield proving the value of N scale’s scenery:trains ratio, and the Reid Brothers masterwork was a total smack down of the prevailing thinking at that time that N scale was a novelty to be confined to coffee tables and brief cases.
I’m convinced that without those two layouts, Atlas and other manufacturers never would have advanced the level of quality of N scale as quickly as they did, if at all.
Onerous task? Well, right now I’m in the process of organizing car cards and waybills… which can be a bit tedious on the front end, but they reap large rewards later.
