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The Roundhouse, Episode 1
Hooray! Real people enthusing about fun in model railroading! Of course I admire all their expertise,but it made a nice change to hear differing,even opposing views.Well done guys,not polished yet,but then perhaps it shouldn’t be so!
Roundhouse the Pardon the Interruption of MR and MR Video Plus
How would one go about modeling those rocking boxcars and not have them derail?
I enjoyed the conversation but you really need to figure out a way to ‘join the conversation’.
Regarding the discussion on manual vs. electrical before you go too deep into this remember that in the ‘manual’ era you had switch tenders, tower men, etc. which most of us don’t include so electrical is a reasonable compromise. I usually find this issue is more driven be accessibility or need for control (i.e. interlocking) than a desire (nay insistence?) on a pure experience.
Internet good or bad, I agree it has become an essential research tool however, one must always be cautious as I have observed people pontificating on a subject with information that was at best misleading and at worst flat wrong. Proto-freelance, it’s a personal preference however you actually briefly touched on one of those hot-button issues, gone are the days of Athearn blue-box where you could strip and paint for your own road. Today’s high quality models (don’t get me wrong I’m happy with accurate models) make it more difficult to follow this path, it’s particularly frustrating when some manufacturers (I’m thinking of Bachman) don’t offer undecorated models. Finally as a 70’s modeler I second some of your thoughts. The 70’s was a transition era - in the early 70’s much of the rail infrastructure from the 50’s was still present (albeit run down or abandoned) but there were multiple lines (and multiple railroads). When thinking of colorful 70’s paint schemes don’t forget Chessie System!!! 
Enjoyed the conversation guys. Scott
I really enjoyed this! Especially the talk about the 70’s as that is what I’m planning to model. It is like another “transiion era”, still had cabooses, shorter cars and trains than today AND don’t have to model those pesky ditch lights!
My comment regards the debate of ground throws vs electrical operated switch controls. I prefer an intermediate solution. I use the Blue Point which is a manual control for switches, but, they don’t have the terribly out of scale switch stand on the layout distroying the view as well as photographs. They also reduce the damage incured when large (or small) hands reach into the layout to do switching. No more difficult to install than the Tortise and less wiring involved.
Very good and thought provoking feature!
One not mentioned negative to the Internet conversation is the many “Mom & Pop” hobby stores in both large and small towns that have now closed because they could not compete with Internet pricing while maintaining the overhead of a real store. I love the Internets convenience but I greatly miss the hands on local stores that used to abound.
They mentioned the black but forgot the blue! Conrail was also a bit part of the 70s. Indeed the transition from private to semi-government agencies was a big one for the 70s. State-run commuter agencies began or had their origins in the shifts of the 1970s.
Personally, I model early Conrail (to keep those CR patched GG1s rolling), but one of my favorite corridor trains are the ex CNJ ones. You could get “Jersey Builder” ex Great Northern cars on one train, and then the next would be 1920/30s era steel coaches, and then another train would be all ex-ATSF Superchief coaches.
Indeed, it wasn’t just a rainbow era for Amtrak, it seems like a lot of equipment was changing hands and running in interesting schemes. Conrail goes without saying. Although plenty of PC black ended up where it hadn’t before, you might also see something like a Reading Company diesel where one normally wouldn’t.
Very good, but allow more time for each question, because each topic is very interesting and it seems like you rush through it. Don’t start the clock until the question is put on the table.
Im a Z scale and to punk my layout up I picked a town that was flooded and slid out in 1983 what would I have done without having the internet.
Love the idea of a kind of Railroad talk show. Great job guys keep it up!