Theme - finding harmony!

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

By popular request, here it is… the theme thread![:D]

Most of the well-respected layouts past and present (thinking now of Allen McClelland’s V&O, Tony Koester’s A&M, Bill Darnaby’s Maumee Route, the Reid Brothers’ Cumberland Valley, Joe Fugate’s Siskyou Line, and others, noting that the first three I included are freelanced) have a unifying theme. I personally feel that a unifying theme is important, though I would never force it on anyone.

What is theme? It tells you where and when your layout is and what it does.

Examples:

Colorado narrow gauge in the 1930s serving silver and gold mines.

Present-day coal operations in the Appalachians.

A transition-era Midwestern bridge route.

Notice that none of these themes requires modeling a real prototype railroad. But I believe the theme actually, in some cases, makes modeling easier! How so? Let’s look at the pros of picking a theme:

PROS:

Provides harmony to the layout, because everything fits with everything else.

Gives you guidelines on what to purchase, thereby focusing your hobby dollar. Your theme should help you choose the right locos, cars, automobiles, etc. based on your locale and era.

Means you’ll need to explain your ideas less. The layout helps speaks for itself.

Easier operations. The theme says what your railroad does (hauling coal, commuter traffic, high-speed freight service, etc.). This helps you build your operations scheme.

Scenery! Unless your theme takes your railroad through dramatically different climate zones, the theme tells you what type of scenery you’ll need. That way, its locale will be even more obvious.

For freelancers, it helps tremendously with establishing plausibility.

CONS:

Some find a

2

I think you are generally correct, Dave, at a first and cursory glance. I’ll ponder this in depth later. For now, I think that a theme builds recognition or credibility might be another term for some. For those who like details and to match aspect for aspect, the highly allegiant layout to a real setting and operation is going to ring true and be more satisfying, and yes, perhaps due the the inherent harmony with their mental image of the real thing. The rest of us won’t appreciate the difference and will marvel none-the-less.

-Crandell

Edit- addendum: okay, I had another two seconds to think about your post. I see that you use the term that I think is one of the thorniest and potentially divisive in our hobby…modeler…in your last paragraph. You may have noticed my own separation between the railroad modeller and the model railroader in another thread; I did this purposefully because I sense that it prickles under the skin of those in the hobby who take great pride in their ability to do a highly allegiant rendering of a prototype. So, not to invite getting mired, the “novice” is not going to be a modeler unless he has already gone through the evolution, most times, of dabbling…another term we have used recently. We become a novice modeler, as opposed to merely a novice, when we shake off the mantle (and mantras) that covers the dilettante, the dabbler, the toy train player, the shake-the-box guy, whatever term fits if terms must.

Confession and admission: Crandell is not a modeler. He has no current aspirations to such lofty heights, and is not likely to be posting any images of prototypical scenes and trains any time soon…so please don’t assume he is setting himself apart from the dilettante, the dabbler, the shake-the-box, or whatever term you’d like to ascribe to him. [angel]

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Thanks for the good thread, Dave.

I agree. For me, a “theme” helps to focus my efforts towards a goal. For some, yes, this may be viewed as “restrictive” and confining. I, on the other hand, look at it as a set of “boundaries” that is actually freeing and removes unwanted distractions.

I also think that themes, in the long run, are less expensive to construct because I am less tempted to buy something that I don’t really need.

Tom

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Personally, I think theme is the most important element in a layout–prototypical, freelance and fantasy. In fact, if there were a sliding scale, the more you head towards fantasy, the more honesty you need in your theme to maintain integrity. Otherwise, you just have absurdity.

The more closer you stay to prototype, the easier it to maintain your them. On the other hand, with a prototype it doesn’t take much straying to reach unbelievability.

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Without a theme, a RR has no real reason for being IMHO.

A theme for a layout is like a heartbeat for you and me. You may not always pay attention to it, but it’s always there. Mess up the theme a bit, and just like your body with a messed up heartbeat, things get all out of whack and feeling wrong real quick. Define and hone the theme and things begin to have a “rightness” (is that a word?) to them again.

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[bow] You the Man, Philip. Well said.

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In my younger years, I ran pretty much anything I wanted (within my limited budget) and I was happy with that. Thirty years later, I find that I need the sense of realism, of loyalty to the prototype that a theme provides. That doesn’t mean I can’t use a little artistic licence once in a while, but I need to incorporate a certain believability in my layout in order to hold my interest. A theme is a necessary element for my enjoyment of the hobby.

Chris

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Hmmmm, food for thought. I had been planning on putting a mine, a coaling tower, a circus, and a rocket launching pad in one corner of the pike, but now I’m wondering if I should reconsider…[(-D]

seriously, I think that a unifying theme of some sort is usually a good thing. Cheers.

9

For me, it was an evolutionary thing. My first experiences railfanning were chasing Conrail trains in the early 80’s, so my first inclination was to snatch up CR and predecessor locomotives ad infinitum. I didn’t have much of a budget, so most of what I bought was crap.

I thought I had a theme, which was Conrail… yeah, an 80,000 mile system in 20 states and Canada… that sure narrows it down.

While my equipment gathered dust for want of a layout, I stumbled across the idea of a short line, somewhere in central PA, that may have been a spin-off from Penn Central that Conrail didn’t want to fool with. Thus I invented the Laurel Valley.

Well, I was very content coming up with track plans depicting a sleepy branchline with a couple of hand-me-down geeps. I actually managed to build a layout with that theme, and was pretty happy with it. Ultimately I had to move, and the trains went back into their boxes, and a few more years passed.

I bought my current home in 1998, and began planning the ultimate Laurel Valley layout. By this time, my scheme had grown to include a southern connection to the Western Maryland, which I’d always been interested in, but never really pursued… sort of like that brunette in High School… I had been a member of the WMRHS, and even helped build the museum’s N scale display layout, which provided me with my first glimpse at what was available. (The Atlas RS-3 had just been released, followed shortly by the Life Like BL-2)

But I wanted to run Amtrak trains, Conrail Trailvans, and long coal drags like I watched along the Middle Division in my youth.

Then it happened…

Atlas put this bad johnson on the market in 2000. That was it. Almost immediately I sold off all my Conrail and Amtrak stuff, pulled the CR paint outs off my Reading cars, and began a two year buying spr

10

Having a theme (and in my own case an era too) is the true life blood of my pike and what I feel makes my freelance (what if?) credible.

I also took it a step farther, with not only developing a theme, but also an actual story line that weaves truth and fiction, history and a time line, melding places, old abandon RR lines, people and events in a given area.

That doesn’t mean that there isn’t plenty of “modeler’s license”…But…The theme (and story, with real people and places) really keeps the focus on a where, what and why that makes this hobby a real blast for me!

Just my 2 cents.

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I hear you. Of course - what you seem to be presupposing is that pretty much everybody who is interested in model trains/model railroading/railroad modelling/whatever you call it - building and/or running small trains on small tracks - also would interested in getting a “well-respected layout” - let me loosely define that as a layout that could potensially end up in “Great Model Railroads 20xx”.

Not always the case. Quite a few people are just interested in running model trains. Not in running model trains in a prototype-like way. And only a relatively few people are involved deeply enough to care about both running trains in a somewhat prototypical-like way and at the same time caring about having everything on the layout look correct/consistent for the place and time you model. If you model a fairly well defined time and place - obviously you don’t have to have a central theme for your layout.

Okay - having said that - let us get back to the subject of theme. To me, theme is also important. But I think the most important part to me is get a general sense of time, place and purpose.

I would like the small shelf layout I am working on to look at least somewhat realistic, and be able to be operated in an at least reasonably realistic way. I do not want to put pirates of the caribbean figures or godzilla along the track, I don’t want to mix old steam engines and high speed electric trains and a few oth

12

slinks out of his hollow log and looks around slowly

Well I might as well toss my two cents in. Forgive any soapbox standing and any superfluous coinage past two cents…

Theme.

This is a topic that holds a great deal of interest to me. My entrance into Model Railroading has been a rather backwards experience, ‘I came into the hobby with my legs forward’ (forgive me Bill, wherever you are). You see I started not with an abiding love of trains and railroads or with a mental cabinet of fond childhood memories of early train sets, or with a family legacy of hearty Railroad workers, or even with a yearning to tinker or putter about with a good pastime, an abiding hobby. No, I started with a theme and that theme coaxed and pushed and drove me slowly and then with sharpened spurs into the wonderful, challenging and fulfilling world of Model Railroading. That theme, perhaps not so strangely considering my statements above, had absolutely nothing to do with trains or railroads at all… It had to do with a different form of transportation and the “tracks” that it traveled on; the one, the only Route 66; that great icon of the American experience.

Now I could have packed up my bags and taken to the road, but I’m not a huge fan of traveling by foot, I could have started painting paintings of the great Route or collecting pictures and anecdotes or gotten into cruising and dropped my cash into a sweet Corvette and tooled off with the wind in my hair. But you see the Route 66 that I love and dream of and savor and sing of, well she’s gone my friend, gone a long time now. I suppose this is where it would have ended, another interest to add to the others that remains internal, perhaps deep and loved but without any external exhibit, accept for a chance encounter in an old used bookstore with a rather aged book on Model Railroading. Suddenly here I found a Form that I might join my Theme with.

But there is always a rub eh? I sat and said to myself, "

13

Glad to see the thread Dave, and the thoughtful rationale. As you know, I think you’ve hit the nail on the head with this. An examination of this idea at the beginning would save the true novice a lot of time, money and headaches. It would make some order out of the chaos that can be overwhelming when one first approaches the hobby simply as a cool notion. And a thoughtful examination of it, I dare say, helps the intermediate hobbyist gather their thoughts better.

Something I’ve noticed since you first floated the idea in the other post, one can find a lot of literature and information about technique…how tos on scenery, track plans or even kitbashing…but there’s not a lot of formalized advice or roadmaps (magazine articles, book chapters,web entries, etc) on the importance and elements of, or how to, go about arriving at a theme. So newcomers in particular start buying stuff because they think it looks cool, and wander into the plausibility thing down the line.

Theme is what ties it all together, and while that may seem obvious to you 20 year+ guys, its all too often just nodded at. I don’t think its enough to talk about just planning for operations, for which there is a lot of literary promotion. Planning for operations after you’ve meaningfully explored and developed a theme is the critical thing, seems to me. Otherwise you can have a great operational layout, but it doesn’t have context, and that may seem silly, no matter the level of your technical skills.

True prototypers, who seem to me by definition (again, opinion here) advanced modelers (not to say you have to be a prototyper to be an “advanced modeler”, but devoted prototyping is tough!) have the theme already nailed for them after they choose their line. But the theme you discuss is particularly critical step for freelancers. It’s the discipline that balances the imagination.

14

Dave, I apoligize on your’e earlier thread for getting on your’e case. I agree with this one 100% . Possibly it was the way you previously worded it, possibly the way it read and interpited it, more likely, a little of both. But this is right. Theme is utmost important. whether your modeling several types and eras that you grew up, or just one. Beleivability is the utmost. My favorite has always been the Utah Belt. Completely made up, but complety believable. I know this don’t make amends, but I see you’re vision now. many of use model specifics, some dont’t. But if youi can’t tell a vivistor what youre trying to capture, whether it be a spicific proto in a speific time, or even a generall feel of railroading over a time period, then you missed the point, and are just playing with toys. Theme is the core.

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My theme:

Central Pennsylvania, July 1956, somehwere along the Pennsylvania Middle Division between Harrisburg and Altoona.

My theme tells me I use PRR mainline steam and diesel. I have plenty of pasenger, coal, and mixed freight action. My entire roster dates from July 1956 and earlier. Nothing with a built or repaint date after that will roll on my rails. Although I had to reduce the 4-track mainline to 2 to fit on my layout, The theme still fits.

My theme tells me the industries I should have. They ended up being a coal mine, a factory (there is a lot of industry even in so-called “rural” PA), a freight station, and a feed/fuel dealer. My roads are striped with white lines, not yellow, because it’s the 1950s. Even the stop signs are yellow (the 1954 Manual for Uniform Traffic Control Devices was the first to specify red stop signs, and it took years to change them all!). All the automobiles and trucks are from 1955 and earlier.

My towns are freelanced. But in keeping with theme, their names are based on Central PA town names.

Scenery is Central PA; ridges and valleys completely covered by a tree canopy. That’s what the theme says. Because Pennsylvania soil is so fertile, weeds abound along the edge of the right-way, and lesser-used lots become overgrown.

The theme also sets the tone for the right-of-way. Again, I had to reduce the tracks from 4 to 2, but it still is meant to represent a high-traffic mainline, with a broad ballast shoulder and cinder edge. The theme says my signals are not the color bulls-eye type or Type G, but rather the Pennsy’s distinctive position light signals. The main bridge is a stone arch bridge, because that’s what Pennsy used in Central PA.

Lastly the structures are established by theme. Only those buildings whose architecture matches what I’ve seen in Central PA will find their way to my layout. The lineside

16

When I first got interested in this hobby (late 70’s, while recuperating from surgery), I started reading MR and RMC. Then I decided the best thing to do was to start accumulating rolling stock - my way of committing. After about 25 simple kits, I put them away and got on with life. About 1 ½ years ago, I regained interest, dusted off my old rolling stock and picked up where I left off. Lo and behold, all my freight cars were of local road names - RDG, PRR, LV, EL, etc. So, unwittingly I guess I always had some latent theme in the back of my mind, even though I had no formal plan.

Since I picked it up again, I’ve done more research and finally have a plan that pleases me. I have never had even a moment of “non-theme” thinking. I’m modeling the RDG & PRR as they served the Pa. anthracite region mid-40’s to mid-50’s, specifically Pottsville, the St Clair yard and a to-be-determined strip mine “north of the mountain” with the typical patch towns along the way.

There will be some components of the layout that will be recognizable as local landmarks, others will be representative of the area. For steam, I’m sticking to wheel arrangements that were used by the RDG & PRR for that era, but admittedly the Wooten fireboxes and other engine detail will have to wait until I’m skilled enough to fabricate them.

All-in-all, the theme helps me narrow my purchasing focus and allows me to present a fairly plausible representation (at least in my mind) of railroading in the coal region of Pa.

Footnote: My use of words like “typical”, “recognizable”, “representative” and “plausible” may seem a bit ambiguous but I feel I need that latitude to compensate for my modeling skills (or lack thereof).

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Having been active in the hobby for 40 years and building many layouts (both at our Club and home layouts) I found that when doing a fantasy layout I spent way more time trying to make the layout believable (history and town names to place it) than I did in building the layout

Most visitors looked at the layouts and appreciated them for what they were – Just trains running around!

As I got more discouraged in continually having to explain my layout to try and make it believable (probably more in my mind than anything) I just decided that building a layout based on a real railroad would go a long way in eliminating this nagging problem.

Now when others visit my latest layout and they get over the awe of such a large layout (25ft x 75 ft) I can then set the theme by explaining that I am modeling the Conrail Lowgrade line from East Brady, PA to Dubois, PA.

All of the towns are there and I have scratch built or severely kit bashed buildings to represent the actual buildings of the area. Most of the time I have only one building that is the focal point of each town and the visitors quickly state that they have seen this building or that building.

They NOW know where they are in real life and have an easier time following the way the trackwork is laid out through each of the towns. My work load is minimal at best in having to explain the layout!

When laying out the track I used the Conrail ZTS (Zone Spot Maps) from 1984 to layout most of the towns and industries. If the real railroad did not have a turnout then I didn’t need one.

You know that the YARD is going to work as it is build just like the map shows (and you know – it really does work! – It is amazing that these real railroaders know what they are

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Thank you!

It was a moment of clarity that was intermingled with hours of dumbfounded bewilderment.

Or, as I always told mom growing up…

It was an accident, it won’t happen again!

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I’ve actually embraced that wild-eyed, driven, enthusiasm. When my wife walks through the layout room while I’m working on scenery, I’ll mumble, "It’s…not…right" over and over.

Oh, and theme? Critical. But then, most modelers eventually discover that when they seek a little more of a challenge than just running trains 'round and 'round.

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I try to tie everything together…

My layout is set around a small southwest PA town during the late 1970s early '80s. Most of it follows (or at least attempts to) what was going on then. Most of the factories and warehouses I have look similar to local prototypes. All are brick, unlike many of the houses. At that time, many were still wood frame.

That’s where the real world ends. I’ve tried to capture the overall ‘flavor’ of the area, rather than model it exactly. As such, my town isn’t found on local maps. Also, we all know that the Penn Central was gone after '76. I’m not really a Conrail fan, folks, plus I remember seeing black diesels when I was younger. However, I like some of their odd paint schemes (the red P, orange C), F units and Geeps–some of which were still in PRR or NYC colors–so I went with that. With my line’s tight curves and short sidings, those engines are ideal.

Because the layout’s town is “generic” the occasional B&O or Chessie unit doesn’t look too out of place!