Seems like a strange question. Is model railroading buying a highly detailed locomotive or car and not doing anything to it? Could be. Is buying a lower end car and detailing it? I’d say yes. Buying a high end kit and detailing it for sure. RTR cars running around a track? Could be. You hear the term World’s Greatest Hobby and I believe the reason is because there are so many ways to get involved. While I do not think that buying your way to modeling is exactly modeling ie Genesis/Proto and other loco’s with expensive RTR cars. You may be a master at scenery! So the title of Model Railroader you would qualify. Your area of expertise may be painting backgrounds! You qualify! Layout track work design you qualify!. Making trees? Yep! When the day comes that you buy everything set up and you just turn the key maybe? But if you still clean your track, lube you locos and adjust your cars I think you still qualify. There are many many different levels of model railroading. On this forum we spend a lot of time arguing. The fact is all of us are model railroaders and we enjoy this hobby. For what ever reason or level we do it to please ourselves and for enjoyment. Not everyone will receive the title GRAND MASTER model railroader in everyone’s eyes and why should they care. The point here is “what ever melts your butter” is just fine!
There have been numerous discussion about what model railroading is, and quite a number of them ended in a flame war. I hope this will not happen to this thread.
The hobby of model railroading has so many different aspects to it, that it is hard to tell, what it actually is. To some, it is collecting more or less detailed rail vehicles of different size and origin, to others it is re-enacting prototypical train moves. Some just like to watch trains run, some like to build a layout, which will never be finished. Others, again, like to fiddle around with electronics - boy, that list is going to be a mile long!
To me, it is fun and relaxation with a little bit of this and that. IMHO, the question boils down to “model railroading is whatever it is - to you”!
To me, if someone says they are a model railroader, then they are one. It’s simply an indication of interest in a subject matter, just like saying one is a baseball fan, a book lover, or a hot rod aficionado. So even if all someone does is buy MR or visit this forum and just read it (the ultimate armchair type), then they are a model railroader to me.
That being said, that doesn’t mean they are necessarily a good model railroader. Just as there are bandwagon sports fans, fair-weather sports fans, or “pink hat” sports fans, there are model railroaders that don’t have the skills or knowledge that the more “fanatic” lifers in this hobby have. The novice, armchair types should not be looked down upon for their lack of the above , and the “rivet counters” should not be mocked for caring more and being more highly skilled. Likewise, those who are less skilled shouldn’t revel in their cluelessness, and those who have been in this hobby their entire life shouldn’t be arrogant about it. Anyways…
A lot of people seem to think that model railroader = model builder, and that’s simply not the case. My best example is my ex-neighbor who never built a kit in his life. His layout was just track on plywood without even so much as green paint on the table tops. However, he did run his large basement layout as realistic as possible, and since he was a former towerman on several railroads, he knew what he was talking about. He had Train Orders, Form 19’s, Form A’s, Form D’s, etc., and all his trains ran realistically, even taking care to pick up his “brakemen” when needed. The kicker here is that all his trains were American Flyer. How can someone say he isn’t a model railroader? Just because he never built a
I completely agree that this is a very broad hobby, and incorporates a wide range of interests and abilities. I agree with Paul that they’re all model railroaders. We’re not all Master Model Railroaders, by any stretch of the imagination. I enjoy operations, but sometimes it gets too fiddly for me. Similarly, I want my layout to look realistic, but I also want to run trains, so sometimes, good enough is just that. I’ve written an alternate history for my layout anyway, so I’m not overly concerned with historical accuracy.
There are those who would say I speak (and practice) blasphemy. But for my money, the model railroader who operates a loop of track on a 4x8 sheet of plywood is every bit as much a model railroader as the one who has reconstructed rail operations around Pittsburgh (for instance) in exacting detail. I’d hope that the former person stays with the hobby, and aspires to some of the skills and practices of the latter, but this is a hobby, and if you’re not having fun, you’re doing something wrong.
It is a strange question. In one sentence you state that buying high end stuff in your opinion does not make a model railroader. Then in another sentence you state “whatever melts your butter” is just fine. Well I buy high end stuff like 500 dollar locomotives and 75 dollar Rapido passenger cars. I also buy the higher end building kits and detail them as best as I can, I add interiors even though
For me it’s the ability to build something of my own that provides hours of enjoyment and relaxation. It may not be perfect by some standards and will probably never make the pages of any magazine, but it’s mine and I proud of the effort.
Seems like a strange question. Is model railroading buying a highly detailed locomotive or car and not doing anything to it? Could be. Is buying a lower end car and detailing it? I’d say yes. Buying a high end kit and detailing it for sure. RTR cars running around a track? Could be. You hear the term World’s Greatest Hobby and I believe the reason is because there are so many ways to get involved. While I do not think that buying your way to modeling is exactly modeling ie Genesis/Proto and other loco’s with expensive RTR cars. You may be a master at scenery! So the title of Model Railroader you would qualify. Your area of expertise may be painting backgrounds! You qualify! Layout track work design you qualify!. Making trees? Yep! When the day comes that you buy everything set up and you just turn the key maybe? But if you still clean your track, lube you locos and adjust your cars I think you still qualify. There are many many different levels of model railroading. On this forum we spend a lot of time arguing. The fact is all of us are model railroaders and we enjoy this hobby. For what ever reason or level we do it to please ourselves and for enjoyment. Not everyone will receive the title GRAND MASTER model railroader in everyone’s eyes and why should they care. The point here is “what ever melts your butter” is just fine!
RMax
It is a strange question. In one sentence you state that buying high end stuff in your opinion does not make a model railroader. Then in another sentence you state “whatever melts your butter” is just fine. Well I buy high end stuff like 500 dol
I didn’t misinterpret it at all, he very clearly wrote " While I do not think that buying your way to modeling is exactly modeling ie Genesis/Proto and other loco’s with expensive RTR cars. " His opinion that people that buy this stuff aren’t modellers. [B]
Model railroading is OPERATING a model or models of railroad equipment.
BUILDING, ASSEMBLING or KITBASHING things that run flanged wheels on steel rails, and/or their surroundings (diorama or layout) is RAILROAD MODELING.
It is possible to be a railroad modeler without ever causing a wheel to turn. It is equally possible to be a model railroader without ever building anything yourself. Most people involved in this hobby are a mixture of both:
Model railroader (operator)-------------------v---------------Railroad modeler
Exactly where in the scale the pointer falls varies for each individual at different times, and varies between individuals. My own pointer slides back and forth depending on what mood I’m in. At times I’ll attack some esoteric kitbash or construction project with great gusto. More often, I want to watch the siderods churn…
In a strictly technical interpretation, a model railroad would be any sort of a model (static, dynamic, digital), of any quality, of a railroad. The sticky part even here gets to be the definition of a railroad. Is a locomotive a railroad, how about a train? Hmm without tracks it seems it would be Model Trains rather than Model Railroad. Then it gets even funner, because do any of us with track and running trains truely “model a railroad”, or just tiny pieces of a railroad is that the same thing? How much of a railroad does one have to model to make it a legitimate model… I don’t know.
This discussion is too hard and esoteric for me. I’ll just be a model railroader regardless of what other people want to call it. When this discussion comes up I always think of the Back to the Future III where the 1880s Doc is “Just doing a little model railroading.”
Seemingly easy question got me thinking…I pretty much agree with all the comments here but would like to add that for me it is enjoying the hobby as it currently is while at the same time remembering being 4 and playing with my dads giant tinplate set from when he was a kid…He would take the time to couple some cars together and get me going before he left for work. I’ll never forget the smell of slightly burnt wiring from the motor as it ran. Later we got some classy O gauge Lionel stuff that he would only set up around Christmas. I wish he could see the gear we have now…Bottom line is good memories and tradition are also a big part of the hobby for me and I’d just like to say “Dad, around here it’s Christmas all year long!”
For me, it’s locomotives. I especially like ‘first generation’ diesels such as S-2s, SW9s, GP7s, RS3s, etc. I’ve painted them, detailed them, pulled them apart and put them back together, and most of all, I just like to watch them run.
I’ve done other things in the hobby too. I’ve built freight car kits, assembled and painted structures, laid down track and scenery, and I even (ugh!) built benchwork.
But it always comes back to locomotives. To me, the locomotives are the stars of the show on any model railroad layout.
