Someone asked me what the theme of my next layout is going to be.
I replied "trains".I joke about making it the "Ferrocaril de Ashtabula y Conneaut", but the truth is there will be no set theme.
You see, the thing is, I love mutts.
Not your thoroughbreds, fine scale, really authentic, but the humble, the forgotten, the "junk".
Years ago, when I ventured into garden railways, I gave up on the idea of "accuracy" and "detail" on my model trains. It results in models that are fragile and complicated. I also gave up on the idea of 100% accuracy. I'll settle for "it looks good".
Oversized flanges? Not a problem. High rails? Pfft. Brass, steel, and tin track? No worries, I'll just clean them frequently.
In the pursuit of "perfect" I didn't settle for "good" or even "good enough".
And unless you are modeling in N, Z, or, heavens, T, there is no way your layout is going to be 100% accurate where real mainline track curves are concerned.
So mutts.
Yeah
I love them.
We have similar philosophies regarding our layouts. Frankly there is only so much you can model in a 4 by 8-foot or even an 8 by 8-foot layout. In real life, that can fit in a modern Wal-Mart parking lot; you really have to set the "selective compression" setting on "extreme" to model anything in the real world, or model just a tiny switching setup that I think would get boring after awhile.
ReplyDeleteThe right half of my layout is mostly composed of buildings from my first layout from the 1970s; I have been carrying them around with me all this time. When my son moved out and took his LEGO layout with him, I decided to the model the other half as an "Island of Sodor." I mostly run my North American equipment on one side, and my British OO and European HO on the other side.
But both are just a stage for my trains, not an exact model of any particular location. My Plasticville side is modeled after the many small towns in Louisiana and Texas I have driven through over the span of my life; but could be anywhere.
And like you, my trains are the bottom end of the spectrum; the only fancy modern stuff I have is a Lionel Polar Express train and an Atlas Trainkids set. The rest are a motley crew of clockwork and electric trains from the various toy train manufacturers of the 1950s-1990s; a Stewart Brothers F9 A-B pair are the best trains I have.
I know my Garden Railway, with all the gnomes and Eggliners/Egghaulers may drive some folks crazy, but my wife and I just love them. It is all about enjoying the hobby, not satisfying the purists.
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