N
nachoman
I've had model trains for almost as long as I can remember. But when I was a kid, I didn't understand the different types of locomotives or cars, different eras, or that there was much more on the market than what was sold at the department or toy store.
I remember the neighbor kid had a layout of probably 10x16, that I thought was huge and absolutely cool. It really had no scenery, just plywood and a spaghetti-bowl trackplan from one of the Atlas books. And he had plenty of the "accessories" that I would see at the toy store up the street. The crossing gates that rarely worked, the grass-mat scenery, flashing light bridges and the like.
The park up the road had a model railroad club with display windows, and what I remembered as an enourmous HO layout. There were also 3-rail O gauge layouts and an n-scale club. But somehow, I didn't view those layouts as being much different than what I had at home. Just bigger and more complete.
Then when I was 12, I read my first issue of Model Railroader. There was an article inside about a club layout somewhere in Michigan. To me, the photographs in the article looked absolutely like prototype trains, and I suddenly realized that my models could be much more than an F-7 pulling a ragtag bunch of cars around a loop.
I've looked at that same article since, and that club layout in Michigan really isn't any better than many of the layouts built by Gauge members. I think what made me realize that trains could be models was the photographs depicting the scene close-up, as a miniature observer would see it. Somehow, viewing the trains from a different angle convinced me.
So what was it for you? What convinced you that model trains were more than "round the christmas tree" toys?
Kevin
I remember the neighbor kid had a layout of probably 10x16, that I thought was huge and absolutely cool. It really had no scenery, just plywood and a spaghetti-bowl trackplan from one of the Atlas books. And he had plenty of the "accessories" that I would see at the toy store up the street. The crossing gates that rarely worked, the grass-mat scenery, flashing light bridges and the like.
The park up the road had a model railroad club with display windows, and what I remembered as an enourmous HO layout. There were also 3-rail O gauge layouts and an n-scale club. But somehow, I didn't view those layouts as being much different than what I had at home. Just bigger and more complete.
Then when I was 12, I read my first issue of Model Railroader. There was an article inside about a club layout somewhere in Michigan. To me, the photographs in the article looked absolutely like prototype trains, and I suddenly realized that my models could be much more than an F-7 pulling a ragtag bunch of cars around a loop.
I've looked at that same article since, and that club layout in Michigan really isn't any better than many of the layouts built by Gauge members. I think what made me realize that trains could be models was the photographs depicting the scene close-up, as a miniature observer would see it. Somehow, viewing the trains from a different angle convinced me.
So what was it for you? What convinced you that model trains were more than "round the christmas tree" toys?
Kevin