GETTING REAL: Is it time to run trains yet? Adventures in Prototype Modeling About this issue’s
prototype modeling columnist
The continuing saga of Mike Rose’s attempts to get it right (eventually!) ... Reader Feedback (click here)
I
’ve been thinking a lot about prototypical operations recently. This has been driven out of necessity and experiences, but perhaps a bit of background is in order first.
Mike Rose has over 70 published articles in the hobby magazines, and has contributed photos and essays to a number of prototype and modeling books. Mike’s a regular on the Prototype Modeling Meet circuit, giving clinics on a variety of model railroading topics. Mike’s also the owner of Mike Rose Hobbies (mrhobby.com). Photos and illustrations by the author unless otherwise credited.
Page 34 • Jan 2012 MRH
Getting Real column, page 1
was aware that I needed some way to run more than one train at a time, and the dual cab control bus methodology using DPDT center-off toggle switches served me well, at least for a while. It wasn’t long before I had an engine track, divided into engine-length sections with one rail controlled by a simple on/off toggle so that I could make up “consists.” I’m old enough that all of this was sufficiently long ago to remember that pulse power was considered an innovation. But it never
did make those old Tyco growlers do what I wanted, and the brass-railed sectional track I initially used was part of that poor-running conspiracy. Eventually my local hobby shop owner introduced me to nickel silver flex track, Champ decals, and Athearn engines, and I never looked back. In fact, my first published articles on kitbashing were soon published in the old Railroad Modeler magazine at age 16. But let’s fast-forward a bit.
I’ve considered myself a Prototype Modeler going way back to my early childhood play memories. In fact, it was typical for me to be out riding with my parents in the car and see some factory with trucks at a loading dock, or a busy construction site, and when we got back I’d be busily re-creating what I’d seen. Sometimes brown paper grocery bags with small pillows stuffed inside served for “embankments” at the construction site I would create at home, for example. In other words, I’ve always been heavily influenced by the things I see in the real world. My first layout came around age 12, starting as the typical 4x8, and in fact was based on Linn Wescott’s “HO Railroad That Grows” book that became so dog-eared over time that it basically disintegrated! Yet even then I
Figure 1: Professional railroader Leo Landry finds planning his moves for his local crew at the town of Vosburg an engrossing task. The former town of Vosburg is in front of him, and Hammill Yard is to the rear. This is the original section of my layout.
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