The Good of the Hobby

It is somewhat scary that nearly a year has passed since I started this blog. At the time I expected the basic diorama to be finished by Xmas.

Gosh, you have to laugh.

So many things have changed. on so many levels. For instance I really thought the use of Tillig track might be a long term way forward. I really didn't expect to be sat here with a bunch of EM track components. If I'm honest I'd probably massively over estimated how far the RTR market had developed. The truth is it remains a  starting point and nothing more.

Look at this, for instance, how dreadful is it!

http://www.ehattons.com/52676/Bachmann_Branchline_37_712C_8_Ton_cattle_wagon_in_BR_bauxite_late_weathered/StockDetail.aspx

When was whitewash golden?

In my own mind I have a fairly clear concept of the way forward, but it isn't going to be easy. Then it is my choice. Which brings me back to the title of this piece.

There have been some excellent post recently by Iain Robinson *, Mike Cougill and Geoff Forster  that I both agree with 100% whilst also questioning at a fundamental level.

This is still a hobby, rather than a job or something that really really matters on the great scale of things. Most people in our hobby have a hundred and one other distractions in their lives. How do we evaluate what is good for the hobby at a global level? Look back at railway modelling articles from ten, twenty or thirty years ago and there is no doubt that what is accepted as "average" has improved out of all recognition. Perhaps the best modelling from any of those periods still holds its own - Heckmondwicke  still grabs me in a very basic way as a model that just worked, for instance - but look at the mainstream model railway press and if nothing else you'll struggle to spot the use of lichen, and that wasn't always the case. The downside is that perhaps we have a lot of people trying to emulate a certain "look" by following articles that give step by step instructions but is that such a bad thing if it gives people the confidence to go ahead and explore their own boundaries?

In some ways the hobby has never been healthier. Personally, for example, I love the fact that I can order specialist components on line and not have to endure fighting my way past people with a challenging view of what constitutes personal hygiene.

One argument is that in the days when kits and RTR locos were basic people were forced to develop the skills to enhance the models available, but a glance through the model press of the time suggests this just meant the starting position was set a lot lower than it is today. The builder of the typical K's kit didn't build their own chassis and fit finescale wheels. Today, faced with a basically adequate RTR loco I find it quite appealing to guild the lily a little by modifying the few things that aren't quite right.

Are there still model layouts out there that are derivative of other models and based on RTR components ? Yes, clearly there are, biut equally there are a lot of models that encapsulate a very individual vision based on both an accurate representation of the prototype and an aesthetic understanding of what makes an attractive and successful layout.

*Since Iain has now discovered this blog I'm going to have to come back to this subject in more depth to explain what I think a modeller like him brings to the table that the rest of us can only try to emulate.

Porth y Waen

My first exposure to the Tanat Valley came via John Allison's Porth y Waen O gauge layout, described in the October 1977 Railway Modeller. John was well known for his role in the Warley Model Railway Club, and was much mourned when he  died earlier this year.

My back collection of RMs disappeared in a series of unfortunate events, so I recently got hold of the relevant issue via ebay.

I'd forgotten that a) as far as I can see it didn't mention the Tanat Valley and b) the Layout of the Month was Tony Ross's Lower Hemlock that I rather liked at the time.

As usual looking through a back issue of RM makes you think about how crude things were in those days. I remember the early Jouef Class 40 as being a real landmark in RTR quality, but the photos show just how crude it was. Also striking is the number of traders who are no longer around.  I loved the advert for Modelmania in Norbury "I not only give free advice, I also sell things"

Talking of which I got an email recently from Phil Barlett, whose father bought my father's old model shop in Coventry. As is so often the case this became a small world/6 degrees of Kevin Bacon conversation.