It’s 2006 at the East Rail Industrial park in Miami. The engineer has gotten out of the cab to talk strategy with the conductor about a plan of attack for handling an extremely complex switching situation. Pauses in the action like this are common in the real world. Just because a comment is annoying and […]
Category: Opinion
Site Visits
Visiting your site in person creates a mental link between you and your subject that you simply can’t get from looking at photos online or in a book. This shot was taken looking east down Miami’s 23rd Street in 2007. I was taking in the sound of the aircraft flying out of MIA, the humidity, […]
The Good Old Days are Now!
A Tradepoint Rail SW1500 hauls a cut of centerbeams on a transfer run up to the north yard. Among my peer group the 1950’s were, and still are, the holy grail when it comes to modeling subjects. It’s a favorite for good reason. When working with customers over the age 60, the overwhelming majority want […]
Three Car Pile Ups
My third attempt at a layout….1985 give or take. What a mess. Gotta love those photographic skills! (Note: I actually do get to the point after the long initial rambling so stick with me) We know we shouldn’t do it. It’s shameful, but we’re all guilty of rubber necking those horriffic three car pile ups […]
Directing the Eye
No matter how much of a prototype modeler we’d like to say we are, the reality of our limited space is such that everything we do is ultimately somewhere on the “proto-freelance” spectrum. Since we can’t copy actual scenes exactly, decisions need to be made with respect to composition. One of the key principles of […]