Model Railroad Blog

The Structure Quandary

Over the past decade I’ve had a hard time ignoring the similarity between model railroader’s penchant for impulse buying/indiscriminate accumulation as compared to the same issue in any other retail setting.  I’m not sure there is a difference between purchasing more shoes than there are days in the week as opposed to buying dozens of structures none of which seem to be earmarked for any particular future purpose and none of which are ever assembled.    In both cases it comes down to the brief high from ‘getting the fix’ and buying something.  After that, the purchased item rarely sees the light of day.  The enjoyment is short lasting indeed. The only solution if you want to prolong the feeling is to buy something again.

I’d like to focus on structure kits for now although rolling stock runs a close second.  For many, many modelers structures are their favorite part of the hobby, at least buying them is.   In many cases the purchase is rationalized when in reality it is just satisfying a craving.  The accumulated kits are unrelated to any central theme or era and go un-built.  In many cases the purchaser doesn’t have a layout either by choice or circumstance.   I’ve written before that, although there are many ways to participate in the hobby, accumulation of merchandise without any intended purpose is not one of them.  After the initial high of making a purchase, the modeler gets none of the long term satisfaction that they should seek from a hobby.

I do believe this can be turned around though if we change our thinking towards structures in general.  We have several flaws in our thinking. The first is that there is no value in assembling a structure if it won’t eventually be on a model railroad.   That’s not true.   The second flaw is assuming that the value of assembling a kit is in the finished product.  The third flaw is that we need to keep assembled models after they are done.  We don’t.   In all three cases we overlook the fact that the value is in the process, the satisfaction of assembly if you will.  This can be no small thing.  The great news is that you don’t need to ever have a layout in order to achieve this satisfaction.

A valuable lesson could be learned by taking a cue from our cousins in the military or automotive modeling side of the hobby.  They don’t have model railroad layouts or other settings to place the completed model and yet on they march in total bliss assembling an F-15 one month, a warthog the next. Unlike military modelers however, we railroaders face a problem. While an 1/48 model of an aircraft may only be a foot long and a few inches tall, many completed structure models are quite large, often taking up four or five square feet.  That raises the significant issue of what do we do with the darn things when they are done?

If we change our perspective on model railroad structures and align it more towards that of the military modelers we are now in a position to get true satisfaction from the hobby even if we don’t have a layout.

 

  1. Get in the habit of assembling your structure kits for one simple reason, the joy and satisfaction of assembly.  Whether you have a layout or not is irrelevant.  If a particular kit appeals to you, BUILD IT.
  2. With a finished kit in hand we hit the stumbling block that trips most people up and keeps them from building the kit in the first place.  What do you do with it now?  As mentioned before it may be fairly large.  There are three things you can do.  If your structure models are fairly small, treat yourself to a nice display case and put them in there.  The second option is to give them away or sell them, although this may not be so easy and be more trouble than it’s worth.   The third option will be difficult for many to accept and that is to simply pitch them.  What?  That’s right, throw the kits away.   Keep them awhile, photograph them and then eventually pitch them.   If a particular model has given you forty or fifty hours of relaxation and satisfaction that’s saying quite a bit.  It’s served its purpose.  If you don’t have a place for it, no use for it, throw it away and start on the next one.  Look at this way, attending a sporting event with parking may cost well over a hundred dollars and provide four or five hours of enjoyment.  After the event is over we have no more expectations for our entertainment dollars.  We spent our money, we were entertained, and that’s the end of it.  Why should modeling be different?  The same hundred dollars spent on a structure kit will certainly provide more than a few hours of entertainment.  Model building provides more entertainment hours per dollar spent than most other pastimes.  It’s a great value.

 

So far we’ve been talking about structure accumulation for those with no layouts.  Those with layouts or those about to get layouts face another problem.  They have an inventory of kits accumulated over decades that, while interesting on an individual basis, have absolutely ZERO relationship to each other or any central theme.  Because the modeler spent money getting them, they feel compelled to use them on the layout. They shouldn’t and trying to do so creates unforeseen problems.    Often designs are forced around awkward structure footprints as opposed to letting the theme drive the design.  After the layout is built and the random structures placed willy nilly on its surface, it lacks visual cohesiveness.  In essence the layout has been forced to be a display case, something that just doesn’t work visually.   An analogy would be buying clothes for a vacation before you know where you are going.   Rather than looking like a model of a railroad the layout looks like a retail store front.   The only way to get a cohesive look with a model railroad  is to design it first, and THEN purchase the structures.   This isn’t to say that buying those structures was wasted money.  The layout and your structure building can be split out as two separate pastimes.  There is no reason you can’t build a structure for the sheer joy of doing so and simply not use it on your layout.

The point of all this is to change our view on structures and the role they play with how we derive satisfaction from them.   There can be a tremendous amount of enjoyment obtained simply from building them!  So, build them.  Spending time doing a relaxing and satisfying task is the sole reason for having a hobby.   Let’s get away from over thinking structures and requiring that each and every one of them have a future role after they are completed.

Planning vs. Design

A successful model railroad plan (notice I didn’t say design) is one that ultimately puts the hobbyist in a position where they are consistently spending hobby hours engaged in a manner they find satisfying.  Researching, building, operating, photographing all qualify. (Sorry, random long term kit accumulation and excessive chat forum participation doesn’t).

The person who spends many satisfying hours building a replica of the freight house near their childhood home is just as successfully immersed as the person who spends an equal number of hours joyfully building a model of a star wars set behind an old west ghost town.  The person who spends hours at the archives playing sleuth is just as engaged as the structure builder.  The problem is that far too few people engage in any of these activities with enough consistency that it could be called a hobby.  That’s the sad part.  Often the individual, desperately in need of an outside activity, tries to jump in the pool and flounders about only to leave in frustration not having found the diversion they craved.

The culprit?  Lack of a viable plan.  Notice I used the word plan and not design. The terms planning and design are generally used interchangeably and synonymously when, in fact, they are two quite different things.  Design is more tactical in nature concerned with track and bench work arrangements.  Planning is more strategic, more important, and needs to happen before a design can be started.  Poorly planned layouts and approaches to the hobby are a larger reason people struggle than poor layout designs.    If you don’t have the right overall strategy the tactics become irrelevant.

Why don’t we plan?  There are several reasons. We are ignorant of the need to do so.  If we are aware of the need we don’t understand the importance.  If we do understand the importance we don’t know how to do it because we don’t know what the central issues are.   Finally, we don’t like to plan because it requires self examination which typically is harder than drawing a track plan.

So, what are some of the key aspects of planning?  In general it’s coming up with an approach that tips the odds of success overwhelmingly in your favor.  (Remember our definition of success above).   A good plan energizes you enough that you want to spend a few hours a week engaged in the hobby over a period of years.

 

Key questions are:

  • What aspect(s) of the hobby do I truly enjoy the most.
  • What resources can I, without question, consistently bring to the hobby.  By resources I specifically mean time, energy, and commitment.  Lack of awareness of energy levels, available time, and commitment are probably the the largest stumbling blocks to being a successful participant in the hobby.
  • If I build a layout, how will I interact with it?  Will my satisfaction come from being an operator, railfan, or simply the joy and satisfaction of building things. Maybe having a miniature copy of a place and time you find truly appealing is your motivation.
  • What is my commitment to self awareness to find something that truly interests me.   If the overall theme is “just something with bridges, tunnels, a coal mine and pier” is that what truly interests you or are you just settling?
  • What is my attention span for a given theme?  If you only want the layout to last several years that’s fine as long as you acknowledge it.
  • If your primary interest is operations, what type of operations?
  • Do you even need a layout?  If one’s primary and sole interest is building rolling stock or structures you are certainly a dyed in the wool model railroader assuming you do actually build the kits.  If so, perhaps a display case, diorama, or module is a better fit.

 

A successful plan will leave you with accurate answers as to:

  • The size of the layout
  • It’s complexity
  • The desired elements
  • The layout theme

If you can’t realistically answer questions as to your core interests, resources, and how you plan to interact with the layout you aren’t ready to pick up a pencil and start drawing track plans.

The “Bullpen” (Efficient Rolling Stock Management)

Ergonomics, or the human comfort factor, plays a much greater roll on our layout than we realize.  It impacts how often we run it, how enjoyable the experience is when we do and, ultimately, whether we keep using the railroad at all.  The hidden trap is that ergonomics can be so subtle in some cases that we aren’t aware of what is sapping our enjoyment.  Such is the issue with rolling stock storage.

The only rolling stock that should be on a layout are those pieces that have a realistic reason for being there.  The problem is that most of us have more pieces than  have a justifiable reason to be on the railroad.  Some have WAY more but that’s a story for another day.    Things get thorny without us even knowing it.  Absent a good storage system, those excess cars ultimately end up where it’s easiest to put them……on the layout.  They gradually accumulate until things really become mucked up.  This overcrowding detracts from the experience without us even being aware of it.  Let’s see how we can address the problem.  Rolling stock can be broken into three categories:  pieces that need to be on the layout, those that will likely be cycled onto the layout in the near future, and finally those items that for a number of reasons won’t see use in the near future.  Those that won’t see use in the near future should be removed from the railroad, packed in their boxes and either put on a shelf or disposed of.  Easy enough.

It’s the second group that creates problems.  We have a large pool of cars waiting to get in the game, the sports analogy being pitchers in the bullpen. These are cars that won’t be in the current operating session but likely will be mixed into the flow shortly, replacing cars currently in service.  We have a problem.  We don’t want them on the layout now.  It’s human nature that if we don’t put them in a place that is super convenient to access, they won’t get used (which is why we put them on the layout when we shouldn’t have).  If we put these ‘bullpen’ cars in boxes, subconsciously we dread rummaging through the pile of boxes, reading box labels, opening the container, dragging the car out and then doing the same for the car being removed from the layout.

What we need to encourage us to keep the layout surface clean of unneeded cars is a very simple, easy to interact with, method of cycling cars on and off the layout.  The system needs to be close to eye level, not involve opening and closing things, and have an open top.  It needs to be a system that I call ‘grab-n’-go’, a system so easy we can comfortably and seamlessly handle car cycling.   The solution is any type of open top shelving system that keeps the cars fairly close to eye level.

Bullpen 002s

In thinking through my situation I opted for an 8″ x 24″ floating shelf picked up at The Home Depot.  These shelves are inexpensive, very easy to install, and have an ultra clean look to them.  I mounted it fairly high so as not to have to bend and squint to identify the cars I was looking for.  I did not add track to the shelves so as to avoid having to deal with the hassle of aligning the trucks on the rail.  The cars just sit on the flat shelf surface.  I added a lip of 1 1/2″ molding to serve as a guard rail and that was it.  Even this small shelf holds twelve, fifty foot cars.  At most, I’ll only need one more shelf to hold what would typically get cycled onto the layout.  All other pieces are classified as for use in the distant future and are stored in boxes in my shop.  This floating shelf system makes cycling cars from the ‘bullpen’ a breeze and encourages me to avoid storing them on the layout.

Bullpen 003s

These cars are in ‘The Bullpen’ meaning they will likely see an operating session in the next few months.  Cycling them on and off the layout is a simple ‘grab-n-go’ which encourages me to keep them on this shelf and off the layout where they would clog things up.

Layout Lifespan

It’s pretty easy to sub-consciously buy into conventional wisdom without  thinking through whether such an approach actually applies to our situation.  It may or may not.  The expected lifespan of a layout is one such example.  For many of us, when we set out to build a layout, it’s with the thought that it will be something that is around for a decade or longer.  If the model railroad is of any size at all, it would certainly take that long to get it to completion.  Several things can come up though that may such a long term approach an ill fit for some of us.  Our lifestyle may change long before we get close to completion. Moving to a different house being a prime example.  The more likely issue though is that our interests may change.  Three years in, something that holds more appeal may catch our eye.  If we are so committed to our one or two decade project we may have to constantly brush aside other opportunities.  Finally, if we put any time at all into the hobby our skills will increase over time.  Five years into a layout, it will become painfully obvious that the portion we are working on now looks substantially better than the initial work done with older skill sets.  Over time that can begin to grate on you.

Here’s where I’m going with all of this.  For many of us,  consideration should be given to layouts with shorter life spans, say three to five years.  By keeping the layout size and complexity manageable, we can get it up and running quickly, flog every ounce of fun out of it, and then move on to a new and exciting theme.  Such an approach will keep us energized and excited.  Shorter term layouts will be put together with a more consistent look because they represent a narrower band of our skills progression.    Turnouts, trees, bench work, and electronics can generally be salvaged keeping the cost down.  To be clear, I’m not talking about getting two months into a layout and then constantly changing your mind and never getting anything up and going.  I’m talking about driving a manageable model railroad purposely towards  completion in a medium time span, and then re-stoking the fires with a new project.

You’ve Come This Far

 I’ve gotten a number of emails in the past week illustrating progress on switching layout construction.  To a person each project looks fantastic, well designed, simple but efficient, and neatly constructed.  You’ve come this far, don’t shoot yourself in the foot now.  Next up for many of you will be the steps of painting the rail and applying ballast.  Both are critical in terms of the final appearance of the layout.   Both are almost impossible to correct if you mishandle them.  If you are using Atlas code 83 or Walthers track it is very important to paint the rail a darker color to downplay the out of scale spike details.  Rail brown (essentially a tan) or Rust (pumpkin orange) will highlight the deficiencies of the track and are incorrect color palette selections.  Don’t use them.  All you need are rattle can sprays of Floquil Roof Brown and Grimy Black.  Paint the rail and ties entirely with the Roof Brown first and then fog on the Grimy Black.  Do short stretches and immediately wipe the railheads clean moments after painting.  Keep your area well ventilated for safety and wear a respirator (a dust mask is not a respirator).  That’s all there is to it, Roof Brown fogged with Grimy Black.  (For those using Micro Engineering rail, going with lighter rail colors is less of a problem).

For the ballast it is all too easy to get lazy and run down to the local hobby store and grab some Woodland Scenics product.  Not only is their color and shape too uniform, it is tricky to work with.   You need to use natural rock ballast products from Arizona Rock and Mineral Company.    This product is not that hard to track down at large dealers and is easily obtained by calling the owner Phil Anderson directly.   Even for those of you in the UK it’s worth the effort to get the better Arizona Rock product.  Phil is a modeler himself and extremely helpful on the phone helping you pick blends.  I use a mix of N and HO scale “CSX/Wabash”.  Other good soils are ‘concrete’, ‘industrial dirt’, and regular ‘dirt’.

So folks you’ve come this far don’t fail yourself now!