Model Railroad Blog

A Publishing Pivot?

A possible cover for my next book. This scene doesn’t exist in reality, it’s photoshopped.

Thanks to everybody that took the time to read my recent blog, “Miami’s Other Shortline”. I also appreciate the feedback received. I need to come clean though, the piece was total fiction. The railroad in the article doesn’t exist. It was an experiment, a marketing study if you will.

Here’s what’s going on. In May of 2024, the book I wrote on structures for Kalmbach will hit the shelves. At that point I will have covered in book form all of the major modeling subjects; design, track plans, operations, construction, scenery, structures, and composition. I have no interest in writing additional books on niche modeling topics. Unfortunately, if I stick to traditional model railroad book themes that’s the only option.

So, I’m at a crossroads in that I really enjoy writing but have hit the end of the proverbial line. I strongly considered moving to mainstream, non-rail fiction, under a pen name. It’s still an option but it would be a daunting task. As a new author, I’d be an unknown grain of sand in an ocean of established writers. For those unfamiliar with what goes on behind the scenes in publishing, it is entirely possible, and in fact it’s the most common outcome, for an author to spend six months or longer writing a 350 page novel, and only net a few hundred dollars.

What I’m leaning towards hasn’t been done before and carries the very high potential for either embarrassing myself or, more likely, ending up with a concept that doesn’t sell. The genre I’m considering would be rail fiction, essentially taking something like the recent blog and expanding it into book form. Titles would be on plausible, but fictional, model-worthy, shortlines with an entertaining but believable backstory. Rail related but with a twist to make it entertaining. A framework for a modeler to build a conceptually solid, freelance road, without resorting to the overly corny, clearly made up, “Billy and Suzie Connecting Railroad” type of deal.

A lot of questions need to addressed. Can I write something interesting? Can I thread the needle of doing so in a way that isn’t cheesy, corny, and trite on one hand but not downright dull on the other? Based on the feedback from blog experiment, I think so. It’s uncharted territory. I’d want the books to be entertaining, something you’d take on a plane or to the beach. However, I’d like to do so in a way that a reader might be inspired to build a layout from the material. To that end I’d include a track plan or two.

The other piece of the puzzle is marketing. My readership falls into two groups. The first is my “birds of a feather stick together” longtime blog followers who I direct my books towards. They usually scoop up a book in the first three months. After that, purchases come from the general hobby pool. It’s these “trailing purchases” over the years that ultimately make up most of my sales. Getting the general model railroading demographic to buy the book could be a tough sell. I can see a situation where the book launches well for the first few months and then drops into oblivion thereafter.

Interesting times lie ahead.

It’s About Access

Looking east down 22nd Street on my Downtown Spur layout. The layout is located in an eighteen by eighteen foot room and has thirteen turnouts.

Switching layouts and moderate-size branch line railroads aren’t about “settling”.  They aren’t the sole province of the space-deprived or financially strapped.

They’re about access.  They provide an easy entry portal into the hobby.  Typically there’s an immediate leap to space and budget when we think of assets.  Model railroading, approached rationally, isn’t that expensive and is within reach of even a high school student with a summer job.

Assets aren’t only about space and money though.  Sparse assets in other areas do provide a barrier to getting into the hobby and that’s where the simpler layouts offer a workaround.  Most modelers are financially comfortable.  They can afford cable, Friday nights with the family at The Olive Garden, and an SUV in the driveway.  Time isn’t the issue either.  I have too many active-duty military friends who are modelers for me to believe that.  Everybody can find at least a few hours a week.  The problem is you need other assets to get a functional layout up and running, and that’s where people get stuck. Even if you have space, time, and money (and almost everyone does) you still need:

-Basic Skills

-Energy

-Focus

Those new to the hobby would be wise to attain some basic skills and confidence before leaping into a basement-filling railroad project.  If you’ve spent 75 minutes in the car morning and night, having the energy and motivation to work on modeling  is questionable.  Screen and device distraction is real and erodes our ability to focus.  Switching layouts require less skill, energy, and focus.

My Modern Era Switching Layout series lays down a path from armchair modeler or newcomer to getting trains running on a layout.

We’re entering the new year.  Why not set the achievable goal of getting at least the bones of switching layout built and trains running?  Scenery and structures can wait until 2025. I have an entire series of books to guide you through the process.  The Fruitland Team Track or CIS Light designs in the 8 Track Plans book are can’t loose starting points.  Get the bench work up and lay down some Peco code 70 with Unifrog turnouts.  Pick up a decent Athearn genesis or Rapido loco and start slamming some cars. Get your hands dirty. Make your mistakes. Have some fun.

I’ll even sweeten the pot.  Any reader that gets that far with their layout, and emails me that they’re bored, will get a full refund on the cost of their blog subscription fee. 

Attitude and Approach

Ben Sullivan stands in front of his masterful rendition of the Georgetown Branch’s Rock Creek Viaduct. Results like this come from being in the game long term, making mistakes, learning from them, and moving forward. Attitude and approach to the hobby goes a long way.

The last two weekends were particularly enjoyable for me, both being spent visiting with hobby veterans Ben Sullivan and Kelly Regan.  Each is modeling one of my favorite prototypes, B&O’s Georgetown Branch.  Although they are excellent builders, what I’ve enjoyed most about my visits is seeing their overall approach and attitude as well as how they collaborate on philosophy, photo sharing, and helping one another out.

It’s worth checking our attitudes and approach to the hobby from time to time.   Doing so insures we continue to find it satisfying and also results in better models over the long term. I’ve seen the full spectrum over the decades. For some, none of their efforts are ever good enough (to them at least) which leads to constantly starting over and never getting anything done.  On the other end of the spectrum you have those that crank stuff out like an assembly line but never take stock of what they’re doing.  When this happens the quality of the work doesn’t improve over time.  Finally, you have the chest-pounding braggarts, which thankfully are in the minority.

What is a healthy approach?  First, it’s being in the game as I wrote in my December 11th blog.  Build stuff consistently.  In terms of attitude, for me, I’ve come to this:

 “I recognize each modeling effort as representing the best I could do given my skill level at the time and give myself a pat on the back for being in the game.  I don’t get too high or too low.  Finally, I dispassionately examine my work and make mental notes for subtle improvements to try on the next go around.”

When I complete a project, I put it on the layout and live with it for a few years.  I have had three or four cases where I made a second pass at a model and replaced the original effort.  Doing so was fun but it’s rare and I only do it after a few years have passed.

Getting back to Kelly and Ben the one thing we talked about a lot was our past layout building snafu’s and how, without them and the lessons they taught us, it would be impossible to improve.  You simply can’t get a sense of spatial relationships, the time involved in completing various construction tasks, the mechanics of construction, and hidden landmines from parking on social media and forums all day.  While both Ben and Kelly start their track planning in CAD, they only use that as a starting point and then quickly move on to a heavy reliance on full size mock-ups of track and structures to test the final composition.

A few lessons from these “battle-scarred veterans” I noticed were:

Ben had just finished an exquisite scratch-built model of the Rock Creek viaduct (see lead photo).  It was rivet-by-rivet perfect.  However, with experience, you learn there are times you need to split from the prototype. He’d put meticulous effort into modeling the nut-bolt-washer castings.  On the prototype, they’re the same color as the surrounding wood, rendering them all but invisible.  Ben subtly highlighted the NBW parts, painting them a slightly lighter color to create contrast.  The hue was just different enough to get the job done without being in your face.  The end result was impressive.  It really made the model snap.

Shown above is Kelly’s track plan, a design I’d consider excellent for reasons that go beyond what you see on paper.  This design didn’t come from endless philosophical debates on the forums but rather from having built several previous layouts and learning some hard lessons.  A few points to take note of:

-The two signature scenes are located on each side of the door, not hidden in the back.

-Aisles are generous. 

-The room is CLEAN!

-The backdrop was kept deliberately low.

-You can easily and comfortably follow a train down the branch.

-Sight lines are controlled.

-Grades are modest.

Kelly stands in front of his Georgetown scene. Note the open look, the low backdrop, the impact of the overall cleanliness of the room.

The only way to truly improve over the decades is to be in the game and get the battle scars that go along with doing so. If you don’t occasionally examine your work and look for areas of improvement you won’t get better.  On the flip side, constantly beating yourself up is unfair and self-defeating.

What was that old commercial, “Be Like Mike”?  I’ll revise that and say be like Ben and Kelly.

You can see more of their work here:

Ben’s Website

Kelly’s Website

Kelly’s 3D Store (note the excellent wheel stops)

If you can’t stand the heat….

One of my earliest efforts, “8 Track Plans For a Spare Room” got panned by reviewers. With the detachment that comes with time, I consider the plans within it some of my better lifetime designs. Go figure.

“If you can’t stand the heat…..then get out of the oven”.  It’s a good adage to keep in mind for anyone considering becoming a published book author.  No matter who you are, there will be a percentage that is “not impressed”. On Michael Connelly’s famous book, “Black Echo”, one reviewer, “Mr. G.”, posted the following 1 star review on Amazon “Boring plot, terrible dialogue, cheesy characterizations. Was genuinely surprised by how bad it was.”

I’m sure Michael isn’t losing much sleep over Mr. G’s opinion considering both Amazon and Netflix have top rated series based on his books.

My eleventh book, one on structures published by Kalmbach, hits the shelves in May.  It’s been an interesting ride from the standpoint that it’s difficult, if not impossible, to predict what subjects will catch on and which ones won’t.  I wouldn’t say it was a “phoned-in” effort, but my operations book rolled off the typewriter fairly easily.  It was just an off-the-cuff idea that went on to become my best seller.

By contrast, what I’d consider one of my better efforts from a content point of view, the one on designs for a spare room has gotten mixed feedback, the lowest ranked reviews, and experienced tepid sales. One less-than-impressed purchaser wrote: “Not worth the money. All the plans are for the same 11’x12′ room (which is true). Only one plan allows for continuous running (factually incorrect, three are continuous run). All the plans are variations on the same theme (factually incorrect. Each is an entirely different theme). Nothing really innovative or clever. Not worth the money”. Well then, tell me what you really think!

It all  comes down to different strokes for different folks. I’m a little surprised how emotionally detached I am from how a book is received. I put all of my effort, and it’s a LOT of effort, into satisfying myself that what I’ve come up with is my best effort. That’s all I can control. Once it hits print, I wash my hands of it and don’t go back to re-read them.

Stepping to the other side of the fence, putting myself in the position of a reviewer, I’m no different. We watched a movie a few weeks ago, which I thought was great.  I looked up the reviews on IMdB and was surprised to see it got 2 ½ stars and terrible reviews.  The following week we watched an old De Niro flick which I thought was awful.  Guess what?   4.8 stars and rave reviews!

The room footprint in the Spare Room design book is by far the most common I see in my design and construction business.  I honestly hadn’t looked at it in ten years. On a whim I dusted it off and gave it a read. Yes, it has rough edges that come with me being a newbie in self-publishing when I wrote it fifteen years ago. In retrospect, I should probably should have expanded on the text a little and made the font smaller.  Water under the bridge.  When I look  at the content though, the pure meat and substance,  I do consider the nine plans inside to be pretty darn solid if I do say so myself, some of my best work. I stand by them. Shown below is one example.