I feel like I’m finally turning the corner on the Alco project. I knew going in the hardest part would be the striping, and it has been. The commercial products aren’t a match either in terms of the barricade angle or stripe width so a lot of extra time was spent working around what is available. Everything is in place so now it’s a matter of patience…applying Microset and Microsol, letting it dry, pricking the air bubbles with a needle and repeat the next day.
Planning a railroad for some point down the road? I wrote a blog on my business site about a few things to consider. You can read about it HERE.
When the LAJ bug first bit me in the 1970’s, they were running zebra striped Alco S-2’s. Next on the project list is doing a backdated rolling stock roster so I can run them. The Atlas S-2 is a superbly smooth runner, to which I just installed a Tsunami 2 decoder over the weekend. Next up is the time consuming task of procuring detail parts. As you know, no one supplier has more than a few parts so it becomes an exercise in a lot of three dollar orders doubled in cost with four dollar shipping. It becomes expensive. The owner of Rail Graphics is retiring at the end of the year so I had him make up some custom LAJ decals before closing shop. Those came in a few months ago and turned out really,really well. I think I’m going to have to do the barricade striping myself from striping sheets. After many hours of searching it appears that the barricades currently out there are either 8″ or 5″ (CP). The LAJ’s were 6″. If anybody knows of a source of white, 6″ barricades, let me know.
“You can almost always return to Home, The Place. But — eventually — you can never return to Home, The Actuality. It’s as gone as gone can be.” John Simpson
There’s an old expression, you can never go home again. In the quote above, taken from an online essay, John Simpson explains it succinctly. Although the physical place may still be there, the environment that made it “home” is long gone.
I’ve been thinking about that this week in terms of how it might apply to going back and taking another run at a previously built, long since dismantled or otherwise disposed of, model railroad. It’s tempting on a couple of fronts, especially if that previous railroad was a success. I’ll define success as the enjoyment it provided, the friends that experienced it with you, and the enduring pleasant memories. The other issue that factors in is that, if you spend a lot of time on any endeavor, you’ll get better at it. The layout we can build now would be of far higher quality than what we did five years ago, both in terms of planning and execution.
I’ve reached the stage in life where I’ve done enough modeling to have a fairly firm grasp on the type of model railroading that is most interesting to me, modern era, moderately sized, switching layouts. Other than a slight side track to build some backdated equipment, the LAJ layout is done. When I get to this point my mind starts wandering to “what’s next” and in that vein Miami’s East Rail is a recurring thought. It’s as compelling of a theme as ever, visually, romantically, operationally. The size and layout are perfect for working into a variety of small to mid-sized layout designs. I’ve enjoyed all my layouts but there was something about the East Rail project, hard to define, that put it above all of the others. Should I take another crack at it? My modeling skills have improved. I could do a better job on a second attempt. It’s the ideal size.
But….can you ever go home again? Can the things that made it so fun ever be re-captured? The thrill of discovery, the excitement and interest other modelers felt as I gave it a coming out and documented it’s construction on my blog, the new friendships that evolved out of it. You can’t recapture that. You never want what others think to be the reason you pick a theme but I really enjoyed making my discovery and journey the discovery and journey of others. You know you have something when it inspires a number of similar themed layouts. However, an East Rail 2 would likely be received with polite, been there, done that, seen it before yawns from other modelers. Does that matter? Somehow there’s a loneliness in that, very likely, reality.
The modeling bug really took hold in my teens. Since then, Miami and LA have consistently drawn me in, an appeal spanning almost four decades now. Is it likely another region would capture my interest as much as those two? Possible but it’s really hard to imagine as I write this today.
So, what is next? That’s the sixty-four dollar question.
It’s been awhile since I’ve taken some photos on the Downtown Spur layout. Shown above is Robmar Produce on 14th Avenue, NW. A larger format version can be found on my Flickr page.
