An interview with Jason Shron

[jjb1970]

Unless you are extremely fortunate then you can't have everything in life, life is about choices. I think most of us go through periods where the hobby has to take a back seat for various reasons, whether that be having to find the money for a mortgage, having children, studying or in some cases taking a back seat to other hobbies or interests. I went for a few years where I didn't really buy anything because I couldn't afford to after moving down south. I basically had the choice of staying up north or coming down south, and if coming down south buying a house we wanted and accepting what that meant in terms of spending power for other things or living in a much more modest home and retaining greater spending power. I decided to accept a few years of things being very tight, although at the time it was hard in hindsight I'd not change that decision. Now I'm back into the hobby but to be honest I'm still a bit tight fisted when it comes to discretionary spending as once you've been through a period of having to account for every penny it leaves a stamp on you I think. It's not that I buy cheap models as such, more that I'm very selective about what I buy and do not buy on a whim, I don't buy that many models but those I do buy are very nice.

[robmcg]

One aspect which some overlook is the degree to which passion plays a part.

As a teenager I got into cars and the excitement they offered, then fast road motorbikes, then after a bad crash back to cars, Jaguars in fact, but I did all the maintenance myself on old Mk1-2 saloons and a Mk10, all this latter stuff by finding ways to do things as a T5 Paraglegic wheelchair-bound (result of high speed crash on Triumph Daytona)   all this represented something of an odd case to many. But it was driven in great degree by passion for life, I detect this in Jason Shron and many others in railway modelling.

 

People in wheelchairs are not expected to find ways to remove motors from Jaguars and rebuild them, it was actively frowned-upon by some, or just simple called mad. It was called a hobby in a pejorative sense.  I was supposed to be sitting 12-14hrs a day in the 1970s and 80s doing office work...    most who adhered to that style with spinal injury the are now dead... DVTs strokes (I've had two both many days in coma) and kidney failure are common.  Why are spinal-injured people expected to sit 12-14 hrs a day...  when nobody able-bodied could do it? Imagine if at picture theatres you were require to sit for that long? But I digress.

 

By comparison with classic cars enjoying model trains whether by craftsmanship or RTR is quite a cheap pastime, but the overriding thing for me as the passion, in the case of model railways to engage the senses, the challenges,  and as many here say, "it's a broad church".

 

My point is that while you do need money, passion is a greater thing in my mind.  And just researching the kind of 6-wheelers used behind a Stirling or Caley Single, well, it's worth getting out of bed for that, certainly!  Some of use might even try to make such things! 

Edited July 25, 2018 by robmcg