lightengine Posted April 7, 2014 Share Posted April 7, 2014 I find it interesting the difference we British modellers have compared to the US modelers. Pick up any US magazine and they all appear to have massive layouts in W or U shapes in huge basements or specially built sheds. Every magazine has details of how many operators and spotters etc they need to run their 'switching' yards and to run the layout. Operators have special forms to make up their trains and have paperwoork and cards for every aspect of train running. The layouts have crew rooms often with refreshments and a dispatchers office. They use 'fast' clocks and stick to very precise 'switching' and running times. Pick up an English magazine and its about having fun running trains, making trees, scratch building windmills etc etc. It's not just 2 countries divided by a common language! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Kris Posted April 8, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted April 8, 2014 What you might notice is that the US mags often only show a small section of the layout in question as this is the only section finished. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talltim Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 What about the layouts in the southern states? ;-) I thought this thread was going to be VS Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRealistic Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 I wish my house had one of those ginormous basements... you wouldn't HAVE to fill it! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talltim Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 As a child the huge convoluted layouts fascinated me, there was one in a late 70s/early 80s RM with floor to ceiling valleys where you basically walked up the riverbed. I used to draw rambling track plans that carried on until I ran out of paper! However its the real US prototype that have made me model North American and if I had a huge basement I would build a large UK style fiddleyard to fiddleyard with a single 'location' in between style US proto layout. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
trisonic Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 The original post is a sweeping generalization. Never heard of Lance Mindheim? Or read about the layouts in the USA and Canadian RailRoads Section of RMWeb? Here's one of Lance's:http://www.lancemindheim.com/river_corridor.htm Really I agree with your criticism of Model Railroader, the magazine. Even though they have featured Lance's stuff they still like basement filling empires. The quality of the modeller over here is the same as the UK, unless you are prejudiced... Best, Pete. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
shortliner Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 I find it interesting the difference we British modellers have compared to the US modelers. Pick up any US magazine and they all appear to have massive layouts in W or U shapes in huge basements or specially built sheds. Every magazine has details of how many operators and spotters etc they need to run their 'switching' yards and to run the layout. Operators have special forms to make up their trains and have paperwoork and cards for every aspect of train running. The layouts have crew rooms often with refreshments and a dispatchers office. They use 'fast' clocks and stick to very precise 'switching' and running times. Pick up an English magazine and its about having fun running trains, making trees, scratch building windmills etc etc. It's not just 2 countries divided by a common language! You obviously haven't come across the UK exhibition layout that featured a length of mainline track through open moorland with birdsong, and ran to the ACTUAL timetable, which meant that, if you were really lucky and there at the right time, you saw a train run! So your rather sweeping generalisation is quite untrue - modelling a railway/railroad is done the way it is for owner/operators pleasure and enjoyment, and not for the benefit of magazine readers Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-UnitMad Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 The OP is such a sweeping generalisation that it's hardly worth responding to. .... and what, exactly, is the point it is trying to make?? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talltim Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 Really I agree with your criticism of Model Railroader, the magazine. I didn't think it was a criticism. Obviously you might get an incorrect impression of the size of the average north American layout if that was your only source of knowledge on modelling in NA, but the fact that MR manages to feature them all the time shows that quite a few exist. If you tried to do the same in the UK you would struggle after a few months. The whole difference in attitude thing is something we have gone over many times in the RMWeb NA forum, but for someone who is used to the UK scene and who has just come across basement empires for the first time, it is a fascinating discovery of a whole new way of modelling. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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