Geographical Loyalty

[James Makin]

Reading a few threads including the new Hornby one and statements like "LNER guys" got me thinking - how much loyalty to a certain area, region or place do we have in the hobby?

 

I've not thought about it greatly before, but along my travels I've met people who only model certain areas, and as someone who does the opposite, am I missing something, with fingers in many pies, so to speak?

 

In my relatively short modelling career I've modelled the South West, a North Western depot, items for a London layout and toying with trains on my local 'Southern' patch, without second thought. Is geographical loyalty a dying trend now that the great Pre-Grouping companies of the past are almost completely gone from living memory? I have family roots coming from Didcot and Kent, but don't feel my modelling 'belongs' anywhere, is that unusual?

 

I grew up with the likes of Intercity or later Virgin Cross Country, EWS etc, and any item of rolling stock could be seen almost anywhere in the country, and variety of traffic at any location can be dictated by a timetable change or award of a new freight contract. I've been inspired by going to see the real railway, and then modelling it, and often the subject can be many hundreds of miles from where I live.

 

For many years, I got put off by modelling my local railway, the Southern Sussex Coastway, as the trains I saw everyday just didn't seem as exciting as the 'foreign' ones I saw on long-distance trips. I sometimes think I've missed out by not modelling local railways for longer, as it is much easier to obtain photographs, route knowledge, history, and keep up with modern changes.

 

I think it's fantastic that people can feel sufficiently connected to their own area, and could well understand modelling your 'own patch' in the same way you'd support your local football team. But then using that analogy you also get many supporting the likes of Man Utd, so what do others think?

[steve22]

Each to her or his own in this hobby, James, as you've probably guessed. I don't think geographical loyalty will ever be a dying trend nor a necessity. "LNER Guys" may be people mainly from that area but others will have seen an A4 as a child for example, which will have inspired them, and there's countless other reasons for geographical choice. I believe that the late David Jenkinson grew up in 'Southern' territory but became fascinated by lovely LMS red engines and the Settle & Carlisle in particular, when the family was visiting that area.

Here on RMWEB we have people like 'Westerner' who has built a lovely example of a BR Western region layout and he lives way over on the east side of our country. On another tack, Richard (Ben Alder) lives in Scotland and models The Mound to a high degree of accuracy as well as Kylesku but to the delight of many of us fellow rmwebbers he runs all sorts of locos from all over on his layout.

Some people will no doubt model a particular area for its scenic possibilities, regardless of where their favourite loco ran or where they personally live. Some will say, 'I run what I like, and I like what I run' and others will meticulously 'stick' to one very localised spot of the railways of this country or some other. Each will derive a great deal of pleasure from what they do and each has proved a blessing to me; I've looked at postings on here with no particular geographical interest and simply been drawn in by the enthusiasm of the person as he or she talks about their own special interest.

That also goes for other postings on electrics, scenery, buildings and so on - each has the 'power' to make us stop a while and learn something new and enjoy this fascinating hobby all the more.

Every blessing with your own modelling, wherever it might or might not or might never be based!

Steve.

[Ozexpatriate]

We've had lots of "what's your inspiration" topics here in the 'musings' area and the answer is always "each to his or her own" and the causes are not restricted to I was born, grew up, lived, or am living, there or then.

 

Not all that glitters is gold, and not all who wander in the north east are lost forever, the same being true for any other regional or temporal affinity.

[newbryford]

Despite the wealth of information via the web for modellers of the contemporary scene, I still model the reasonably local area. If only for the reason that if I can't find a readily available picture, I can go and see it for myself in the next spare hour or so I get.

 

But then again, within an hour, I've got the choice of the S&C or Manchester/Liverpool/Leeds etc., so there's a decent variety for me to go at. If I lived in commuterland South East with an EMU service only, as James says, I wouldn't give it a second glance.

 

As for my local football team - they're going down this season..............

 

Cheers,

Mick