Which do you lean toward, prototype or freelance? Tell me below. Also, here are some more videos about planning a model railraod you will enjoy. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-nO9EeCAjGnI.html
I think of myself as a Proto-Freelancer. I model the Burlington Northern, using their equip, and modelling their bldgs, but I freelanced the location and track layout. This truly is The World's Best Hobby!
Good explanation of the two types of modeling philosophy, I’m a good enough freelancer and I respect the efforts required to be a prototyper. I don’t understand how somebody could unlike this discussion, we’re just talking high tech TOYS. Thanks Ron!
Thanks for this really great commentary, Ron. In my case, I built a freelanced layout in the 1980s, but it was based on Conrail in central Pennsylvania. My current layout is based on real prototype, the Union Pacific in southwestern Wyoming and northeastern Utah. I have immensely enjoyed the process of learning about the region I'm modeling, its history, geography, and economy, and the Union Pacific Railroad which runs through it. But model railroading is a series of compromises and a lot of compression. So, as you aptly suggested and like most model railroaders, my layout falls somewhere on the spectrum between prototype and freelance. ...Roy
Hi Roy. Thanks for your comment. One thing that I didn't say in the video but should have is that some things that would seem like a negative to some people are a positive to others. A great example is one that you mentioned, researching a prototype railroad. I personally have really enjoyed researching BNSF and its predecessors in the area that I model, and operations for the place and time I model. Others would hate that. what is a joy to some is a burden to others.
great show Ron ,im a freelance guy but stuck on U.K N-gauge 70-80s era very interesting time in railway in U.K. look forward to next show ,take care John
And then you have the guys like me! I just enjoy collecting locomotives. Simply put, I don't have the space nor time to build a layout. Even if I did, a simple design just to see my trains travel around the tracks would be more than enough for me. My passion for the hobby is in the engines themselves. I remember being a young boy and drawing, watching, and talking about trains with my granddad. We'd sit and talk about Big Boy, the General, and the "Bullet Nose" as I called it as a kid (N&W's Class J, lol), all the way to watching the Norfolk Southern trains pass behind our house. I have a Big Boy 4014, the N&W 611, the General, and a couple of Norfolk Southern diesels all in HO scale in their own display cases on a shelf and its more than enough to take me back to those days as a kid spending time with the greatest man I had ever known. I've thought about seeing if there are any local model railroading clubs, though. It'd be nice to get out and meet people who are into the hobby and perhaps take my engines out and see them run from time to time.
My layout is Proto-freelance. Top level is based off the 1909-1923 prototype but the design is entirely freelance as there’s next to zero photos or information available on the operations on the line. The bottom level is based on the prototype that enters port lavaca Texas and it does have the same industries, however I did have to shrink and adjust the layout in order to fit the room it’s in, the yard is a condensed version of the Bloomington Texas yard I grew up praying I’d get stuck at the crossing to watch massive trains move at a crawl, and I’m having a separate 12 foot third level that will represent the massive Dow chemical plant outside of my hometown of seadrift Texas, I really can’t wait to have enough progress to actually make good edited videos
Hi Ron, You hit the nail on the head, the best model railroad (prototype, freelanced or proto freelanced) is the one that makes it's owner happy. When I was modeling in V Scale using Microsoft Train Simulator and Rail Works Train Simulator I was 100% prototype modeling. With V scale you were not limited by a layout room size, so your layout or route was 100% accurate with structures, locomotives and rolling stock being created using 3D modeling tools like Google Sketchup. With my N scale model railroad, I enjoy switching cars at local industries, but I have a couple of prototype railroads of interest. Since none of them had any locations that could be modeled in the small space I have for a layout, I chose Proto Freelancing. .You ask, what is Proto Freelancing, I'm using locomotives and freight cars painted and decaled for a specific prototype railroad, with all of the equipment correct for a specific date in history, but the line modeled never existed in the real world. A little more explanation, As you mentioned examples of prototype modeling is Tony Koester's Nickle Plate Road and the La mesa model railroad clubs Southern Pacific line over Tehachapi. Examples of Freelanced model railroads are Eric Brooman's Utah Belt and Allen McClelland's Virginian & Ohio. My model railroad falls right in the middle of these two, where the route is pure fiction but the equipment is from a prototype railroad. For me this is the best of both worlds, being a fan of a prototype railroad because of the equipment they use but not being restricted to modeling a specific part of the prototype railroad. Cheers, Rich S.
I wanted to model the whole Alaska Railroad, but once I got the plans done I realized I could only model from once city to another which is about a 10th of the rail line. I agree also that you cant be totally one or the other! We don't have the room or the means.
Yes definently no mountains around Wichita Falls I lived there for a while. I appreciate your videos,it a great help to me this is my first railroad and I only have room for n scale.Thank you
This is a great explanation and it so correct on how we do work in our hobby I started with the prototype and as the time spent we went to freelance and here we are today we are making it an era of all goes within the years I chose thanks for great video
Great video Ron I freelance but often find that I use prototypical structures or scenery, I agree that there may me no such thing as a true freelancer or prototypical modeler, great job at pointing out the differences and the pros and cons or each.
Outstanding presentation, Ron. In my 70+ years model railroading, I categorize Prototypers as often being stressed about accuracy...while I've observed Freelancers as generally always happy with whatever appears on their layout. I'd like to remind my friends on both sides of the aisle that these are nothing more than toy trains designed to generate a smile.
Right on Ron! Great topic and well said 👍 I am protolancing my new layout circa 1970's to late 1990's of Northern MN / Ontario Canada border. Running BN, CN, SOO, MD&W and DWP. I hope to grow the layout to include further south of MN as my bench work is sectional for easy relocating / adding on to for the someday wrap around layout room. Been dreaming of it for 15 years and finally started on it this year.. we'll see what time and learning brings in the long run but that's the plan so far lol. My childhood nostalgia of certain railroads and areas stuck with me all these years :) Thank you for sharing your model railroad videos, they are a great inspiration!
Very good presentation Ron. In my case, I am modeling a loosely based version of the Virginia & Truckee RR in Nevada as if it never went out of business in the early 1950's and continued operation into current times. It does still have the old steam trains now running as a scenic railroad, as it actually does today. (A nice ride I took three years ago) But in my version it also has diesel locomotives and all of the associated uptodate facilities and businesses of a modern short line operation. Thanks for this video, I enjoy them all.
Thanks Ron! you really hit home with this video! i am a freelancer and sometimes people want to discredit me as not being a modeler because I "make it up." however I too have to do a lot of research and I have had to use A LOT of trial and error when it comes to making my layout make sense. your point about being somewhere in the middle is spot on! i use primarily csx but mix in others and am currently working to figure out what road names i can reasonably get away with in a fictional place somewhere in the michigan in the mid 1990's.
Hi Ron, hi everybody, this vid gives a lot of food for thought. It made me realize that freelancing requires a lot more thinking about what you want and what fits together. You can of course just buy and build anything you fancy, but that might look quite messy when you put it all together. Being prototypical does of course require a lot of research, but it probably is less hard to come up with an overall plan. There's a lot more to this debate than one might think on the surface!
Thanks for this video. Proto-Lance is where I am heading. Planning to model some of the track work in Orlando (surprised to see some pretty cool stuff down here) but this is a CSX area and I prefer Norfolk Southern paint. Chuck
Thanks for this Ron! I'm somewhere in the 50-66% leaning toward prototype for what I am planning/working on for my layout. Some of that is determined by my limited space, but also wanting to do some industries that aren't directly located within the area that I am modelling. Still, the options on a shortline filled with leased power next to a Class 1 railroad gives me a lot of modelling/weathering opportunities. Congrats on 13,000 subscribers!
I think this was a great explanation of model railroading for me I'm between that boy with his first train and man who knows how the real railroad works. So a mix between the both. I feel like we get to cought up in the whole if I doesn't have this that it's not correct. Lets face it this is all and expression of how we view it. We all see it different. Thanks for the video.
Excellent video Ron! I've lived on both sides of the spectrum. And I can say that both prototype and freelance have their challenges and their rewards. But at the end of the day for me picking to model a prototype over a freelance railroad all came down to "connecting" to my railroad. The prototype I am modeling now is the same railroad that ran behind my house when I was a kid, so you can say I'm quite connected to my current railroading project. Reliving that nostalgia is what is making this process enjoyable and has tipped my scales in favor of prototype modeling! -Andy
Great video with a lot of good points! As you say, ultimately it's what is right FOR YOU and brings you the most FUN. It is a hobby after all, and as with most hobbies there are various ways to approach it.
Well said. Your view of what you want is the only answer. On my garden railway as long as the train has the loco and rolling stock that match in size time and style I smile. It can be uk, German, USA,Canadian, narrow or main line. The smile is always the same. But it is your train that needs to make you smile. If you “only want “ the 12-30 off Manchester on a Summer Saturday in 1958. Then it will make you smile. I will admire your research and dedication to that train. But I would not go THAT far but that is me. Trains just make me smile, some times so happy others just grin when it comes round the corner. It needn’t be my loco or stock any one’s running is always good ..... isn’t it.........Amacf
my layout is both, I am a protolancer, lol lover that term. On my layout the top level is a single track representation of the cuesta grade, some very short sections are modeled on images of the line and the landscape is modeled without compression, nearly exactly and a work in progress to make it as close as possible. Cuts in hills and tunnel entrances, long sections without any change in curvature are compressed out, areas of the hills are compressed to show foliage changes with altitude one finds in the California coastal range. I am a geography and geology enthusiast so that part is prototypical to the landscape. the lower level of my layout is a yard level that is all unitrack and can be modified to create different switching situations. 4 track yard that can handle a 18 car set and slice it up with switchers. then take the freight cars into an industrial area that is roughly modeled and basically a playset until I decide a permanent switching layout that I can live with. I may plaster it all and treat it as a california town industrial area that is evolving, ripping out and installing industries and track and calling it releasing of property. I want to role play the railroad owner and community manager not the engineer of a train, although that is a fun part as well it's not enough to keep me interested. I think it might work for my modern california layout to just leave the shadow of the old industry, since our landscape is dotted with just such features clearly visible from the air. If I dont need the space, leave an industry to rot, just rip out the switch and let the track oxidize. let nature take its course :)
Well said Ron. While the availability of so much prototype ready-to-run equipment is a boon to prototype modeling, according to a recent MRH survey the majority of Modelers think of themselves as some sort of freelance on that continuum you described. Awesome show!
Personally I like a mix, I combine prototype rolling stock in a prototype area but construct the layout in a somewhat freelance way and operate it in a similar way too
I believe in the Proto-lance style as I will be modeling 1986 -2001 and I have scratch built real world buildings and am using fantasy put together industries but the goal is to make it believable.
My layout will be a 2x4 in N scale and called Lion King Lines (LKL) and Lion King Lines City Division (LKLCD), based off of my favorite movie the Lion King. It will be set somewhere in the 1994 thru 1998 era when both Lion King 1 and 2 came out. While I’ll have to decal some cars and locomotives, I plan to mix a few real world train cars into it, like a RailBox or a Penn Central gondola car. And the setting will be a city on one side of the layout and the other side, a grain facility or scrap yard or both (both separated by a backdrop) It’s going to be a short line railroad that runs from the bustling city to the suburbs out near Pride Rock out in the Grasslands / Pridelands, with a interchange track that allows LKL to switch with LKLCD. Yeah. I got it figured out pretty well so far! :) It will be expanded in the future. This is my first time building a layout. Hopefully I do well!
Great video Ron...Well said...The layout I am planning is based on the New York harbor rail float operations that no longer go on, But It would be IMPOSSIBLE to model New York exactly and so I plan to represent it as best I can within the space I have...The hard part is deciding what to cut out and what to keep ....and still have the look and feel that I want.
As I work on what I might like to start building in the next year, I'm bumping into the proto-freelance fence. I'd like to do something as realistic as I could, but my hometown has a couple railroad lines that run, or ran through it, but it's pretty difficult to get info on some of these small town areas, and I work at a library that has a genealogy center that's packed with local history. I can build it exactly as it is now and have a mile of track that serves a single customer, or I could try to look up how it used to look and run steam, or I could pretend that the area hadn't been virtually abandoned, and come up with modern customers...or maybe even blend old and new, and that's where I think I am now.
Ron, thank you , thank you for this. I'm glad that you have taken the time to talk about this issue. I know that it's be going on since the mid 60's when I started to really get into the hobby. Sure we all would like to have the real thing, but sometime you just need to let the imagination go also. I consideer myself more "Proto-lance" than anything. I don't like lables and not so stuck in one thing that I dampen my own joy and love of trains. Maybe there should be no more talk about this and it might go away? LOL I know that's not going to happen, whatever tthe outcome eveerryone do what your hearrt feels and what make you happy! Ron, really enjoyed the topic of thiss video and I hope that the bickering stops, no one is right and no one is wrong. David Muse
Brave soul! A lot of heat and very little light in discussions in the hobby. The part that bothers me is the fanatics wrapped in righteousness over this subject. Back in the days when the prize Varney loco was decorated for a road that never owned any brought forth howls of feigned pain. How many friendships foundered on that rock. Brave soul. Thanks.
Today's topic really hits home for me. Even though I haven't built a layout yet, I plan for prototype modeling. Most of my energy, research, and model train and structure kit acquisitions, all go toward recreating 2 prototype railroads and the industries that they served around where I grew up in the mid-1960s to mid-1970s. For instance, I have amassed a collection of 35 diesel locomotives and hundreds of cars of rolling stock that were typical from the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s. I don't buy steam locomotives representative of the 1950s or earlier, nor do I collect modern-looking diesels and rolling stock typical of the 1980s and newer. By the way, congrats on surpassing 13,000 subscribers, Ron! Your RU-vid success just goes to prove that when you create short but interesting model railroading topics, present them in a polished production on a regular basis, and project a genuine, on-screen friendliness to your viewers, these can all combine to make a winning formula. Keep up your awesome work! May God continue to bless you and your endeavors. I wish you and your family a very special Christmas and a happy New Year. May we never forget the reason for the season. -from Tom Pilling
Thanks so much, Tom. You have been not only a great subscriber but a regular contributor to the conversation on this channel for a long time, and it is much appreciated. Your layout plans sound very interesting. I look forward to seeing them come to fruition. Merry Christmas to you and your family as well.
Hi Ron, hi everybody, I buy mostly of the shelf items, but in an imagined geographical area. Over the years, I got to like loco's and trains from different European countries and bought them. Now I am trying to think of why these trains come together in one geographical area, which requires a lot of thought.
My father and I freelanced together when I was in high school, and we had a lot of fun, but recently I've had fun researching the local railroads in New Mexico and I plan to model some of the helper operations over the Raton pass for my next layout.
Hi Dats, Anything new on the Closet Branch? You're approaching the hobby pretty much the same as me, you've picked a prototype as far as locomotives and rolling stock, but the line modeled is fiction. As I mentioned in my reply above to Ron, I call this Proto Freelancing. Cheers, Rich S.
I am definitely protolance. I model a fictional short line that goes through real towns in New England and interchanges with three real railroads: Conrail, Delaware & Hudson, and the Housantonic Railroad. Excellent video Ron!
I'm just getting started again after 25 years with my old HO stuff boxed up in the garage. I want my grandkids involved, so there will be some prototyping and freelancing, and a dinosaur or two.
For me I am using a mix of prototype and freelance. So sticking to South African Railway rolling stock and engines, but making my scenery unique with a few landmarks.
There was a railway that ran past where I grew up. It was removed well before I was born, but my dad and I would ride along it on our bikes picking up coal to burn in the bbq to make a steam train smell. Anyhoo, I kinda want to build a layout that is a fantasy version of the railway that was successful.
It's up to the modeler of course. But with so much more fairly accurate models now, it's easer than ever to model your favorite prototype. I'm an Rio Grande and SP fan and there is only one thing missing for post 1970 modeling, and that's cabooses. Even now we have to go brass for correct cabooses, but Athearn Genesis may put out an ICC wide vision caboose in the next year or two, when they can finally get around to it. In the mean time I have around 8 or the 01400 series shop built cabooses in brass.
It was the extreme types from both ends of this argument which had me packing up my trains and going home. I have left several model rail clubs over these very reasons and I have zero desire to ever return. In the other points the online community has been far more welcoming.
Ron, my layout will be feux-totypical (TM). That is, I want to model the mid to late 1950's using Southern Railway, Norfolk & Western, Norfolk Southern, and Atlantic Coast Lines. The setting will be in the Carolinas, but not to a specific place. Real industries with whimsical names will be served via a mixture of sidings and yards along side real passenger services. As a fellow RU-vidr channel says: Rule #1 "It's my railroad and I can build and run it my way." Rule #2 "If you don't like it, refer back to Rule #1." I enjoy your channel and all of its information. Keep up the good work.
I like both, but I lean more to the freelance. I'm a big Southern Pacific fan, especially the Shasta Division, between Redding California, and Klamath Falls Oregon, set between the years 1975, and 1980. I have fond memories of my early childhood watching the Southern Pacific when I lived in Klamath Falls. As much as I love the Southern Pacific of the location, and era I mentioned above, I also have equally fond memories of looking through my dad's old Model Railroader magazines, and enjoying the articles, and pictures of the super cool freelance layouts, such as the Allegheny Midland, the Virginia & Ohio, the Utah Belt, the Ohio Southern, the Sunset Valley, and my absolute favorite, the Franklin, & South Manchester, which got me interested in layouts with an urban theme. When I eventually build my own layout, I'll probably go the freelance route. While having to paint my own engines, and coming up with a paint scheme will take some work, I'd end up having to do that anyway, if I went full prototype, as most engines pre painted in Southern Pacific colors miss some notable details, like the three nose lights, which would require modifying the body, along with repainting. I figure as long as I keep the paint scheme simple, I should have some nice looking engines, and can use engines I like, that the Southern Pacific didn't use. I like being creative, and flexible, which is what a freelance layout allows, and as long as I enjoy my layout, as you said, that's all that matters. The great thing about this hobby, is you can build, and enjoy your layout how ever you want, and there is no right or wrong way in picking a theme, or era.
Good explanation, I’ve had these ideas for sometime about everyone having to be in the spectrum somewhere, so I was kinda twitching until 8:20 where you nailed that definition. It’s my contention that there’s no modeler that’s 100% freelance, if someone says they are ask them what equipment they’ve created. If they’re running GP40’s or some prototype variant of a loco, or PS1 boxcars, then there’s some prototype influence. If your 100% freelance then you need to be inventing locos and rolling stock from imagination. Same for prototype, I believe you can be 99.99% prototype if you building a high fidelity replica of a specific boxcar in a certain year, or a certain structure to blueprints. Otherwise your some percentage in the spectrum. As an engineer, both in personality type, education, and profession, and as a person inclined toward the sciences I think we need a measure of prototype-ed’ness (or prototype-y’ness). A spectrum that you could find your best balance for your particular big 5 psychological index (worth Googling). I suggest definitions such as, are you recreating an actual prototype railroad that exists or once existed? a specified era, year, or range of years? a specific place or area? and how to scale and fidelity you desire? So a template enthusiast that runs what they want including railroads that didn’t exist using equipment that’s out of scale proportion, them your prolly about 10%. If you model the Santa Fe in no specific era or across an entire range of eras in no specific region you might be 25%. If your into the Pennsy railroad around the 1953-57 era, modeling a fictitious branch line in Northeastern Pennsylvania, around 65%. A real location, the way the prototype railroads track alignment existed but compressed and “bent” to fit in your railroad room, in a specific year, 85%. I think most people are in the 40%-70% range, Jack Burgess is up around 95%, Tony Koester is around 80% simply because of how big an area he’s representing and how much compression and omission would be required. I’m targeting 91.4% :) How about the rest of you? And you should really take a big 5 personality test, from a university NOT ON FACEBOOK, it’s good to understand what kinda person you are and then use that to help determine what kinda modeler you will be the happiest being...
Hey, Andy. I knew you would weigh in on this conversation. As you know, you and I think much alike on this subject. Of course, as people grow in skill and knowledge, their modeling naturallly matures and they tend to become higher fidelity and thus more prototypical (even if their layouts and lines are freelanced) with time. I have come to view the spectrum concept as a true explanation of where all are in the whole proto/free arena.
Yes indeed, we have had the opportunity to discuss to some level. However, I’ve near universally seen or read this debate in the hobby and hobby press as binary and I think that’s extremely misleading and does a great injustice to newer modelers. I think your description here is the best I’ve seen. It is my belief that there’s much more to be defined in establishing an understandable spectrum that an individual could use to match their goals and personality to some range within that spectrum. At the moment I think it’s largely a guess that a modeler makes and adjusts as they mature in the hobby, which requires many modelers to be build a series of layouts as they continue to adjust their position within this spectrum. It’s my opinion that it could be of utility to modelers crossing the threshold into the significant and costly efforts of constructing any moderate sized layout and acquiring the requisite fleet of equipment. I’ve seen many modelers change scale, prototype, era, etc., at the loss of much invested effort and monies. This can be of some consternation to layout builders when faced with such a decision to tear down much or all of what they have poured their effort into, and likely contributes to some stagnation and possible dissatisfaction in some modelers experience in the hobby. I think a good scale might be of benefit to those modelers, especially at that pivotal point when they are moving from that first “chainsaw” layout up to a bigger commitment. As the current thinking expressed in the hobby being binary implies to certain modelers that want to express some creativity that they must choose the freelance choice, where a more mature modeler my choose a freelanced branch of a prototype, a “what could’ve been” option, or other mid-spectrum decision that they likely could have been happier with. All because it is seen as binary and you either make it up or become a “rivet counter” and I think many people loose years due to this information to help people find their way in this spectrum not being shared effectively downstream.
I am freelance at the time. I still have to do my wiring, but have a vision in place and plenty of exciting features in mind within the small room I am working in. I am going super modern with restaurants and shops as well as bringing aging buildings up to date. I’m currently giving the Union station by Walthers Cornerstone the southwestern treatment based on the El Paso and Southwestern Depot for a Southern California setting. Having space for everything will need further observation. I am working in Ho scale now, but have considered doing a prototype layout in N scale or N gauge as I knew it 20 years ago, based on the Amtrak run from Baltimore’s Penn station to the station in Wilmington, DE which I remember from our family trips to New York City years ago. I honestly haven’t checked the routes going out of Baltimore and where they all go. This leads me to my inquiry about doing a 6’+ point to point run on a single track so I can run a track from one point in the city to the train station. Is this possible with a single run of track?
Ron's Trains N Things - I’m talking about a stretch of track where I could run a trolley from one end of the stretch of track to the other. I was going to use this as a shuttle system from the city to the station and back again. So simply, the train would just run back and forth. I have seen it before, but rarely. Just one dead end to another. How does it work?
I have never dont that myself, but it can be done using sensors on each end of the track and automation software. I believe an infrared sensor would work best for this, and JMRI may do the automation. Basically the trolley reaches a point at which it trips the sensor which tells the softward to stop the trolley. The software leaves the trolley stationary for a set period of time, then reverses the direction and sends it back up the line where the same process is repeated at the other end. A company called Azatrax maket components for such a system. Theck out this link, and good luck. Let us know how it goes. www.azatrax.com/back-and-forth.html
I believe it depends on which RR you're trying to emulate. In my case both RR I am intrested in haven't hauled a box car in over a century. This allows me to have a Frankenstein layout where I am rooted in prototype as far as my research allows and freelance as I visit the places they once traveled. In hind sight I shoulda stayed with the Lackawanna :-) Merry Christmas
you made some good points I know in my case I am modeling the Eastern Kentucky Sub from Patio yard to Hazard , Ky it mostly is a coal sub but I like switching so I figured they had to get mining equipment and other things by rail so that is my adjustment to the sub. On my lower level I am planing on building the Chester sub from East St Louis down through Cape Geraudeo
I proto-freelance, model in a specific geographic area and the railwaythat went through that area. I model circa 1900, however the railway I model was absorbed into the Canadian Pacific in 1883.
I model a freelance bridge RR the Missouri & Arkansas Railway used by the CB&Q & MKT. The location is in Eastern Missouri. The line starts out at Old Monroe Mo. On the CB&Q next to the Cuivre River at MO. State Highway 79, then goes west to Ethlyn then Moscow Mills on to Hawk Point Mo. From Hawk Point the main line splits with one branch goes West trough Truxton then Wellsville on to Mexico Mo to meet up with the Wabash / Norfolk & Western line. The other branch swings south along MO. State Highway 47 where it crosses the old Wabash / Norfolk & Western RR line near Warrenton Mo. This line continues south thru Missouri Wine Country to connect with MKT near Marthasville Mo. by State Highway 94. Since this is "My" railroad most places will have the "flavor" of this area but may not be perfect to the prototype. Time is pre Burlington Northern (1970). The location & time frame gives me a lot of room of the type of motive power I can use plus pre-merger freight cars from so many different Railroads from all over the country. As with many railroads built in the late1800’s they never reached all the way as planned. So they never made it all the way to Arkansas. #1 This will be a point to point RR built on Hollow-core doors (about $24 ea) along two walls, so it will be in sections. #2 It's going to be less track, no large yards, no switch machines, open staging, & simple engine service area. #3 Just a few small towns with one or two sidings. #4 More open scenery between towns. #5 Interchange with the Norfolk & Western on the West end, MKT on the South end & the CB&Q on the East end. facebook.com/MissouriArkansasRailway/
Prototype building appeals to those often enjoy recreating a scene that it would be the envy of a local museum or a historical society because it existed in reality. Indeed the challenge is greater since the accuracy is more demanding and recreating long lost buildings as well as the ephemera of a past era even within the modeler own lifetime is quite rewarding. Dioramas that State/Historical Musems have are often the most popular exhibits because there time capsules who's remnants are a living archeology of a city/region who's remnants surrounds us. Freelancing is more forgiving to beginners but just as rewarding especially within the era of steam who's incredible variety equipment makes today's standardized rolling stock look dull in comparison. Most modeler's will often choose freelancing because it's more flexible and mixing both is no sin either since a layout really needs a bit of both after all.
@@RonsTrainsNThings awesome stuff man keep up the good work, by the way i think im fairly freelance as i have a mix of countries and time periods running at the same time.
Hey Ron good topic , I agree with a lot of the people on here I think we all fall into the proto-lance type of modeling at first I planned on basing a model railroad on the Delaware Ave. branch of the PRR in philadelphia 1925 to 1948 and had enough historical documents to accurately model this but the problem came from not having models for the locomotives A-5 steam switchers I could have moved the time frame for the layout but that would have taken away the sense of time and setting I wanted to portray and at that time I was really into the steam era freight car kits that were coming out at the time this whole experience taught me a lot about that era of railroading and industrial science and the history of American transportation I really enjoyed that well anyway prototype based model railroading is very intensive and time consuming and for me at least takes a lot of commitment to get where you want to go prototype model railroading is what it says it is there are no compromises if you are going to do it right.
I would love to do a prototype layout however i am only working with a 9x7 shelf layout (n scale) and I had a lot of different things I wanted to add and not enough space to realistically model a prototypical region. I wanted an urban area and container port plus had to fit in other structures and utilize rolling stock I already have. As it sits I had to leave out mountains and my coal mine from my track plan. I did leave space for a helix in case I want to pull a Steve Brown and drop down a level.
Ya Ron, just like you said. 😁👍🏼. Great video and well explained. I like the title you had before, “protolance”. It’s better call it that way, for one,”freelance” is not really “free”. LOL. Take care. - Drew
prototype yard, free lance layout. I would think most people are this way . start with A dream of one memory. add a layout around that scene. maybe add a second one
Tbh it shouldn’t even be an argument no person is the same no railroad is the same real world or model world whatever you wanna do you should do it’s your railroad no one else’s
I honestly don't know what you would call my idea of my future model train layout..... the track map is the 1970 Milwaukee Road tracks, I use the CN roster locomotives and road numbers, and the name of the railroad is the Joliet Pacific.
Great video Ron...I don't know what you would call how I model. I don't model a prototype and I don't really Freelance. If i see something I like I use it on my Layout. What would Steve say, "It My Railroad". I'm just having fun and isn't that what it's all about :)...Thank You may god bless you and your family, have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Tom
Hey Ron, thanks for the video. Very insightful, lots of things to think about. I’m interested in building am N scale layout. I would like it to be a 2’ X 4’ module to Free Mo specs. It’s a free lance module. And since I’m a beginner I’m sure I’ve made some mistakes that I’m not aware of. Can I email you a diagram for your opinions and critiques before I start building?
Good eye. There are 2 of them. They are not permanent residents on the layout. They are some cool die cast toys my son had. I staged them there for some photo fun.
My ideal model railroad contains both prototype /and/ freelance. In a nutshell: my future Mesquite Valley RR imagines the San Antonio, Fredricksburg and Northern (www.txtransportationmuseum.org/history-rr-sa-fredericksburg-northern.php) as surviving into the 1970s with prototype portions of the then MKT, SP/Cottonbelt, and MP on the south end of the RR (San Antonio) tracks and interchanges modeled as closely as possible. The fictional northern end of the railroad would interchange with AT&SF at a prototypical location. This allows me to be creative about much of the MVRR tracks and industries, while also making the majority of the railroad and interchanges with prototypical models to allow less need to create everything from scratch. As an example, I plan to model the prototype MKT Sloan yard and freight/passenger terminal that terminated the southern portion of the MKT in San Antonio Texas. The yard was a small through yard on a wye - there was no turntable, and the engine facilities were minimal at best. Both the yard and the terminal no longer exist, and I've never seen anyone model them before.
I'm much more of a freelancer. I prefer to just watch the trains instead of trying to emulate real life operations. Like having freight cars and engines from all eras vs just focusing on one time period.
although i live in the same town as warren buffett, i sadly need to say he doesn't share. so being able to model a prototype is out of the question. only warren can afford to play with the real thing, the rest of us need to selectively compress. so now the question is how much do we compromise? budget, space and scope of effort is all factors. time? even warren cannot rewind the clock, sadly we are stuck with the butt ugly BNSF orange instead of the classic AT&SF paint scheme.
Why do you call researching and scratch building down sides of prototype modeling? The research can be incredibly fun and it is nice to not have the same off the shelf buildings and equipment as everyone else.
Yes, I wasn't clear on that. It is a down side for those who do not want to/like to do research or scratch build. These are not down sides to me, but they are to some people. I will quote my reply to Roy Smith (N-Scale Union Pacific Evanston Subdivision). "One thing that I didn't say in the video but should have is that some things that would seem like a negative to some people are a positive to others. A great example is one that you mentioned, researching a prototype railroad. I personally have really enjoyed researching BNSF and its predecessors in the area that I model, and operations for the place and time I model. Others would hate that. what is a joy to some is a burden to others."
When I was into model aircraft modeling (1/48 mostly) I decided to join a club (IPMS) and that did not last too long.I thought my stuff was pretty darn nice and had my airbrushing skills down to an art and my decal skills were not too shabby either.Well…….some of those rivet counters were pretty hard core ,over the top hardcore,and that turned me off ,so I stopped going.I tought to myself "this is a hobby ,and meant to be fun and you guys are turning me off and probably others too" and I`m pretty anal when I do things...probably OCD anal.When I got into N scale model railroading, I said to myself "I`m doing things my way and to H%## with what others say or think and dictate how to model my railroad" and so far so good. Like you say Ron, it`s a hobby and made to provide fun and long time enjoyment and that`s exactly what I`m doing....having a great time !! We have a local N scale club, and although not a member, I visit from time to time ,and those fellas are pretty darn nice and helpful, not a bunch of crazy rivet counters(although I am a bit of a rivet counter to an extent ,I have fun and don`t sweat things too much) I also don`t judge other peoples layouts and offer my 2 cents ,that can turn people off ,much like the old IPMS model club.
