Changes in the Hobby

You've been on the hobby, Ron, for 50 years. Has it changed over the years? Oh yes, it certainly has, and the changes, for the most part, in fact, virtually all of them I would say have been excellent. In the mechanical electrical category, we have immense changes in electronics, signaling systems, and wiring control systems, a multitude of these things, which are utterly outstanding compared to things just a decade or two ago. Well, with the 50 year perspective that you have, you've been able to see these things come and maybe some things go as well. What would you like to see revisited that maybe we skipped over as we developed? Well, unfortunately, there are some basics that need to be attacked, and a few things might even do well to be reinvented. One of them, I'd say one of the most shabby, is without a doubt the switch machine. The electric switch machine for turnouts is probably the most rubbishy excuse for model railroading stuff. Twin coil in the switch machines? Horrible, absolutely bad. Amen, amen. Absolutely dreadful. Consider the nature of that. An elaborate little solenoid device or some derivative thereof, which functions to some degree in making a pair of points swing just a few fragments of an inch on a horizontal line, and in order to do this, we have to have three, count them, three wires from a control device on your power, on your panel of some sort. Three wires, and all these bell cranks and wires and gizmos to make this stupid thing operate, and what we do need is something that's much simpler, tougher, inexpensive. Than the twin coil switch machine. Yes, than the elaboration of that type of machinery. We need it very, very badly. When steam was still running, you were out there chronicling the end. What was that like? It was gorgeous, absolutely magnificent. Steam locomotives probably have as much personality as a great sailing ship had in its time. And the liveliness of them, the humanness of them was unparalleled. People who are confronted by a live steam locomotive to this day are just blown in stitches. It's awe-inspiring. They're utterly blown away by the effect, and people do not realize how common these once were, and how typical it was for large steam engines to cruise at high speed. We don't really realize the commonness of express trains cruising at 60 to 75 MPH cross-country, and meeting schedules in such a manner, as well as plotting freights and chugging sluggish little switch engines in the yard and all the rest. How do those photos help you today? They are an immense source of research, as all photographs are. They are all a major part of research, which I love to do. I enjoy searching and trying to search and find the ins and outs of the nature of something like a railroad car, and the rear view of a tender. Yeah, that's a good one. And some detail like that, that is very necessary in order to do a replica of what you're after. It's a lot of fun.