Bob Brown

Future of Modeling on Tuolumne Forks Model Railroad

Bob Brown
Duration:   3  mins

Description

Tuolumne Forks is an O&3 freelanced narrow gauge logging and mining railroad. Bob Brown is the editor and publisher of the Narrow Gauge and Shortline Gazette. This layout combines mining and logging with a tourist line. The operation follows the Lake Tahoe Railway and Navigation Company’s transport of tourists from Workshop to the Lake Tahoe Resort. The railroad is famous among narrow gauge enthusiasts like Bob Brown.

Bob Brown is one of today’s finest builders. He has built the Tuolumne Forks as an operating diorama that showcases his extraordinary eye for color and detail. The Tuolumne Forks is known to be a great model railroad because Bob has the artistic ability to see the everyday clutter as art.

Bob Brown gets a lot of satisfaction from building model railroads and he has met many wonderful people through the years from this hobby. Bob believes that the future of narrow gauge railroading is that it is going to be booming. There are magazine articles about narrow gauge railroading and new kit manufacturers coming out. Bob Brown talks about how you can buy the basic equipment in all scales and gauges, from Nn3 up to G scale.

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Bob, you've given to much to the hobby, for 30 years, with your work with the magazines. What do you get out of the hobby? I get a lot of satisfaction. I enjoy the creative process of building the models. It's a turn on, when I'm turned on to build a model, there isn't any other feeling that I can equate with that. And I've tried through the magazine, to try and turn other people on, so they have the same enjoyment that I have with a hobby. And a lot of people I know don't sit down at their work benches and build, which is hard for me to understand. I've also met a lot of wonderful people. Most of my friends are hobby friends. Certainly Irene and I know a lot of people all over the world through the magazine. It's possible to go to England and go from one subscriber to the next. And we have a lot of wonderful people that, in fact, during the earthquake in '89, we had a phone call from Japan within 40 minutes, to make sure we were okay. And I also, Oh there was an editorial in an English magazine mentioning this had happened, and that we were okay. Oh, wow. Which makes us feel really good. Oh, sure. So this has caused us to keep working on it. We know we have a good magazine and we feel proud of it. And it's a good magazine because of all the wonderful people that submit articles to it. All the finest model builders write for us. And so the whole, the whole, in one word, the hobby to me is satisfaction. What's the future of narrow-gauge railroading? As all of us become more distant from the last run of the narrow-gauge. Well I think it's booming. Magazine articles about it, new kit manufacturers coming out. You can buy the, if you model a Denver or Rio Grande Western, you can buy the basic equipment in all scales and gauges from Nn3, up to G scale. If you're interested in a certain locomotive, you can find it in the classified sections. So, I think it's booming. And of course, a lot of the structures are narrow-gauge oriented mines and sawmills, and we're certainly blooming on the Gazette. Advertising's up, subscriptions are up, articles are flooding in. So it looks healthy. If the popularity of narrow-gauge continues to grow, it may become the last batching of true scratch-building craftsmanship in the hobby. As the winner of many national modeling contests, Bob himself is one of today's finest builders. Bob has built the Tuolumne Forks as an operating diorama that showcases his extraordinary eye for color and detail. The structures, scenery, locomotives and rolling stock all have the quaint look so important to narrow-gauge modeling. The Tuolumne Forks is a great model railroad because Bob has the artistic ability to see the detailed clutter of everyday life as art, and the technical expertise to create scenes that stay in the mind's eye.
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