and he notes -
John Degnan wrote:
"It just amazes me that AF fans even give a crap about whether or not
a model has a road # on it since they care so little about accuracy
and details. Seems like a double-standard to me."
If I'm not mistaken AF fans have a different motivation for building
or operating a layout - it's called 'play time' something many model
railroaders don't do.
As an example: accuracy takes a back seat when a No. 719 log car is
spotted next to a N0. 787 "Log Loader" and action begins. And what
kid (or kid at heart) doesn't thrill to hear his own voice calling
trains from a No. 755 "Talking Station", or see a No. 758A "Sam The
Semaphore Man" pop out of his shack as a train passes! And if that's
not enough, there's the K775 "Baggage Loading Platform" or a K771
"Operating Stock Yard" and lets not forget the No. 918 "Mail Pickup
Car" that snags a mail pouch on the fly. All of these action toys
blend with non animated cars and accessories as well as locomotives
that smoke or make 'real' diesel sounds
AF has a lot to offer for those souls that have either no interest
in, or lack the ability, to construct accurate models. With the
decline of available Flyer at hobby shops, the market opened up for
AM and SHS to fill the gap. But while both companies offer accurate
(except for wheels and couplers) "Hi-Rail" rolling stock, they do not
operate. Stock cars are empty and if loaded with plastic cows, remain
so. RPOs do not pick up or drop mail pouches. Flat cars with tanks or
tractors on board do not load or unload. Now tell me, where's the fun in that?
What is interesting is that in all my sixty or so years of AF, 0 and
S Gauge modeling, I have seen only one scale layout that did anything
more than shuffle cars and that was Frank Titman's old D&W
located on Arch Street (I believe). He built an operating coal mine
that had a tumbler mechanism that contained exactly one hopper load
of coal (real coal, not the plastic stuff). The filled cars were then
run down to the river where they were dumped into a barge (actually a
concealed funnel that channeled the coal down to a bucket under the
layout for reloading into the mine building. A No. 752 "Seaboard Coal
Loader" in disguise I'd say!
But to come to the point; most adherents to the 'scale' portion of S
Gauge have no interest in the play value in operating cars and
accessories. Some are obsessed with punctilious accuracy to the last
rivet, others are not so fussy, but in either case their rolling
stock does nothing but roll. A Hi-Railer at least has the option of
running an operating car in his SHS or AM consist. Most 'Scalers'
blanch at the thought of an AF operating mail car running with an AM
Pacific and a string of coaches but it does DO something. When one
thinks of it, a train loaded with simulated coal leaves the yard
ostensibly for a port or power plant and then comes back still
loaded. How accurate is that?
If Frank Titman could make an accurate looking coal loading and
unloading system without compromising scale (even though he used
converted AF hoppers) why isn't there something like this available
in S today? With all this container stuff on the market, no one to my
knowledge has come up with a loading or unloading facility that
works. And why not a scale version of an operating mail car?
Too complicated? Too expensive? Too toy like? Well maybe not -
talking, bell ringing, whistling and smoking locomotives have already
found their way from the toy train to the scale model thanks to the
marvels of electronics. Automatons have been around for a few hundred
years. If an eighteenth century craftsman could make an automated
clockwork mechanism for an animated toy, then today's model
railroading 'rocket scientists' (aka Chinese) should be able to come
up with a mechanism to load or unload a scale trailer on a flat car
and keep it down to a reasonable cost!
I would bet a dollar that if something like this (or some other
operating 'scale' accessory) was available, the Hi-Railers would
support it and Scale modelers would benefit from the volume of sales.
Until that happens, it's back to the ol' operating No. 719 "Unloading
Car" with its Manoil Coupe and accuracy be damned!
Just a few thoughts on a chilly evening in Maine,
Raleigh (with tongue in cheek!)
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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