‘N’ so it begins…
Whilst I’m still uncertain as to the form, concept or design for any future Prairie themed project I am certain it will require N scale…
We have been here before… first with the Englewood logging project, more recently with Albion Yard (CP on Vancouver Island) and Hanna (Rio Grande, Creede branch). Each time struggling with one aspect of the scale and theme and things never quite sitting well before selling up and moving onto a new distraction. So you’d be welcome to ask, why will this be any different?
The short answer is does it matter?
I don’t have a double garage.
I didn’t have space for the logging project, the CP Rail Alco ran beautifully but the couplings just didn’t work. The Rio Grande felt lost without being tied to place…
Right now, creatively, I want to explore a Prairie theme - not in operation, but as a moving picture - as such N should work, in the limited space I can free up for such a dalliance.
The Prairies are somewhere I’ve visited, the grain elevators curious and repetitive albeit characterful forms are etched in my mind, on my soul. Coming home and several years enjoying my ninth birthday F7 in CN Zebra stripes with a string of Model Power grain cars in colourful liveries and a ConCor CN caboose… (the F7 later repainted into pseudo VIA, and the Model Power cars upgraded to Intermountain kits). Added to these warm memories is ‘that’ layout I built with Dad, an unfinished masterpiece. From conversations over a beer in the pub on our nightly visits, a debrief of any progress that evening, I had a much deeper understanding of what he was trying to capture and hence his decisions in how to portray it, even in that massive space of our double garage.
I don’t even have a spare shelf yet, there is a chance that this will all end up, at best, in a box. That isn’t really the point though - model railway projects are exciting, contemplating them, collecting research, gathering models, mulling over ideas are all enjoyable parts of that process. Seeing this colourful Intermountain grain car and anticipating the arrival of a Prairie Shadows CN F7 I’m nine once more and that is no bad thing. Thoughts on composition and form can wait, I’m going to just sit with it, build the elevator and ponder scratch-building some memories.
You are all more than welcome on the journey, I hope it’s not too much of a self indulgence. Until next time, more soon…
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You nailed it there James - “ model railway projects are exciting, contemplating them, collecting research, gathering models, mulling over ideas are all enjoyable parts of that process.”
ReplyDeleteI sometimes feel frivolous with my fleeting interests, but Prairie railroads are a long held interest and it’s fun to be back pondering them again with a few models to ‘get the feel’ of things.
DeleteHi James. Did you ever look at Model Railroader in the 90's? There was a half page Walthers advert for the grain elevator which was built into a mini scene. With a switcher (possibly in the red and white SOO line scheme), I always found it inspiring. Frustratingly, I threw the copy of the advert I cut out only a few months ago. There was something about the composition that worked.
ReplyDeleteYes I did but I’m not sure I remember the photo/advert… to be honest I don’t remember ever seeing a prairie setting modelled effectively - not as I remember it anyway. This is a potential to see how I might try to channel the feelings of place into a smaller space.
DeleteWhat a challenge, James. Look one way and there's an elevator, maybe a grain car or two. Look the other way, and it's the vast expànse of very little to the far horizon. I well remember the sheer scale of the prairie landscape and the unrelenting summer heat in Alberta.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, I remember visiting a historic site called Batoche in Saskatchewan and it being almost unbearably hot… we spent a few weeks in Saskatoon before travelling across towards Vancouver via Calgary in 1989, I remember swimming in Motel pools in the evening as it was too hot during the afternoon!
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