At 03:01 AM 3/10/01, jonp@... wrote:
...I have not been paying a lot of attention to the hobby press in the
last year or two, but within the issues of MR and MRP that I have
picked up in the last three months, there does seem to be a lot of
press on smaller layouts lately.
Anyone else notice this too?
Yes I've noticed it and it saddens me. The model RR mags were always a place where you could see these huge layouts and have something to aspire to some day. How many people or kids coming up dream about someday having a small room or closet to build their "Empire" in? I realize that the trend is towards smaller living spaces and many houses don't have basements; the mags are just responding to this reality. But I think that's sad. Personally, I prefer seeing layouts that are bigger than life, but maybe someday...who knows, that dream layout could become a reality for me. Kind of like equating a trip to the local, traveling carnival to a Disney theme park vacation. Having only space for a small layout may be better than nothing, but to me it's would always be just a compromise as I lament what could have been.
FWIW,
Paul Kossart - Peru, Illinois, USA
BRHS, La Salle & Bureau County Model Railroad Club
Modeling the Fictional CB&Q Illiniwek River Branch in HO in the 1960's...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Serving Agriculture and Industry in the Illiniwek River Valley since 1904."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
