OK, all you "wanna-be's", take heed!
Bob Nicholson
SHABBONA RR 10 Gestation & Miscarriage
Posted, 02/14/08
630 Words
No matter how right the moment may seem, no case of model railroad
fever ever flies so high that it can't be brought down with one
well-rendered salvo of layout "analysis paralysis". I had deemed IOWA
CENTRAL's basic [i.e. "attainable"] trackplan and operation as no
longer adequate for my expanding layout objectives, to say nothing of
bloating equipment rosters and my own over-optimistic opinion of my
abilities. I had read how the pros had built extensive layouts just
enough to think I was as talented as they were, kinda' like the guy
who watches NASCAR drivers just enough on Sunday to think he can drive
like one on Monday.
Back at the drawing board, I was coming up with more track and complex
track arrangements for increased train traffic. I didn't get all fifty
miles of IOWA CENTRAL's 2nd District in 14 x 30 ft., but not because I
didn't try! I slated IOWA CENTRAL's original two 2nd Class freight
trains, one scheduled in each direction daily, to become four, along
with four 1st Class passenger trains, two in each direction. Extra
trains would bob in and out of sidings as they sidestepped the
superior trains. High-priority extra "meat trains" would rush solid
blocks of loaded reefers for Eastern markets from packing houses in
Iowa, with empty counterparts rushing back for more. Maybe there would
even be an occasional livestock extra, or two.
A local job would run one way each day six days a week, while switch
jobs and transfer runs within yard limit boards would hustle to keep
the main line fluid, etc., etc., etc. The new, reborn SHABBONA RR was
beginning to resemble a high priority trunk line rather the lowly
outback Midwestern secondary it was supposed to be. All it lacked was
CTC and automatic block signals, to say nothing of enough warm bodies
to help build and operate it.
True to form, all this planning and "analyzing" had a "paralyzing"
effect on any layout progress. I pondered minor track planning
molehills until they became major design mountains. I was determined
to get it exactly right the first time, and not touch a stick of
benchwork until I was satisfied it was. Yet, no matter how Byzantine
the plan, IOWA CENTRAL's defining axium, realistic back and forth
movement of trains on a main line, but with a provision for
continuous running, still prevailed. At least I hadn't thrown all the
bath water out the window!
I carried a drafting set and a pad of unlined legal paper with me when
I went to work because at home, distractions seemed to come out of the
woodwork. In Chicago, that wasn't the case, unless the BELT RAILWAY of
CHICAGO was running something past my motel room window that required
a swan dive for my camera. Back home, American Models boxcars were
taking their place in the cardboard catacombs among all the rest of
SHABBONA's rolling stock, built or unbuilt. Tracklaying supplies began
to accumulate, too, for the "Big Day" when [over analyzed] SHABBONA RR
could finally overcome its paralysis and begin to materialize.
Then, in December, I got married and you know what they say about
finding excuses to delay layout construction. Revamping the entire
house to meet the exacting specifications of the newest occupant and
changing the color of the wood trim in the entire house with sandpaper
and elbow grease tended to paralyze model railroad activity, no
analysis needed. I was also keeping a close eye on my extensive
collection of model railroad magazines that had come under the
critical scrutiny of the newest occupant. She didn't know what a model
railroader was until she married one. It was a test, I tell you! A TEST!
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