http://www.kalyr.com/weblog/railways/are-model-railways-a-form-of-fanfic/

Are you the author inviting comment or just want to discuss? This kind of topic is what Model Railroading is all about.

When we try to make a world in miniature, we normally cannot stretch out the 200 miles of real track between New York City and Boston to make an exact replica. Nor can most of us afford the real estate needed to build an exact replica of Grand Central Station. And then, how uninteresting would that building be from above ground. We always have to make it up as we go and making it believable is the key to an interesting layout for visitors and more importantly the modeler. So we create our own worlds in miniature - playing an omnipotent god who creates a world where plastic and wood mockups of beer are moved from the beer factory to the unloading docks of an unrealistic but practical package store who just happens to have a rail dock handy.

Unless you are creating a museum diorama you will never be able to take a 1:1 railroad and duplicate the entire thing in miniature. So we fake it. And it becomes fun. Faking it and making up the story, the reason for its existance. The fan fiction, as it were.

I just spotted it on Facebook and posted it as I thought it would be an interesting discussion

The blogger wrote in a rather pompous way to my way of thinking:-

"To be convincing they have to follow the distinctive architecture and operational practices of whatever railway company they’re based on, feature the rolling stock that ran in that part of the country in whatever time period the layout is set, and of course capture the essence of the landscape through which the railway runs. If you think of it that way, it’s has an awful lot in common with fanfic’s knowledge of setting and characters."

To be convincing I find that a flat board with no scenery or anything else but the track is VERY convincing to me that it is wherever and whenever I wish it to be!

If I wanted it to fit precisely to an era or location as our American friend states it would take up so much room that the feeling of "I did that" would dissipate and be lost.

We have people dying all over the world because of what we humans impose upon the earth but my railway or railroad is just a but of escapism where the outside world cannot intrude.  (Apart from not having enough money, time etc. etc!)

Regards, Peter.

Yes , definitely one for Pseuds corner.

Tim Hall does highlight one of the ways "authentic" layouts are measured. If you remove all the locomotives, rolling stock and road vehicles, would what's left -- the scenery and the buildings -- immediately make the time and place of the layout obvious?

Tim Hall posts some pictures on his blog post, and I probably don't need to mention (off the top of my head) layouts like Elvinley, Frankland, Hedges Hill Cutting and Lofthole Oil Terminal to reinforce that point with examples from the N gauge world.

But where I do disagree with him (somewhat) about the idea of model railways being fan-fiction. One difference is that many of us build layouts to evoke experiences or memories of the railways. Some people have worked on the railways, while for others it was a hobby, perhaps as a youngster. So in building a model railway we reconnect with that, and what we build evokes those very personal experiences and feelings. Fan-fiction is surely different; if I write about hobbits or klingons or whatever, that's all well and good, but in now way am I connected with them in terms of real, genuine experience.

Cheers, NeMo

'fan fiction' or 'rule One' as we know it round ere.;-)

Just run your trains as you wish and have fun and forget the guff.

Exactly!

No idea why some people haver to continually analyse and compartmentalise everything . . . bored I guess.


Paul

A fascinating article, and thanks for bringing it to our attention. 

I do wonder though, what the author would make of Freelance modelling (perhaps he did give his viewpoint, and I missed it)?