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A Modest Model Railroad
Endymion53 writes "The TMRC at MIT may be the best known model railroad layout because of its role in the formation of hacking culture, but railroad uber-enthusiast Jack Burgess has built himself a pretty enviable layout, that does its best to capture the look and route of an old rail line that went to Yosemite National park, called the Yosemite Valley railroad. I was tempted to make some crass remarks about having too much time on one's hands, but frankly, the whole thing looks just awesome. He's been working on this thing since 1981."
A System One "hammer head" throttle for the DCC system; note that these tethered throttles have since been retro-fitted by North Coast Engineering (NCE) as radio-controlled throttles. The various buttons are labeled for control speed, direction, sound and lighting effects, etc. Programming of a locomotive can also be done "on the fly" using these throttles.
Apart from the attention to detail, the actual functionality is absolutely astounding!
Ever wonder what happens when a website gets smacked by a locomotive?
- I------------can
CHooooo Chooooo!
I-serve-I-can I-serve-I-can I--serve--I--can I---serve---I---can
I------------serve----------
CHooooo Chooooo!
Slash-a-dot-a Slash-a-dot-a Slash-a-dot-a Slash-a-dot-a Slash-a-dot-a
"Can of worms? The can is open... the worms are everywhere."
You are very quick to make fun of this gentleman, who has obviously invested quite a lot of his time into creating this railroad. I am sure he has quite a lot of fun doing this work, but aside from that it should be obvious to anyone who actually visited his site that he is a true historian. He has actually researched the original railroad and presents much of his information on-line as well as running what amounts to an operating museum.
I, for one, appreciate his work and would love to be able to visit his layout and enjoy it as I would any other historical museum.
I've seen a few layouts done that are supposed to recreate actual rail lines and I've always been puzzled by one thing. Given the geography of the room where someone sets up their layout and also the necesity of accessing the layout (if only to observe the fruits of all that hard work), I've always presumed such layouts are not attempts to faithfully duplicate the layout of the rail line but to represent the scenery through which a traveler would pass. That is, there's no attempt to duplicate or scale "Then this spur goes east for 24 miles before it turns north for three more..." just do something like "and after we pass through the pine forest here near the bedroom door, we hit the town of Pidegeonville, which I placed next to the window..."
A silly question, but wanted to make sure I understood the "ground rules" of these recreations.
Personally, I never got past an oval under the Christmas tree and trying to scare the cat, although I did work as a waiter on the Southwest Chief one summer in college. I don't think most modelmakers would care to recreate the Leavenworth prison or the vagrant we ran over near L.A. Union Station, though.
"Prepare for the worst - hope for the best."
Isn't it interesting how the first response to anyone who is truly devoted to something other than getting drunk or watching Celebrity Idol Millionaire is "they must be wasting their time" or they need "a life?"
Does this not perfectly describe the difference between "producer" and "consumer?"
Would that we, as a society, could find a way to encourage people to value productive, thinking time. Such people produce literature, invention and wisdom.
Business isn't willing to pay for products, innovation and careers, so we get brands, mortgage commercials and layoffs.
Model Railroad Tour - I have had hundreds of visitors to my layout. Here is a chance to take a short virtual tour.
[Emphasis mine]
And I mean, it's *right there* when you read the page. Couldn't you at least set up a Paypal account or something so that people who visit the site can kick a pity dollar for smalltime, image-heavy, hobbyist sites like this?
Did the guy get a warning, at least? Since the site hasn't buckled, I'm assuming he's bursting his metered bandwidth as I type, and paying an awful lot for the privilege.
Slashdot should at least buy one of his books.
leem
p.s. Totally amazing dedication that this guy has put into the hobby.