Those famous model railroaders who aren't so famous

<< Who is the fellow from the St. Louis area who does those amazing photo shoots for Walther's and others (I think he did a cover shot for MR a few years back- a Santa Fe train at Dearborn Station for the holidays? I think they are brothers?)? I think he's associated with the Midwest Modelers? And while we're talking about it- whatever happened to the Midwest Modeler's group? They had a great layout AND a great modular group. and the photography- wow. >>

They're still around. They have a beautiful modular layout that their club displays at the GATS or Greenburg's show (I forget which) in St. Louis. I met Ken Patterson a few years ago at a show and he's a nice guy.

I remember that Dearborn Station shot; my wife thought it was one of the best shots she had ever seen in the model mags.

What about Rand Hood? I remember in the early-mid 90's his locomotives in DRGW paint, on his impressive layout. Almost lifelike in his photos.
He did the "how to model real winter" with ice and other things along those lines. Had a few photos here and there and then just disappeared.

I would like to see more from Rand Hood too! I've always liked his occasional pieces on the DRGW and his winter scenes. Was he responsible for the scene at Winter Park on that MR cover from so long ago?

Regarding Malcom Furlow... I stand by my original comment that his work is inspiring. I think his work on the G scale Soda Park series in teh mid-1980s (remember the cover line "What scale is this?") really inspired me that model railroading was more than just grassmats and green lichen. His western scenes are very dramatic and almost fanciful. But Malcom can be "grounded" in reality too- remember the Carbondale Central series from about 1990 or so? Malcom can build vistas of the concrete canyon variety, too! Those urban scenes also inspired me to think, "Gee, city buildings are just as dramatic as mountains." Even his work at the Children's Hospital in Irving, TX is inspiring. Will my next layout feature massive basalt columns and 4-4-0's pulling logging trucks through tight 8-foot-tall walk-through canyons? Probably not- but just knowing that it can be done is very cool.

How about our friend Eric Brooman with the Utah Belt? I have eagerly followed this line's progress from the pages of RMC in the late 1970s to every feature in MR through the 1980s and 1990s... not many layouts evolve with the latest advances in the industry. Even his latest incarnation of the UB is great. Keep 'em coming. Heck, I bet you get Brooman together with Barrow from the CMSF, and these guys could team up on an awesome project layout for MR.

There are some very exciting things going on in model railroading right now. But maybe we need to get back to basics in some respects, and bring in some of these old favorites- I bet these authors still have some things to teach us! If not, can we just drool over their layout feature spreads one more time?

-otto-

That's quite a list of names -- most of whom were featured more than once. Gary Hoover, Dick Elwell and Lou Sassi are others who have the knack of building a beautiful layout and are able to photograph it, too. Time to revisit them as well.

I think the current crop of talent that is featured in MR is pretty good. John Pryke writes helpful articles; Ian Rice presents interesting, if somewhat fanciful, trackplans, and the regular features by David Popp, Lionel Strang and Tony Koester are always good for a pleasant read. I do miss Mike Tylick though.

What concerns me about MR right now is the pendulum may have swung back to the "super" layouts, where bigger is better. Although I tired of the "Domino" articles, I think having regular features about bedroom-size layouts would be a good idea. (Seth Puffer, Bill Henderson, etc.) Sprinkle these in amongst the Utah Belt, the Maumee, Paul Dolkos' B&M, and you'd have a consistent winner IMHO.

I believe that was in fact, Rand's photo.
He had a nack of capturing a "live" feel to his work. To me, it was the locomotives that set the tone, but he did a super job on scenery.

Sometimes I have to wonder what happened to some of these people.

I'll add one name to the list - that of Gary Hoover out in the St. Louis area.
Garyy's original layou, The MK&Q (Missouri, Kansas & Quincy) has been totally replace by one that models the AT&SF in the Cajon area sometime in the 1950's. He has an article in the current issue of NMRA's Scale Rails about painting backdrops.
His layout is nothing short of amazing and how faithful he has modeled the time period. He is alos a very good model RR photographer. He's also just a very personable guy.
Hope you have a chance sometime to see his layout in person!
Paul Mac
Modeling the SP in Ohio

I was going to suggest the MK&Q... been replaced? When?

-otto-

Gary started replacing the MK&Q THE DAY AFTER after the NMRA National Convention in St. Louis was over back in 2001. His new layout is set on one specific day in 1950 when the SP had a derailment somewhere and was re-routing trains over AT&SF through Cajon - thereby justifying his ability to also run SP equipment. His new layout is nothing short of incredible.

Otto Vondrak wrote: Bruce Goehmann and the Midland Electric- Remember this little gem? We first learned about this midwestern traction classic in the July 1980 Model Railroader. Bruce's modeling and approach to traction were well recieved then... is profession as a civil engineer certainly came through in his layout design. We heard from Bruce a few more times in the 1980s... and I think he also authored the O'Dell County Traction series, a very neat project layout that *almost* had me stringing wire on my home layout. Where is Bruce now? Let's revisit traction in the pages of the magazines again, shall we??

He was at the Trainfest model railroad show in Milwaukee last weekend, as he is every year, with a group that has an HO-scale modular trolley layout (I think they're called the Northwest Traction Group or something like that, from Illinois).

I can't tell you how many times I've read the various trolley modelling articles he wrote for MR during the 1980s! They definitely have inspired me to take up traction modelling one of these days.

Just so happens there is a GATS show this weekend. I will ask around regarding the midwest club. I want to join the club as i am now modeling HO scale, and they're friendly towards Steam, too. *grins toward otto*

Ken Patterson's a great photographer. I had plans to join this club when i was much younger, with my father. Since then, we've both grown - dad has no time for trains, and Here i am, a student at RIT and now modeling again in HO scale, but still in N scale. Of course, the main time era for both scales are steam. Whee!

Mike

ROSEMAN is a retired schoolteacher, that is constantly published in model magazines. He recently had piece on "Insurane Mills" in RMC, and is chief Guru on YAHOO's CNJ group where he regularly contributes information that is usually accurate. He has authored a book on REA, and works on articles for periodicals to supplement his income. I believe searching the Model Railroad Periodical Index will turn up plenty of stuff from last couple of years.

SIX moderates a large YAHOO group, devoted to
making mostly, modern models, of railroad equipt. This is essentially a
rivet counters place for people who are opposites of the dioramast ,
"Superealism" , school of modelling represented by, SELLIOS, FURLOW, ALLEN, et al. SIX regularly offers finished models for sale on appropriate YAHOO sites, and appears at Napierville, and similar events for the realistic freight car modelling brethren. I should point out that the "Prototype Modeler' as they like to be called are also split by era. There is a large, and far more gracious I might add, YAHOO group devoted to
steam era freight cars modelling.
Good-Luck, PJB