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likeability bias in model freight car selection

Tim O'Connor
 

Poverty (or in my case, unemployment) helps to discipline
ones purchases. Not that I recommend it, but it sures helps
one say "no" to shiny baubles in the hobby store... I have
met only one or two modelers in my life who never had more
than one unbuilt kit on hand... they buy, build, and then
repeat. That is tough to do in a world of "reservations"
for every new item, and 6 month waiting periods for resin
kits..

Tim O'Connor

We've discussed how to achieve a fleet look, a pseudo random
feel for freight trains on our model railroads in many different
ways on this steam era list.

I've noticed something about my growing freight car fleet.
Although I have researched appropriate B&O freight cars in
detail, found foreign freight cars and prototype ladings for my
B&O Pittsburgh theme, strove to keep lettering schemes simple
(freight cars became loud in the 1960's but not much before),
and found appropriate mixes of freight car types .....

.... I have discovered a bias in my stash. I like everything.
It is not acquired if I do not like it. For all practical
purposes, I am gardening. So my yard and trains have this
Better Homes and Gardens feel to them, a cultivated look, not
the grubby randomness of real yards. No surprises. No weeds.
No bad boys. Everything has a documented purpose, yet things
seem too orderly.

Example: I just got an Intermountain NKP covered hopper:
because NKP is a nearby connection, I wanted a detailed ACF
covered hopper for variety, and ... I liked it. The other five
road names were not good fits and I was indifferent to them.
This pattern repeats over and over. Especially now that freight
cars are routinely $35 each, I better like them!

I can get around this by swamping my foreign road favorite bias
with a sea of common B&O prototypes, I think. Yet I think there
is something amiss with my acquisitions approach.

Anybody else feel this way? I would invite some discussion on
this topic.
ed_mines
 

--- In STMFC@..., James Mischke <jmischke@...> wrote:
Anybody else feel this way? I would invite some discussion on
this topic.
Yes. I think common cars like PRR X29s are under represented in favor of variety.

Ed
jerryglow2
 

IMHO you need to study your interchange partners and patterns. It is less likely that a nearby road's cars would be on yours than a distant one. Not impossible but to me, less likely. Of course we all are PRR modelers regardless of what we call our railroad <G> but in my case that is VERY true as PRR interchanged with my modeled MP mainly in St Louis and many cars were subject of Dick Kulbs (and others') photos in Texas.

Jerry Glow

--- In STMFC@..., James Mischke <jmischke@...> wrote:




We've discussed how to achieve a fleet look, a pseudo random
feel for freight trains on our model railroads in many different
ways on this steam era list.

I've noticed something about my growing freight car fleet.
Although I have researched appropriate B&O freight cars in
detail, found foreign freight cars and prototype ladings for my
B&O Pittsburgh theme, strove to keep lettering schemes simple
(freight cars became loud in the 1960's but not much before),
and found appropriate mixes of freight car types .....

.... I have discovered a bias in my stash. I like everything.
It is not acquired if I do not like it. For all practical
purposes, I am gardening. So my yard and trains have this
Better Homes and Gardens feel to them, a cultivated look, not
the grubby randomness of real yards. No surprises. No weeds.
No bad boys. Everything has a documented purpose, yet things
seem too orderly.

Example: I just got an Intermountain NKP covered hopper:
because NKP is a nearby connection, I wanted a detailed ACF
covered hopper for variety, and ... I liked it. The other five
road names were not good fits and I was indifferent to them.
This pattern repeats over and over. Especially now that freight
cars are routinely $35 each, I better like them!

I can get around this by swamping my foreign road favorite bias
with a sea of common B&O prototypes, I think. Yet I think there
is something amiss with my acquisitions approach.

Anybody else feel this way? I would invite some discussion on
this topic.
James Mischke <jmischke@...>
 

We've discussed how to achieve a fleet look, a pseudo random
feel for freight trains on our model railroads in many different
ways on this steam era list.

I've noticed something about my growing freight car fleet.
Although I have researched appropriate B&O freight cars in
detail, found foreign freight cars and prototype ladings for my
B&O Pittsburgh theme, strove to keep lettering schemes simple
(freight cars became loud in the 1960's but not much before),
and found appropriate mixes of freight car types .....

.... I have discovered a bias in my stash. I like everything.
It is not acquired if I do not like it. For all practical
purposes, I am gardening. So my yard and trains have this
Better Homes and Gardens feel to them, a cultivated look, not
the grubby randomness of real yards. No surprises. No weeds.
No bad boys. Everything has a documented purpose, yet things
seem too orderly.

Example: I just got an Intermountain NKP covered hopper:
because NKP is a nearby connection, I wanted a detailed ACF
covered hopper for variety, and ... I liked it. The other five
road names were not good fits and I was indifferent to them.
This pattern repeats over and over. Especially now that freight
cars are routinely $35 each, I better like them!

I can get around this by swamping my foreign road favorite bias
with a sea of common B&O prototypes, I think. Yet I think there
is something amiss with my acquisitions approach.

Anybody else feel this way? I would invite some discussion on
this topic.

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