Kato Unitram and Omnivagancy

I bought a couple more pieces of circular Kato Unitram track to fiddle with. I was thinking that even though the variety of streetcar trackplans that can be constructed with it appears limited, it does seem a rather easy way to build some sort of omnivagant streetcar layout. Given that I'd also like to try making some larger buildings, this comment about scales by Linn Westcott that appeared in his December '72 Model Railroader At the throttle column entitled, The Hobby with a Heart: Scale Model Railroading, seemed very insightful to this situation.

Don't adopt a scale. Traditionally modelers classed themselves as "N scalers", "O gaugers", "Trolleymen", and so on. This caused more friction than it did good. Instead, choose scales for your models that solve whatever problems you have with them - but remain full-sized yourself.

It's an interesting column and I have Vince to thank for pointing it out to me, and Debra to thank for providing me the DVDs so I can peruse all this interesting stuff at my leisure. 

EVRR on the cover of Jan '59 Model Trains

As I read my way through old issues of Model Trains, I continue to find new pieces of the E. L. Moore story. Back in the Legacy series post on the Elizabeth Valley Railroad I noted that Mr. Moore commented in the introduction to the January '62 Model Trains article, Let's build a mountain, that  he "had well over a hundred letters requesting track plans of my 4 x 6-foot railroad as the result of photographs published in MODEL TRAINS", but didn't mention in which issues they appeared. It may have been January '59. As well as the cover shot, the Stop look and listen photo section is dedicated to the Elizabeth Valley Railroad with two large photos: an overview shot that later appeared in Linn Westcott's HO Primer that was published in '62, and the second shot is an even larger, double-page photo of a completely scratch-built HOn3 train - except for the "Concord box car" as noted in the accompanying text.

E. L. Moore builds a blimp...

... or maybe just a fanciful steerable balloon. The more I read, the more I discover. This is a slice from a photo that appeared in the Stop, look and listen section of the December 1959 issue of Model Trains - which I recently obtained. It's another view into the world shown in with the Spumoni family in Merrie Old England that appeared in the January 1956 issue of Railroad Model Craftsman. Being a blimp aficionado I was thrilled to see this photo. Ok, I'm stretching the definition of blimp, but it does have a propeller and a rudder, so it's propulsible and steerable, so it sort of meets the minimum definition of a blimp. The accompanying text says that Mr. Moore was inspired by the work of artist Rowland Emett, and that Mr. Moore built the 'blimp' envelope from a "worn-out egg".

LA sublime

Downtown Los Angeles from Ian Wood on Vimeo.

First, a disclaimer: there are no streetcars, trams or trollies in this video, although if I knew more about the routes of the Pacific Electric, there probably were at one time if the writings of Raymond Chandler are to be believed. However, there are magnificent buildings a plenty. As well, the use of a drone to film this allowed it to be shot from what might be considered to be the typical model railroading viewing perspective.

Car 55

Being August, the Canadian National Exhibition will open soon for another year. I took this photo at the Ex sometime in the mid to late '70s. Vince informs me that it's Toronto Civc Railways car 55 that now resides at the Halton County Radial Railway museum. I took this picture with some sort of Kodak Instamatic camera that used 110 film. And to add to the nostalgia, I came across this CNE streetcar transfer from '79 while going through some of my mum's old photos.