Inspiration

Discussed on the yahoo group in the last week or so, sources of inspiration for modeling. There's been a few posts about the journal being a good source, and it is, to a certain extent. Certainly when we first discovered it in the mid 1980's it was an amazing revelation and getting hold of a new issue was a big thrill. It inspired an explosion of cardboard wagon and loco manufacture, some of which was even close to the right scale. When I started in Nz120 the guys in the group were a source of inspiration. John Rappards model output was nothing short of incredible, which I guess is one of the pluses of being retired. It seemed he would turn up with a new model of something every week and in a variety of scales. After moving from Dunedin to Wellington Darryl and I spent a fair bit of time inspiring each other onward to create a layout and exhibit it.

And today? I've been re-reading some old journals that I've got hold of recently, but most of the inspiration I get is from 2 sources. the first is older books; Spirit of steam, Steam finale, New Zealand steam spectacular and others of the same ilk. The work of these old guys in the 1950's and 60's is made even more impressive by the limitations of the media in that period. No shooting of a gazillion pictures and swapping of memory sticks. One chance to get it right and no second chances. The second source is the Railfan, which is a magazine that rates well among any in the world (a real credit to the hard work of the editors). Their ongoing series about branch lines is always of interest, and even modern developments a good for an idea or 2. The cover of the March 2009 is a good example. The new track layout at Newmarket looks like it would make a very good looking layout and the selection of new trains has not been modeled yet.

Comments from the peanut gallery?