2006-02 Prototype vs Freelance Again From Donboy Just when I think the prototype vs freelance issue is resolved for me it crops up again. I had a severe seven year case of designers block on my layout designs where my proto-freelance concepts kept getting more and more prototype with each change until I knew I would not enjoy the operational results and would have to start over. I solved my design problem with the move to a Middle Earth layout and am very happy with that choice. As I refine my operational plans to verify my track plan I am finding that the prototype vs freelance issue is still there for me on the operational side so I have to think some more about what I want to end up with. When I was in the hobby many years ago I started operational activity with a friend and we had a great time. I had so much fun with operations on my old layout operations became the primary reason I am getting back into the model railroad hobby. For me operation is the cake and the modeling is the icing. I enjoy the results of modeling but doing the modeling for this layout should be all the modeling I need and I do not plan another layout after this one. I want to build once and run the wheels off it. I had seen some survey results that showed operational model railroaders to be a small one percent or less sub-group of model railroading. That operations was such a small part of the hobby was hard for me to understand when it was such a large part of the fun factor in Model Railroading for me. Now that I have a chance to get exposed to others with an interest in model railroad operations I am beginning to understand why it might be a fringe part of the hobby where operational fans travel many miles to operate on a layout. It is a fact of life the smaller groups develop a consensus on the correct way to do things and of course a small segment of a hobby like the operations group is no exception. Some model rails spell prototype with a capital P but the operations group spells PROTOTYPE in caps. That operations as a group is very focused on the prototype is not that surprising when I think about it. If you were not focused on what the prototype is doing it would be hard to come up with an operating plan or even the idea of doing it. When I proposed doing some things in operations that are not prototype the reaction was all negative and it gave me pause. Operations is my primary goal in the hobby but what should operations be benchmarked with? If benchmarking operations with the prototype means being part of the one percent is fine for me but could it result in my boys not sharing the hobby with me? One percent odds are not very good on something important like avoiding a time conflict between my hobby and my kids (the kids are going to win that one every time). For the moment I am confronted with a question that is very hard for me to understand why it is even a question. If operating model railroaders are just one percent of the hobby then the question for me is why? Are operating rules to hard to learn? Is the activity to close to prototype in detail? Does the need to travel to a layout to operate hold people back? Is operation to boring for some? I just can't believe that anyone who is running a train does not have in the back of their mind what a train does. Why the one percent why not eighty percent? Operations that is compelling for eighty percent of model railroaders or people outside the hobby seems like the correct choice but what would that be?