For decades (since the early 1980s), I suffered from ESD (i.e. Era Schizophrenia Disorder).
ESD defined: There were things I loved about two eras - Railroading within the "Classic" diesel era AND railroading within the "Turn of the 19th Century" (TOC19) era span.
The two were never truly compatible on my existing diesel era layouts at the time, or designs I came up over the decades. No, it was always a situation of feeling the need to choose one or the other. Typically, the diesels would win out... but invariably as time passed, I would lose time and spend money, pursuing TOC19 tangents for "one of these days" when I had the courage to pull the plug on diesels and model TOC19.
I ALMOST did that: Pull the plug on diesels and model TOC19 ONLY. For the past couple years that has been my intent, but then diesels again reared their head, and I again faced the "choose one" dilemma. To attempt to address that, I came up with the happy idea of modeling Colorado TOC19 in my new 20' x 16' out building, and use the existing around the walls bench work here in this computer room for a "make do" diesel era layout. Two layouts: That was the plan. Full steam ahead. (Ain't I punny?)
Then I noticed something: I was stalled. No real progress was being made on the TOC19 front. I had a track plan, I had the space, I had enough engines and rolling stock to get started... but there it sat for over a year with no start on the bench work. That's typically not like me. (Being more of a Gung HO! type personality.)
I distilled it to a few things, but the BIG ones were trepidation concerning the unknown. The two biggies among that were:
* Creating Colorado-type scenery. (I've always modeled deciduous covered mountains, ala' the Ozarks.)
* PAINTING a "good enough" Colorado on the backdrop. Given my concept's theme, I would NOT be happy with trying to make do with commercially available photographic Colorado-type printed backdrops. No, I wanted more of a surreal "funky fantastic" look. I would have to be able to paint it well enough to suit me.
So I decided I needed to try to paint Colorado using a 24" by 48" canvas to see what I was up against.
It did not turn out well. Others that viewed my attempts and said they thought it "good 'enuf", but I couldn't seem to share their optimism. I came to the realization that I would NEVER be satisfied with my efforts to paint and model Colorado, and the layout would become a source of frustration instead of enjoyment. SO, I pulled the plug on the idea of TOC19 layout, and that was that.
It was back to diesels, circa early mid-1960s, and my nearly 30 year old theme of the Kansas City & Gulf came back to life. (It had pretty much neglected since the late 1990s.) Along the way I made a decision to return to my roots and model the mountain railroading found in the Ozarks.
My HO world was in balance. All is good. All would happiness and modeling Nirvana.
Or so I thought.
To be continued at a later time....
Andre
(Note: The above is enough drivel for now, I'll add to it over time.)
