Model RR: Jack Work/Bill Mcclanahan

ncng,

No I don't have any pictures, but I still have my "Scenery For Model Railroads" book from back in the '60s.  It is well worn, and that means I looked through it dozens of times, because I always even as a kid treated my books with kid gloves.  Boy that book sure gave me a lot of ideas.

Both old timers who were instrumental is attracting model train enthusiasts to work to a higher standard. A Jack Work article could be counted on to entertain and instruct the reader in building a better model...nice memories.

Thanks

Bob

i still have 120 issues of model railroad magazines from the 60's...

and..."flanger"...you are 100% right about jack work articles...

they were probably my favorites...

howard...

I have always referred to Jack's method of making pine tress using fern and tapered dowels as "Jack Work" trees. A few I made in the '60s still survive.

I found this page about John Allen that contains a picture of Jack. I believe Jack is in the background.

Bill is also mentioned though I am not any pics of him are here.

Pete

Jack Work's other enlightenment was his craftsmanship of 'wood' structures using....cardboard!!....Strathmore board, to be more precise.  One of his HO cardstock structures, a coal mine on spindly legs, later was immortalized by AHM, Model Power, et al (same tooling...different owners) in plastic. 

I, too, have Bill McClanahan's book on scenery.   As comprehensive and worthwhile as it was back in the 50's-60's, the newer Kalmbach book on Scenery, now having gone through it's umpteenth revision/update, by Dave Frary is what we (LHS) refer to our customers as the 'bible' of scenery techniques.  Of course, every time a manufacturer/modeler comes up with a new and better scenery product/technique, books like this tend to become less relevant.

Bill Clouser of St. Louis and his early cast resin work was another trail-blazer.  Alan Armitage, making anything and everything from styrene strip/sheet plastic was another.  Mel Thornburgh, the guy who could scratch-build a steam engine....HO or O scale...at his kitchen table (a term used in several of his Model Railroader articles) using a hand-crank drill and files to turn the detail parts like domes, valves, bells, etc. was, IMHO, a magician.  (I often wonder whether his articles inspired others to duplicate his techniques, or whether the articles' main value was to celebrate Mel, the artisan!?)  Lynn Westcott, Gordy Odegard, the iconic John Allen...and a bunch more...they were my 'heroes of the hobby' through my first 20 years.

I've often thought how nice it would be to have someone capture all of these pioneers...with photos of their most memorable projects/contributions...in a single anthology.  As the hobby has 'progressed' for the younger generations to more 'ready-to-run', 'plug-and-play', 'built-and-ready', etc., it might be useful to remind them....all of us....how we did so much with so little commercial availability....and some developed personal skills. 

Maybe not.  History is not a very popular subject....or tool....anymore.

Thanks for the post.

KD

Not really.  While scenic techniques and materials have evolved over the years, the art and science of what makes a good scene hasn't.  McClanahan's book is still valid for those points.

Rusty

We cannot forget E.L Moore either...his scratch built wooden structures convinced me to try scratch building, and I still have the very first balsawood creation I built from one of his early RMC articles back in the 60's.

Bob

I would nominate Jack Work and Paul E. Larson (editor of Model Railroader, 1956-1960) as the fathers of modern model railroading. They went out in the "field" and observed actual buildings and scenery, and reduced them to miniature. Larson's Mineral Point & Northern is as good a model railroad as has been built. I still have the Dec '59 MR with the unusual for the time color spread in MR - and it remains a cherished item. I have constructed Work's dowel/fern pine trees and Larson's bucket coaling station. Of course, had McClanahan's scenery book - bought in about 1958! Believe McClanahan was a cartoonist for a Dallas newspaper.

I always enjoyed E. L. Moore's articles.  His modeling was first rate, and his dry humor made it enjoyable.  The one I still remember the most is his molasses mine.  Hilarious.

Bill McClanahan was indeed a cartoonist for the Dallas Morning News, his work was funny and sharp witted, appearing on the editorial page and during football season in the Sports Section where he had his predictions for the matchups in the Old SW Conference illustrated in various 'bouts between the schools mascots, It was a lot of fun. He along, with Cliff Robertson, Burt Blanton and Ed Flowers were all very nice guys with a lot of patience and encouragement for us "young-uns' just getting into the hobby. I feel fortunate to have met them, and visit their great layouts, Bill's Texas & Rio Grande in the attic of his Preston Hollow home was particularly impressive;  mind blowingly detailed and expansive using every speck of space available, unusual too as attic layouts were somewhat a rarity in the area. 

Probably the best source for pictures of the work of these two individuals (actually probably the best source for others mentioned in this thread) as well as their articles on construction would be Model Railroader Magazine from the early 50's to the mid to late 60's.

  Mark S - I too remember (as well as still have) the December '59 issue.  P.E.L's work was impressive.

I have to second all the comments on Jack Work, Paul Larson, et al. If you relish this era of the hobby the way I do, and you don't have all of those late 50's to early 60's back issues of MR, I can't recommend enough the Kalmbach DVD's with all 75 years of MR. It's been a pleasure to search on a name like Jack Work's and have all of his articles available at the click of a mouse.

As for the scenery books - I would say the McClanahan book is still tops for geology aspects we need to know to give our model terrain credibility, but the Frary book is tops on updated technics - especially the use of water-based materials. For the best of both worlds, check out Joe Fugate's update of zip texturing in a recent article in Model Railroad Hobbyist - showing all the updated sources of materials to be able to use a 50 year-old method from McClanahan's book.