Utopia

So glad you folks are enjoying this Topic.

Speaking of baseball again, particularly Jackie Robinson and stealing home, he and Ty Cobb (a fascinating player IMO) were masters at stealing home.

In my early teen years, I had that happen to me a couple of times when I pitched in the Pony League. IMO, it's the most humiliating experience for a pitcher to endure, and is the most daring play in baseball together with the suicide squeeze.

The kid that stole home against me was a remarkable athlete. He was fast as lightning, had Hollywood good looks (resembling Matt Damon in the Legend of Bagger Vance), was a star all round athlete in high school (quarterback of the football team, shortstop of the baseball team, and his biggest achievement was to be the point guard at 5 feet 11 inches of the basketball team at Mt. Vernon High School which had numerous NBA stars.

I happened to have a telephone conversation with him a few years ago because he had a connection to one of my clients, and I told him how impressed I was with his athletic exploits, particularly stealing home twice against me. He laughed and said, "yeah, I was crazy enough to do that."

Think of how dangerous it is to steal home. You could get hit in the head with the baseball, suffer serious injury colliding with the catcher or right hand batter at home plate, or even worse, get decapitated by a swinging bat at home plate!

Incidentally, I was told by his ex wife at a high school reunion, that this daredevil on the bases played for the Pirates in the minor leagues, but never made it to the majors because he was a head case. He was doing well, but up and quit because he was moved from shortstop to 2nd base! Arnold

That’s an interesting story Arnold. I can’t recall the last time I heard about a team executing a suicide squeeze. Do they even bunt any more?

@Tranquil Hollow RR posted:

That’s an interesting story Arnold. I can’t recall the last time I heard about a team executing a suicide squeeze. Do they even bunt any more?

I think so, rarely; the safety squeeze is more common.

For me, Utopia on my train layout has a lot to do with nostalgia and recreating scenes and having things on my layout that bring back fond memories.

Here is an example.

Living in dowtown Mt. Vernon, NY and having a mother who did not drive and liked to shop in NYC and never got a babysitter, we often took the New Haven train to Grand Central Station.

In order to remind me of the fond memories I have of these New Haven train rides with my mother, I recently bought these MTH Railking O27 New Haven passenger cars on Ebay;

They run great on my O Gauge layout with 031 curves, and I think they are gorgeous being pulled by my Lionel Postwar New Haven EP5 Electric with McGuiness livery.

That New Haven EP5 also belongs on my Utopia and brings back fond memories. I first saw that Lionel locomotive in 1961 at Telly's hardware store in downtown Mt. Vernon, it was love at 1st sight (I think its stunning), and I never got it until I bought it at a train show in the 1990s. Arnold

@luvindemtrains posted:

bluelinec4,

Please tell us about Night and Gale Brewing. The paint job/weathering is well done. What did you do to achieve that look? Who makes/made the building or walls?

Dave

Knight and Gale Brewery's molds were created by Harry Heike as back ground buildings    They were painted and weathered from him   I bought four  so I had enough for a complete building     I gave them to my friend and fellow goomba Alex Malliae to create the building    He put them together and installed lighting and window materials  

@Oscale_Trains_Lover_ posted:

Who is the Ale Man? He could be you! A man with a thirst for a manlier brew...

Fantastic! I especially like all of those Atlas Ballantine Reefers. If you every think you have too many, drop me a line

Bryce

@Strap Hanger posted:

For me, it’s not “Utopia” more than it is recreating the things I remember from my past.  I have to admit that there is a lot of rose colored filtering, but my layout has its share of bums, graffiti, rats with wings (otherwise known as pigeons), assorted “other side of the tracks” scenes, etc.  , like this one from a place in the village of NYC that I fondly remember, even though many have written about how PUTRID it actually was, LOL!

Its awesome that you have that on your layout   Although I was there many times I am one that agrees it was putrid.  People acted like jerks and slobs just to prove how cool they were   After awhile I found a real bar that had the same bands playing as the &^%#hole CBGB.  It was about a half mile north and had the coldest beer and waitress service upstairs  Name of it was Max's Kansas City   I may have to model that one

@Arnold D. Cribari posted:

I will get us started with an obvious example, the scoreboard on my Popsicle Stick Yankee Stadium showing Don Larson's perfect game in the 1956 World Series:

Great scenes Arnold  Love it  One of the better baseball scenes I have seen in person was at a layout I visited in Ohio   This is when they first started installation

This is it now

@luvindemtrains posted:

bluelinec4,

Please tell us about Night and Gale Brewing. The paint job/weathering is well done. What did you do to achieve that look? Who makes/made the building or walls?

Dave

Looks like a Harry Hieki custom building.  He frequently uses a play on words.  Nightengale.

@bluelinec4 posted:

Its awesome that you have that on your layout   Although I was there many times I am one that agrees it was putrid.  People acted like jerks and slobs just to prove how cool they were   After awhile I found a real bar that had the same bands playing as the &^%#hole CBGB.  It was about a half mile north and had the coldest beer and waitress service upstairs  Name of it was Max's Kansas City   I may have to model that one

Thanks Blueline.  I would love to see Max’s modeled. Go for it! I remember that place as well as Kenny’s Castaways, although they seemed a little less “punky” and more classic rock/folk/blues when I patronized them back in the late 70s/early 80s. I’m currently planning out a model of Pearl paint. I think the exterior with that  reddish brick and signage would look great on the layout.

@bluelinec4 posted:

Great scenes Arnold  Love it  One of the better baseball scenes I have seen in person was at a layout I visited in Ohio   This is when they first started installation

This is it now

Fabulous

Bluelinec4 (Ben?), The Choo Choo Barn had, and probably still has, a terrific baseball park on their layout. Arnold

@Arnold D. Cribari posted:

.....I recently bought these MTH Railking O27 New Haven passenger cars...

Arnold, that video is beautiful - the light glinting from the back cab of the EP5 and those cars rolling by. I had to watch it at least five times. It really is stunning and, although I never particularly liked that color scheme, I may have just changed my opinion!

John

I really do love this thread. Unfortunately, regarding the Utopia that is my own humble Whereazona Central Railroad, there’s not much to tell. Every 6th Grader learns that the state of Whereazona was carved out of the juncture of five states to form the 49th in 1928. Those same kids can bore us all at the dinner table by reciting endless facts: that this smallest of 51 states occupies only about 75 square miles; that due to the sparse population and political wrangling involved in its statehood Whereazona is allotted only one Senator and ½ U.S. Representative; and that Bulger County and Whaddle County - the only two counties in Whereazona - were named for Henry Bulger and Herman Whaddle, businessmen who pushed for statehood for the Whereazona Territory. Yes, all just boring facts. But what is perhaps underappreciated is that this miniscule state is a natural for those who wish to model diverse prototype railroads. It’s convenient that I can run trains of the PRR, B&O, D&H, Santa Fe, and many other roads with attractive colorful paint schemes and/or attractive locomotive-passenger car sale prices and still be prototypically accurate. All because trains of over 20 railroads roll through this tiny state. Convenient indeed.

Consider marine model railroading; it can become an important part of your Utopia as it has mine:

@West Side Joe posted:

On my subway layout there is no graffiti (being set in the 1960's, graffiti had not yet appeared on the subway), no gum spots on the platform, no litter or rats on the track, lots of available seats, no juvenile delinquents or muggers... NYC utopia. 😁

Well said Joe. I grew up in Manhattan & rode the subways to school each day from Washington Heights to Columbus Circle. No crime or graffiti & subways were clean.

@Arnold D. Cribari

I shall simply say that many years ago I fell in love with the running C&O Hudson Yellow Belly and now I have the Lionel version since the first of this June.

This Utopia thread has been a joy 😊

Thank you Arnold and to the Forum.

Very interesting thread, and entirely appropriate (and perhaps inevitable!) given Arnold's tag line! However, I have a bit different take on the issue. As others have said, I think the issue is less a striving for "Utopia," as in trying to create or model a perfect world, but in trying to create and model a more *comfortable* world, and truly "leave this troubled world behind", if I may borrow a phrase I believe I heard somewhere.

"Comfort" takes on a number of possible iterations in this context. One obvious candidate is to return to an earlier, and presumably happier, time in our lives: a classic ball field, a clean and functional subway, a brewery or pub, all seen through the gauzy film of memory to be a more comfortable time (well, maybe the "happiness" to be found in a brewery or pub is a bit artificial, but you know what I mean!). The very act of continuing in (or returning to) model railroading as an adult usually has its roots in childhood train sets and experiences, and the child-like enjoyment of assembling and manipulating your own miniature world. Just seeing miniature versions of current or historic equipment flying around your layout, assembled by you and all under your control (at least in theory!) is soothing and enjoyable -- and impressive, at least to the pre-teen set!

"Comfort" can also arise from the creation and manipulation itself. Few of us can afford to hire others to create our miniature worlds, and few of us have the skill set to completely scratch-build everything in our worlds, but most of us derive a lot of pleasure in figuring out how to use resources available to us to embody the vision we have for our "worlds". Sometimes it can be a rather linear process, with a vision in advance of exactly what we want to create, but often it is instead more of an iterative process -- often the end result of one phase can be the inspiration for the next "good idea".

For some of us, "comfort" may arise more from operation *within* the miniature world we've created, modeling the movement of rolling stock and the goods they carry in a plausible simulation of real life rail operations. Some strive for absolute fidelity to the prototypes -- the proverbial "rivet counters" amongst us -- while others revel in the minutia of provenance and manufacture. The common point is that virtually everyone who chooses to continue in an activity that (let's be frank!) most of our peers have stored away in their attic or basement, is deriving enjoyment and comfort from our hobby, however we approach it. Key to that longevity (or, like me, to returning after a hiatus) is finding "comfort" in participation, whatever the form of that interaction with the hobby.

And no, I can't leave the topic without at least briefly subjecting everyone to 'snapshots' of my own "comfort zone":

- Creative destruction: activity of logging crew chain-sawing a diseased tree in the state park I added:

Construction of the elevated rail line, which frames the earlier 'graffiti wall' painted by my son and added to the retaining wall of the tunnel, which itself was added long after the basic track had been laid. I've since kit-bashed some pieces from a legacy Marx set to form a station on the el:

Finally, an improptu farmers market, on the ridge over the tunnel, and camping in the state park:

However you find a way to do it, enjoy!

@Steve Tyler posted:

Very interesting thread, and entirely appropriate (and perhaps inevitable!) given Arnold's tag line! However, I have a bit different take on the issue. As others have said, I think the issue is less a striving for "Utopia," as in trying to create or model a perfect world, but in trying to create and model a more *comfortable* world, and truly "leave this troubled world behind", if I may borrow a phrase I believe I heard somewhere.

"Comfort" takes on a number of possible iterations in this context. One obvious candidate is to return to an earlier, and presumably happier, time in our lives: a classic ball field, a clean and functional subway, a brewery or pub, all seen through the gauzy film of memory to be a more comfortable time (well, maybe the "happiness" to be found in a brewery or pub is a bit artificial, but you know what I mean!). The very act of continuing in (or returning to) model railroading as an adult usually has its roots in childhood train sets and experiences, and the child-like enjoyment of assembling and manipulating your own miniature world. Just seeing miniature versions of current or historic equipment flying around your layout, assembled by you and all under your control (at least in theory!) is soothing and enjoyable -- and impressive, at least to the pre-teen set!

"Comfort" can also arise from the creation and manipulation itself. Few of us can afford to hire others to create our miniature worlds, and few of us have the skill set to completely scratch-build everything in our worlds, but most of us derive a lot of pleasure in figuring out how to use resources available to us to embody the vision we have for our "worlds". Sometimes it can be a rather linear process, with a vision in advance of exactly what we want to create, but often it is instead more of an iterative process -- often the end result of one phase can be the inspiration for the next "good idea".

For some of us, "comfort" may arise more from operation *within* the miniature world we've created, modeling the movement of rolling stock and the goods they carry in a plausible simulation of real life rail operations. Some strive for absolute fidelity to the prototypes -- the proverbial "rivet counters" amongst us -- while others revel in the minutia of provenance and manufacture. The common point is that virtually everyone who chooses to continue in an activity that (let's be frank!) most of our peers have stored away in their attic or basement, is deriving enjoyment and comfort from our hobby, however we approach it. Key to that longevity (or, like me, to returning after a hiatus) is finding "comfort" in participation, whatever the form of that interaction with the hobby.

And no, I can't leave the topic without at least briefly subjecting everyone to 'snapshots' of my own "comfort zone":

- Creative destruction: activity of logging crew chain-sawing a diseased tree in the state park I added:

Construction of the elevated rail line, which frames the earlier 'graffiti wall' painted by my son and added to the retaining wall of the tunnel, which itself was added long after the basic track had been laid. I've since kit-bashed some pieces from a legacy Marx set to form a station on the el:

Finally, an improptu farmers market, on the ridge over the tunnel, and camping in the state park:

However you find a way to do it, enjoy!

Very nice post, Steve. Thank you for sharing.

Speaking of control, here is a lyric in Who Am I (Rollin' By) that you might like:

"Oil tanker cars, hoppers filled with coal,

Tunnel through my mountains with me in control,

Don't ask why."

Arnoldo

PS: just let a 3 year old boy, under adult supervision, relish having his hand on a ZW transformer throttle, and be in control of a Lionel postwar locomotive. Now that will make that boy happy.  I submit that us old timers still have much in common with that boy.

@Arnold D. Cribari posted:

Very nice post, Steve. Thank you for sharing.

Speaking of control, here is a lyric in Who Am I (Rollin' By) that you might like:

"Oil tanker cars, hoppers filled with coal,

Tunnel through my mountains with me in control,

Don't ask why."

Arnoldo

PS: just let a 3 year old boy, under adult supervision, relish having his hand on a ZW transformer throttle, and be in control of a Lionel postwar locomotive. Now that will make that boy happy.  I submit that us old timers still have much in common with that boy.

Thanks, Arnold. Speaking of lyrics, I gotta add one more recent addition, lightly kit bashed:

https://youtu.be/bjuGgY3HSlo

@Arnold D. Cribari posted:

Very nice post, Steve. Thank you for sharing.

Speaking of control, here is a lyric in Who Am I (Rollin' By) that you might like:

"Oil tanker cars, hoppers filled with coal,

Tunnel through my mountains with me in control,

Don't ask why."

Arnoldo

PS: just let a 3 year old boy, under adult supervision, relish having his hand on a ZW transformer throttle, and be in control of a Lionel postwar locomotive. Now that will make that boy happy.  I submit that us old timers still have much in common with that boy.

Try this again:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bjuGgY3HSlo" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

@Steve Tyler posted:

Try this again:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bjuGgY3HSlo" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Finally!

@Arnold D. Cribari posted:

Consider marine model railroading...

Arnold, I love your colorful river scene, and the tug plowing through those turbulent green-tarp waters!

John