Laser-cut Craftsman Kits HO-Scale 19024
FIRE HOUSE #3 Backdrop Flat
4" x 5-7/8" x 1/4" deep
Made in U.S.A.
weave that engine and its environs and the people working on them through the thread of the everyday. He wants us to see the totality and participate in it…” He adds that Jensen “isn’t merely a rail- fan interested in trains, he is a photog- rapher interested in railroads.” Joel does indeed provide a unique view of railroads, and from the surviving steam operations in the west he has captured much of what the steam era meant es- pecially to those who worked on the trains and in the shops, and the land- scape of steam railroads in the arid west and the Colorado high country. There is railroading in many forms, abandoned dreams and structures, freezing cold landscapes and scorching sun, a giant Challenger and a tiny wood-burning 4- 4-0 depicted in these photos, all framing the diversity that is steam railroading. As a journey through time and an in-
5-3/8" x 9-1/2" x 1-3/8" deep
HO-Scale 19017 CO-OP Backdrop Flat
www.gclaser.com -
gcli@gclaser.com
sight into the steam era, this is a won- derful book. But how can it help model- ers, you might ask. I can suggest at least one very important way. This is through those key notions behind mod- el building: inspiration and interpreta- tion. So much of what we seek to ac- complish in a model is to present an interpretation of atmosphere, feeling, memory and haunting recollection, and usually authenticity. We can’t recreate all of life or all of a railroad in a normal layout or module, so we must condense,
analyze and carefully select, stage and position representative elements in a form of exhibitory artistry and perhaps theatre. To achieve some of these quali- ties we can draw upon our own experi- ences. Other qualities, however, are more nuanced and difficult. A book such as this one, which presents an interpre- tation of the steam era, can help us fo- cus on the qualities we find most inter- esting and evocative for modeling, and perhaps suggest what we are really try- ing to achieve in our model building. What is it that draws you to model a shortline in the days of steam? Is it the structures, the right-of-way, the loco- motives and rolling stock, the run down qualities, or perhaps the surrounding cultural landscape? Or, does it draw you perhaps to an engine terminal like Chama, New Mexico. Is it the grit and grime of the setting? The steam, smoke and light through the cottonwoods and aspens that Joel captured in a photo of a K-36? I look at a gallery like this one, and ask myself, “Which images really stir my feelings?” and how does this translate into something I might cap- ture in a model or diorama? Or, perhaps I might conclude that the quality, falling snow for example, is too elusive to model, and a photo is the way to re- tain that memory or image. Photogra- phy works with light and shadow, con- trast and stark clarity, or texture and
32
MARCH 2012
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100