Blissful Ignorance…

In the kindest possible way, James is a bad influence on me! After years of skittish flitting from one project to another, only briefly interrupted by a single successful exhibition layout, recent workings towards Butley Creek (or whatever it's called) seemed to represent a period of relative calm. However, bubbling away beneath the surface was a perverse desire to model something American, which I have been battling to suppress since I first came across Coalbridge Street. 

It is perhaps a relief that the usual EMD GP-whatever and 500 boxcars does little for me, given my current living situations. However, there was something about that little GE 44t that crawled underneath my skin. Larkrail, my first in-person encounter with the layout, was poison enough (especially as I gazed over at James - cool, collected, and relaxed, as I battled to untangle a chain of hapless wagons from the end of my pen torch). Uckfield, my first hands-on experience of the genre, proved the final straw! There's just something about those Kadees...

And so, after an evening of plotting over a non-alcoholic beer, I drove home with an unfettered urge for reefers (refrigerated containers I mean). A few clicks later and the first piece of the puzzle, a Kadee box car, was falling into place. A moment more, and that little 44t was next!

There's something beautifully innocent about this whim - I am steeped in British-outline modelling, from head to toe. "Model Railways" has been a lifetime hobby of mine, on and off, but always focussed firmly on this isle. As such, despite my various comings and going over the past 20 years, I have always known the shape of a 16t mineral, or why the Terrier has its name.

In contrast, my knowledge of New World railways is limited to the rails I have seen stretching across deserts and through cities, often stumbled across at those most unexpected of moments (perhaps in the same way British enthusiasts experienced in less-corporate days). My love of railways is rooted in those experiences of overgrown track and empty rails, and emboldened by obliviousness. I did once get as far  as buying an American N diesel, but I have no idea what it was (other than being blue)! Likewise, I'd struggle to put my finger on where or when I had these experiences, other than more recent encounters with the abandoned E&N in Vancouver Island, or the remnants of the Monterey & Salinas. 

So what is this project? It is a manifestation of that ignorance. I will embrace unoriginality, shun any notion of finescale, and reign in my ambition. I want to make something easy, heartfelt, and without presumptions. This might be an extension of James' Ballard & Wantage, or perhaps the East Suffolk overseas. Whatever it is, I feel excited - after months of fiddling with track gauges and calipers, this feels like the modelling equivalent of poster paint on a paper plate - crude, tactile, and slapdash!