Tom was also quite a good modeler.
However, I soon discovered that while Tom loved the mod-
eling and delighted in watching the trains run, he had zero
interest in serious operations. At first that surprised me, but I
could see Tom loved the hobby as much as I did, even though
he couldn’t care less about running trains realistically.
I felt a strong camaraderie with Tom, and the fact he didn’t
care for ops didn’t change our shared passion for the hobby.
Much later, I became something of a hobby insider in the
1990s, and I learned that prototype operation is not the most
popular topic in the hobby. Operations books and videos
don’t sell nearly as well as books and videos on scenery and
DCC, for instance.
It’s a give-and-take. Those of us into serious ops need to
allow that there are those in the hobby who love the model-
ing but they don’t find serious ops to be all that fun.
On the flip side, those who don’t enjoy serious ops need to
recognize that those of us who do love serious prototype ops
can find it to be a real blast. Serious ops can be like any group
game, with some good-natured fun and interesting challenges
to solve.
Both sides of this question are running trains for the fun of
it. And for those who tire of the “roundy-roundy” running,
there’s more serious prototype ops.
For those who never tire of railfanning model trains, there’s
just running for the fun of it. After all, why not? Remember
Tom the janitor. It’s all
about
having fun with
trains.
Right, Tom?
