It's 2008. When I was a kid waiting for the future that all the movies and articles promised, I don't think it ever really occurred to me that I would be living in that future. Now the future is here, and even though it's nothing like the predictions made back in those days, it certainly is a whole lot different. Looking back, I realize it didn't take as long to get here as everyone thought.
I'm still working on the Quills. At the suggestion of Lucas, I made a texture change. That led to a physical change in a part which led to etc. The end result was enough to crash MSTS. Now I'm re-assembling the second unit trying to work out the bug as I go. The bad part is the discouragement I felt blowing up what I thought was fixed. It could not have happened at a less opportune time. My interest in MSTS has waned a bit, as my interest in many things tends to do at times. It's been tough overcoming the inertia.
I've added to the situation of course. I took some time out to plot a course as far as future modeling goes. That may have been a mistake. After I gathered up a list of models I want to create it was obvious how ridiculous my ambitions were. It started out innocently enough. I was just trying to get an idea of how many different wheel arrangements I needed so I could standardize some of the work. Unfortunately my modeling tastes cover a wide spectrum. Trying to condense that interest into a workable plan is going to be much harder that I thought.
Take electric locomotives for example. Between the Lil' Joe, the New Haven EP/EF and the Quill I have enough parts to serve as a basis any number of locomotives and railroads. Through in a couple others that I have become interested in and you get a total of 22 separate models. The list covers a lot of territory from Brazil's Companhia Paulista de Estradas de Ferro to America's Great Northern Railway. It's a fairly ambitious collection.
That's the problem. There are a number of lists like that. The longest, and most ambitious, are the steam engines I would like to model. Almost all of them are streamlined or semi-stream lined with a smattering of heavy articulateds thrown in, including two Triplex and three 2-10-10-2 locomotives. There are almost 90 units on this list, so far, and though I'm pretty sure that covers pretty much everything you can never tell what else might pique my interest.
The "trains" list, meaning just that or entire trains I want to model has 57 entries. Only two, the M10000 and the GM Aerotrain have actually been started as complete trains. Others, like The Gulf, Mobile & Ohio "Abraham Lincoln" are single cars. Not all the trains are long. Several are one or two cars, like the AT&SF "Prospector", New Havens "Comet" or Chicago & North Western "Namegon". This list also includes gas-electric and "oil-electric" cars as well as the American Car & Foundry "Motorailers". Almost every "shovelnosed" Zephyr is on the list or probably will be as well as their Boston & Maine cousin "Flying Yankee".
The other lists are shorter. The Diesel list only has 26 entries at this point, from Electo-Motives EA and EB to White Pass & Yukon shovel nose 90 series GE units. The Turbine list is also short, but only because there were very few built. Not many passenger or freight cars. Most of the passenger cars are part of the trains I want to build.
The shortest list is labeled "traction" and contains one entry. The Johnstown Traction Company's PCC car #401. The shortness of this list is counterbalanced by the Johnstown section of the Allegheny Eastern. These trolleys are meant for the streets and country side that has yet to modeled. Track is laid, but it's not want I feel it should be so it will be relaid. Eventually the city of Johnstown will also rise out of the geo-spatial data that is my version of Pennsylvania.
To put it mildly, I'm quite overwhelmed by this daunting collection and it's painfully obvious my grasp has for out-distanced my reach. If it took a year to build each model, I'd need several lifetimes to complete every model. Still, with well over 3000 drawings at my disposal, I'm guessing I'm getting off easy. It could be far worse.
That’s about all for now…Thanks for listening.