A Different Kind of Prototype

Model railroad books, magazines, and clinics are filled with talking of prototypes; narrowing down a model railroad's interest to a specific era, locale, line and perhaps even branch.  The idea being that building a plausible, believable, and operational layout stems primarily from reproducing, down to the last detail and exactness of color, a very specific portion of history.  I too have blogged about this concept and feel there is some merit in it.

This past month however I met a different kind of prototype that I've never seen discussed; one which for all intents and purposes is just as real as the former kind of prototype, yet quite a bit more distinct and opinionated.

In the book "HO Narrow Gauge Railroad You Can Build", Jim Kelly says of Malcom Furlow in his biography/introduction, ""[Malcom] always brings a spirit of fun to his projects, and his layout photos have a breathtaking sweep that's distinctive an instantly recognizable.  The dramatic lighting and rich color are reminiscent of the work of the late John Allen..."

While I understand MR'ing means different things to different people this short summary of Furlow's work identifies one of those intangibles of model railroading: life.  Sure, something can be created to look identical to an specific piece of equipment but when do model railroads begin to take on a life of their own?  Prototype model railroading can offer us plausibility but what prototype do we look to for life and drama in our model railroads?

Art.

Good art, be it and oil painting or photography, has a distinct personality to itself.  It has life and drama.  It's a portal into one view of the world which becomes a prototype itself.  It's not a prototype based in the real world per say, but a prototype based on an artistic vision.

The thought came to me, when at the Autry Museum of Western History, I came across a painting by Thomas Moran titled "Mountain of the Holy Cross" (1875).  The scene is an oil painting depicting a location in the Rocky mountains, Colorado.  Even though it's an actual location the painting has a life of it's own.  It uses colors that even though they are 100% correct feel vivid and distinct.

The small digital reproduction posted here doesn't serve justice to what is actually a 7 foot tall painting.  Still, studying this several themes emerge which parallel the typical list of things prototype model railroaders look for:

• Setting
• Era
• Locale
• Season
• Feel

Sure, it's lacking a definition of the operational aspect, freight traffic, sidings, industries, etc. but looking at the painting above, what model railroader couldn't envision an entire model railroad built around the feeling of this scenic, rugged landscape?  The thing is, there are tons of these types of paintings.  Starting just with the work of Moran alone there is enough inspiration to keep model railroads being built for years.

Perhaps it's time we as model railroaders expanded our horizons of what qualifies as a prototype and begin to think not just about operational correctness but also the life, drama, and spirit of our models.  Somewhere along the way we might just find that our models start to become art themselves, becoming their own portals of the world, and finding themselves prototypes in their own right.