It seems hard to believe, but yesterday, December 11, marks the completion of the 15th year I have been writing this blog, with over 300 posts per year. In fact the post you’re reading is number 1852 in the series. It seems like an impossible number to me, but since this is something that my host, Google, keeps track of, I know it must be true!
At this point, I’d also like to mention that a few years ago, I posted a summary of my goals and intentions for this blog, and anyone relatively new to reading it might benefit from seeing what I have set out to do (see that post at: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2021/02/the-purpose-and-uses-of-this-blog.html )
As I often do in these annual reflections, I reviewed the page view data provided by Google. In the first five years or so of the blog, my posts typically received 150,000 to 200,000 page views a year. More recently that has moved above 300,000 a year, in some years approaching 400,000 page views. That itself is amazing to me.
But there’s more. Last year on this anniversary my total for all the preceding 14 years was just above 3 million page views. This year it’s risen to well over 4 million. Yes, over a million page views last year, for a single year.
I well understand that “page views” include web crawlers and other internet denizens visiting a web address, though without any actual interest in the content, And to be sure, taking 15 years to get to 4 million page views, even if it’s mostly non-content visitors, is nothing compared to an internet “influencer,” but still, it seems like a fair amount for a model railroading blog.
As has been true almost since this blog began, I receive comments and questions about the content, some of them via the comment function that Google provides, so that other visitors can see those inputs and my response (if any), but also, increasingly, by personal emails from people who I suppose don’t want to make questions or comments public. That’s fine, and many times I realize I hadn’t been clear or didn’t go far enough in a description. These interactions are interesting and welcome to me.
My layout continues to host operating sessions. I am among the considerable number of layout owners who do host such sessions, and like many of them, I feel like the main reason I brought the layout near to completion was to host such sessions. When visitors operate the layout and all its equipment, the layout is functioning as I envisioned it years ago when I was still in the planning stage. You can’t ask for more than that from a hobby.
I can’t resist showing a scene fairly typical of my operating sessions, from a couple of years ago. Shown below are Dave Falkenburg (left) and Bob Hanmer (visiting from Chicago), operating at Shumala. Here Bob is serving as the engineer while Dave is the conductor in carrying out the switching work in this part of the session. This session was back in 2023; you can read about it at: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2023/10/layout-operating-session-no-85.html .
I continue to find operation to be a really interesting part of model railroading. Partly for that reason, I strongly welcomed the introduction of the new Achievement Program in operation created by the Operations Special Interest Group (SIG) of NMRA. I wrote a post describing that program (see: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2025/08/a-new-achievement-program.html ).
The foundation of such operation by modelers is, of course the prototype. So photographs like this one (Conductor Charles Martin in Southern Pacific caboose 684, Class C-30-1, in the 1950s: Stan Kistler photo) continue to intrigue me. When we modelers act as conductors in an op session, we aren’t provided with the captain’s chair or a desk, but we work our waybills very much like Mr. Martin is doing here.
Beyond those considerations, I must admit upon reflection that I continue to enjoy and even relish nearly every aspect of this hobby of ours. Except maybe wiring. My several posts entitled “Electrical wars” probably bear witness to that. (You can use “electrical wars” as a search term in the search box at the top right corner of this post, if you’d like to read a few.)
On that topic, I well remember a cartoon that once ran in Model Railroader, showing two guys with halos over their heads and little wings on their backs, looking at a small layout floating on clouds. One is saying, “Wiring? What wiring? This is heaven, remember?”
Tony Thompson
Congratulations, Tony. Quite an achievement. I visit the blog frequently to see what's new, or looking up one thing or another, and often recommend it to others as being the best Encyclopedia of railroad history and modeling. Thanks for all the work you have put in on this.
ReplyDelete-Jay Styron
Tony, I've enjoyed reading your blog for a number of years now . . . keep doing it!
ReplyDeleteThe caboose photo reminds me a lot of the photography of Jack Delano. I'll have to do some research into Stan Kistler, as I'd like to see more of his work.
I love how the conductor has made his caboose "his own". That big chair doesn't look like RR issue, and he should be quite comfy in it judging by the "custom" cushions. It looks like the chair legs have "boots" on them . . . to keep it from sliding around? And I love the Venetian blinds that the conductor installed in his windows.
Would it be permissible for me to re-post Mr. Kistler's photo on my own private blog (with all credits due, of course)?
Tony, I’ve one of the 4 million readers for many years now. I don’t remember how I first learned of your blog but it is one the sites I faithfully visit several times a month. Every time I do I learn something. I don’t model the SP or anything close and I suspect any SP cars on the L&HR were merely passing through. But whatever you write, whether about modeling, operations or prototype practices, is always a learning moment applicable to almost every layout or railroad. Thank you for creating this blog and keeping it going all these years.
ReplyDeleteEd Greason