You don't even want to think about "prototype modeling". Modeling a particular place and era, making sure every piece of stock properly fits the era, modding stock that isn't 100% correct, etc.

And then there is train operations...

Nice summary. As I look at the various stuff I have acquired so far (locos, cars, etc) and start planning for a small setup, this is exactly what I see when I look at the RR forums. Sometimes the arguments are full of contradictions. For example they will argue about whether a specific locomotive should be on a layout that is modeling a specific era, because it wasn't made until a few years later. But then, it seems that "running steam is always allowed", even on a modern era setup taking place decades after steam was dead. Because, steam is cool.

Then of course there are those that say any layout where the train just continually goes around in a circle is just a toy made by an idiot. Well, I might have some turnouts and such in mine, but I'm gonna also set it up so it will continually run in a circle. Because sometimes I like to just sit there and watch the train go dammit.

There are those that simply say, its my railroad and I'll do what I want. Which is a good attitude. Why not make a cool setup that you enjoy? After all, you will never ever recreate something that is even remotely like the real thing. Every model requires you to squint your eyes and your brain so you can suspend belief and pretend you are looking at the real thing. The entire (mostly unspoken) lie of model railroading becomes apparent when you start thinking about the numbers. HO is 1:87. As you sit there looking at you 10'x16' layout for example, you are thinking, OK, I can get a main line run of 16 feet long here, cool. You are envisioning the train running along from your small town on one side over to an industry on the other side as it goes about its work. Well, 16 feet translates to a grand total of 1392 prototype feet. About 1/4 of a mile. Trains were made to travel across hundreds or thousands of miles, not a quarter of a mile LOL. In fact, a real freight train would typically be 1/4 mile to 1 mile long just by itself. Think about it, if you put together a "real" train, it would just sit there taking up your entire track, how can it go from point A to point B??? Its front end is at point A and its rear end is at point B.

You have to have a huge massive layout inside a big building to be able to build out something that even remotely resembles to the real thing. Unless of course you model a more constrained physical area such as a switching yard or a single dock which is also cool.

Also, there is another tinker area associated with model railroading I just thought of - automation. There is lots of stuff you can do if you connect up a computer or other devices like Arduinos to the system. I want to mess around with some of that stuff too.

You can recreate small scenes or vignettes as it were. Seems not so great at first, but then, check out something like this impressive stuff:

Anything on that guy's channel is cool. If nothing else you can while the hours away watching that crazy shit.

Here's another absolutely crazy one:

Tilt shift photography is some weird stuff, but really cool when it comes out right. You're right, you wouldn't use it for the models, but you have brought up another tinker area for model railroading: photography. Some people make photographing the setups (and video as well) as a major focus for their modeling. With this of course you can now fiddle around with all of that photography stuff: lighting, depth of field, macro, etc.

I like the photo comparisons between a prototype and a model made to match it, such as goingincirclez posted above.

Here is some typical model railroading fun, triggered by my research on this cool Athearn boxcar I bought for a few bucks. The danger here is that if you tend toward being OCD and wanting to learn everything and get everthing exactly right, its is a huge morass.

boxcar Athearn 5014 40ft Grand Canyon 145385 sIde map (resized).jpg

My idea is to build a layout based on the Southern California Santa Fe from somewhere in the 60s. Not too original, but too cool to pass up. Well, does this boxcar fit that? Well first of all, you have to figure out exactly what it is. Because a boxcar is not just a boxcar you know! You dig around and find out this is a BX-37 boxcar. This is obvious when you know where to look, its labeled as such on the lower right by the ladder. This is 1940s era when new. This one is labeled "BLT 2-42" if you look to the left of the BX37 tag so it was built new in Feb 1942 . Hey, too old!? No, because luckily the railroads were cheap and they did their best to keep old stuff going as long as they could to save money. So it would be totally realistic to have a 1960s train hauling some 1940s boxcars (so I read).

However, these types of cars were often reconditioned as time went by to keep them going. In fact, this one is labeled that it was reconditioned in 1966. If you look at the left side you will see where it says "LA 12-66" which I believe means it was reconditioned in Los Angeles in 1966. You see, when you get into it, you will find yourself studying all these markings to find out what they mean and to see if what you have is accurate. So now you know, if you were modeling EARLY 60s era, from 1960-1965, you could NOT put this car on your train!! Because it was reconditioned in 1966 which hadn't happened yet! You would be subject to ridicule and labeled as an amateur, how dare you.

But that's nothing. That's just the start of a long litany of issues. This boxcar has a roof walk on it. These were banned around 1966 (too dangerous). So if you were modeling the late 60s this would not be right, you need to take the roof walk off. But you could argue, not every car had the roof walk removed right away, it took some time to get them all done. Some may have even persisted until the 1970s, eventually completely banned in 1982. OK then. We are good to go.

Well, no. There are problems. You see the cool Santa Fe map on this one? This is the "curved line" map version. For a 1942 car it is supposed to be the "straight line" version Darn it. And the big ATSF letters on the left aren't right, there should be periods in between the letters for that era. Although you could argue they painted over the periods in 1966 when the reconditioned it I suppose.

There are many more issues to deal with after some research:

The BX-37 ladders on the sides are incorrect. The left ladder side rail should reach to the roof, which it does not. Ladders on the side of the 43 are also incorrect, as both side rails should reach to the roof. The ladder rounds are also too close together on both models.

The end ladders on the BX-37 had 6 rounds (rungs) starting higher and using the lower grab as a first step. The BX-43 ladders had 7. The models have 7, so incorrect for the BX-37. Because of the way the end ladders are cast, you can't simply cut off the lower round without also removing one (two?) of the brackets that holds the ladder to the car body.

The grabs on the ends and left end of the sides are terribly oversize. They should be 5/8" rod but look enormous. You gotta cut them off and replace them with thinner metal ones.

Of course, the underside of the car is completely wrong, everything is backwards.

There are issues with the doors that required removing them and getting them right.

All this stuff can be fixed with an intense modding session and all the right parts. It goes without saying that the wheels need to be changed out and the couplers changed to Kaydees.

All of that for ONE boxcar!!! I still haven't finished reading all the historical information on just the Santa Fe boxcars.

Of course, you could just take this damn thing and stick it on your train and say the hell with it, I'm running it. But where's the fun in that???

This really depends on the person. Everyone is different. I'm really weird that way, I find it very interesting to research all this kind of stuff and learn about the old trains. The problem is, it takes some time to go through this stuff. Its not all in one convenient place.

I don't think there is a single thing wrong with just putting this car on your train and running it. 99.9% of the people who see it will never know a thing, they'll just see a cool old boxcar. But there are those few...they have eagle eyes and they will zoom right in on every tiny flaw. It reminds me of pinball. Sometimes here I see post with pictures of playfields and such, and Pinsiders jump in with comments on the most small and obscure things that I never noticed nor would I notice in a million years. But to them it is obvious, because they know their shit.

Right, I should have looked at who was making the post which I didn't do, then I would have figured it out

All your points are good, the main thing is, there are a million things to do in this hobby to keep you busy and entertained.

Awesome. Garden railroads are soooo darn cool. This one looks like it will be really nice.

I agree I like the lights, awesome. And I like the guys INSIDE the loco shop, working on all their stuff. And I like the lineup of Porsches.

Let's face it, I like it all! Nice setup and pictures.

Do you have other internet content showing your trains, like YouTube or a website? Your set up is awesome.