Freight Cars and the Art of Chess

I don’t know how to play chess.

To be fair, I’ve never really tried. I knew guys in high school and college who did; one was even ranked among players in the state. But my knowledge of gambits and grandmasters doesn’t extend beyond being able to name the pieces and a vague understanding of how they move on the board*.

I’m the same way about freight cars.

Despite a strong preference for prototype-based model railroading and conducting the inherent research necessary for prototype-based model railroading, my knowledge doesn’t extend to freight cars. Ask me to tell you if the boxcar is a PS2 or an X29, and I’ll give you my best “I don’t know” shrug.

Now, there are obviously those in this hobby that revel in the intricacies of freight cars, and can list off build dates with a precision rivaling a dictionary. Those individuals are to be acknowledged for their contributions to the hobby, and I’d argue the modeling industry as a whole. I’m convinced that the increased quality of ready-to-run cars directly relates to the available information about said cars.

But for me, it’s not of much interest. That may seem to fly in the face of the rest of my approach to scale model railroading. After all, I take immense pleasure in replicating the policies and procedures of the prototype in miniature as much as possible.

In other words, I like playing chess.

Here’s the bottom line. You don’t need an expensive or elaborate chess set to be able to play chess. It turns out the game is just as challenging with sticks and rocks as with jewel-encrusted marble pieces. Is the enjoyment level different between the two? That’s up to you. But ultimately, I can play chess despite not knowing everything about the game.

That’s the art of prototype model railroading.

*= The horsey can move in an L-path, right?