E. L. Moore

[thomaspspence]

My favorite author... I have a scrapbook made up of Xeroxed articles, trackside photos and actual photos he took and signed... it's about 5" thick! I also have in it rare unpublished articles of his. When MR did a tribute article on him after his death in the early 80s, they mentioned they still had more articles unprinted. I waited impatiently for about 2 years and wrote and asked about them. They gave them to me, provided that I sign a paper saying I wouldn't have them published elsewhere. The church in my avatar was built from one of those articles. The reason they decided not to publish the articles was that they were no longer "state of the art" modeling. I disagree! Those models were fantastic and put many new models to shame. There's still loads of evidence of E. L. Moore's legacy. So many staples of the plastic kit market still use his designs today. In yesterday's mail, I got another one of those Historic Rails catalogues... in it was at least two kits of his design, the Molasses Mine and the Shaeffer Brewery (although he took the brewery from a prototype.) In the new RMC, there's a "cheese factory" in a laser kit. I've seen bunches more of his designs used in laser kits. I dunno. I think he was a master of interesting structures and they're as relevant today as years ago. We should all model that well.

[ginzokid]

Tom, How long are you prevented from publishing the articles? "Old" techniques are just as "state of the art" as "new" techniques in my book. Maybe materials differ, but how you design and build 'em is pretty much the same no matter what year you are talking about. How about checking with an attorney to see if you could "self publish" the articles as a pamphlet or book. It is a shame that Moore's work should be hidden. B-)

[thomaspspence]

Knowing that I may want to have future articles published in MR, I better stay on their good side, lawyers or no lawyers. It's my understanding that the contract I signed was meant forever. But you're right, it's a shame that any good model RR stuff should remain hidden. Although I'm glad that I'm the one in possession of it, it's not fair to you. And who knows how much stuff is kept from all of us while hidden in someone else's house? I should write MR and ask if I can submit the 6 articles to RMC. Looking back through the magazines, I think RMC was kinder to E. L. Moore. They published the bulk of his work (66 articles compared to MR's 28), plus RMC left in his humor while MR kept it to "just the facts". (Model Trains, later bought by Kalmbach, published 11, Railroad Modeler published 5, the NMRA Bulletin, 1.) I'll bet RMC would be delighted to feature "The Lost Articles of E. L. Moore". And whatever money they want to give can be sent to Kalmbach. I've been also wanting to submit an article about my own N scale version of E. L. Moore's Elizabeth Valley RR. Mine is set in the fall and is pretty much ready for sharing with the world. (It has been ready for years, actually; I should dust the thing off.) But I want to get the best photos of it. I've got the camera, I know what software to get (Hexicon-- that miracle software that combines the best focused parts of a series of shots into stunning photos.) But knowing how and actually DOING it are two different things. Sometimes I can be darned lazy. The purchase of my first computer 8 years ago brought my modeling to a halt. (I discovered the wonderful world of converting LPs and cassettes to new sounding CDs.) Since then, I've gotten trifocals. I guess a magnifier is gonna be my next hobby purchase!

[thomaspspence]

I will say there's really no new techniques in the 6 "lost" articles. Just new designs. They include: Village School Crossroads Store Little Church on the Hill Cole Mfg. Co. (a very impressive brick building/diorama) A Pair of Canal Boats Morton Salt Conveyer The coolest thing for me was that they sent the original manuscripts Moore typed, plus photos he signed. For a Moore nut like me, it was an honor to have such trophies. I even wrote to his old friends, Fred Kelley and Bart Crosby. They were very nice and sent some color photos of the buildings he had built for them. One day, I'd love to own an E. L. Moore original. They're out there. Somewhere. But for how much longer?