The Fallowfield Effect

Let me begin by saying that I don't really understand The Fallowfield Effect. I dabbled in it my own layout as early as 2015. HO Galt Subdivision modeller Bob Fallowfield has a social media footprint that is more like a stomp than a footprint. Churning out high-quality, realistic and thought-provoking iPad and iPhone (and other technology I haven't used and don't understand) low-angle photos showing views of CP's Galt Sub is where Bob has made his mark. Er, Bob, not Mark.

Bob freely shares not only views of his layout, but also his experience in presentations, as well as sharing his layout with visiting guests. Since Bob's layout is fully-scenicked and highly prototypical, it makes a great backdrop for various manufacturers to operate, make videos and publicize their latest products.

But that's not all. Prescripted restrictions of online groups can be really, unrealistically restrictive. Sending a signal, Bob took his stomp-print somewhere else:

The coffee's hot? Who says that? Bob does, that's who! Bob likes to turn a phrase, taking his business seriously but not himself too seriously. Knowing Bob is like knowing martial arts. It's not something you take lightly. Not something you over-use. If you know karate, do you go around karate-chopping everyone? Nooo! So when Bob said he was planning to reduce his car fleet to a more prototypical base, I simply suggested he start a Facebook group to thin the herd. Then this happened....Bob said he'd send one my way:

Bob almost made me promise not to install X2F couplers. Bob, friends don't ask friends to do stuff like that. Imitation being the sincerest form of flattery, I can't flatter Bob because I try not to model other's layouts - I'd rather model a prototype. I guess I have that in common with Bob. But making memes is potentially the most sardonic form of flattery. And I've shared quite a few memes with Bob on Facebook with The Fallowfield Effect being the theme. CP Rail Century at Smiths Falls  in 1987 was the basis for this meme:

Bob gets several requests each week for his trackplan. A trackplan is not a layout, nor a modelling philosophy. It's just a trackplan, people.

Now let's circle the wagons back to where we were before the memes...thinning the herd. The mailbox knows the results:

Describing this humble blogger as Mr Manitoba, I think Bob remembers Tangent Scale Models reproductions of Manitoba's 1980 leased covered hoppers for grain traffic.  That's what was in the box! I was fortunate to see CRDX 7209 and 7316 in Manitoba in 1980. Now, here's 7216 in Vermont in 2017, nicely weathered by Bob:

The boys from the shop gather round. "Never seen one of those before". Someone mutters, "Scale coupler" and someone else opines, "Won't work with X2F's."

Boston & Maine 1730 ambles over from the shop track to make the guest comfortable, poling CRDX 7216 into the shed at the ET and HK Ide feed mill in St Johnsbury, VT! Welcome home! Coupler change to come. The Ford gets me part way to the Fallowfield Effect. The brush-painted Geep, the lichen, no sound, and the complete lack of meaningful ballast and stand-up static grass stop me in my tracks, well short of the full Effect. Bob would call my Effect the 'The Gagnon Gander'!

Lots o' Bob o'links: 

• Ontario in HO Scale in 2015
• Achievable Layouts in 2015
• CP Rail M&M Sub in 2016
• LokSound decoder video in 2016
• Rapido Trains RDC toquehead tomfoolery in 2016

Sincere thanks to Bob. The guy wouldn't even enable my paying the postage. So, a donation was made to CRHA Exporail as my way of saying thanks and body-surfing into what Bob would call the mosh pit of friendship. That CRDX car means an awful lot! I'm looking forward to seeing more of Bob's work online - and in print!

Running extra...

Speaking of Vermont, creativity got the better of me and Randy O'Brien - graphics guru and Portage la Prairie modeller. When I posited the name 'Green Mountain Boys' (aka the Vermont Air National Guard) for my new Vermont-based layout (eventually settling on The Green Mountain Lines), Randy thought that sounded an awful lot like five-string music plucked out on the front porch. Turning a youthful fencepost frame of this humble blogger into a X2F/banjo-axe guitar-toting musician, with a recently-pressed CD. I took it one step further to a 'vintage' LP:

 Bob, Randy and I can all agree on the this model railway-based meme: