With respect, in the 3+ years I've been in the hobby, I have found it sort of disappointing that so many layouts look so much alike. In broad strokes, the overwhelming majority are as follows: a small suburban "Main Street" type town primarily made up of Ameritowne and MTH buildings and then a rural area with with some industry.
I'm sorry. But I just can't let this go unchallenged.
PJB, Did you give any thought to the possibility of making a whole lot of people feel badly because of the negative, derogatory, disrespectful points you have made here? There is certainly quite a significant number of fellow hobbyists who have used these products, modeled them with their own hands and imagination, or purchased them with satisfaction, and integrated them into their layouts with pride and satisfaction, and modeled such cityscapes.
What point was it that you felt you just had to make by saying all this?
What helpful, positive purpose did your negativity serve in this conversation?
You may have previously noticed that many posters on this forum are encouraging to each other and laudatory in our replies, hoping to add in a pleasant way to the thread at hand and to the overall discourse about our trains.
Positively every thought that forms in a person's mind is not necessarily golden and worth inflicting on others.
You could have made your other, fine points about alternative scenery - all of which I thought were interesting ideas - without the bashing of what "so many layouts" (your words) have done and/or utilized.
So, I am taking strong exception to the bashing part of your posting.
FrankM.
