Feb 2001 - Lionel Collectors Club of America

Grand Canyon. Youcan’t take one picture ofit. It’s so immense thata single picture justwon’t tell the story,” hesaid. “For Thom, it’s apassion, not just ahobby. It was certainlya challenge to capturethe essence of what’scontained in such amassive collection.”I asked Nathan toshare some professionaltips with amateurphotographers whowant to take high qualityphotographs of theirlayout with a 35mmcamera. “Getting adecent photographreally requires thelighting to be right. Bewary of photographingunder fluorescent lights.Film colors just don’twork out well withfluorescents. Whenyou’re working with quite a large area, the flash on thecamera will not cover the scene, and ‘flash shadows’become a problem. The best thing to do is to have atripod and use longer exposure times. Turn the flash offand effectively use whatever ambient lighting you cancapture. Use floor lamps and bounce their light off theceiling to give more even lighting and avoid deepshadows. Every big city has a camera rental store, andyou can rent lighting gear there and find videos on howto do it.”PostscriptVisiting the Blischok layout and collection was forme a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see a trulyimpressive array of operating trains and a showcase ofcollector’s items. My home modular layout and modestcollection of Rock Island pieces made by Lionel and othermanufacturers pales by comparison in number and valueto what Thom has gathered for enjoyment.But Thom’s experience with the hobby transcendsthe inventory, its book value, and the budget of its glorioussetting. I deduced that the story he told to his daughter,4The fourth painting in the seriesAlisha, in the train store— about buying thetrains for a “little boy”— was not a white lie.He is that little boy, andthere is a little boyinside most of us thatremains full of wonderat the sight of toy trains.The magic is aspowerful in one that hasone train as in anotherwith many, aswonderful with oneoval of track as with alabyrinth. Fortunately,there is no order ofmagnitude to themiracle of thisinspiration.A Postscript byThomAs we’ve had theopportunity to workwith LCCA in this seriesof articles we havefound new friends. MikeMottler brought thesetwo articles to life. On behalf of Sharla, Alisha, andmyself, we can only say thanks to Mike for his outstandingliterary skills and friendship. It was truly enjoyable towork with such a talented individual. To John Fisher,thanks for convincing us to do this series of articles. Youare truly a great friend and in many ways the passionthat started this journey began as we sat in your house inSt. Paul many years ago and talked about toy trains.Our layout and collection represent what we believeis the “heart and soul” of the train hobby. And that is thecreation of lasting fellowship and friendship. We can’tthank our team members enough for their contributions.Without them this would have never been possible. Thesetwo articles have taken all of you through our dream ofcreating a small world of toy trains. And, for us, Sharla,Alisha, and myself, the thousands of memories createdduring this journey will live in our hearts forever.Trains are and will continue to be fun.Artwork by Angela Trotta ThomasPhotographs by Nathan Nitske15The Lion Roars February, 2001