12-20-2013, 09:51 PM
While I don't want to beat this to death, I think there are several issues. One is that, in his articles and blog posts, Lance focuses on a single area -- downtown Miami -- a single architectural style -- commercial-vernacular-stucco -- and a single phase of rail operation -- final-delivery locals. I'm not sure exactly how anyone can think this makes him an expert on anything else. He doesn't cover signals, for instance, or yard operation, or operation of any other type of train, such as haulers, manifests, intermodals, unit trains, maintenance, or passenger. In addition, on his blog, I have the impression that he thinks the universe of new model rail hobbyists is henpecked guys who have a hard time getting permission to do anything from their wives. Certainly I've known guys like that, but in the end, as far as I've seen, their wives win out anyhow, and they leave the hobby.
On top of that, I always have the suspicion that the guy wants to persuade me to go on some new diet. A lot of his blog posts seem to be in that vein. If I want medical advice, I see my doctor. If I want to know how to live my life, I talk to my priest. I have other places to learn about model trains, for that matter. He just isn't credible as far as I'm concerned. I realize that some other people think he's saying important things. A lot of those guys live outside the US and take his version of what the US is like seriously. OK.
I assume the layouts he custom builds are good quality. I build my own and have no reason to engage his services. For that matter, I have no reason to buy his books. Otherwise, I wouldn't pay him much more attention than anyone else who claims to know more than he seems to know. It does interest me that, on the forums I've seen, the people who think the most of him don't live in the US.
On top of that, I always have the suspicion that the guy wants to persuade me to go on some new diet. A lot of his blog posts seem to be in that vein. If I want medical advice, I see my doctor. If I want to know how to live my life, I talk to my priest. I have other places to learn about model trains, for that matter. He just isn't credible as far as I'm concerned. I realize that some other people think he's saying important things. A lot of those guys live outside the US and take his version of what the US is like seriously. OK.
I assume the layouts he custom builds are good quality. I build my own and have no reason to engage his services. For that matter, I have no reason to buy his books. Otherwise, I wouldn't pay him much more attention than anyone else who claims to know more than he seems to know. It does interest me that, on the forums I've seen, the people who think the most of him don't live in the US.