I just received a notification that this week’s inauspicious post about repairing the turntable was the 1000th post to this blog. Knowing they’re just trying to gamify their platform, I usually ignore such notifications, but 1000 seems like a good moment to reflect back on the embarrassingly long time I’ve been writing about the challenges and triumphs of Pembroke.
I started writing about Pembroke as a way to promote Proto:87, a program I’ve been supporting since 1994. While, I doubt if it has had much of an effect in that regard, the benefits of writing about the layout have repaid the effort time and time again.
Before blogs existed, I kept notebooks about my modelling efforts. These helped if I ever needed to reproduce a result, and as the number of results has outgrown the increasingly limited memory I carry around in my cranium, I often use the blog in the same way. The advantage of the blog is that it is indexed and searchable, while the notebooks are purely chronological.
The blog is, however, much more than a notebook. There is nothing worse than a blog that peters into nothingness (I have one of those on another topic), and so, I’ve tried to post about once a week. This goal helps to keep momentum on this project even when I want to turn my back on it.
It is at those times when I’ve most wanted to ditch the whole effort that you, the readers, always come to my rescue. I would probably still be wrestling with the turntable were it not for Mark Dance’s suggestions, for example. Where would I be without Rob Kirkham’s suggestion to use stupidly fine wire? Between the suggestions there have been myriad accolades and personal messages, and I thank you once again for all of them.
Of all the discussions on the blog, my favourites are surely among the 89 posts in the Philosophy category. I’ve enjoyed encountering different points of view, and developing my own through these posts. My hobby and the layout have both been enhanced by thinking about these questions more deeply.
A friend recently reached out for advice on starting a blog. I encourage everyone to do it, but recognize that starting is easy — continuing is hard. So make it easy on yourself: choose a platform rather than self-hosting because you already have a hobby and it isn’t server maintenance. Try to set a cadence you can manage, and post intermittent results, rather than waiting for completed projects. Write for yourself, and if your mom and half a dozen of your friends subscribe, be amazed. The value accretes over time, but only if you keep at it.
Then one day you’ll find yourself with a 1000 posts behind you, capturing your growth in the hobby. When that happens, take a moment to reflect on where you’ve been, and notice the skills, tools and techniques you’ve honed along the way. Then where you’re going no longer looks so daunting.
Pembroke:87 
Wow: Congrats!
1000 is a real milestone – or, perhaps, a kilometrestone?
I enjoy your posts. I’m glad you share. Keep it up!
Thanks Trevor! I’m enjoying Bydemill, too!
Rene, First, congrats on 1000 posts. Second, Nice rail fence a couple posts ago. Just for laughs here is part of a similar fence still in use in 1958 or 59. Looks like the kid (me) is holding both steers but one is actually tied to the fence.  There were still a couple rail fences around the barnyard but there were only remnants of the rail fences around fields by this time.  The remains of the other fences included two post fences like this one (and your model) as well as ones with posts with holes cut for rails and the worm fences.  By this time we were just salvaging the rails from around the farm for repairs for the barnyard fences and for sawing and splitting for kindling wood.  The worm fences created lots of triangle shaped patches that could only be cleaned with hand tools (no weed eaters in those days) and the little triangular weed/briar patches were a favorite nesting place for bumblebees and yellow jackets.  On another note, a couple years ago I was visiting Paul Dolkos and his daughter came to visit. Paul’s grandson is a college hockey player and apparently the practice is for players to take time off from school for a season to play in an amateur league in Canada. She told the story of visiting a team in Pembroke. They had a very small arena and the place was packed beyond capacity.  The crowd was deafening. John King
Thank-you John for the story of the fences and the hockey game. Sadly the photo didn’t come through. If you’d like to send it to me at Rene at proto87.org, I’ll put it up. I’d love to see it.
Congratulations on 1000 Rene. I won’t offer “stupidly fine wire” type suggestions too often!
Please keep ‘em coming!
Congratulations, Rene! I’ve really enjoyed your blog over the years and it’s kept my urge to model the OA&PS under control (I have enough ideas already).
Cheers Barry. Happy to be of service!
Congrats on the milestone – always a highlight of my inbox to get an update!
Thank Brian. You’re very kind.
Congratulations on your 1000. I enjoyed your reflection on its worth to you.
Here’s to your turning away from turning your back.
Graham
Cheers Graham.
Congratulations, always a good read!
Thank-you!
Congratulations! It is so much more than just a post count. These blogs are adjacent to the hobbies that inspire them so demand a balance of time. That balance though, I found, becomes itself an act of a kind of love. We pour so much of ourself into these blogs themselves that they take on a kind of friendship-like quality.
I love how yours has also become a hub from which other forms of expression have blossomed like when you were talking about making books to describe particular modelling projects. It feels like a revelation in boundless expression and it feels good to be exposed to. Thank you.
I was recently thinking about the way that these blogs span across ever-shortening length eras in our hobby and “social media” platforms. I love the way these blogs have become their own cadence that feels more balanced to real life. More capable of carrying more of the metadata experience of exploring creative work. How grateful that they continue.
Thank you
Chris
That is such an interesting observation about the longevity of (some) blogs in our increasingly frenetic world. Thank-you!