Negative Space and Parade Routes

Railroad Train by Edward Hopper, 1908

When I was reading the July 2023 edition of Model Railroad Hobbyist magazine I came across this statement in Joe Fugate's editorial:

 "Negative space is basically the so-called 'boring stuff' that has little to do with the railroad.  It's the stuff that typically gets thrown out when we selectively compress a railroad route into a layout track plan.  Rather than add something else 'railroady' to the layout, a 'negative space scene' takes space away from the railroady part per se hence the term 'negative' space."

No.  That's not what it means at all.

From wikipedia: "In art and design, negative space is the empty space around and between the subject(s) of an image.^[1] Negative space may be most evident when the space around a subject, not the subject itself, forms an interesting or artistically relevant shape, and such space occasionally is used to artistic effect as the "real" subject of an image" 

Furthermore, "Elements of an image that distract from the intended subject, or in the case of photography, objects in the same focal plane, are not considered negative space. Negative space may be used to depict a subject in a chosen medium by showing everything around the subject, but not the subject itself. Use of negative space will produce a silhouette of the subject. Most often, negative space is used as a neutral or contrasting background to draw attention to the main subject, which then is referred to as the positive space."

The "boring stuff" in between our "railroady scenes" is NOT negative space.

To be fair, I get what he's trying to say.  In the editorial he continues to elaborate on what he thinks negative space means for modelers and while he's totally misusing the term, he's still pointing to a concept I endorse.  Our model railroads have to strike a balance between the "railroady" and "non-railroady" scenes we see in the real world.  Most model railroads are heavy on the stations, yards, industries, and signature scenic effects like tunnels and bridges because these are often considered the most interesting elements.  

But in the real world there are, for example, suburbs, non-railroad-served industries, and miles and miles of nature alongside the tracks.  The problem is that the "empty" scenes in between aren't really empty.  While it would be tempting to call a plain, simple scene between more interesting scenes "negative space", a better term for these scenes would be, simply put, ordinary scenes.  The world is full of them and, as Joe rightly points out in his editorial, these often get cut from our model railroads as we selectively compress the world.

House by the Railroad by Edward Hopper 1925

But to say such an ordinary scene is "boring" is an opinion.  Real railroads run through a variety of settings and it is up to the modeler to determine what is interesting enough to be included in the limited space we all have.  It is the operations-fixated focus of the mainstream modeling community that drives this false dichotomy between what is interesting (railroady) and what is boring (the rest of the stuff).

Let me present an idea that might serve to recapture a more positive and balanced perspective on those "boring" scenes - the Parade Route or Paradestrecke in German.  I mention the German translation because that's where I see this concept at work the most, whether on FREMO layouts or home railroads.  When possible, it is desirable to include a stretch of railroad on which trains can get up and go, run hard, stretch their legs, etc.  This is that place we all know and love, standing trackside where the power of a train can be viscerally felt as it thunders by.  

A parade route can include a featured element such as a trestle or even structures, but the primary focus is on the train.  A viewer might look at the scene and enjoy the scenery the way a person would view and enjoy a landscape painting, and it might evoke feelings of peace, tranquility, or mild interest.  But the real interest occurs when the train enters the scene.  This is the place to let that freight creep by so the viewer can admire those detailed cars you spent so much time weathering, or to send that limited express screaming by at 70 per, drivers flashing.

Railroad Sunset by Edward Hopper, 1929

The American modeling culture used to include these ideas, in part.  A classic track plan was the 'out-and-back'.  This provided a visible yard for either storing trains or possibly switching cars and a mainline loop, usually folded and twisted over itself for a longer run but with a reversing section allowing a train to return to the yard from whence it departed.  In effect, the main line was the parade route.  These plans were often accompanied by such text as "let 'em roll on the main while you switch the yard" or some similar admonishment.  Sounds like two kinds of fun at the same time.

Admittedly, those early track plans allowing for trains to just run laps were dependent on, and for the benefit of, companies that sold an ever-increasing selection of locomotives and rolling stock.  The cure for "boredom" on such a pike was to (purchase, build and) run a variety of trains, not necessarily to operate them prototypically.  But once we began heading down the path towards prototype fidelity and operation it seemed the parade routes began to wither, literally shrinking in favor of squeezing in more sidings or more closely modeling a prototype track arrangement and squeezing out "ordinary" scenery.

Long before the prototype operators gained dominance in the hobby Frank Ellison et al found a way to have your cake and eat it too, including both parade routes - though he likely didn't use that term - and serious operation that mimicked the real railroads.  John Allen did the same, as did so many of his contemporaries.  Creating a section of the railroad exclusively for watching the train travel through beautiful scenery was often as important as spotting freight cars or making station stops on time.

But today such ideas are pooh-poohed to the point that magazine editors have to write editorials encouraging folks to consider "negative space" in their operations-oriented railroads.  Perhaps these old ideas will become new again.  Today's non-hobbyist public that attend train shows generally see trains - both model and prototype - as railfans, not operators.  In the real world trains travel through ordinary scenes.  Most North American modular layouts aren't created for operating, but rather favor long trains running through ordinary scenes.

Ordinary scenes are not negative space.  

Boring is in the eye of the beholder.