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Thursday, November 9, 2017

New railroad = New Blog???

One of the first photos on this blog - almost eight years ago. Time for a fresh start? 
As I start (in earnest) the process of planning and eventually building my new layout I wonder if I should put this blog aside and start a new blog, one either focused on the new railroad or a more general "modeling" blog. 

Why?
  • I started this blog in December 2010, as I was starting construction of the layout. So this blog has always been about that layout.
  • I don’t want readers seeing posts and photos from the old layout and confusing them with the new railroad.
  • There’s something to be said for a fresh start. 
  • I've learned a little about blogging in the last 8 years - to the point that I cringe at some of the earlier posts. A new blog would make it easy to implement those lessons. 
  • Currently I have three blogs, although I really only update this one on a regular basis. 
A new look for a fresh start? 
Why Not?
  • This is an “established” blog – with a 8-year history and over 500,000 unique visits.
  • People know where to find it, and therefore, me.
  • Starting a new blog may require more effort and time than I want to devote to it at this point. 
Another approach would be to not tie the blog to any one prototype or layout and instead to create a new, more generic "My Model Railroading Blog" (obviously the title needs some work). 
That way if the next layout, or the one after that, is based on some other prototype/region of the country it wouldn't seem odd to have a Carolina railroad described on a blog with the "centralvermontrailway" in its URL. 
I could simply retain this blog and cull through the old posts and photos to remove those specific to the old layout (photos of benchwork and the like, such as the one shown above!), retaining the true modeling, prototype information, and photo posts. 
But that sounds a lot like effort.
Just something to contemplate on a dreary Thursday. 

5 comments:

  1. Hi Marty,
    I think your last option, keeping the blog but culling it to be appropriate for the new Richford Branch layout, sounds attractive.
    It might not be as much work as it seems.
    You know with computers, it's always fast and easy to delete stuff.
    Maybe this could be done all on a quiet Sunday afternoon.
    In any case, I'll still be here, looking in :)
    Rick

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  2. Being as you are one of the more recognized public faces of our hobby, I think the third option would be ideal. A general "Marty McGuirk" blog would be enough to retain existing viewers as well as attract new ones.

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  3. I've found the topics on this blog invaluable and hate to think of you deleting topics that could be of interest to some other modeler that has interest in CV or railroad modeling in general. I'd suggest you keep this one with a final page that links to the new blog and the new railroad. You can then create new blog entries based on new operational concepts, construction and scenery techniques that you are incorporating in the new layout.

    Stan

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  4. I say start a new one for your new layout. I don't think building off the old/current one will be confusing, but it was designed for a different purpose. Unless you plan on deleting your old one (in which case, keep using it to maintain its useful stuff for the rest of us!) I recommend a new one for your new projects.

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  5. Like Stan said, I'd go with a new blog and make the last post on this blog info and a link to the current blog. Also include that in the "design" as well (i.e. up top with the image, along the sidebar) so it won't be missed even if someone goes to a specific page/entry within this blog. That way you also keep the history of this to refer to while getting a fresh start with the right focus.

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