Awhile back I was reading an article on architectural design. The author, an architect, made the point that having constraints (budget, theme, etc.) on a project often made it easier rather than harder. The constraints narrowed the focus leading to a more cohesive result. The same could be said for model railroading. At first […]
Category: Opinion
Knowing What We Don’t Know
Most participants in model railroading, as with any leisure pursuit, are looking for a casual creative outlet, a break from the everyday without any overriding compulsion to be a master at it. This is as it should be and I point it out without any condescension. I enjoy surfing and playing basketball and can say in […]
Putting the Pieces Together
In the July issue of Model Railroader, Tony Koester wrote what I’d consider to be one of his best Trains of Thought columns. In the piece he clearly communicates the notion that simply producing a model that is neatly constructed won’t bring you to the finish line if your goal is create a successful scene. […]
The 80/20 Rule
I can’t remember if it was Al Gore, Mark Cuban, or Leonardo Da Vinci that “invented” the 80/20 rule. Either way, it is one of the more universally applicable concepts to roll out of a R&D department in years. It even applies to our leisure time pursuit. At least eighty per cent of the visual […]
How Much is a Good Idea Worth?
How much would you pay for an idea that made a dramatic improvement in the appearance of your layout? Five dollars? Twenty? Forty? The latter number, forty, corresponds to the ballpark subscription cost of a hobby magazine. I hear it all the time, “I stopped subscribing to magazine X” because: it wasn’t inspirational, it didn’t […]