Although there is no right or wrong way to participate in model railroading, there is, without question, a measuring stick of how successful we are at it. Success is measured by how much enjoyment and satisfaction we get from our involvement. To that extent the guy with the Lionel set that is on cloud nine […]
Category: Opinion
Why We Should Create In Miniature
I’ve always been curious about the psychology of model building. Why do we do it? What is the underlying compulsion that drives us to create in miniature? Yesterday I stumbled on an interesting perspective on the subject by author Martha Beck. Her article starts by addressing the subject of long term satisfaction versus euphoric highs […]
The Incredible Expanding Layout
Almost overnight I feel as though my layout has doubled in size, all of this without adding a single turnout or section of track. It’s becoming apparent that I probably have a lot more model railroad than I actually need to keep me entertained. What happened? In the past year I’ve learned an enormous amount […]
Virtuosity and Model Railroading
“Black Ice” Virtuoso model and photo by Bob Springs Virtuosity: Masterly skill or technique in the arts. Many years ago I attended a talk at a sales convention given by motivational speaker Peter Vidmar, the highest scoring American gymnast in Olympic history. The subject of the talk centered on what it took to be […]
The Structure Quandary
Over the past decade I’ve had a hard time ignoring the similarity between model railroader’s penchant for impulse buying/indiscriminate accumulation as compared to the same issue in any other retail setting. I’m not sure there is a difference between purchasing more shoes than there are days in the week as opposed to buying dozens of […]