Another wonderfully thought provoking topic Arnold! Thank you sir!
I've always thought of model railroading as an art form. Frank Ellison and his Delta Lines was certainly a fine early example of the art form and perhaps/arguably Ellison is the first great O gauge/scale model artist to take the art form of O gauge/scale to a whole new dimension. What phenomenal inspiration!!
It's been said many times that the bare layout platform is our blank canvas. As a visual art, model railroading is three dimensional and involves most of our senses ... vision, hearing, smell, and touch ... And as you are running your trains, perhaps too the sense of taste if you imagine the beverage and/or snack you have in your hand is being consumed by a mini you riding in the dining car or caboose of the train you are running on your layout ... I imagined this as a kid and still do
I love when the muse strikes me! My creative juices begin to flow and outside thoughts of everyday life melt away ... suddenly there is no past, there is no future, and only the present moment exists. Each present moment holds unlimited creative potential. It's at this point my mind is intensely focused on the whatever it is I'm doing on the layout be it scenery, electrical, or just running trains. This is when I'm in the state of creative " flow" , much the same as when I'm performing on or practicing my instrument ( I'm a professional musician ), my mind is still. Out of this stillness comes the creativity. This same state of creative flow was where my mind was when I was a young kid watching trains run on a store layout or playing with my own trains. For me this state of mind is why I keep coming back to my trains.
It was when I was in the state of creative flow that I created a huge mountain on my layout. The muse struck about 3 pm one afternoon. My mind quieted and I began the creative process. Basically the visual of what I wanted to create came into my head and without internal dialogue I began a step by step process ... basically reacting to what was needed next. ( I call this " reacting to what is needed next" authentic impulse.) At some point I became hungry. Thinking it was only 7:30 or 8 pm I went to the kitchen only to discover it was 1:10 am the next morning! I've had this same experience many times over while "working" on my layout /running trains. I'm sure many of you have too!
There are long periods where I do nothing on my layout because my desire for trains seems to disappear. This can go on for months so much so that I think perhaps I'm done with trains ... been there done that sort of feeling. Then suddenly "boom" I'm back loving the trains again ... with an intense hunger for creating something new too!! I can't explain this phenomena and probably there is no need to do so. The important take away is that I always come back full circle to loving my trains, my layout, and this great hobby!
I could go on and on writing about the creative process and trains, however, I'm getting hungry!
