@Steve Tyler posted:Very interesting thread, and entirely appropriate (and perhaps inevitable!) given Arnold's tag line!
However, I have a bit different take on the issue. As others have said, I think the issue is less a striving for "Utopia," as in trying to create or model a perfect world, but in trying to create and model a more *comfortable* world, and truly "leave this troubled world behind", if I may borrow a phrase I believe I heard somewhere.
"Comfort" takes on a number of possible iterations in this context. One obvious candidate is to return to an earlier, and presumably happier, time in our lives: a classic ball field, a clean and functional subway, a brewery or pub, all seen through the gauzy film of memory to be a more comfortable time (well, maybe the "happiness" to be found in a brewery or pub is a bit artificial, but you know what I mean!). The very act of continuing in (or returning to) model railroading as an adult usually has its roots in childhood train sets and experiences, and the child-like enjoyment of assembling and manipulating your own miniature world. Just seeing miniature versions of current or historic equipment flying around your layout, assembled by you and all under your control (at least in theory!) is soothing and enjoyable -- and impressive, at least to the pre-teen set!
"Comfort" can also arise from the creation and manipulation itself. Few of us can afford to hire others to create our miniature worlds, and few of us have the skill set to completely scratch-build everything in our worlds, but most of us derive a lot of pleasure in figuring out how to use resources available to us to embody the vision we have for our "worlds". Sometimes it can be a rather linear process, with a vision in advance of exactly what we want to create, but often it is instead more of an iterative process -- often the end result of one phase can be the inspiration for the next "good idea".
For some of us, "comfort" may arise more from operation *within* the miniature world we've created, modeling the movement of rolling stock and the goods they carry in a plausible simulation of real life rail operations. Some strive for absolute fidelity to the prototypes -- the proverbial "rivet counters" amongst us -- while others revel in the minutia of provenance and manufacture. The common point is that virtually everyone who chooses to continue in an activity that (let's be frank!) most of our peers have stored away in their attic or basement, is deriving enjoyment and comfort from our hobby, however we approach it. Key to that longevity (or, like me, to returning after a hiatus) is finding "comfort" in participation, whatever the form of that interaction with the hobby.
And no, I can't leave the topic without at least briefly subjecting everyone to 'snapshots' of my own "comfort zone":
- Creative destruction: activity of logging crew chain-sawing a diseased tree in the state park I added:
Construction of the elevated rail line, which frames the earlier 'graffiti wall' painted by my son and added to the retaining wall of the tunnel, which itself was added long after the basic track had been laid. I've since kit-bashed some pieces from a legacy Marx set to form a station on the el:
Finally, an improptu farmers market, on the ridge over the tunnel, and camping in the state park:
However you find a way to do it, enjoy!
Very nice post, Steve. Thank you for sharing.
Speaking of control, here is a lyric in Who Am I (Rollin' By) that you might like:
"Oil tanker cars, hoppers filled with coal,
Tunnel through my mountains with me in control,
Don't ask why."
Arnoldo
PS: just let a 3 year old boy, under adult supervision, relish having his hand on a ZW transformer throttle, and be in control of a Lionel postwar locomotive. Now that will make that boy happy. I submit that us old timers still have much in common with that boy.
