I did something we all need to do I stepped back and just ran trains ...
...and enjoy what we have accomplished
Agreed. A layout may seem like a static display, but once we turn those trains on, everything "comes to life," or at least, appears to have a life of its own, something "alive and well," giving a live performance.
The trains are the point of it all, aren't they. No matter whether we contentedly have a single raw sheet of plywood with a lone tree and one whirligig on it taking this-from-there or waving that-at-there, or have crafted for ourselves a whole countryside and city-scape that seems so real we can almost smell the foliage and hear the toy children cheering as they run and play around imaginary neighborhoods, the trains are the absolutely essential element of the magic.
Add to that our memories, imagination, and our sharing it all with others, and we have something of value, something that speaks volumes to us and, sometimes, to others (if they want to hear.) And we, the owners of these accretions, become the orchestra conductors, and the artists, the craftsmen, the civic planners, the urban engineers and architects, the electricians, and even our own cheerleaders, keeping the whole enterprise energized and relevant.
We sure know how to play.
Jus' sayin'.
FrankM.
