A Fount of Creativity/Her Gentle Touch Upon His Brow

Being creative with your railroad is not only fun, but will result in you having something different from everybody else.

Check out:

From Plasticville "Junk" Comes Unique Buildings (warrenvillerailroad.com)

and

Building a Standard Gauge Diner (warrenvillerailroad.com)

and

Free and Unique Stuff to Use: (warrenvillerailroad.com)

Yep, I'm fully into the "creativity is the point" school of thought -- I love nothing more than discovering the off-center bits and pieces, whether physical items or the odd idea/inspiration, and developing them into a tangible presence on the layout. While I enjoy just running the trains through their paces (and showing off my 'toys' to visitors!), on reflection I seem to derive the most satisfaction in helping the seeds of inspiration sprout into a full instantiation of the original thought. A for-instance:

- As one of my all-too-regular obsessions, I decided I *really* wanted to experience and experiment with a vintage Marx "Sound O' Power" tender (one of Marx's few forays into modern electronics). Having been out-bid in several auctions featuring just that tender, I decided to instead bid on a whole box set that happened to include the desired tender -- and I *won*, with a bid only a bit more than the tenders were going for by themselves! Of course, this left me with the rest of the box set items. The engine, other rolling stock, track and transformer I set aside for use in their accustomed roles, and the telephone/power poles I "prettied up" a bit with thread and landscaping materials and added to the layout in their expected roles, but a few items gave me pause. First was a nicely detailed but damaged newsstand, and  second was a simple station platform. I ended up repairing, painting, and detailing the newsstand:

I then added light columns to the train platform (in place of two missing roof supports), which I installed on top of a sub-platform off the el line that supported both the newsstand and the upgraded platform and hid the embedded control hardware for the trolley stop installation (the trolley stops, then resumes motion after five seconds or so). Here's the completed el station:

Here's a video of the trolley stop at the el station in action: https://youtu.be/R_zKsUPlRSc

So, the whole series of projects all stemmed indirectly from my "Sound O' Power" obsession (which BTW is in almost daily use on the layout!) and more directly from the unanticipated 'leftovers' from that project!

Great input, John and Steve, which you have shared on this topic. You are both highly creative, which is evident not only from your above comments but from all of your Forum posts over the years.

"Her gentle touch upon his brow" is the first line of lyrics from one of my songs written in the height of Covid, and inspired by it. That line popped into my head when I thought how calming, soothing and relaxing simply running our model trains can be.

This can be an oasis of peacefulness, especially as our model trains run through our scenery. For someone with a stressful occupation or life, such peacefulness is medicinal, IMO. It has been that way for me, especially in the past.

Would love to know what your thoughts are about this. Arnold

You piqued my interest. Well done, counselor.

@Arnold D. Cribari

As I followed what you originally began with and John and Steve have added

the additional thoughts which occurred were the number of model train shows I have attended. Since a young age I attended with Dad, after he passed my Wife Carol attended before I had a layout. and now train friends. I spend time thinking of purposes of attending shows while looking over my layout.  I think I attend shows now with the purpose to find scenery improvements. Many times new ideas are sparked  by seeing tables full of merchandise large and small.

I hope the train shows never end.

During my work I had deadline after deadline year after year. Now I’m retired my goal is just to get to work on my layout, no deadlines.

A customized Lionel news stand with custom newspaper displays.  Some tongue in cheek.

My third subway module is a flight of creative fancy: a suggestion of an original 1905 IRT subway station is taking shape below, and a suggestion of Old San Juan will be constructed at street level above; what might have been, had Old San Juan had a subway station.

With structures, l can't look at a "box of sticks" structure or railcar kit without thinking of what l can do to modify it, not just to be different,from dozens of others, but to fit my modeled era or region.  I have, with less luck and skill, done that to locomotives, too.  On here, and the pages of OGR, and the other hobby magazines, creativity is often amazing, and sometimes embarrassing (in.."l wish l had thought of that!).  Building, creating, seems to be more my interest than running trains, which l did a lot of into my teens.

Colorado Hirailer, you sound like a highly skilled, as well as a highly creative, modeler, and I salute you for that.

For those not as skilled, like me, you can still be creative in a clever, Rube Goldberg, way.

Here is an example on my layout, showing the monuments on the field of play at the old Yankee Stadium in front of the scoreboard during Don Larsen's perfect game in the 1956 World Series.

LOL, Arnold

I've got a bank on my layout with several branches called "Rabbit Bank", because bank branches proliferate like rabbits.  Another bank called "Culvert Loader State Bank" because it was near the culvert loader on my old layout.  It has been rebranded as "Bank of Ethel".  "Bank of Ethel" is Dilbert's bank.  "Ethel" is Ethel V. Diesel, the Burlington E5 at the Illinois Railway Museum.

Hand in hand with creativity goes ingenuity. Ingenuity in overcoming problem scenarios whether on top of the layout or underneath.

Jay

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!  

Great description of your creative process, Patrick. With me it's a different process: at some point an overall picture forms in my mind of what I want to do. That picture then stays with me over the coming months or even years. I sometimes sit in my train room just thinking about how I'm going to realize the next step towards that vision, without actually doing anything. At other times, even when I'm busy with life's daily challenges and chores, the vision is always there in the back of my mind. Sometimes the next step comes to me while I'm falling asleep. But once that initial vision takes form, it's pretty much locked in and doesn't change, right through to the finished product.

@West Side Joe posted:

Great description of your creative process, Patrick. With me it's a different process: at some point an overall picture forms in my mind of what I want to do. That picture then stays with me over the coming months or even years. I sometimes sit in my train room just thinking about how I'm going to realize the next step towards that vision, without actually doing anything. At other times, even when I'm busy with life's daily challenges and chores, the vision is always there in the back of my mind. Sometimes the next step comes to me while I'm falling asleep. But once that initial vision takes form, it's pretty much locked in and doesn't change, right through to the finished product.

Interesting -- it seems the creative process works somewhat similarly for many of us, but perhaps in different 'keys' for each of us.

I find the process is most often in an interior dialog form (with pictures instead of words) between the more verbal part of myself, and the more visual, "craftsman" part. It's a back-and-forth, as the craft part first visualizes 'candidate' solutions for the problem or project du jour (which often comes just as I'm waking up -- which can really wreak havoc with me getting *back* to sleep if I wake up early!), which the 'spokesman' me mulls over and tests for suitability, discarding ideas that don't seem likely to solve the problem at hand and 'requesting' revisions, which are served up, again as images.

At some point after I have a solid solution candidate in mind, I commit to fabrication, where the process continues, most often to a more or less successful conclusion. However, sometimes the proverbial (and sometimes literal!) wheels fall off as I try to implement the candidate solution, and at that point I just have to back off until I've further refined my ideas. I've learned to be philosophical about the trial-and-error nature of the process, and try to get better at recognizing the optimum time to switch from thought to action.