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Becoming Absorbed In Your Own Model Railroad Is A Great Way To Mentally Escape From The Real World Reality Facing Us All Right Now
While it might not be possible to jump aboard the next plane to a tropical island-getaway, there are numerous ways to mentally escape from reality. Becoming absorbed working on, or operating, your own model railroad is a perfect way to achieve this if you are fortunate enough to have your own layout.
We all need an escape from reality once in awhile, and right now is probably a good time for us all to try an de-stress and take our minds off the worries of the world, even if it is just for an hour or two.
The hands-on world of model railroading is indeed a special experience and the perfect way to immerse yourself in a creative outlet. Truly escaping reality using your mind is easier for some than for others, but achieving a sense of calm (and distraction) can be a great way to feel reinvigorated and able to cope with anything that life may throw at you.
It doesn’t seem to matter whether you’re a spring chicken, an old rooster… or somewhere in between. The personal satisfaction of building and operating a realistic miniature world (real or fantasy) is rewarding and absorbing fun… no matter what age you are. Model railroading is a truly rewarding leisure activity that will keep you busy, entertained, absorbed, and mentally insulated from the worries of the world for hours on end. That’s not to say we should completely ignore the realities of the real world, but we are all entitled to rest and reinvigorate our minds with a little escapism from time to time.
Our thoughts and prays go out to all those who have suffered (and will suffer) from the dreadful outcomes of the COVID-19 virus that is impacting the world we share. Take care!
10 Responses to Becoming Absorbed In Your Own Model Railroad Is A Great Way To Mentally Escape From The Real World Reality Facing Us All Right Now
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I have taken advantage of the time get my roundhouse finished and am working on using an Arduino to control rotation
Hi Dave, would you share your arduino sketch? I have an arduino and I have a turn table that I need to operate electronically.
Dennis
I feel sorry for those who do not have a hobby. Trains are so diverse almost anyone could enjoy them and pick their favorite part. What other hobby allows one to dive into electronics. Simple with dc or advanced with dcc. Landscaping. Inside or even outside with G scale. Build cars and engines from kits made of plastic, wood, metal. The same holds for buildings. Build from kits or scratch build your own. The paint and weather them as you see fit. You can model a prototype place, time, industry, the year. Or make up your own.. work with wood and build your own layout. Standalone or on a shelf. Or combination.
Or if none of this interests you, you can research a railroad. Location and time. Or just operate one by joining a club or buy it ready to run out of the box and spend hours in operation following the rules of the road. Or make up your own.
You get to decide. What other hobby has this to offer?????
Well said Tom.
I am delighted to have 4 weeks lockdown here in New Zealand. The only problem is if the weather is fine I should be gardening or painting, but I am hoping for some bad days as well.
I have been procrastinating.
The goods shed (freight house) at Freeling has been on the drawing board for 12 years. The real thing is just over my back fence.
Today I began construction. I have cut the walls in 3mm MDF and glued them up with PVA. The Scalescenes “squared ashlar” print I did years ago on A3 sheets were dug out, marked up and cut out. The brick quoins (the bricks at the corners and around windows in freestone buildings here in South Australia) were copied from a card kit developed by a friend of mine who sadly passed away last week. These overlays will be stuck to the MDF shell tomorrow using 3M spray adhesive. The roof structure is MDF too, suitably trimmed to “expose” rafter ends, fascia and guttering. It will have an overlay of “corrugated iron manufactured by painting 5 or so coats of PVA onto a sheet of Aughausen plastic “roofing”
The shed has three doors, the end ones open to allow the loco to deliver wagons into the building, and they used to be arched, but when Webb upgraded the loco fleet in SA in the 1920s, the beautiful stone and brick arches were “slighted” and corrugated iron squared off the opening, but the original doors are still in situ.
The whole catastrophe straddles a platform built of 12mm chipboard suitably disguised with Scalescenes texture sheets.
I don’t know why it has taken me so long – enforced “home isolation” to escape the bug, maybe?
A picture of this finished shed would be nice to see once you finish it!
on the plus side of it for me who semi retired last year , and lost out on part time work . between the hobby shop being closed and not having the extra money to spend I started to make my own grass tufts , and made 2 Z scale shed type buildings out of scraps from kits that I made , and plan on doing more , and also plan on trying to make my own trees .
As Tom said, this hobby is flexible. Heck – the thing I think is really cool is for those that are physically disabled. But have enough flexibility to create a railroad on a PC and run it virtually. How’s that for a hobby? And for those that are really lazy. Look at all the videos on YouTube about railroads. You can sit for hours and do nothing but watch trains. LOL Seriously, this is the greatest hobby in the world.
IM DOING JUST THAT , IM WORKING ON PLATFORM, FIXING UP THE HOUSE , HELP TO TAKE OF GRAND KIDS. DOING WHATEVER IT TAKES TO BE BUSY.
THE WEATHER IN MD USA, IS GETTING WARMER SO KNOW IM GOING OUTSIDE OF HOUSE TO DO THINGS OUTSIDE.
TKS FOR ALL UR COMMENTS.