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| To respond to this month's Editorial, send comments to: Editorial@modelrailroadnews.com |
| Imagination | |
| We are in the imagination business, and that puts us in pretty good company. In the nineteenth century, several of the moguls of business had variations of a fine old saying; which one you attribute it to depends upon what source you read. The idea, however, is clear: before you can build it, you must design it, and before you can design it, you must imagine it. When a group of people share a commonly imagined idea, we call that “vision.” Thus, when the Golden Spike was driven, men and women throughout the United States were infused with the imagined goal of building a ribbon of rail from sea to shining sea. As I watch my grandchildren playing with trains (see this month’s “Larger View” column), I also see their imaginations at work. If I listen carefully, I can hear them speaking some of this aloud. They may oralize train sounds, but often I get to hear snippets of dialog between locomotives and cars. They use these same imagination skills elsewhere, so this isn’t unique to trains, but they come to the tracks to further exercise and develop their imaginations. Down at the local club, I can watch the guys running trains. On an “Ops” night, imagination is in full flower. The participant is expected to imagine this is a particular date within the time range of the layout, that these are real locomotives pulling real freight cars with real loads being moved to real destinations. Read this month’s “TAMR” column and you’ll get inside this imagination as Chris Burchett takes us for a cab ride on Lin Young’s HO layout. Obviously, all the people running these trains are sharing the vision. However, the imagination started when someone took a broom and started sweeping the empty basement just prior to beginning design of the layout. Imagination is not the same as fantasy. The latter is when you dream of the house filled with train tracks. Since your wife doesn’t share your vision in this, it remains an unattainable notion. Imagination is looking around the space she’s given you and visualizing a layout there. As construction proceeds, she looks at the advancing ruination and comments that it doesn’t look at all like the photo from the model magazine you showed her. Believe me, during the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge, it was sometimes difficult to maintain the dream among those of little vision. A good imagination is healthy. In fact, I think it is a must for people. We aren’t surprised when great artists reveal their imaginations in their work. Though, I think many of us are skeptical of computers and chimpanzees who paint and compose music, in part because we doubt the imagination behind such work. The great photographer, Ansel Adams, used the term “previsualization” to describe the process of seeing the finished, framed, and hung photo before even setting up the camera. I call it “imagination.” One of the more difficult tasks is to take a dream or a vision and put it into words so that others can share it. We often shorthand our description: “Well, I’m modeling the Santa Fe in New Mexico during the steam-to-diesel transition.” This brings us back to Chris Burchett. He has set his imagination into words. Obviously, he had studied train operations; we are always encouraged to “write what you know.” The most common software application on the planet is the word processor, so that becomes another form of encouragement. If, in the writing process, you discover there’s a lot you don’t know, then you have a goal for learning and research. Don’t be surprised if, as you learn, your imagination sharpens and becomes clearer. So that’s the idea. Write what you imagine, even if only you read it. Bring characters to life within the story; speak of cattle on the tracks or the great flood of ‘64 or the lashup that laid down on Wobblemeyer Hill. Work at it. As you work, your writing will improve and your imagination will grow stronger. Like muscles, they grow with use. I think an imagination in full bloom is the most powerful model railroading tool of them all. |
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— John Sipple
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To respond to this month's Editorial, send comments to: Editorial@modelrailroadnews.com
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