Most folks I know who enjoy model railroading also enjoy the “Art of Modeling”. With my “Train World”, I strive to make the scene as absolutely real as possible. I also enjoy running the trains, but the modeling is my first love.

I often ask myself how I can make a scene more like “real life”? I find what helps me the most with this is to set up an entire story about what is going on right at that moment in time. What are those people doing and saying down there? What would be in motion and what would not be? Why are those people there and what is going on around them? If you think about “real life”, everyone is at a place and doing something for a reason. Even if it is just “hanging-out” watching the girls, they are still doing something!

I want to let the “voice of experience” sneak in here for a second, and I will share a hard learned lesson with you. One problem I struggle with is trying not to work from a perspective that is too large. What I need to focus on is one small part at a time. True, you need a basic idea of the “big picture”, but for now you need to keep focused right down on the street level standing with those people. Try to make yourself “small”, and actually be there.

Here is an example of what I mean when I talk about “setting a scene”. Have a look at this office building right here in my “Train World” that is on fire. This building is just a standard N-scale plastic model kit that has been “jazzed-up” a bit. The important point here is that an entire story is taking place. Let me give you a tour and you will see what I mean.

One of the first things that is often asked at a scene like this is “how did the fire start?” You probably know that in any office there is always at least one person that doesn’t follow company rules. In this case, it’s a guy who sneaks off to the supply closet to have a smoke. (All public areas in “Train Town” went non-smoking some time ago!) And as you might expect, he started the fire with a carelessly discarded cigarette butt. Such things happen, you know!

Rather than tell anyone about the situation, he runs up to the roof to get away from the fire. (He’s not the “brightest bulb in the box”) It doesn’t take long in this old building before you have a “rip-roaring” fire on your hands.

Some of the employees were able to make their way back down to the street level and escape OK. But others were forced up to the roof with the guy that started the fire. Once the boss (who also ended up on the roof) figured out who started the fire and why, he becomes really mad. (Wouldn’t you be mad?) As you can see, the boss is about to punch this guy who started the fire. The angry crowd is also thinking about tossing this guy off the side of the building!

Unfortunately, not everyone made it to safety. A few of the employees ended up being trapped by the fire and were forced out onto the window ledge. Most of these folks were saved by the fire department, but sadly one just couldn’t hang on long enough to be rescued. She was a good friend to all of us, and will be sorely missed….

With the help of the fire/rescue helicopter above and the “Train Town” fire department from below the fire was under control in no time. After all, the “Train Town” fire fighters are the best-trained department around!

As for the guy who started the fire, he took his black eye and hit the road looking for another job. (The boss kept the angry crowd from throwing him off the roof) I think this will be the last time we will ever see this guy around “Train Town”!