Wordless Wednesday #484 - Christmas Layout

 Here are some pics from my Christmas layout to put you in the holiday mood. Hope you enjoy them and hope, even more, that you and yours are having a wonderful holiday season!!

Wordless Wednesday #483

 

In Lieu of Wordless Wednesday: Throwback Thursday Eve - On Giving Thanks and Making Trees

 

I think that I shall never see

A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest

Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,

And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in Summer wear

A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;

Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,

But only God can make a tree.

You've likely heard - and perhaps even participated - in the debate of whether model railroading is art. But have you ever thought of it as worship or contemplation?

After being sick the past couple of weeks, I woke up recently feeling much better and noticed the beautiful sunrise from my back deck. The mood was enhanced by some nice seasonal music playing in the background (do yourself a favor and check out this song in particular). I couldn't help but try and capture it in the photograph above and the scene reminded me of the poem by Joyce Kilmer - " . . . only God can make a tree."

I think any time we engage in any creative endeavor, whether it be music, painting, dance, sculpture, or any of the arts - any time we create something for the purity of it itself - we are affirming our innate humanness and participating with God in Creation. While we can never be God, I believe our creative endeavors are reflections of the Imago Dei in our lives.

In this respect, our attempts at creating miniature worlds are echoes of our true identity as humans. We are born creators and while our attempts can never be any more than a mere reflections of the real world, I believe that the process of creating that world can itself be a contemplative exercise, affirming our humanity and providing an oasis in the midst of troubling times.

Is it any wonder, then, that a creative hobby can be so calming and restorative? And I think doing it can sometimes be an act of thanksgiving, thanking our Creator for the privilege of being able to participate in creation, in even a small way.

I've spent the past couple of Sunday afternoons dipping my toe in the deep end of this pool, trying my best to make some trees . . .

I started with armatures from Scenic Express, separating them into separate "trees" and spray painting them a medium gray color. When I was young, I always colored trees brown - but, turns out, they're often mostly shades of gray.

While the instructions recommend soaking the armatures in matte medium, I'm following the path many others have taken and am using hairspray (the cheapest, firmest hold you can get) to affix the "leaves" (various colors of flocking) to the armatures. I heavily spray the armature, then sprinkle the flocking over an old pie pan, which I then use to pour the excess flocking back into the container it came from.

It's a slow process - it took me an entire afternoon to do the trees you see above - but hopefully I'll get faster with practice.

But the results are definitely worth the time.

That's another thing I'm learning as I do more scenery on the layout: the time it takes often results in a better product, and the process itself can put you in a better, calmer, more contemplative frame of mind.

This Thanksgiving season, I hope you'll have a little extra time to spend working on your layouts - or doing whatever hobby you're in the mood for. And if you do, I hope you'll reflect on how blessed we are that, no matter what our level of skill or ability, we're able to create something that can bring us joy and maybe even a little peace.

From our home to yours, we wish you, your families and friends, a blessed Thanksgiving and holiday season.

(While this post was first published Thanksgiving, 2022 I think it fitting to repost in keeping with the spirit of the season, and to remind me to keep things in their proper perspective, being truly grateful for all my many blessings despite all that's going on in the world around us. I hope it helps you too during these difficult times.)

Wordless Wednesday #482: A Visit to the Allagash Rwy

Throwback Thursday: Ghosts of Railroads Past

  

(In the "spirit" of the season, and because it's All Hallows' Eve ;^) I hereby repost this from last October. I think you'll agree it's especially fitting this time of year...)

A big part of my motivation for recreating the Valley Line is to keep alive the memory of the men & women who were responsible for getting the stuff of life delivered to you, each and every day.  From coal for winter heat to a bicycle to ride in the summer, for over 100 years in this country the stuff of life was delivered almost exclusively by rail.  And sometimes, if you're lucky, your historical research will unearth a ghost or two.

Given that it’s Halloween-time, here's a question for you:  

Do you believe in ghosts?

The answer for me depends on what kind of ghosts you mean. I don't believe in the creepy un-dead or goulish wanderings of departed souls. But I do believe in the ghosts of the past - the hauntings of a place by the memories of the people who were there. Who were they? What were their dreams and plans? Were they anything like us? While dead people don't actually haunt us, the spirits and memories of the past can - and often do. Especially if you're paying close attention.

During this time of year especially, if you keep your eyes open and know where to look, you can see some of these ghosts of the past materializing.  You have only to slow down, pay attention, and keep your eyes peeled.

This is a bridge on the old line between Middletown and Berlin, CT. The railroad was abandoned and torn up years ago, and the trees have long since reclaimed much of the right-of-way. But this bridge remains - a monument to the memory not only of the railroad, but to the spirit of the men who built it.

If during your travels you stop at a spot like this and imagine, even for a few minutes, how those men lived, what their hopes were and whether they ever achieved them, you might see some ghosts.

And if you're especially quiet, you may even hear in the sound of the leaves floating by on the breeze a whisper of thanks from those men for not letting them be forgotten.

Wordless Wednesday #481 - Amazing modeling reference photo

 

Max Miller 1936-2024

 

Max helping catalog images at the NHRHTA Photo Library

I'm very sorry to have to report the passing of Max Miller - a wonderful friend of The Valley Local, the Valley Railroad, the New Haven Railroad Historical & Technical Association and Connecticut railroads in general.

I've known Max ever since my first days working on the Valley Railroad way back in 1987. He was the head of the track crew and a stalwart of the Wednesday night volunteer nights back then. I'll never forget when somebody was passing around photos during one of those nights that he invariably was able to tell you just about everything there was to know about the image - even down to estimating when it was taken by the number of insulators on the telegraph poles!

We lost touch after I left the railroad, but our paths crossed again many years later at the big Springfield train show. He'd heard about our efforts to catalog the NHRHTA photo library and offered to help out. I'd recently moved to within 30 minutes of his home and, remembering his extensive knowledge about the New Haven Railroad, I couldn't accept his offer fast enough.

But we really hit it off over our mutual love of the New Haven's Connecticut Valley Line. In fact, he was one of the two primary influences behind my choosing to model the line. He was so kind and generous not only with his time and knowledge of the line, but his impressive collection of photos was - and continues to be - the foundation of all my prototype research.

Lots of folks had encouraged him to somehow get all of that knowledge into a book - and he worked on it for many years, always adding to it. I'll always cherish the time he and I went up to the UCONN railroad archive to spend a day doing research for it. Thankfully, he finally did - literally write the book - about the Valley Line.

In addition to his kindness and generosity, Max was also one of the least assuming men you'd meet - which had a way of hiding his wide-ranging experience with everything from steam shovels to how best to handle glass plate negatives. I'll miss his usual greeting whenever somebody would approach him with a question, an artifact, or a photo - "Whatchagot?" Then he'd consider whatever you came to him with and would invariably come up with just the right answer or information from his encyclopedic mind.

I could certainly go on about what an impact Max has had not only on my hobby, but my life. Suffice it to say he will be well and sorely missed by everyone who had the privilege of knowing him and having him be a part of their lives.

Obituary & Arrangements

Wordless Wednesday #480 - A Wonderful Weekend