The Diorama-Layout Matrix

Last night, our Associated Railroaders of Kingston meeting was held for the first time since pandemic limitations were put in place. It was a Zoom meeting. Those who wished could show their layouts or photos thereof. Tom was showing his electronic wizardry by creating scenes including action, and he said they "weren't all prototypical". That quote stuck with me for the rest of the meeting. Why?

So much of model railroading is suspending disbelief. We stress over tiny decal lettering and handlaid track. But we have to remind others that these are not real trains, this is not real track, and this is not the real world. So why do we worry if not absolutely everything on the layout is prototypical? 

As I viewed each modeller's efforts, there were several members who said that doing scenery scared the whatever out of them. Well, wiring scares the whatever out of me. So we each have our own preferences and realities in model form. Several of us were using the pandemic to build a layout, structures, or work on rolling stock. I often wonder if my own layout is too much of a static diorama.

Then I began thinking of the world during the pandemic. In the model world and the real world, we have scenery and we have action. I created the Diorama-Layout Matrix (see top photo). In the real world there is 100% scenery and 100% action.  (That's where the P is located on the matrix, above. Considering my own Hanley Spur layout, there is nearly 100% scenery but the train is the only action. (That's where the STAR is located on the matrix, above.) A diorama would be 100% scenery and 0% action.

On Tom's layout, there are workers welding, depicted by fibre-optic lighting, cranes working with arduinos, and police lights flashing added to a higher percentage of action!

Do we honestly think our model world is prototypical when the only thing moving is the occasional train? The cars don't move. The people don't move.

Then I looked out my window down my street. The cars don't move. The people don't move because they're inside. So at this point, my layout best represents the real world right now. The scenery is pretty well complete, but the train is still the only action. I'm having a hard time suspending my disbelief in the real world right now.

Where is your current currently located on the matrix? And where will it be six months or six years from now?