Internet Modeling

Think about what it means to be a model railroader (or railroad modeler). How much of your time is consumed following threads in forums, reading email lists, or picking apart blogs? Contrast that with the time spent building or researching a model (not surfing railpictures or the fallen flags image archives)? Some hobbies don't need an interactive component because they are interactive.

Model railroading is a 3 dimensional pursuit, and no matter how much you talk about the hobby on the internet, it will not make you a better modeler. I used to be able to weather cars, build scenery, and lay straight track, but those were skills honed with hours of trial and error. Practice makes perfect and that's what it takes to build a model railroad. Skills fade if not used, as mine have.

A recent editorial in a national magazine took model railroad internet forums to task, and rightfully so. I'm not interested in pandering, so have no problem admitting I agree with that editorial. It's time to stop logging on and flaming each other. Spend that time building models. It's easy to complain and attack others, but what do you have to show for your efforts? You would have a model railroad instead of a irritated bowel had you built models instead.

I friend of mine who departed this mortal coil just shy of his 32nd birthday sent me an email a few weeks before he passed from cancer. He told me to contribute more light and less heat. I still have that email and often find myself coming back to it's message when I'm faced with a flame war over some trivial thing. This blog is my light.