Helpful Hint
At least one famous modeler has opined that introducing humor into place names on our model railroad soon wears thin (think Armstrong's "Akinback"). I believe both John Armstrong and John Allen both agreed as do I. Other humor can be contained in a scene itself - back in the day, modelers found it funny to include an Internal Revenue Office burning in flames - this image soon wore thin after its first appearance on a layout. However, this photo illustrates a different sort of humor as it is risqué but seems to stay well clear of anything beyond what is often seen at many beaches.
Would I suggest including such a scene in one's model railroad? Probably not. Yet I could not resist sharing this cute scene in my blog. What is the story? Is grandmother or mother indicating her displeasure at how granddaughter or daughter is attired? Is a farmer's wife showing her displeasure at a tourist revealing too much to her husband?
When we create scenes we should consider carefully what message the viewer will take away. One could make a strong argument that this scene simply shows the conflict between city and rural values - in that case it makes a more important point than simply humor and could therefore be useful to telling the layout's story.
As I have written before, model railroads are exercises in storytelling. Some storytellers - authors - prefer to leave the conclusion of a work of art - a movie for instance - as ambiguous. I prefer my movies (the ones I watch) to have a clear message. He or she who wrote the screenplay has a job to do - I do not want them asking me to do his job for them. Same goes for model railroads; I give my vote to scenes in model railroads that are unambiguous.
Submitted to Alex Belida
Correction March 26, 2023
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