Helpful Hint - Could a Model Railroad Employ Such a technique?

 Copyright Nicholas Kalis 2024

Permission granted for reproduction with attribution.

Helpful Hint

It strikes this blogger that this technique (see photo above) could be incorporated in a model railroad layout (seen on March 3, 2024, at the Smithsonian National Postal Museum in Washington DC). What do we have here in the upper right-hand corner in large type? A question - in yellow type - is posed relating to a photograph of a stamp whose origin is obscure - on a model railroad, an artifact could be substituted. Three hidden clues - each numbered - are offered - an enterprising visitor would probably try to answer the question posed without lifting all three clues. Instructions are very clear "Lift to see". On the display's left is the correct answer (obscured, of course by a hinged cover) - and to distinguish it from the clues, the answer cover is of a different shape. Each of the three clue covers can be swung up via hinges to reveal its clue. In my experience, such efforts to engage the museum visitor fall flat -rather than pass this one by, this display actually engaged me. So how could a model railroader employ this technique? Well, the modeler could use a photo of a non-descript ROW structure whose purpose is not readily apparent. With a few clues, the visitor could arrive at a correct answer for what purpose this structure serves.

This could be work as a nice adjunct to a small layout whose owner seeks to keep visitors engaged. It seems to this blogger that - for instance - most well-done model railroads have buildings whose purpose is unknown to visitors. One might quarrel and suggest that this device takes up too much room for a layout that faces space challenges. I would answer that such a interactive device could be mounted on a fascia or even built at an angle inside a cutout of the fascia - in so doing taking no floor space.

Though model railroaders would probably not go as far as this complex design. At the right is a knob that allows visitors to choose among three different stamps to engage with.

Revised March 13, 2024