2006-07 What and Why From Donboy You are getting a refined nugget this month! This is my second attempt to write the nugget because I lost power for a moment on one my first attempt and lost my work while I was on the last few words. With luck doing the nugget the second time should make it better and perhaps shorter. This month I thought I would take the time to explain the why behind my approach to the hobby of model railroading and do a better job of describing what my goals are. The simulation of financial management as part of the operation of my layout is a top priority. It should not be a big surprise that one reason I want to include management functions is my belief I will enjoy the result.  My second reason for including management functions is a bit more complicated. I am the parent of two little boys currently 1 ½ and 3 ½. I feel that one of the best things I can do to improve their chances of a rewarding life is to make sure they have a good education. By my standards the school system in the United States does a very poor job of teaching financial management (just ask a doctor about what they learned about financial management in school some time).  If I want my kids to have a better life one of the things they need is financial management skills and the best way to learn things that are abstract is the chance to apply the skills in a working environment.  If the children are having fun playing with trains and learn about loans, bonds, loan payments and control of equipment costs to build net worth in a simulated but working environment I expect they will learn the subject well. To help describe what I want I found an example that matches my concept of model railroading as a teaching tool.  This is how they describe what they are doing “Sorry, but this model railroad is not for the hobbyist. Instead, it's a tool to teach undergraduates not only the very real logistical problems that transportation companies face in moving goods from point A to point B, but also basic concepts in management, organization and systems engineering”. http://www.upenn.edu/pennnews/features/1997/040897/trainlab.html Now if you are reading carefully you might have noticed the disconnect between the ages of my children 1 ½ and 3 ½ compared to the undergraduate level of education my example targets.  With family demands (family demands are smacking me on the back as a type this) on my time building a large layout will take me at least 10 years and that would put my children at the “age of understanding” so at that point they could be introduced to the layout.  I do plan for the simulation to be at an undergraduate level because I want my kids to learn and I want to make sure I don't grow tired of the layout after putting so much money and time into it (build once – enjoy for a lifetime).  While I enjoy physical activity my mind is also one of my play grounds so thinking hard is just as much fun as a game of tennis. I discard their statement “ Sorry, but this model railroad is not for the hobbyist” because I am thinking why not for the hobbyist?  What is currently popular with model rails is following the prototype or in other words the focus is on the history of the real railroads and the people who operate their layouts try to create historical roles for the crews.  With historical model railroading you learn about railroad history and you bring to life a time from history that the layout builder knows about and likes when the layout is operated.   The history might be from 50 years into the past or just last month but in any case to follow the prototype means a historic layout in the end. While I am very interested in railroad history and history in general to reach my goals requires an alternate reality approach.  You can't make management choices by following history because no matter where you start once you start making choices you are building an alternate reality.  So my layout will be an alternate reality that is created inside a simulated environment that uses prototype relationships or you could say my layout will not follow the prototype it will a prototype created inside a simulation. If you following the link to read about the example you will find that they have many of the things I think are required for a working simulation like automatic readers, custom software and databases etc..  They also have so many students sign up for the course they can't handle them all so I think the simulation just might be a little bit fun and that is a good thing. Of course I will not be using tinplate equipment and I will have scenery but above all I am working to have a realistic simulation.  In my case realistic is not equal to a historic prototype but I think the trade off will be worth it.