Yup

Absolutely. A refuge from the outside world.

Actually, it's a thought provoking question. Now that I think about it I've never really cared for people on the layout. My last layout which was pretty complete only had two people on it and they were fishing together on the seaside wharf.....something my grandpa and I used to spend many hours doing. A photo of that scene was published in Model Railroader magazine back when they ran a full page photo each month on the last page. They titled it "Sitting on the dock of the bay".

I do like graffiti on freight cars but not anywhere else. Yeah, selective compression of reality.

That sums it up for me, no

That sums it up for me, no taxes civil unrest or any other ill you would like to have corrected, also everyone is employed and there is no crime.

Yes! I call it "idealized

Yes! I call it "idealized reality". It's always springtime in the desert, with the ocotillos and brittlebush in bloom. The railroad has found a way to keep running steam as well as diesel. Graffiti is VERY minimal and unobtrusive. The buildings are all quaint and the ruins are all picturesque. There is nothing sleazy, ugly or overly modern. 

It's my scrap book

I build Free-Mo modules. Each one so far that I've built, am building or am planning reflects some memory, some place I've worked etc. Some are more accurate to reality, some more to my memory of a place and time. 

Definately

It is where I spend most of my free time at home in the evenings. There is always something to do or some detail to add or work on.

My prototype is a happy place...

I model Tehachapi Loop.  No worries, just trains to watch.  So "happy" is prototypical for me.

Ed

Not always

Yes, it is always automobile free and a bright sunny day but pieces of history here and there that I reflect upon. The migrant workers, plantation owners, barefoot children, and company stores are (were) a reality that is a reminder of the past. The culture today celebrates diversity but was segregated, abusive, and discriminatory on the plantations. Cheap labor makes interesting model rail scenes where people did the work and not machines.  I still like it despite not always a picture of happiness. (I still imagine happy employees so not whippings or lynchings allowed!)

So, "happy" but not ideal or too much fantasy. Just a payday.

Neil

 "Tehachapi Loop"  If I

If I lived there I wouldn't need to model, plenty of trains to occupy the time.  My larger layout room in the shop would be a happier place if it was farther along. It's dusty and messy right now with sharp edges and things that need smelly paint and awkward things to climb under to wire. Not to mention the indecision of what to build as I build :> ) . My small N scale layout in the house is pretty sweet and harmless though........DaveB 

Striving for the "aura" happy or not

Interesting thoughts from everyone.

I make every effort not to idealize Slate Fork; in fact, I'm looking for some N scale mobile homes/single-wide trailers so typical of the Appalachian coal mining areas -- or I may go with former stick-built company houses and older frame houses, But not exactly well-kept homes. The occupants were lower-class (economically) but hard-working, honest folks. It's part of the aura, warts and all.

If I were modeling the South during the Jim Crow era, I would feel inclined to accurately represent the ways things were -- segregated facilities. Not to celebrate or promote that philosophy, but because that's the way it was historically.

Doesn't sound like much of a "happy place," does it? Let me bring this back around.

My layouts are my "happy places" because it's railroading as it was (as best as I can do) based on the era and genre I'm attempting to model and reflect. My new HOn3 layout will set in the midst of the Great Depression in New Mexico. I'll strive for the atmosphere and aura -- not a caricature.

Yes, definitely my happy place.

Yes, definitely my happy place.

No graffiti, everything clean, shiny, and well looked after. The railroads care for their equipment like Sir Topham Hat cares for his. I don't begrudge others efforts in weathering and graffiti, but it's not for my railroad.

Yes, it's my happy place

Since the L&N I knew from my childhood is a fallen flag and no more it is brought back to life on my layout.  I'll even have a few buildings (like Palmer Asbestos) and other details that were there when I was growing up.  When I'm in my layout room I'm in my happy place!

Happiness

I probably fall closer to Ed, Neil, and Paul on this.  When I was railfanning my prototype in the era I'm now modeling, seeing less-than-ideal situations didn't dampen my enjoyment.  That's just life, and I don't let the world around me dictate my happiness.  Growing up as the youngest of 8, we didn't have a lot of money - I remember having powdered milk at times when things were especially tight - but it was a happy childhood.

I view my modeling in a similar light.  It's okay to represent things that aren't my ideal.  I had a great time railfanning the prototype, and the layout is my attempt to recreate those great times, warts and all.

My layout is MY happy place,

My layout is MY happy place, but not necessarily A happy place.  I enjoy replicating things from the real world and those are not always happy things.  I think if everything on my layout was cheery and happy, that I would constantly be looking over my shoulder for agents to figure out if I were in the Matrix or not....