The Smell of Model Railways
@owlwings (43910)
Cambridge, England
September 22, 2016 4:32am CST
I recently read about some research into memory. Apparently. we store different kinds of memory in different places - smells in the olfactory centre, sounds in the auditory centre, visual memories in another place and so on. Often, all these separate memories are connected as if by strings, so that when you pull one out, the others come with it.
While moving boxes the other day, I found one which had a particular smell - a sort of mixture of dust, metal and lubricating oil. Instantly, I was 10 years old again. It was wild and windy and rainy outside and I was setting up a model railway layout on the floor. I could vividly remember all of the bits and pieces that used to live in the box: the stations and tunnels and the way that the straights and curves and points fitted together, the battered model cars and the die-cast model guard in the action of blowing his whistle and waving his green flag (from which much of the paint was missing).
What experiences of yours come to mind like this? I find that my most usual triggers are certain smells and certain pieces of music but there are other, subtler, things too which I can barely identify - often it is just the way that sunlight falls in a still room or the particular light of a winter day. Such a small thing, yet the complete memory of a particular, long forgotten moment comes flooding back unbidden!
18 people like this
16 responses
@LadyDuck (471423)
• Switzerland
22 Sep 16
I remember that I read the reason why smells can trigger strong memories. When I enter some old shops in the village I find myself back to the time I was a kid. That particular kind of paper that was used for the sugar and grains. Something that is lost in our modern supermarkets.
3 people like this
@nannacroc (4049)
•
26 Sep 16
It's always the smell of bacon and eggs that bring back memories of lying in bed on Sunday morning wondering whether to have a lie in or go downstairs for one of Dad's cooked breakfasts. The theme tune to The Archers on the radio brings happy memories of the times I did get up and enjoyed the breakfast and listened to the programme with Dad.
@nannacroc (4049)
•
26 Sep 16
I forgot to mention old books bringing back images of the library that was in town when I was a child.
1 person likes this
@owlwings (43910)
• Cambridge, England
26 Sep 16
@nannacroc The smell of old books reminds me of so many things - my father's study and his office at the Cambridge University Press are amongst the earliest memories (and, in the first instance, would be mixed with the smell of turps and oil paints). Then, of course, I worked in an antquarian bookshop for many years.
@pumpkinjam (8763)
• United Kingdom
25 Apr 17
When it's spring/early summer, the cut grass or the blossoming flowers smell of 'childhood'. It's just a general thing, nothing particularly sticks out but it smells of being 10 years old. Similarly with PlayDoh or plasticine, although they are more likely to take me back to when I worked with children in a job I liked rather than as a child myself.
1 person likes this
@owlwings (43910)
• Cambridge, England
26 Apr 17
Ah yes! 'Garden smells', especially new-mown grass (also brings back the sound of a mower being pushed somewhere in a neighbouring garden - no electric things then but one or two rich people with petrol mowers), the smell of freshly dug earth and smouldering bonfires burning the weed roots. Every place in our garden (which was fairly large) had its own smell. Take me back blindfold now and I could tell you exactly where we were!
1 person likes this
@Hatley (163776)
• Garden Grove, California
29 Oct 16
Stanton now I remember my hubby and I found this place that sold model train sets and it had some wonderful set ups. He had c ome there for a job interview and after that
we stayed awhile to watch the model trains.He did not get that job but we had a pleasnt'time together wtching the trains. the shop keeper let my hubby run one of'
them. I suggested he get a set but we were having a tough time money wise so he did not'get it and i have felt bad as I had planned ion giving it to him for his sicty birthday
but sadly god had other plans I lost my jusband on his birtjday so it brings back good and bad memories but I love remembering that day we were so happy
1 person likes this
@nitsbubb (1308)
• Pune, India
26 Apr 17
That sounds great, your attic took you back to your memories. For me, whenever I get any new book the first involuntary action is open the book and smell it! It will surely take back to the school days. Try it!
Irrespective of the book being new or old!
1 person likes this
@owlwings (43910)
• Cambridge, England
26 Apr 17
The smell of old books usually takes me back to my father's library/study or to the publishing house he worked in, sometimes to the antiquarian bookshop I worked in for many years. Only rarely does the smell of a book remind me of the chalk-and-ink smells of my schooldays. Each to their own, of course!
1 person likes this
@changjiangzhibin89 (16761)
• China
22 Sep 16
I am amazed by your still keeping those stuff that you set up in your childhood.Some smells,sounds are so indelible in our minds that awaken reminiscence of our childhood after dozens of years when we smell and hear it again.
1 person likes this
@sueznewz2 (10409)
• Alicante, Spain
22 Sep 16
Ohhh your memory took me back to when I played with my brothers and their train set... even the smell...lol... and also other smells that bring back memories... like leather... I had a motorbike and wore a leather jacket...and the smell of leather often reminds me of when I was putting my jacket on to go out on my bike...
1 person likes this
@CRK109 (14556)
• United States
22 Sep 16
Most of my memories seem to be connected to music in some way. Also the smells of different foods, mostly things my mother made for us when I was a child. Sometimes, the mustiness of an old room brings back memories of a summer home we used to have, and how it smelled the first day we opened it up after it had been closed up all winter long.
1 person likes this
@thelme55 (77081)
• Germany
23 Sep 16
When I saw the train in your photo, it reminded me of the time when my son was so small and he was playing with my hubby model trains which were hung in our hallway wall. It was playing time again in my mind. I wonder now where the model trains of my husband are.
1 person likes this
@responsiveme (22926)
• India
22 Sep 16
Recently the sight of fireflies by the wayside as I was coming home took be back to the magical days of my childhood...I was lost in memories for the rest of the bus ride.
1 person likes this
@XinfulThotz (4140)
• Singapore, Singapore
22 Sep 16
Part of my memory is zipped in zipped files for a long time..probably too painful the experience and so I subconsciously just zip them up and throw it somewhere at the back of the ‘storeroom’ in my brain...
it was only when I was searching through my old email that I discovered an old blog. Imagine, that blog was written by me and i don't even remember I have such a blog...
1 person likes this
@Jessicalynnt (50523)
• Centralia, Missouri
23 Sep 16
a certain prefume reminds of a high school boyfriend, the smell in certain type of ice cream shop reminds me of grams. Smells and tastes have more memory for me than sounds I think
@destry (2572)
• Kirkwall, Scotland
22 Sep 16
I really can't say tht I have had a good sniff of a model railway, never really had the urge 
