I used to play with blocks and early Legos as a kid. In fact I always made trains out of them to run in the cities I made with them as well. Remember this is all before computers and video games came along so all we had to play with was our imagination and toys.
I also used to draw trains a lot too on paper along with dream layouts and even maps, with the latter being similar to our topographical and ordinance survey maps we have access to today via the internet. I used to layout cities and show tram lines with one line type, while underground routes in another. I got the ideas from looking at actual maps. Some of these early ideas became parts of the routes I've built today.
With the computers the way they are today, this can be nostalgic and also a bit redundant as the blocks aren't necessary to make trains anymore in the computer. Sure those big Lego trainsets, that are quite expensive too are impressive to see, but on the computer, Nah!
John