I just wanted to take a moment to share something that I witnessed just after Christmas.
A couple of days after Christmas I was at my LHS and was witness to a very wide eyed little boy and his equally excited father as they picked out an engine, a couple of freight cars, and a caboose, as well as track, and some scenery materials for the layout that they were going to be building together. In chatting briefly with the father I learned that the boys grandfather sent a cheque to be used to start a hobby that the father and son could do together, and through careful discussion they decided upon starting into our wonderful hobby!
I can’t remember the last time that I saw a young child and his or her father embarking on the wonderful journey that we all started so many years ago! My wife didn’t appreciate the significance of this all too rare event when I shared it with her, so I wanted to share it with you.
In a very similar situation, I had a visitor to my layout a few weeks ago—an eight-year-old nephew in my wife’s family—and his reaction was one of awestruck wonder to some of the sound equipped locomotives, animated signals and grade crossings, etc. It was a wonderful sight to behold. To quote him… “This is the best train I have ever seen in my whole life”!
Sometimes, in the old adage “out of the mouths of babes” we can appreciate exactly what it is that we, as modelers, are striving for… that “wow” factor!
I was quite encouraged that—perhaps—I had planted a seed in this little boys mind that he would endevour to further his interest in railroading, and—by extention—his thirst for knowledge of everything railroading that he would become an avid “train nut” just like the rest of us!
I’ve noticed a larger number of father/son teams at my LHS lately. I agree, it is great to see. Mine has a large slot car track as well as two small operating layouts so that alone really builds the excitement of going to the hobby shop with dad.
Very cool to hear. Best wishes to the father-son team, and hats off to the grandfather who sent the check encouraging them to get into a hobby they could share. That’s a gift that can keep on giving for generations.
My father wasn’t into model railroading, but he didn’t hesitate to construct a few tables I could use for layouts when I was a kid. I got the train bug from his brother, my uncle, and am now spreading it to my 9-year-old son. And my daughters, 11 and 13, have also shown more than a passing interest. There are so many facets of the hobby, it’s sometimes possible for an entire family to get interested in some aspect of model railroading.
Sorry that your wife didn’t appreciate the significance of a father and son embarking on a possible lifetime journey of enjoyment together in this great hobby. Maybe if this sort of thing happened more often in the world, we wouldn’t have all the problems that we now have.
My wife doesn’t take part in my hobby, but she does encourage me and she likes to look over my shoulder when I check out WPF. She often comments when she sees a photo of nice shiny Loco’s and rolling stock, “That doesn’t look real, it’s to shiny and clean. Why doesn’t he dirty it up and scatter some litter around like in the real world”?
I have a friend who just before Thanksgiving helped me move from Wisconsin to Nebraska and within the stuff moved was my bench work for my n-scale railroad, (it does have some scenery and track on it) my friends son was helping as well he is in the 5th grade and he went nuts over my railroad.
We arrived at my new home, unloaded the train and the boy would not leave the area we put it in, I was told that he is just amazed with trains so for Christmas I sent him a n-scale train set and now he and his dad are embarking on getting more track and hopefully a model railroad.
I e-mailed some photos of my layout for inspiration to my friend and invited them to come to my home for a week end of railroading when the weather gets better.
Whenever I take my Son to an LHS I usually go a different direction and tell him to look around on his own. He loves checking things out without someone looking over his shoulder. At the same time I’m usually at a distance randomly looking out of the corner of my eye, checking if something seems to peak his interest. It makes a pretty good coincidence when I happen to pickup the same thing after he moved on to another section.
Last march, my grandson, corbyn (10) said he would like to build a layout. Since the we have been building an 8’ X 12’ HO dc system we named corbyn city. He is in charge of train operation, and assembly. Grandmom has gotten into the process. She is in charge of landscaping, and weathering. She also selects structures and layout details. Corbyn and Grandmom are doing a first class job of making Corbyn city look great, grandmom has even said that she wants an airbrush system to help with the weathering. My job is to make everything work. Having no experience with train modeling, this forum has been a very large part of the building of Corbyn city. My point is that model railroading can be, and should be a FAMILY hobby.