Over the years there have been a few posts on here about the fact that small children and model trains don’t mix. I thought it was just bad press until last Saturday…My brother’s 41/2 year old grandson was here and he wanted to see the trains. It only took one lap around before he managed to derail a few cars and one loco by holding on to them as they went by. Fortunately nothing ended up on the floor and was able to route things in a way so they wouldn’t pass by him again. I wasn’t a real happy camper but what amazed me even more was the fact that his dad thought it was cute. So, when they come over for Thanksgiving I will be ready. Call me ‘converted.’
Yes, that’s why I have a Thomas the Tank layout in my family room for my 3 year old grandson. When he gets to be about 5 I’ll have a Lionel setup - no collectibiles. When he’s 7 or 8 (assuming he’s still interested) we’ll do his first scale layout - Atlas track, Atlas buildings, and other low end stuff. Depending on how that goes we’ll move onto Grandad’s trains.
His parents (my son and daughter-in-law) are already teaching him respect for things both his own and others, so I don’t anticipate problems here, just a learning curve.
Enjoy
Paul
It’s all in how they’re raised. Certainly there are generational issues at work here, but not everyone my age and younger lets their kids just get away with anything. Sometimes it sticks, too - I will not pick up someone else’s equipment without permission. Sometimes it’s tough to resist when someone else’s train derails right in front of me, but unless they motion me to go ahead, I step back and let them put it back on. I’m not being a jerk, I was just taught to not touch other people’s property without permission.
With little kids, sometimes natural curiosity gets the better of them, but in genral if they were taught right, the incidents should be few and far between. You can usually tell which kids are to be trusted and which you can;t look away from even for a second - my GF’s grand-nephew is also about 4 1/2 and watching him play with his toys - I wouldn’t let him anywhere near my trains. I see all types at our club shows - we have plexi up around the outside so kids generally can;t reach in and touch anything, but many times they are held up by a parent. Many will reach for things, it’s only natural, especially in the very young. But probably less than half the parents actually provide any instruction. Sometimes they just let the kid run around the layout - those are the times when I am very glad of the plexi. With radio throttles, we can run from outside the layout, and often do pick up kids and let them run the trains for a while, they get an “engineer certificate” we made up. It’s not too hard to pick out the ones you can hand the throttle to and which ones to stay away from.
–Randy
I would have informed your brother (his father) that he can only watch and not touch. At 4 1/2 years old didn’t he need his father, just to hold him high enough, to even see the trains? His father should have held him far enough away from the layout that all he could do was watch.
Is it being a curmudgeon, expecting parents to be courteous enough to consider that you don’t want things damaged? I don’t think so! Unless informed of what is expected, you can’t expect adults to naturally have good common sense. Common sense seems to have been removed form the parenting occupation with many people!
I totally agree…I see both well behave kids during the week of the county fair as well as brats that needs a good old fashion spanking.
I’ll seen both teenagers and 20 something “adults” cause derailments.
What type of parents will they make? Very poor ones I reckon.
Basically what NP2626 said.
The problem is these days it isn’t uncommon for parents to not control their kids. I know someone who has a daughter who is a first class brat, a real stinker. IMO it’s because the parent is totally lax and basic expectations simply aren’t truly enforced so the child has learned that no doesn’t really mean no. Any punishment is with a soft pillow or comfy chair. While we would like to expect parents to be responsible, too many who are not are loose in society terrorizing quiet folk at grocery stores, Walmart and train shows!
I took some of my trains, mostly rolling stock which was inexpensive kit built models, to modular layout to run at a small show in building that was too small to allow room to put up guard ropes. Some little children were doing lots of touching - including one wild little boy who thought it was ok to bounce his fingers along the tops of my engines, which I put a stop to immediately. No damage was done but lesson learned. Problem is I don’t have many engines that I would put at that kind of risk again so I will have to think hard about what I bring next time - or now that I have a layout in progress, the risk is even necessary.
In the end, we have to assume accidents will happen when little fingers are about, so like having antivirus on your computer, prevention is better than cure, or damaged trains that cost a lot. Don’t run expensive highly detailed trains within reach of little fingers.
Member of the curmugeon club out of necessity.
Nah. Kids are like kittens. If something moves it grabs their attention. Who knows, maybe it is good to eat.
ROAR
The train? Or the kid?
My grandson is three years old and loves trains. He always wants to see the layout. I can set up a stool for him to stand on where he can see and I am amazed he is so good at -not- touching stuff. It could be his personality, or wiring, or raising, I dont know, but, there is hope.
When kids first see the layout their eyes go as wide as saucers and will not hear anything you are saying. For this reason before the trainroom door even opens I tell them that the #1 rule is they don’t touch anything. I take them in and put them up in the Captains chair and hand them the throttle, that way they already have something in their hands. After the the thrill of bells, whistles and lights going on has settled in as they bring things to life, I tell them that the train they are driving cost $1300.00 and that’s why we don’t touch them, in case the accidently fell to the floor. At that point the parents eye’s go as large as saucers as they move closer to their monsters. Never had a problem.[C):-)]
Boothbay Railway Village where I volunteer is open to the general public all summer, and we see all kinds. Most parents do keep their kids under control (“Touch with your eyes, not your hands.”); the younger ones are held far enough away from the facia so everything is out of reach. The ‘wild’ kids are in the minority, but have to be watched closely, and they do damage things. The same applies to some adults. One adult this summer grabbed the DCC controller, and turned the speed to max. When asked why, she said she just had to try it.
One of the issues is that so many museums have ‘touch me’ exhibits or push the button and watch something run; that many visitors expect that everywhere. I can not count the times that a child pushes their finger into the DCC socket like it is a button. Or the perrenial ‘make it go faster’, ‘can I have a turn?’, 'I want to see them crash!!". Many non RR visitors do not have a clue the value of our equipment and the time it takes to get parts of the layout looking finished.
As I said, the ‘bad’ visitors are in the minority, we just seem to remember than more…
I’m building my layout with some features deliberately included to engage my numerous younger visitors. Instead of toggle switches or pushbuttons for turnout control, for instance, I have push-pull Bullfrog controls; I also have, against one of the cardinal principles of good planning, track that’s too far away to reach. I consider this a good tradeoff.
In the years before changing to DCC sound, I acquired a couple of MRC’s sound generators. I hooked these up and hand them to kids as if they were throttles. Up to about age five or six, children seem perfectly content to push buttons and make noises whether a train is running or not. (For every age, I maintain, it’s all about “remoteness.” We like to make some small movement at Point A and see/hear a result at Point B. It’s powerful.)
Of no little significance is the fact we often decry: children have short attention spans. As long as I have puzzles, whistles, hats, wooden trains, and anything Thomas on hand, I find that the kiddies below age seven or so can only maintain an interest for five or ten minutes before moving on. Yes, that’s plenty of time to do a lot of damage, but I don’t have to lock up the layout room altogether.
Call me he president of the curmudgeon club!
Though not the kids fault, they just dont know that loco costs as much as their parents minivan. Or that that module took longer to make than they are old.
As well, the parents are in the dark too. Unless your in this hobby, you have no clue the blood sweat and tears we go through. Which directly translates into time and $$$. They see trains and think “toys”.
Id be willing to bet if the parents knew that loco their kid was about to drop on the floor would take their next few paychecks, Im pretty sure they would issue themselves a “dont touch - only look” policy.
Kids are great, IF your idea of life is to be a parent. Other than that, in my eyes, kids are only useful when they get old enough to have responsibility. Then you can infect them with the virus we call “model railroading”.
And moreso than kids, I wonder how folks with pets (cats especially) handle having a model railroad in the house with wiley animals. I like animals, and only tend to tolerate kids. But I LOVE trains. Take a guess which I have at my house!
Sure I was taught to share (as a kid oddly enough), but not with children. Im a former kid myself. So I dont mean to be a mean ole bastard, but please, keep your hellions away from my trains unless your willing to hand me a signed, blank check!
I like your take on this. There have been times at the club shows, where there are those with a case of the “Grabbies”. Most 'lil ones tend to be so dazzled by alll the trains they will just watch and behave. Too many times, I notice the parents are more to blame, pointing and touching each car as it goes by counting the cars, What example is this to set, they may gingerly touch but the young-uns not so much. They always need the “Look Don’t Touch”. A mention of the real $$$ of that “cute” toy you’re touching will always work.
My children were raised w/ trains from a rather early age, but toddlers and up to 5-6 really can’t help themselves or have the ability to handle the fragile equipment properly. The excitement is too much that early on. That’s why a 4x8 w/ cheap flex and inexpensive rolling stock/ locos was placed at 24" for them to “play” with. As they grew older and more responsible, I would take them to the club to observe and eventually allowed to run a cab (the old DC layout, using my equipment of course). My daughter at 10 could run a train on the layout as good as any of
Both my sons at age 3 could rerail an HO car or engines and NOT destroy them.
How can this be?
I actually spent time with them helping them learn how to do it without breaking the equipment!
Was it easy? - At times I never thought it would happen - but then one day they figured it out!
The Club members would just cringe when my boys would reach out to rerail a car or engine! 
BUT - they were truly amaized that the boys could do it so carefully and always ask how they could do it!
I kept telling them that I actually spend TIME with them to learn this - some that their only interest in kids - WAS MAKING THEM!
I also did the same thing with all of my Grand Kids - learing how to handle the trains
They also learned their Colors and Counting with the trains!
Spend some time with a small child - will produce amazing things!
Too bad few parents do anything with their’s today - more interested in work - sports - whatnot instead of raising their kids!
BOB H - Clarion, PA
I totally agree that parents need to spend more time talking /teaching their children. Respect for their own toys and other people’s property. I had an incident where a kid was ramming his $20 mini sub into my 69" long, 41lb rc Bismarck. He was backing up and running into it repeatedly. I yelled out who is this kids parents? When I finally found the father, he laughed. The sub damaged one of the outer shift supports, which caused a leak. I was very, very pi$$ed off, to say the least.