I haven’t had a lot of time or motivation lately to work on the layout for various reasons that aren’t important any way we had a birthday party today for my son today the typical family bs house full of loud relatives kids all sugared up on ice cream etc. Enough to make you want to take your plastic spoon and dig a hole to China.
Towards the end of the day my brother in law asks me if I’m still into trains, I’m like ok here comes all the stupid comments from the relatives, So my son turns to his son and says yeah come on down stairs and look at our cool train layout. So off to the train room we go. No I don’t have to draw anyone here a picture of a layout in progress looks like, stuff all over the place structures plunked down in mock up a little scenery work here and there, you all know the drill…lol
So I fired up the train set and called up a BLI PRR M1 pulling a 40 car mixed freight and a Proto Y3 pulling about 2 dozen coal hoppers, this was spur of the moment and i haven’t run trains for a very long time except a little test RS3, so needless to say things weren’t as smooth as they could or should have been. But when I handed each one a throttle and showed my nephew hit this number for the bell this one for the whistle etc.
You would have thought these kids won the lottery, man their faces were lit up like it was Christmas morning and even wit a few spotting starts and stops it was “Awesome” He was amazed at the little people and cars and lights, this kid was yacking away like an auctioneer. We all went back up stairs and they way they were talking even my brother in law you had thought they had just come from visiting Howard Zane’s Piermont division…lol Made me feel good and he kept telling my sister mom we have to build one of these in our basement, uncle Brian said he’ll come up and help us, my sister just glaring at me over the top of her glasses with that thanks a lot you _____ look made all the frustration of the last 6 months worth it. I leaned over t
Children have no preconceptions, so they are VERY hard to disappoint. Then, when you let THEM control the action…
I wonder what your sister will have to say when your nephew infects her precious grandchildren with the model railroad bug. After all, it IS highly contagious.
Went to a large fair earlier this month. The usual agricultural, rides, food, crafts and stuff. The last couple of years the local club had had a layout in one of the big buildings. Wasn’t there, I was a bit disappointed, but kept looking. The last buildings we went in, there it was. Talked to one of the members that was running a train. Said he loved to watch the kids faces as the trains went by, then here them cry when their folks hauled them off. Kids are interested, we just have to find them and cultivate their interests.
Thanks for sharing and good luck with the new interest.
I was at a display with the club when a little girl came up to the table where we had the loops set up. I was running the transformers at that time, and just as the O scale Hudson swung around the curve and came at her, I laid on the whistle. Her eyes lit up and there was a ear to ear smile.
I think the bug bit her real good, as she was immediately asking her father to her her some “choo choo trains.” [:D]
I agree that kids are great at a layout. On my volunteer days at the Boothbay Railway Village layout, it is interesting to see the reaction from the visitors. Some are in an “OK, small trains” mood and leave quickly. Most young people want to follow the trains around the layout. Some kids just can not leave. I have had famlies stay and watch the same trains run the same routes for a half hour or more. Some younger ones have to be dragged out of the building by their parents resulting in MELTDOWN!! A number of kids come in wearing engineer hats and grey bib overalls; they are fun to talk to. The kids that are autistic or have downs syndrome are always interesting; thay want to see the trains run, but some do not like the sounds. About the only problems are the ones that want to touch everything and the parents that let them.
We have 3 independent loops and try to have at least 1 sound equipped loco running. These pictures are about a year old ( I need to get some new photos and update the pages [zzz] ) http://www.railwayvillage.org/Model_Railroad.htm
The biggest reward to me is when I have some clients visiting (I work from home) and when getting asked by, especially female clients, if I could show them the model railway!
It is located in my living room so they see it when coming in.
The icing on the cake is when they make comments like; Wow, wonderful! and such. [*]
A nearby hobby shop had a 30% off sale this weekend. There were a few groups of parents and children buying trains, and it wasn’t always clear who knew more about what they were buying. Something about a bargain, though, seemed to be opening wallets and it was like, well, kids in a candy shop, except this “candy” wouldn’t be bad for your teeth.
Our club layout is open to the public every Saturday and Sunday and by far the pre-teens always get the biggest bang out of seeing what’s running. I was running a cleaning train last Saturday and a five year old that was watching couldn’t get enough. Don’t get me wrong, I love talking to the rivet counters too but the kids always seem to be the best audience.
Amen to kids visiting the layout. The last few Christmas Eve’s I’ve hosted the family. The kids love the trains for sure. I usually set up a couple of trains and pre-set the max speed to about half so I don’t have to worry about things getting out of control. Then I hand the controllers over and let them have fun.
Well Chuck it’s her kid whose done been bit. My brother in law emailed me today that trains were all he talked about for the 2-1/2 hour car ride back home.My brother in law was emailing back and forth all day with what about this and what about that. Another victim.
