Well, this is my weekend to work and I just had a great experience. A man came in with a little boy of about four or five. The little boy then proceeded to ask me where he could see trains. I very happily pulled brochures for all of South Carolina’s railroad museums plus gave him some items with pictures of trains. The boy’s father told me he loved Thomas. Hopefully his parents encourage his enthusiasm and he discovers the hobby.
Sweet. That’s one of my favorite parts about having open doors at our club.
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Way to go!
Dave
GP, as a fellow train evangelist, my hat goes off to you. Good work, sir!
Stu
A good post. Go to just about any good train show and it is evident that trains (not just Thomas) still fascinate kids, boys and girls. At Trainfest in Milwaukee some of the kids waiting in line starting flapping their arms like baby birds learning to fly as they wait in line, because they can see and hear the model trains through the open doors. You can’t help but smile.
One of the best introductions to trains locally is due to the local “Live Steam” group (put in quotes because most of their engines are diesel models with sound) that has a large layout on former farmland. They are generous with open houses and let the kids (with parents) ride the trains. It is nearly a 30 minute ride that goes past a horse barn, and the creek under the bridges has frogs. Those kids are real converts when they’re done, and so are the parents. What is frustrating is knowing what should or can “come next” to keep that enthusiasm alive. Brochures about museums, clubs and other attractions is a good idea. I do think we are letting many potential converts slip through our fingers, so to speak.
There is still fertile ground out that for creating the next generation, of railfans at least if not model railroaders, but hopefully both. And again, without relying on Thomas.
Dave Nelson
This is interesting, I’ll share my side. [:)]
As a kid before I switched over to electric powered trains, from 1998-mid 2000, I had a figure 8 set with wooden tracks and a removable green plastic tunnel. The train was not Thomas, rather Battat Traxx.
The Green Tunnel and 5 or 6 plastic different yellow railroad signs with removable bases, plastic tracks that were compatible with Thomas wooden tracks as well as a train with 2 cars, a colorful steam locomotive with a gravel car that had a rotatable chute and a passenger car all came in a green or blue storage case, I later added a gondola, a second passenger car, and a wooden caboose labeled “Soder Line” to make a 5 car train. The caboose came from a Thomas set, but I forget which one, I believe the gondola and 2nd passenger car came from a brio set, not sure though.
The set was operated by “hand” no batteries required and all of the cars were hooked together by magnets on each end.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with this name, type in “Battat Traxx Train” on Google and then click on images.
You’ll see what it looks like.
Reminds me of those child Guidence push trains I grew up with.