Sodor for a 3 year old

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

I have seen many postings on many sites about creating Sodor. I would love to, but only have 120x170cm to play with. So instead of creating Sodor from the images at http://www.pegnsean.net/~railwayseries/mapsection.htm I decided on producing a layout of the television series map. http://www.pegnsean.net/~railwayseries/map-sodor-tvseries-hit.jpg This if for a 3 year old. He has the Tomy blue plastic range at the moment. Not a lot of detail required, he would be able to put the track where he liked, but using the pics, I could create hills, bridges etc to enhance his experience. I could add a tunnel, bridge or river, anything to enhance his experience. A signal box or house wouldn’t go a miss either.

So question, how do you do the grid pattern on the original drawing http://www.pegnsean.net/~railwayseries/map-sodor-tvseries-hit.jpg and then rescale it to make it bigger (sorry if this makes no sense, but haven’t done the same thing since at school 20 or so years ago). Doesn’t need to be to scale. I hope this helps other Sodor builders.

I would try scratcbbuilding Knapford station, the roundhouse and Ffaurqhaur station but need to watch a lot of dvds to get things right (I’m a perfectionist, sorry).

If anyone has any ideas, please let me know. Or if you know the scale of the Tomy Road and Rail Sets, that would be even better.

2

Drafting or art supply stores sell clear plastic graph squares. Print the map, overlay the squares, and scale it - dividing the squares into 120x170 cm. Sorry, us older Americans don’t have a clue about metric!![:I][:D]

3

I know nothing about metric ethier! I think using Thomas N scale could help you achive your prize. (Get the Thomas N scale off www.eBay.com )

4

This might be a little expensive, but can start your Thomas Adventureland! http://cgi.ebay.com/Thomas-the-Tank-Engine-Thomas-James-Henry-Percy-Tomix_W0QQitemZ120217644736QQihZ002QQcategoryZ486QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

5

Let him use his own imagination.

A 3-year-old doesn’t need a plan. Rather, he needs to have building-blocks to make his own plan.

Concentrate on giving him structures to move around, preferably small or modular structures that he can arrange however he likes. Sectional track that lets him arrange it himself will help build his own design skills, rather than being forced down a single path by a pre-defined template.

There will be plenty of time for prototype modelling later on. Right now, if he wants people and giraffes to ride in gondolas, that’s great.

6

Google does all sorts of conversions. For example, type “convert 3 meters into feet” into google and press search. Couldn’t be easier.

7

Ohh, I didn’t read you are doing this for a Three year-old! Try Bachmann Trains’ Thomas Stuff in HO scale (which might be OO for you & HO is the same as OO).