After reading the thread about member ages I got to wondering if anyone has grown children who have taken up the hobby. Neither my son or daughter were ever really interested but do expect to see a train around the Christmas tree every year (they both celebrated their 1st Christmas in their own apartments in 2007 and had trees but no trains - maybe I should get them starter sets this Christmas. . .)
Does anyone have grown children in the hobby? Is anyone here a second generation train person?
Well, you could call me 2nd gen. I’m 53 and Dad had trains out up until I was 14. My “kids” son 29 & daughter 15, see them up at Christmas and my son helps with the layout. My daughter does the scenery like painting clouds and setting scenes on the layout. Exposure is the key. Of course, they’re old enough, I don’t worry about if they’ll abuse it.
Fifedog’s kids are iinto it. His daughter & son help out. FIFEY>>>YOU OUT THERE?
ABSOLUTELY you should get them starter sets for Christmas this year!
I would be 2nd Generation as well. My Dad had Lionel as a kid and continues to add to his collection today. He got me into American Flyer, but now I have been leaning more towards scale-sized Lionel. The steam engines are impressive. My younger brother is into Lionel as well. My 9 year old twin sons love Pere Marquette 1225, but are not that into models. They are more into sports and video games. My 14 month old son loves trains. He comes racing towards the basement door when I ask him if he wants to see the trains and even makes chuffing noises through his teeth.
HI GIZ,
No kidos, but wife helps me on layout, with scenery and ideas, has that womens touch. and my dog JANE helps me by drinking my OL MIL whenever there is a PILE UP on the layout. Fortionaitly I had NO PILE UPs in a while.
laz57
I qualify as as second generation train enthustiast. My father was a life long train collector, so I grew up in a train collecting enviornment. I lost interest in trains in my late teens and have returned to the hobby fairly recently, in the last 3 or 4 years.
I’m 3rd generation train nut. My grandfather started buying Lionels just before WW2 and my dad set up trains every Christmas until I took over at about 12. My stepson likes trains but he’s not very handy when it comes to tools but he is a pretty good lawyer. My 21 month old grandson however it a certified train nut, he either watches them on TV, plays with his Thomas in the livingroom or wants to go down the basement to play with the “big trains”. When they drive by the house he points and says, “Grandpa choo-choos!” ( I think I’ve created a monster). That makes him 5th generation with 4 of the 5 still alive and kicking.
Iam 3rd generation also. My son and daughter are the 4th. My son is going to be six in June and my daughter 4 in May. If things continue as they have in the past they are definatly train nut’s just like me. We go into the basement for our one hour fix almost daily. My grandfather started the train bug with a 2037,we still run it about once a month. My dad always put a circle around the christmas tree and when christmas was over we had a large carpet layout. Now that I have the basement layout that we use almost daily I dont see an end in sight.
My Grandfather had the interest in toy trains. Pre and post-war Lionel. Std. and O. His two boys, my Dad and his twin brother, had no interest. We lived just a few blocks away from Grandpop, and I played with his trains once a week on average. Out of Grandpop’s four grandchildren, I kept interest through my teens and adulthood, and inherited the majority of his collection when he passed on. Out of my three daughters, the oldest (14yrs old) seems to have a mild interest. I believe her interest will grow a little as I start to make better progress on layout building and she can help with the scenery aspect of it.
CJ Meyers
I’m 57, second generation with toy trains.
My father had American Flyer as a child, but all was sold or traded off during the Depression except for one piece, a water tower which I still have. Post WWII, he started a family and, optimistically planning for a boy, he started buying Lionel before I was born (UP 2023 FA and 3 window 2046 Hudson). Upon successful execution of the “son” plan and the purchase of the first family home, he started giving me trains for Christmas when I was 3, began the tradition of the Christmas loop around the tree, and launched our 2 loop layout on a 4’ X 8’ board.
After the standard baby boomer “pack them away” period, I started the process over again with my son with the Christmas layout around the tree and purchasing a starter set for him. The Christmas layout has remained a tradition, but his interest waned quickly.
As for the fourth generation, my 4 year old granddaughter now takes great pleasure in Grandpa’s trains at Christmas, and we incorporate her smaller toy figures with a freight set up. In the weeks leading up to Christmas, the weekly Saturday night dinner followed by watching “The Polar Express” followed by playing with toy trains. When she comes over during the holidays, the two of us retire to the living room and play with the trains.
Some observations about why toy trains aren’t a focal point with kids they were a half century ago. We’ve removed time and family activities as the key ingredient to a shared hobby.
Back when I was a child, children had nothing to do and a lot of free time to do it…however, we’ve managed to fill up all of our children’s waking hours with scheduled activities. Two working parents were the exception. Two parents were
My “helpers” aren’t grown yet, but they do like having trains of their own, and they also like going trackside. As a matter of fact, we were at Perryville this past Saturday, and the littlest princess was flirting and waving with the engineer of AMTRAK 154 while he was waiting for clearance eastbound.
My mother’s father introduced me to toy trains, and each Christmas we set up 4 x 8’s in our living rooms. (I guess that makes me second generation?)