Gathering intel for this new club. When you go to a public display layout what items, attractions make you glad you came, saw, possibly paid or donated. And what makes you think, boy that was lame. Do you like to see operations, Do you need to see many trains running. Are you more excited about realistic modeling and operation or do you like to see the Carnival stuff, many motorized accesories etc. I’d like to here your feedback to pass on to the club members when we meet. Thanks, Dave
I am fairly sure my response will be atypical but here goes!
A good example of what I like are the Lionel displays this Christmas particularly the one at Grand Central which I spent two hours watching.
I do like ‘good’ scenery but it doesnt have to be ‘realistic’ in other words I’d probably have as much interest in a model of Hogwarts as a super detailed coal mine. When folk do small towns I like them to have action and humor not just be static perfect models as if Time was frozen, they have to look alive. I particularly like wry humor like Terence Cuneo’s mouse (a British train artist who always hid a mouse somewhere) or ecentric characters.
What I will not spend much time looking at and resent paying to see, is vast railyards full of stock moving at a crawl, what I want to see is as many motorized acessories as possible rattling away working and express trains really hauling fast passenger trains at high speed. I’d love to see the Acela doing its thing for example.
A show layout should, in my opinion, be planned like a theatrical production. It should always have something going on, it should have reliable automated sections and use sequenced lighting and operation to shift the focus from one area to another to give a random effect so that the overall impression is one of a hive of activity.
It MUST have decent sound effects and enough detail to reward the careful observer, being stuck in a slow moving line opposite acres of trains doing nothing is really boring however much dedication it may have taken to build.
Last but not least I’d like to see someone be brave enough to build a foolproof section that would allow you the watcher to DO something, operate something and what would be really nice would be a short section somewhere and a friendly knowledgeable operator willing to pull a loco off roster to demonstrate it to someone like myself who might buy it if they could only see it actually going through its paces.
A local
cruikshank,
I’ve been to a lot, and I mean a lot, of different displays. I go not only to watch the trains, but to examine the construction, and watch the kids. Watching the kids is where you find out if your display has ‘IT’ or not. Here are some details I have found:
- Kids have a 2.5 second attention span in which time you have to grab their attention or they are off.
- Kids love, no… LOVE to control something. Put push buttons around the layout to opperate animations that are in THEIR siteline. If you put a push button to opperate the lumberjacks up on the hill and the hill is 60 inches from their eyes, they won’t be able to see them (saw this at a display a month or so ago and couldn’t figure out why they did it).
- Kids love when trains disappear then reappear where THEY don’t expect them. I saw this trick a few years ago… the display had 4 trains, two sets that looked identical. They had them timed so that one would disappear into a tunnel and few seconds later another reappeared in the distance coming out of the other side, across a long tressel bridge, and into another tunnel. Then a few seconds later came out the bottom of the mountain (this was the first train) coming back at them, followed a flowing river for a bit, then ducked back into another tunnel. Then up on the other level the second train reappeared coming across another tressel bridge closer to the viewer. I saw kids standing there in awe, mouths agape, for minutes, and the comments were incredible - would have made any railroader tear up! And we adults were just as in awe as well.
- Flowing water! This is the #1 attraction of any railroad. Real flowing water. At one display they had a 2 foot waterfall that then flowed into a river. That was all they had, which was rather boring, but if you were to incorporate that with the display at Oglebay, WV where they have a River
Interesting question!
What I like -
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Multiple trains running
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Animation (accessories running, flashing lights, operating crossing gates, signals, etc.)
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Interesting / amusing scenes (one club hands out a list of 50 different things to find - very fun and kids really enjoy this).
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Consistent, good scenery (nothing is more jarring than to view a modular layout that goes from mountains to desert, to winter with no transition). Unfinished areas are fine - can be an opportunity to demonstrate scenery making techniques.
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Club members who are friendly and answer questions
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Additional trains displayed on sidings, ready to go.
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Adequate aisle space, elevated areas for younger children to be able to see the layout.
What I don’t like -
- Derailments (but that happens to all of us! [;)] )
- Unfriendly / unhelpful club members
- Just one train running with no accessories
- Poorly done scenery
- Clutter around the layout / tools, coffee cups etc. left on the layout.
- “Wierd” train consists (personal pet peeve) e.g. A train with a steam engine on point followed by an SD-60, then a mix of O-27, scale, Thomas, Marx, Weaver, with a tender after the caboose. . . Actually, that might be fun to see! [:D]
I love 1) animations and 2) finding things. I can gaze upon a ‘complicated’ layout for hours. Even if nothing is actually running on it. I am frustrated if no-one will answer a question or talk - not the guys actually running things but anyone else.
In addition to what is already said, the layout should be low enough or a walkway riser in place to allow people under 4’ to be able to see. Lower is better than risers. Buttons or accesories folks (read kids) can operate, simple stuff but they love it. Sounds are great but not so loud so as to inhibit conversation.
People who love trains and enjoy sharing the hobby especially with kids operating the layout.
I have a portable layout I’ve set up for several years as part of a public train display fundraiser and these are my observations.
Jim
Likes:
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Trains that disappear from view, like behind a mountain.
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Things for children to do, i.e., buttons to push, etc.
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A mix of steam and diesel, freight and passenger.
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Multiple levels.
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Multiple directions.
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Steam engines that smoke.
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Layouts where you cannot see everything from one vantage point. You have to move to different areas in order to see it all.
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Accessories that do something.
Dislikes:
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Layouts that breakdown too often.
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Not enough trains on a layout. An example of this was the layouts that Lionel put in the Fortunoff stores (NYC area) this past Christmas season. Perhaps these were big back in the 50’s and 60’s, but by today’s standards they were lame. Even my 3.75 year old thought so, having seen the more original layouts done by Fortunoff’s the last two Christmases.
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Small consists. What’s exciting about seeing a steam engine pulling two or three cars?
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Too much attention given to “detail”, “realism”, etc., and not enough focus on the “fun” aspects of model railroading. “That’s wonderful that you’ve got a railyard modelled to perfection, but why isn’t anything moving in it?”
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Layout “presenters” who don’t understand what children (and adults!) find fun, who are fixated on their “accomplishments” in the layout.
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Trains that stop in full view. If you’re going to have a train start and stop, have it hidden when it stops. Nothing turns a child off more than to be staring at a train waiting for it to do something.
Fortunoff did something really neat for Christmas 2004. One of their displays was an “L” shaped standard table level display. However, for one leg of the “L”, they had also put in a simulated subway under the table, with 3 simulated stops on three sides of the ta
While I do not have anything to add, WHAT A GREAT TOPIC!!!
Jim H
When we built our travel layout we wanted the kids to be able to see it. We built it three feet off the ground and use mostly cheaper autos and accessories around the outer edges.If a kid picks up an auto or moves it we let them.In three years of display there has been only one time we had to tell a kid not to touch.We run with a hand held control and invite the kids to blow the horn or whistle.They usually push the button you show them and nothing else.thier smiles tell the rest.We run low end loco’s so if one gets broken,so what.This is not to say we’re reckless.We watch and see the kids that are captivated and invite them to do something.If we see a bunch of kids that are bored or a little rammy we let them go by.Mostly we have lines of kids to blow the horn.We’ve even had a few run the trains.Yes we’ve had to replace a couple of trees but you can’t replace the smiles.
Ed
cruikshank - you didn’t mention what scale your READING club is doing. Your P.S. at the bottom your interest is N. Makes a difference. Although animation is a must on O-gauge pikes, it’s a little harder to do in HO & N. Our mates here have covered a lot of good points. THOR made an outstanding recommendation on having a throttle available to the public (perhaps wireless or tethered). I can’t imagine a better hook than to let someone run equipment on a dedicated “community” line, and that covers any scale.
I love to see the things I can’t do (or afford) on my small 4’x8’ layout…Hells Gate Bridge, the rarest accessories, big yards, and lots of train action-start/stop-load/unload.
Many great ideas. One inspiring layout is the one at the Chattanooga Choo Choo in Tennessee. They have the risers for the kids and for adults to see the back of the layout.
I definately like little items that make one take note. Something original and amusing.
One thing I don’t like is the neglected layout with dust everywhere. From what I have seen, Dust does not make good weathering.
Another really wonderful layout is the New York Society of Model Engineers layout in Carlstadt, NJ. Detailed with plenty to keep you looking.
Dennis
A very interesting topic, especially since I’m a member of a modular club doing about 5 showings a year. It’s also interesting to see the responses on this forum compared to the ones you are getting on the OGR forum. It’s a bit frustrating for me to see little/no distinction in responses between weekend modular set-ups (where members have to haul sections in their cars, SUVs, etc. to a show), permanent displays (like the “Choo-Choo Barn” in Strasburg, PA), or longer-running “Holiday Shows”.
Also, little noted are the sad “legal aspects”, especially for groups like ours…kid puts hand on tracks, train de-rails and falls on kid’s foot. Plexiglass barrier?..kid hangs on plexiglass (which they do), plexiglass shatters, injuring kid. It’s hard for 6 or 7 club memers to keep a constant eye on a 100’x45’ layout. We use poles and ropes, to at least give parents a “warning”. Plus, many viewers take photos, and plexiglass reflects. Joe
Things I like:
Scantilly clad pretty ladies running the trains fast.
Helix’s
Things I don’t like:
Grumpy old guys running the trains slow.
Donation cans! Please give me one good reason why I should support your hobby interests, display guy!!! Support yourself!
Jim
Although my layout is not a public display, but since the neighborhood Christmas Party attracts some 30 kids, and 45 adults, I’m pretty close. [:D] The kids and adults both like to RUN the TRAINS with the CAB-1.
[#ditto]
I love Standard Gauge tinplate and animations too!
Mitch