Need helpful ideas

[Anonymous]

My wife and I found something that the whole family can work on and enjoy.  Model trains.  My son was diagnosed with Aspergers syndrome, so to find something that will keep his attention and get him to participate, is a miracle in itself.  My question is: How to keep him interested in the sets we got (2- O size lionel train sets).  He loves tunnels and bridges but I have no I idea how to go about it.  Also, any other Ideas concerning the scenery or some friendly advise would be greatly appreciated.

[mistyk11]

Welcome to the world of trains! My son and I are new to this as well. Were you looking for ideas on building tunnels, mountains, etc? My son and I are currently making a tunnel for our small layout. If this is what you are looking for, I can tell you how we are doing it. It's very easy. I had a lot of help from members of this forum. We are just beginners learning as we go but the most important part is having fun with it. Our tunnel does not even compare to what some of the members here have produced but its easy and fun for him to do.

 

[alexweiihman]

Welcome,  there are numerous tips and types of ways to build scenery.  The way I learned was with on of Kalmbach's (the owner of the forum) books, I would siggest getting that.

 

Welcome to the worlds greatest hobby

 

Alex

[Dave Connolly]

 Not easily found today is a good local friendly hobby shop. If there is one in your area thats your best bet to see products up close and gather info. A good shop can also explain whats involved and needed in projects such as tunnels and such. Usually they have whats needed already in the store. Books are another great source. For scenery I've always liked the simplicity of materials involved with author Dave Frary's books. He has books aimed at the serious modeler but also offers one on a Lionel 027 based layout. Most items for his projects can be had at Home Depot and craft stores such as Michaels.

[dwiemer]

Welcome and congrats on the trains.  Neil Young has a disabled son and that is one of the reasons he has been such a proponent of Lionel Trains.  The train was one thing his son could do and really liked.  It also is a wonderful way to learn and do things as a family, regardless of health issues.  I would encourage your families growth in the hobby. 

As for your question, one resource that I have found is the TM video/DVD called "Building An O Gauge Layout".  Your hobby shop may have it, if not, I got mine off Oldies DVD/CD for about $12., I think Amazon has it for about $19.  It is well worth it and it has just about all the information you will need.  Also, check the help list of threads at the top of the page and if that doesn't have answers you are looking for, do a search.  This way, you can have your answer right away.  If not, post a thread and you will find these folks some of the best people anywhere and they will help.

Dennis

[Sturgeon-Phish]

I would keep things simple and as trouble free as possible.  Trains that dissapear and re-appear are attention grabbers.  Even going behind buildings is fun.  Stay with simple (inexpensive) trains that your boy can handle without the fear of breaking them, and don't get too bent if they do get broke.  A large dose of patience helps.  My grandkids are 2 @ 4 and 3, and they have grown up around trains and handle and run them very well.  They actually like slow better than fast.

Having fun is the most important part

Jim 

[Anonymous]

  I have been brought up on toy trains. The first thing I probably read was a copy of CTT. The  best advice I can give is start simple. I have built too many to count layouts. I have the tendancy to go overboard and thus have a layout that is complex and always non opperational. Now I have no choice and only have space for a 4 by 6 board, small for the size of my collection. I focused more on scenery than anything else and am having the time of my life because of the simplicity. Start small and simple and add as time, money and space permits. Look at lots of photos in CTT, Model Railroader and elswhere else (all gauges) for ideas.

    Don't be in a rush to purchase everything at once. Also half the fun (for me anyways) is restoring equipment that can be found on auction sites, train meets and elswhere.

    Also have a plan in mind in terms of what type of layout you want to portrey. Tinplate, Highrail or a mix. Also try to keep a common era. There is no reason of corse that you can't deviate a little bit but try for some consistancy. Also its fun to have a story to your town whether it be real or made up.

        Most important have fun. It can be a very fun hobby but don't stress it. Being new to the hobby you will be learning lots. If something is getting frusterating, take a break and return to it latter.

Good luck and best wishes. 

[cnw1995]

Welcome to the hobby. From my familiarity with Aspergers, I would recommend you work within the space you want to associate with a layout or playspace for your child. With a few extra 'straight pieces of track, you can place one loop inside the others so he can 'race' the trains. Then you might add two manual 'switches' on the inside or outside loop (again, depending on your space) that would allow him to pull and place a car or two on each siding. Also, get a few small figures or things he can place on a flatcar or open gondola. Best of luck.

[thor]

Tie in the trains with something else that he likes. My niece loves farm animals and farm equipment also Lego. Lego is great for building houses, stations, bridges, platforms and we send each other loads of bricks and then the game is to build something before the other one does and then winner gets to send the loser another load of bricks, it gets quite busy and is a lot of fun.

Because those plastic animals will only stand up on flat surfaces, make your scenery with as many horizontals as possible. We build zoos and stock yards and send each other animals and they all have to be kept seperate, so of course you end up with a vast Lego stockyard full of dinosaurs, jungle animals as well as the usual farm stuff. Our 'scenery' is temporary, buildings, signals, crossing gates are moved around all the time. I'm in the middle of designing a sort of interlocking jigsaw puzzle like system of scenery that can be assembled in a variety of ways.

The rule is everything MUST be sent by train, no train is allowed to stand idle for long, no train may leave a station full or arrive empty. The whole enjoyment is based around keeping things moving! With young children I have found that the edge of the layout MUST be at least 9" of empty space so they can run cars and trucks, build things and so forth. If its too crowded they cant interact without the danger of knocking things over or causing derailments.

We use the trains as the core for imaginative games of make believe, we even send snacks and drinks on flatcars run from the kitchen to the living room. My niece is getting a tremendous amount of mileage out of a Lionel tipping car! Candy, Lego, animals, you name it, it gets launched!

Thats how we play trains.

[jimhaleyscomet]

loveoftrains,

Welcome to the forum.  The easiest tunnel is a couple of empty shoe boxes stacked to make a tunnel.  Building blocks and plywood/foam board platforms also work.  Another easy tunnel method is to get a long narrow box and run track through.  Even a more square box can be made to work if you cut holes in the sides.  Use adjacent sides and make the track curve inside the box.   Tunnels with a curve inside seem to add more interest.  Finally, you can get white foam board (display board at Office Supply Store) and score it and bend (about 6" per side) to make a long tunnel.  You can also use the above techniques to make buildings.  Kids like trains going behind buildings and reappearing almost as much as tunnels.  

Once you get the tunnel box up, then decorate the outside with whatever (cars, trees -cut up chistmas wreaths or old artificial trees-, buildings).  Th nice thing about all the above is you can tear them down and start over for change.

On a more advanced level folks use styrofoam blocks and build tunnels by stacking and carving.  Then they use advanced landscape techniques.  Woodland scenics sells a ton of materials and a DVD that shows how to do extremely realistic scenery.

Kids love action so make sure you have gondola and flat cars for carrying loads.  You might also consider one of Lionel's "expansion" sets.  They add straight track and the freight versions usually include an operating car.  

Finally, see the first post on this forum.  It has links to tons of more information.  

Jim H 

p.s.  One other thing...add a few manual switches so you can store some cars off the mainline and switch back and forth different trains on one engine.   

[jprampolla]

Hi Folks and LoveOfTrains,    

        I would like to suggest that the handcars with the large articulated cartoon characters are quite an attention-getter, and great fun.  The animated characters appear to actually operate the handcars.  About 17 years ago I saw Harry Turner's "Wonderful World of Lionel Trains" large mobile layout and he had 2 handcars racing on 2 closely nested independent loops of track;  everyone was fascinated by such a simple arrangement.  The nice thing about sectional track is that a simple and ever-changing track arrangement can be quickly set up anywhere.        

       Best wishes to you and your family, and everyone going through life's many challenges!!!      

      Take care, Joe.