Tomorow morning I'll bringing some O-Gauge equipement to my daughter's Pre-K class to teach them about trains. My kids attend a STEM/STEAM-centric charter school and I'm hoping to use the opportunity to propose a model railroad club.
I e-mailed the principle told what I was offering to do and why it would dovetail nicely with the school's curriculum. I also made the obvious to us points about model railroading being a great teacher.
If the principal does grant me meeting tomorow, what talking points I could bring up? Also what are your thoughts on scale? HO would be a bit more robust, but I have N Scale locomotive and rollingstock I could donate.
Should I use one of Woodland Scenics' layout kits or would it be better to let the kids actually plan the layout as well as build it?
Modeling the Pennsylvania Railroad in N Scale.
www.prr-nscale.blogspot.com
GP-9_Man11786 Should I use one of Woodland Scenics' layout kits or would it be better to let the kids actually plan the layout as well as build it?
Personally I would ask the children what they would like to see on the layout. Then if possible let them build it. Even 'wacky' ideas can be fun
The more they interact the more involved they become.
My grandchildren run my railroad their way.
IMG_5398 by David Harrison, on Flickr
Keep it all lighthearted and fun. You will have little to do. The children will do most of the modelling.
David
To the world you are someone. To someone you are the world
I cannot afford the luxury of a negative thought
Some things have to happen before we use the word 'layout'.
Someone on the faculty has to be the 'champion' (in the six-sigma sense) to get all the internal stuff done, and be the liaison with the 'outside expertise'. Have a clear 'succession management' plan in place, in case the champion becomes unable to work, or quits, or is replaced...
Then there needs to be dedicated space, that can't be 'taken away' for other purposes, ideally that doesn't have to be 'time-shared' with other activities. And SECURE storage for resources, tools, and equipment whether or not the dedicated space is locked.
My recommendation is to start with one or more modules, and use a trackplan on them analogous to the "HO railroad that grows" to keep things open ended. (Remember the rotisserie thread, and the 'vertical' or hanging storage options? Keep them in mind...)
And emphasize the craftsmanship in structures and scenery as much as track, rolling stock, and operations. There are many potential ways into "model railroading" that don't necessarily involve being interested in trains... and many skills that others might provide for the non-railroad parts of the miniature reality. In my opinion it will be valuable to keep outreach going to all the "others" to encourage their participation... and their self-improvement in STEAM (remember what that 'A' stands for!) in ways the school, and its academics, will benefit from.
Pre-K?
Not to discourage you, but it won't survive long. Even Lionel Tinplate, which is known for it's ruggidness needs maintenance. At the very least driver & track cleaning, plus regular lubing.There was a train table setup at Hershey hospital for the peds unit and it just sits there and doesn't run. No one takes care of it. To be honest I should go in and volunteer to fix it.
Putting small plastic parts into kids hands (even snap tight kits like Walthers gold ribbon) is a bad idea. It's a liability. You could have them make loads for gonds using common craft supplies.
Don - Specializing in layout DC->DCC conversions
Modeling C&O transition era and steel industries There's Nothing Like Big Steam!
So the kids would be what, 4-5 years old? I would present things in an interactive way. Something like: Does anyone know what's this (and show a loco in your hand)? Is this a steam loco or a diesel loco? Have you ever seen a real steam train? Where? Did you like that? Has anybody taken a train before? Where did you go? (...)
For kids that age, you could nail down a loop with a non-motorized engine with a few cars, and let them to the scenery. A Thomas set on a board (with track glued on the board) is probably more practical.
Simon
I should clarify, that my daughter is in Pre-K, however, I am proposing a railroad club for the whole K-8 school. The Pre-K program is ending, so I would be dealing with ages 5-15 roughly.
Very good suggestions so far.
Hi GP-9Man11786,
I fear that I am about to rain on your parade.
For the younger kids I would propose that you consider getting them a Brio set. I recognize that Brio is expensive, and if you want to do the kids justice, you will need a lot of it. Young kids don't want to watch, they want to do.
Your N scale donation may suit the older kids, but again, there has to be enough of it to maintain their interest. Who is going to pay for the benchwork or the scenery? Assuming that you have that covered, are you willing to spend the considerable amount of time required to supervise the construction of the layout. In this day and age I really doubt that there will be many teachers who are not already overburdened who would be willing to spend the time needed.
I'm sorry that my response is so negative, but it is realistic. Your project requires a huge commitment in both time and money. If you are prepared to do that then go for it!
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Benchwork? 5-year-olds? Shurely the school has some tables like pool-tables. too scratched and chipped but still structurally sound. Scale? I'd gp with Lionel O-gauge tinplate!
There probably shouldn't be a "K-8 railroad club" as an entity, but there should be flexibility independent of age -- I was certainly interested in technical things at 'kindergarten' age and I would predict there will be some of that age in your program who can be kept as interested as they want to be... but most will require age-appropriate materials and support.
The more typical young kids need to have various things appealing to their age and motor development -- I suspect the wooden-railway, train tables, etc. can be obtained via donation from families that have 'aged out' of Thomas, Brio, etc. I'd think about enlisting a 'cadre' of slightly-older kids to keep the stuff clean and organized, guide the younger kids into ways of understanding how trains work, etc.
As they get into electric and 'scale' interest, the tinplate is one 'branch' that can be followed. Again, you need to teach some of the kids to care for the equipment -- and to arrange to take responsibility to get things fixed when they break (or are broken...)
The 'main' railroad club will be involved both in "railfanning" and modeling of various sorts. Be prepared to run innovative fundraising efforts and appeals to be sure things are correctly financed -- we ran the ad hoc refreshments at football games for several years, using 'dirty water dogs' finish-roasted on one of those small charcoal hibachis, and 'cleaned up' dramatically financially!
We did have a problem with what we lovingly termed "railfan juniors" -- the kids who would put pennies on the track if you didn't watch them closely, and who weren't interested in the actual railroading aspects. There's nothing wrong with that, but you might want to encourage that side of participation as well as the STEAM seriousness.
There are likely to be some peer issues about 'playing with trains', choo-choo nicknames, etc. If those can be addressed systemically within the program, good. It may take some careful one-on-one mentoring and advising to get kids to realize that being in the railroad club is 'cool'.
As a side note: I as you might expect had some issues from some of the other intellectuals in the AP program. It did not help that our railroad club was probably by far the best funded and 'endowed' of the school clubs, and (thanks to me) well... probably in retrospect way too far well... covered in the school's newspaper.
Well, the date rolled around for the English AP, and we all took our seats. I started working through the test without pre-reading all the different sections... and thought I heard someone mutter my name. Then I did hear someone mutter my name, not in a friendly tone. What could this be? I worked my way through to the essay, to read "the American experience was largely influenced and shaped by railroads. Discuss the role of the railroad in American literature..."
Ah, so sweet.
You know what's a shame? They took many skilled trades out of high schools. You could have had the shop class build the tables. You could have electrical wire it up. Art class to do scenery and background painting.14 and up would be an appropriate age for this. Definitely not pre-k however.
I did not see the Woodland Scenics kit question until just now.
I don't know how willing the school system may be in buying or reimbursing expenses for 'special' model-railroading supplies. If you're subsidizing the cost, then I'd go with whatever gives the best bang in terms of stimulating interest and producing results that reward the student participants relatively quickly and conclusively. If that means starting with Woodland Scenics on a hollow-core door, then start there. If it means teaching how to 'gin up 'placeholder' structures by architectural modeling with Fome-Cor and Strathmore and gluing photos of the building sides on, then making and attaching a few 3D details... show and teach how to do that, as well as how to assemble and detail kits or scratchbuild. I'd certainly spring for a computer capable of running JMRI and some analogue to 3D-PlanIt, with the necessary printing support... I suspect many of the kids will be teaching you long before the effort gets to Running Trains...
Where I see some difficulty is in the legal implications of power tools, dedicated electrical wiring, solvents and adhesives, in the hands of students where they really have to be at some point. It might be necessary to have the equivalent of volunteer GHA to actually do much of that work... or find innocuous alternatives that might not have the desired long-term imperviousness to sun, water, and accidents, if you take my meaning.
Is there a 'modular' building organization near you? Some of their insights might be highly useful if you bring them in for a talk or two.
You know, it occurs to me that Kalmbach, as part of the 'stage three' work being done on the Forum software, might want to establish a fifth forum dedicated to 'schools and clubs' where specific advice to various age groups could be conducted away from all the serious model railroading action...different threads for different age groups could be 'stickied' and a great deal of hive-mind knowledge provided at low cost, while Kalmbach builds future adherents for the communities of interest...
Better fix the ads first, though...
It also gives a good oppertunity to teach kids at various levels about how railroads got this country to where it is today and why they are still important despite being less in the public eye. Even professional railroaders today cannot grasp the power of the steam locomotive when compared to the diesels they run on a daily basis. If you have a museum group in your area, most are very willing to come put on an age appropiate presentation to the kids. That would make for a very special day in school. Something that builds memories and sparks interests. We need more kids to go into the trades vs doctors/lawyers. Sometimes these little seeds we plant at a young age, steer them in the direction of skilled trades or at the minmum, gives them some exposure to mechanical things. Model and real trains do this very well.
Silly NT's, I have Asperger's Syndrome
I wanted to give you all update. My daughter's class loved the trains. They were very well behaved. I allowed each child to run a train and operate the turnouts. Other than a few turnout-related derailments, things couldn't have gone better. On top of that, the principal is receptive to the railroad club idea!
Yes, make the focus on the kids. Ask them what they know about trains, etc. They will def. value the visual displays also.
GP-9_Man11786 Tomorow morning I'll bringing some O-Gauge equipement to my daughter's Pre-K class to teach them about trains. My kids attend a STEM/STEAM-centric charter school and I'm hoping to use the opportunity to propose a model railroad club. I e-mailed the principle told what I was offering to do and why it would dovetail nicely with the school's curriculum. I also made the obvious to us points about model railroading being a great teacher. If the principal does grant me meeting tomorow, what talking points I could bring up? Also what are your thoughts on scale? HO would be a bit more robust, but I have N Scale locomotive and rollingstock I could donate. Should I use one of Woodland Scenics' layout kits or would it be better to let the kids actually plan the layout as well as build it?
NEVER do that. I was a custodian at a junior high school for many years. I always daydreamed of building a layout there, but even if you could find a space there still would be major problems. Class rooms are out, The school could change things in a minute.
Where I worked there was a cellar/basement. The basement corredors had a concrete floor, but the spaces under the classrooms were of sand, ergo not rated for use, for storage or any thing else. Fun to explore to day dream but not for a layout.
Now that I am a monk, I live in a monastery, and we used to run a school. There was a basement room that was designated for hobbies, and I built a 5 x 20' layout in there, but before long was past they voted to refurbish thatu room for another purpose.
I finally foud a classroom above the library (the stacks take up the entire second floor of that building.) The room I have is 24 x 27' and the layout takes up most of that on three levels. 14 scale miles of tracks (subway tracks!) Trains depart the 242nd Street terminal every three minutes, and each one takes 20 minutes to complete its run (down to the south ferry loop.) and back again. I can run ten trains at a time, all automated. The only controls that require my attention is the 242nd Street Interlocking.
But it is as I say on the third floor, and there is no elevator in that building, so I no longer get up there very often. After all I have been here for 40 years, and I am 74 years old. I may still look young but retirement has been forced upon me by my lack of vertical stability. Neurological issues as well. I had to give up my service as an RN and as our computer network guy. Another brother now takes care of the infirmary and we hired a company to manage our computer network (at $2000.++ per month: I was such a bargin!)
The other issue is that as a monk at least, I would not be alowed to work with children without supervision. I would never do anything to a kid, but our certification from Prasidium has guidelines that we must follow. Today, even as a parent you cannot have access to school programs without the same background checks, police records, etc. as any other school employee. Kids are strictly out of bounds in a school.
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
Our 4-H group started a model railroad club. Most of the kids are in the 9-12 age range. We had a large estate donation of HO equipment. We settled on 2 ft. x 2 ft. modules. We have 2" foam base over wood frames, For now the frames sit on top of 6 ft. folding tables. While trying to decide how to attach the foam to the wood frames, we realized that the 2" foam made a rigid base for their modules to bring back and forth from home, so the modules are somewhat free floating. The corner modules stay with the club. Track location is similar to NMRA recommended standards. With kids joining and leaving, we completed 5 modules, and with a 6th bridge module we had a 6 ft. x 12 ft. layout. We had a couple of displays at the county fair and at a toy store Christmas display. We also did a couple of Xmas displays of a small donated N scale layout. The club ran for 18 months befor Covid shut things down. We are trying to restart the club.
Working with kids was also mentioned. Us 4-H volunteers are all vetted thru background checks. Only other adults at the meetings would be the parents/gardians. I would imagine it would be similar at schools.