blind railroader

[rogertra]

I'm blind in the left eye, have poor eyesight in the right, wear "Coke  bottle" glasses.

Is it a pain?  Sometimes, you betcha it is.  Sometimes I get so frustrated but one sucks it up, takes a break and comes back to the project when in a better mind and you do the best you can.

[D&RGWRR476]

lvanhen

A person's "disability" is only what that person allows it to be!!

 

Lou, Good point.

A friend of mine who is blind once told me that his blindness is only an inconvenience, that those folks in the sighted world who do not understand blindness is his real disability.

 

 

[lvanhen]

My wife has been legaly blind for over 30 years - no central vision.  She got a drivers liscence because a friend administered the eye test at the local MV office.  She drove a car untill about 5 or 6 years ago - although not very well!  Only relatives and a few of her closest friends know she is "legaly" blind.  Her peripheral vision is good enough to allow her to do anything but read almost as well as someone with "normal" vision.  A person's "disability" is only what that person allows it to be!!

[D&RGWRR476]

Hi Folks,

Legal blindness is defined as 20/200 corrected in the best eye. So, blindness can be anywhere from 20/200 vision and maybe being able to get a driver's license in some states, up to total blindness without any light perception. Also, blindness can mean having only tunnel vision or vice versa, or having blind spots in the middle of your vision field.

So, a blind individual building his/her model railroad could pick from the many suggestions offered in this thread to accomodate their particular needs.

 

 

[lvanhen]

Not to make light of the subject, but some years ago I worked for a co that made photo processing equipment.  One of the largest labs in the country employed a number of totally blind people to open film canisters, load them in developing racks, and process the film.  All went well untill a sighted person did some maintenance work in the room overnight & left a light on.  It was not discovered untill an hour after the work shift started & some film came out the end of the machines - totally blank!!  They then installed lights outside the dark area that lit if any lights were on inside!!

[Last Chance]

I am legally blind in one eye. That does not stop me from enjoying trains. However, I know that I will probably move up from HO scale to O gauge in the future if the other eye goes bad.

Sound equippted engines help me understand how they are doing with the train. The metal wheelsets on the train produces a roar that I can understand as they roll on the track (Clickety clacks too) If they start producting a sound similar to a child dragging a stick along a picket fence (Do we even have those anymore?) then you know at least one has derailed.

Long ago I used to play laser games as a child and we would occasionally darken the Arena Battle Space into complete darkness. Requires a mental map of the space and tracking where you are in how many steps from the door, base etc. The people who did not have a mental map simply found a corner of the building itself and stayed there to be tagged over and over again.

If I was to go totally blind today, I know the location of everything on the workbench and on the layout. The problem will be identifying wires, colored parts and other things. If my wife was to move an item from it's accustomed place I wont be able to find it without a systematic grid search of the entire area.

Also years ago I met a blind person who was reliant on another person to count the cash in the wallet to pay for a drink. I prefer to use the VISA check card to pay for the item and get onto a computer with a large screen in fonts LARGE enough to SEE the resulting charge on the bank to make sure I did not overpay for something.

Limitations are not to stop you from enjoying life. HOWEVER... certain limitations will stop you from different activities safely. For instance if I dont have good eyesight, I will not be able to keep a 18 wheeler on the road safely; although I have done it in whiteouts assisted by a laptop and GPS and feeling the shoulder gravel versus the interstate smooth pavement in the steering wheel. But... is there a disabled or stalled car seeking refuge on the shoulder? That impact will tell you.

I once had a color blind man working at the Seaport in Baltimore wiring reefer units to the containers with large different colored wires. He would ask me if he was holding in his hands a Green wire. I thought that was a stupid question because he was indeed holding a green cable. What he had done was identify the colored cables that he can tell until he reached a cable with a non-defined color. I told him yes that was a green cable he was holding.

As far as I know that reefer was wired properly and no problems. A very expensive load of seafood reliant on a blind worker to reach the dinner table safely. I know that the people who bought that seafood to eat dont know sometimes HOW they got it in good condition.

[shayfan84325]

"He will know his limitations better than any of you (even the doctors).  If he is really interested, he'll find a way to do some things."

Well Said.

I read once about a totally blind woodworker.  The article included a photo of him operating a table saw.  He'd been at it for years and had no serious injuries.

We all have limitations; the best part of life is when we push the boundaries.

[danmerkel]

Duh... why not do it like the real railroaders do it??!?  I'm sitting here listening to the online rail scanner and every so often, an engineer comes on and identifies his place on the railroad, "2237 east on two, green at East End."

I'm not versed in electronics at all, but I'd think it would be "doable" with some help from the guys on the board here to use some detection systems and announce whre a train is from time to time based on its position on the layout.  He would very quickly learn where things were and also lear about how long it should take for a train to go from point to point.

Jus a thought... again best wishes & good luck to all of you!

dlm

[danmerkel]

Some good suggestions have already been made.  I'd add that I saw a layout with an Amtrak train with a flashing strobe light on the engine... made it REAL easy to find.

Best wishes to your grandson and to all of you.  My best advice is to let him do what he wants to do so long as it is reasonably safe.  I've been legally blind since birth (second line on the eye chart on a good day) and I'm thankful that my parents let me go.  While I wasn't able to participate in organized sports, I rode my bike, played catch (football, softball and later even baseball) and of course modeled trains!  I'm glad that they didn't sit back and say, "You can't do that."  It was more like, "Go ahead & be careful."

He will know his limitations better than any of you (even the doctors).  If he is really interested, he'll find a way to do some things.

Again, best wishes to you all

dlm

[dehusman]

A sound equipped engine and metal wheels on the cars so he can hear how fast its going and where it is.

Braille labels on the controller.

I actually inquired about pushbutton alternative controls for a modeler who had suffered a stroke, but there wasn't anything readily available in the configuration he needed.

Dave H.

[Blind Bruce]

I have been legally blind for 15 years and still have problems following my train. Sound is a necessity, and only one train at a time. I find that running two trains confusing even if one is on a continuous loop. The other suggestions are good as well. I model HO due to space constraints and I sure would like to go into O scale if possible.

[potlatcher]

I have an model railroading acquiantance that has been blind for life (I believe).  I don't know the details of how he models, but he did make a comment to me last time we communicated that sound-equipped locomotives have made it a lot easier for him to enjoy the hobby.

Tom

[Johnnny_reb]

Question? When you say blind, do you mean completely blind or legally blind? As I gather this is happening over the next year or so? I would think highly contrasting colors would help. Some kind of talking railroad like "Train one has reached station one" would sound when the train reach the station. I am talking about some way for him to tell where the train is. A photocell or relay to pinpoint the spot on the track kind of thing. The train would trip the relay or block the light from reaching the photocell triggering the sound bite to play.

[shayfan84325]

My nephew has cerebral palsey.  His fine motor abilities are not real good and he finds one of these Rail-it tools helpful for getting trains on the track:

http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/628-2

Your grandson may find that it helps him, too.

[el-capitan]

3 things come to mind:

 1. Big trains. O or G scale. This will make everything easier from putting stuff on the track to seeing the details on the cars.

2. raise the trains closer to eye-level. The closer he is to the trains the better he will see them. Also keeping the trains near the edge of the layout does the same.

3. Flawless trackwork. When trains derail, it does not lead to an enjoyable experience for anybody and for somebody that is haveing problems seeing, it is probably worse.

[the scotsman]

  my grandson is going blind thru ms he is determined to continue to run his layout ,can you give me any hints for a blind person to run trains thanks