When my son was that age, and 5 of us lived in a small row house, we bought a set of bunk beds. I built him a LIONEL layout on the lower bunk, and he slept in the top bunk.
He is now 34 and has pretty much lost interest in model trains.......
My modeling back then was at a club......I lost interest in the club......
Sheldon
My folks gave me a Lionel train set for Christmas when I was 2 years old, then it was HO at the age of 7 until I was 14, then it was women & Cars till I was 22.
At 22 it was N-Scale and still is!
My 5 year old grandson loves to run the throttle on my N scale layout. I’m his switch man and dispatcher. He follows directions well. But N is probably not the best play value so he is getting me a Lionel Polar Express for Christmas. It will stay at my house for safekeeping from his 3 year old sister.
It sounds reasonable to me. About that age is when I had my first N scale layout - all we had room for that I could leave up all the time (as opposed to our HO layout that we put up only for the holidays) was around 2x4 in size. It was a simple plan from one of the Atlas N scale plan books, pretty much all the stock 9 3/4" radius cuvers. All I had was 4 axle diesels and smaller cars, so it all ran fine on the small radius.
I don;t think 8 years old is too young for N scale - depends on the child, if they can handle delciate things and understand these are not toys to be treated roughly, they will do fine. I was around N scale fromt he time I was about 4 - I was OK running HO at that age, but the N scale, while I didn;t really handle the trains, I was constnatly burning out the switch motors, so we put N scale aside in lieu of expanding the HO layout (a year or two, we had both scales, a small 4x4 HO with a 2x2 or 2x3 N scale that partially overhung in, the N scale layout forming a tunnel for the HI train). Then when I was a bit older, the N scale came back out and I had a more peromanant layout. I built a another one on my own a few years later, also 2x4 i size, from a different Atlas plan, until I went back to HO, this time in my now expanded bedroom.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
With storage being a concern, size it to fit under his bed. It may require 15" radius track, but keeping to 40' freight cars and first or second generation diesels, that should not be a problem. Even the Athearn 60' passenger cars will run on 15".
George In Midcoast Maine, 'bout halfway up the Rockland branch
I have 7 grandkids all 10 and under including 2 8 year old boys. Differing levels of interest and skills, but they love to play with Papas trains. They all operate well probably better than a lot of adult modelers I know. I use digitrax dcc and the kids are totally at ease with the system. The only one who I have to be careful with is my 6 year old granddaughter who gets a huge kick out of running every thing she can wide open. The boys are cautious with speed. Something with a loop would suit them well and ho scale is probably as small as I would go.
While N scale is a "great" scale for a model railroader, it offers quite a bit less "play value" for a child than HO scale or any of the bigger scales.
A few years ago, I built a small layout for the at that time 8 year old grandson of a friend of mine, which fascinated him for a while, but it became quite old after a few months only.
From that I learned two lessons:
Happy times!
Ulrich (aka The Tin Man)
"You´re never too old for a happy childhood!"
Yeah, Mike, it is entirely possible that the same will happen with my grandson. And, space is a very real problem.
Maybe I will track plan a simple HO circle with one straight section and one turnout with a spur. But, off hand I think that would be a 4' X 3' footprint. Obvioiusly, in any case, I have to talk to my daughter. However, I know she would be supportive of the idea conceptually.
Bear "It's all about having fun."
My first thought is along with Joe's, he's used to your HO and N might be a bit of a disapointment to him. Plus your not really going to save any money by going to N, maybe even more.
My personal experience with my grandson at that age loved running a train, so I had enough track, and extra rolling stock, I set him up a small HO scale oval. He loved it, for a while, then he moved on to other things.
Working on buildings and some scenery held his interest for a while, and once he started with Legos, he mixed the two together, but once again, he moved on.
Later, he actually like the O scale MTH I set up for him. It was bigger, and matched the trucks and machinery he liked, so that lasted until he was about 12.
Now, at the ripe old age of 15, he's into drones and robotics. His train stuff is all packed away, and I repurposed the bench work.
I realize your looking at N to save room.
Mike.
My You Tube
That is certainly one of my concerns, Joe. I'm familiar with the Bachmann train sets and would prefer one of them, with the EX track, but it appears that the footprints are too large for an apt.
N scale is pretty small for an 8 year old. Does he have the dexterity to handle small trains?
I would probably start with a train set. Bachmann sells some reasonably priced sets Then expand from there.
Joe Staten Island West
My grandson is about to turn 8 yrs old and loves playing with my HO layout when he is at my house. At this point he is beyond the Thomas the Train level. He lives in an apt with his mother so space is at a premium. I have found a few 2' X 3' trackplans, nothing fancy, the one I am partial too is a loop, within a loop with one spur. I was figuring to build it with him when he is here at my house and then cart it to his mother's, after it is finished. I would do the heavy lifting, e.g. laying roadbed and track, and he would either do the rest bit by bit or we would do some activities together, like ballasting and scenery.
The plan has 9 3/4" radius curves. After doing some quick research on the net, it appears that a 4 axle diesel with a DC power pack, 2 or 3 box cars, maybe a tank car, and a caboose would fit the bill. The scenery would be very very simple with only that one rail served industry. Although he is not one to do any switching.
I have no experience with N-scale. Does this sound reasonable?