Madeline's dream came true when she got to ride a train on her third birthday!
To the world you are someone. To someone you are the world
I cannot afford the luxury of a negative thought
Both of those videos are awesome! I could name countless times I've shared the joy of model trains with kids, but the real train/railfanning aspect doesn't happen as often. I did have two recent experiences though.
The first can be seen in this video at 5:45.
A young child and their mother were presumably walking along the bike path when they heard the train, so they got up the hill and waved. The engineer gave them a nice horn show too.
The other encounter was just the other day. A northbound train had stopped at a local park (which is at the north end of a siding), and I had been chatting with the crew (about model trains, among other things) for about a half hour when an older lady showed up with two little kids, that I assume to be grandkids. They started going cross-eyed seeing a big NS GE right in front of them. The conductor goes and talks to both the grandmother and the kids, and after a few minutes the southbound comes in and the crew gets on their way. The action I'm talking about can be seen in this video starting at 1:40.
There have been more, but those are just a couple examples. Those kids in the vides are certainly crazy over trains David!
Harrison
Homeschooler living In upstate NY a.k.a Northern NY.
Modeling the D&H in 1978.
Route of the famous "Montreal Limited"
My YouTube
One of my favorite operating session memories was during a combined "open house" and operating session. The session host wanted layout visitors to see how we run the layout as a railroad instead of just watching trains run round and round. One visiting woman brought her two sons and the host quickly put throttles in each of the boys hands, then "assigned" them each to a brakemen who helped them understand the train orders and how to follow them on the layout. I was the lucky brakeman assigned to the 10 year old boy (the other was 5). Both were hooked right away but the 10 year old had so much fun that he insisted on finishing his second train assignment before he would allow his mother and brother to leave. By the end, he was ready to solo with his own train! Too bad his mom didn't give him a chance at a third train.
Hornblower
NorthBritMadeline's dream came true when she got to ride a train on her third birthday!
Hi David!
The video of Madeline's enthusiasm and absolute awe at seeing the train approach is incredible!! This is the sort of stuff that warms the heart!
Thanks so much for sharing it!
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Thanks all for sharing. Def warm spot in my heart for kids and trains. I have three somewhat young ones (9/9/12). While only one really enjoys trains, the oldest daugther helped me snag at a train show an Atlas pink (her favorite color) hopper.
I need to get them to the layout to test things. The boys are the perfect height for working under the layout for wiring. Def need to get put an Ohm meter in their hands!
This is a moment that could live forever for this little girl.
When I was three, we were visiting Granddad, a machinist at Hunt Yard roundhouse and shops on the L&A in Greenville TX. Dad had worked out of Greenville (To Shreveport and Dallas) for three years after high school firing locomotives to save up money for college, before going into the Navy in WW2 after he graduated. Now Granddad wanted to show off grandson number one to the "boys at work". So the following morning, Mom dressed me in my oldest clothes and the three of us "went to work". I had the time of my young life, even getting my first cab ride ride! (on a switcher, blowing the horn and ringing the bell). I was hooked and my aunt, who lived in the "Big City" (Dallas), stopped by a book store and picked up some train books Mom could read to me in the car on the way back to New Jersey. Then Mom started stopping at the Erie station on our afternoon walks when we got home - usually featuring a commuter run, but someties a freight. Then Granddad sent me an engineers costume (bib overalls and cap) to wear on Holloween.
It was a hell of a way to permanently warp a child's mind....