http://cs.trains.com/trccs/forums/218.aspxHow do you get your kids interested and involved in the hobby of model railroading? <b><a href="http://cs.trains.com/trccs/forums/t/151369.aspx">If you're new here, please read our forum policies.</a></b>enCommunityServer 2007 SP2 (Build: 20611.960)http://cs.trains.com/trccs/forums/thread/1658369.aspxThu, 12 Mar 2009 02:10:23 GMT768211f5-cd95-48e9-ab27-2d490bfa3b37:1658369HolbrookBill0http://cs.trains.com/trccs/forums/thread/1658369.aspxhttp://cs.trains.com/trccs/forums/commentrss.aspx?SectionID=218&PostID=1658369<p>My eight year old son and I attended the local train show last weekend and when we got home he pulled out all my old train stuff. We found a small place in his room to put up a 2&#39; x 4&#39; switching layout and I&#39;ve got the board together and even have some track in place. </p> <p>&nbsp;The biggest problem, though, is that with the track plan we have, there&#39;s not a lot of room for cars and an engine on the sidings. I have a 70&#39;s Mantua 0-4-0 tank switcher that would be the perfect engine for switching this track IF it ran well ( and it NEVER ran well as a switcher ). Even an 0-4-0 with a tender is a little too long for this layout. <img src="http://cs.trains.com/trccs/emoticons/icon_smile_sad.gif" alt="Sad" /></p> <p>I&#39;m looking for something similar in size, and it HAS to be a steam engine ( so my son says ). Does anyone have any suggestions on what I can use? I&#39;d like to keep costs down, but I&#39;m willing to pay a little more for quality... It also needs to be pretty smooth, since I know that if the engine is jerky and/or too fast that he&#39;ll lose interest.</p> <p>&nbsp;THANKS!</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>