Kids and model railroading

Re: Introducing young ones to the hobby

Roadrunner — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 02:11:58 GMT

I don't think a person outgrows wooden Brio trains unless they choose to. I'm in college, and when I get the chance, I still play with my Brio trains (plus a small HO set and Lionel). But I'm slowly moving on to quarter scale live steam!

If you haven't read the book "Playing with Trains: a Passion Beyond Scale" by Sam Posey, I would definetely recommend it, since it does a great job of trying to explain what it is about trains, and especially having a model layout, that people love.

Re: Introducing young ones to the hobby

route_rock — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 03:45:43 GMT

Sounds like me lol. I have had a love of trains since around 2 and I did the same things.So buy an engineers hat an just let him watch trains. I wound up running them, and being an armchair modeler.

My kids got the bug from me. Just pass it on as I think its genetic.

Re: Introducing young ones to the hobby

Railroader_Sailor_SSN-760 — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 21:32:28 GMT

My son, who is almost 3 now, has been into trains for the majority of his life. He loves watching trains go by, both full size and model.

He loves playing with his wooden Brio-type trains and likes to help with setting up the model trains, regardless of the scale. He sometimes will ask to hold an engine, and if it is not too heavy, fragile, or expensive, he will get to hold it. So far, he has not identified his favourite gauge, but he loves steam engines, and will make train sounds if he sees one, whether it be real or in a book.

My folks have tried to give him toy cars, and he will try to "couple up" everything to make a train. He especially loves it when we set up my 1966 Ford yard tractor with 3 wagons, and the last one looking like a caboose. If you give him the chance, he will grab the lever arm for the snowplow and act like it is a lever to a whistle and make a whoo-whoo sound.

To say that trains are a big thing in my family is a major understatement.....

Re: Introducing young ones to the hobby

Paul in Fbg — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 07:44:29 GMT

My two boys, 7 & 9 are very proficient with the HO trains. They've had the opportunity to run on a few really huge layouts. My youngest catches derailments quicker than I do. They love locating items on our on the carpet Bachmann EZ track layout like autos, houses, etc., making it their own creation. All this makes me very happy. I haven't started modelling with them yet but I will. Sure, at first they were careless operators, but they're quick studies. My boys started years ago with the classic all wood Thomas trains and track and the FP Geotracks with the remote controls. So mix, match, or whatever. I know this hobby enriched our lives, so just do it!

Re: Introducing young ones to the hobby

selector — Sat, 09 May 2009 15:56:52 GMT

I can only speak to my own between-the-ears experience. I recall having a plastic, simple, toy train set that I would push around our wooden floors when we lived nearely Sudbury back in the mid-fifties. I was three at the time. I really loved that four item train set. I don't even think it had wheels!

At the same time (this is important in my case), when we drove into Sudbury from Lively, where we lived, to do shopping, we would pass by the INCO switching yards. There I would see steamers, and I am sure I drove my parents nuts with my carrying on.

Two years later, we were at 14,000 feet in the Peruvian Andes where steam still ruled. And I saw them just across the road and down a 50' embankment from our house. The wheel shop was there. I became fascinated yet again when I understood the nature of flanged wheels and saw them being rolled into place.

Then school, a move back to Canada for more school and a career change for my father, growing up, college, marriage and Army life for 30 years followed. Both CN and CP occupied tracks on either side of the Thompson River where we lived for about 15 years. Many trains daily, but long-since diesels. I never paid much attention.

Then came retirement and I wondered what I would do for fun. Wife bought me a Model Railroader magazine for my Christmas stocking that first year, and I was in an LHS inside of 10 days. The rest is just a fast-paced dream.

I think kids may benefit from playing with anything resembling a train early on, but they should be able to relate it to the prototype concurrently.

-Crandell

Re: Introducing young ones to the hobby

Bergie — Sat, 09 May 2009 14:37:23 GMT

It's too bad the hobby has never been able to capitalize on the popularity of the wooden Thomas the Tank Engine products. Unfortunately, most boys lose interest in those toys by time they're 5 (if not 4). Unfortunatley, at that stage in their life they might not be ready for an HO scale set (I'm sure some of you will debate that). I've long felt that the next step after the wooden train set would be LEGO trains. They have several sets that will teach kids problem-solving skills and to use their brains. LEGO also has powered track components.

This would be my ideal scenario:
- Thomas the Tank Engine wooden trains from age 1 to 5
- LEGO trains follows (age 5 to 10?)
- Model train set follows

That's my two cents. I just see how many young boys fall in love with Thomas and then lose interest as they age and there's nothing there waiting for them. Hopefully they'll come back to it later in life (like I did after college).

Bergie

Introducing young ones to the hobby

Phoebe Vet — Fri, 08 May 2009 20:34:05 GMT

I started my grandchildren by buying Bachmann's Thomas the Tank Engine in HO. Later I added Hogwart's Express. Now they prefer the REAL trains.