Chronicles of my rookie season

[Anonymous]

12/05/05 Chief Eagles sends my grandson Aydan Thomas the Train. Harmless enough. Thomas lives on his small oval on the dining room table.



12/20/05 Pops decides he wants a set too just to have something to run with Aydan. Pops heads for the train store and picks up Polar Express and what the heck, the Thomas expansion pack, a few pieces of track and a couple of switches.

12/23/05 Thomas gets tossed in order to prepare for Christmas.

12/25/05 Chief Eagles sends Aydan a cap from some no-name "who the heck would run that line", but it's a cute cap nonetheless.



12/27/05 Thomas ends up on a 4x6 carpet covered piece of plywood on 2 sawhorses on the sunporch. This layout doesn't even last long enough to have it's picture taken, although it lives to this day as the base for the next two layouts.

12/29/05 4x6 turns into 5x7. We're officially in business now!



01/01/06 - 07/02/06

Still 5x7. A little ebay and a few calls to Marty and we're starting to get crowded.



07/03/06

5x7 grows to 5x10!! Here's the new digs:

I'm still running two seperate tracks on two transformers. I've got a figure 8 with one larger oval and a small siding in the middle with an outer loop with a couple of greatly wanted good long sidings.







I think I've past the point of getting much more mileage out of the "It's all for Aydan" line, but I'll keep trying it anyway.




I know I'm still a decade away from impressing you guys. I'm still two starter sets with some add-ons, cheap transformers and only 3 manual switches, but I am having fun.

I greatly appreciate all I've learned from y'all while doing my "lurkin".

Thanks!

[csxt30]

WOW !! That has sure progressed in a fairly short time !! Really looks nice & I got a feeling it may expand some more !!
Thanks for sharing !!

[thor]

I sure do like the way that FastTrack looks, don't you? Thats a lot more than I have but I'm working on it! Same principle too, its just for the kid! The way I see it that excuse no longer holds when you either get TMCC or one of those monster ZW's! But while you're just running a couple of trainsets, heck, thats just playing!

[dwiemer]

Aydanspop,
Great work so far. I am kind of under the same auspices as I have been aquiring things for my 4 year old son. So far, more than $10,000 last year and even more this one. My wife even put me on restriction[B)]. As Chief will tell you, I have violated that restriction a bit[;)].
Since you are doing so well on your layout, perhaps you could give the Chief a little advice on putting his together[:p] We have been hearing about it since before I joined this forum and still no visible progress. Just kidding Chief, my son did ask why Mrs Pam won't let you play with your trains.[:D]

Anyway, take care,
Dennis

[mitchelr]

AydansPop,

I'm really impressed. I think the Chief created a monster, or just helped release your inner child. Either way it looks great and I'm sure Aydan enjoys it. I tried really hard with my son who is now 21. I set up different layouts, bought him trains, took him to train meets, but the train bug never bit him.

Enjoy him while he is little and enjoy the trains.

Mitch

[ChiefEagles]

Great job Pops. I think I have about got him to go with TMCC. Then he will really be hooked. Layout will get even bigger. I can see another wing and then another 5X10. [;)]

[Anonymous]

Wow! That certainly goes to show how easily a person can get hooked on this hobby! I can only imagine what your layout will be like a year from now!

[Jumijo]

I started the same way! A Thomas set for the kids. That was a year and a half ago. Now we have over a dozen engines and 50 pieces of rolling stock, plus an L-shaped layout in the basement. I was running some new trains last night with my sons, and my wife came down and said, "You boys sure are lucky".

Yes we are. We are very fortunate.

Is that a Williams SF warbonnet passenger set I see? Very nice!

Jim

[FJ and G]

That's sweet; perhaps you can give some layout tips to the chief?

[tschmidt]

Great job! It is for your son and you together. The only question is how long before you have to put an addition on the house for a bigger layout?

TomS

[dbaker48]

Don't forget mom. Got to get a train dedicated to her. Whether it is a specific or favorite Road Name, or a series of cars that mayh be of interest. So she has a tie in, that really helps. I also ask for her opinion frequently on scenery relative locations of items, etc.. Then if it wasn't I really wanted their usually is an obvious reason it was done differently.
[}:)][;)]

[dwiemer]

Yeah, I see an addition in his future. My wife wants me to build one and I am sure we will be moving the layout being done now, so we have to plan in modular style.
dennis

[Anonymous]

Thanks! I am having fun.

It's worse than it looks though. I swore on this board back in January that I wasn't gonna become "one of y'all". For my B'Day I got a couple of Brian Soloman books that I just can't put down and for Father's Day I got 7 train videos I keep watching over and over. I'm researching the train that used to come to my small town. When I'm at the lake and I hear the train heading into Mexico if my fishing partner doesn't scream I fire up the big motor and run to take a look. (he's a little worried about me). It really is a fascinating way to study history.

Personally, I think it would be nice if you guys would do a "Newbie FAQ" sticky and keep it up top or at least handy. I've made a LOT of purchasing errors. Some of those might could have been avoided, some of that may just be part of the process. I did see on here many times in lurking that the most important thing to do in the beginning is to read, read, read. I'm way too smart to have to do that, so I pretty much skipped that step. Not reading first allowed me to do a lot of things on my own, like buying rolling stock that you would never see together in a consist, not thinking about picking a line or two to focus on, buying an engine and a caboose from different lines together on the same day and not putting any thought into what size layout I actually needed. I raced out and bought a Steam set and then immediately realized that I'm a diesel guy, so then I went out and bought diesels that don't really match the time period I would have chosen had I known better. I'm just now catching on to "scale" and "semi-scale". I also just snapped to the fact that a decent layout takes LOTS of switches (which I don't have).

Y'all have so much knowledge I just think it would be neat if a newbie could go straight to a "10 things to do before you start" list. Just a thought!

[thatboy37]

nice pictures and i think the layout is for you now and as he gets older it will surely become his. but for now enjoy. also i think that you will be adding on as to the space allows you to many options. as i see more space to add another 5x10 easily. it also looks like you are having alot of fun with that layout . boy i cant wait to get at least one train running. until next time peace.

thatboy aka reggie

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by AydansPop

buying an engine and a caboose from different lines together on the same day

I noticed the Cotton Belt caboose that doesn't have an engine to go with it. There's nothing to feel bad about, though. It just gives you an excuse to buy another engine to match it so it won't be lonely!