Toy trains and being on the autism spectrum

[emdmike]

As many here and elsewhere know, I am on the autism spectrum.  My trains are nearly as important as being able to breath and feed myself.  I never considered them so till I was diagnosed and learned to better cope with my disablity as an adult.  I started with 3 rail with a battery powered Marx set as a young child, grew into quite a nice Lionel 3 rail set up at home.  I got very active with a local HO scale club in my late teens thru my late 20's.  Somehow I found the patience to detail up models and fine tune them to run well.  But I kept to myself most times at the club, operating the remote logging operation with my PFM/United shays I bought with my mowing income.   While I loved my Lionel at home, I found the noise of operation down right painfull, as in it was actually painfull to listen to them run unless I covered my ears.  This was all pre diagnosis.  In my late teens, my aunt and uncle got me a LGB starter set on a trip to Germany.  That started my offshoot into large scale.  They were quieter running and I could run them in my mothers garden. Eventualy that became my own garden after I got married and we got our own place.  When I would get stressed out(which is almost daily), I usualy retreat to somewhere that I can run trains.  This would calm me down and ease my anxiety.  After working with my therapist, I would come to learn that my trains are a very important tool to help me cope.   Just watching a train circle my overhead loop in our living room or my small garden railway is very calming and relaxing for me.  I still really enjoy 3 rail trains, but I wear the darn noice canceling headset enough as it is, rather not while enjoying my trains.  I do keep my ties to Lionel buy running thier old Large Scale line, converted to onboard battery power.  Indoors I usualy turn the sound on my GP20 off, but outdoor I can turn it on at a low volume.  Our income is limited when it comes to affording trains, espically O or G scale.  But after my therapist explained the importance of them to my wife, we made sure I had some spending money for train shows ect.  So slowly, car by car, and engine here and there and even a live steam locomotive(had to give up one of my old garden tractors for that one!) my collection of large scale has grown.  And at Christmas, my father's Lionel set from 1948 circles a small tree on our dining room table.  To me all model trains are toys, be they HO, O or G.  Lionel's G scale line up, along with Kalamazoo fall into the "toy" catagory and are really a classic now with G scale having moved away from them and into a more "scale" area now.  If a model needs swinging pilots to qualify as a toy train, my GP20's fit in!    Mike the Aspie

[Firelock76]

That's a fine story Mike, and if there's an autism "network", for lack of a better term, maybe you should tell it (if you haven't already) so others can benefit from your experience.  Toy trains as therapy?  Why not?

Autism or not, I think all of us can agree on the "calm-down" effect toy trains have on us.  Can't explain it, but it's there just the same.

[emdmike]

I am a member of a forum for those with Asperger's or Autism(both now lumped as ASD with a level number).  The others there love when I post new pics of trains I have bought.  Mike the Aspie

[Firelock76]

That's wonderful!  Toy trains are magic in more ways than one!

[Northwoods Flyer]

Mike,

Thanks for sharing your story.  I work in an agency where our primary population is children on the autism spectrum or who have other developental disorders.  Many of the children, especially the boys, have a fascination with trains - both real and toy. Thomas seems to be a real favorite.  I have a number of toy train items in my office and they are always popular, even the children who aren't my clients make pilgrimages into my office to see and touch the trains.  I have a bin full of Brio and Thomas trains and track that is a real favorite.  If you Google the topic you will find that there are a number of articles about the interest that chidren on the autism spectrum have in trains and the theories about that connection.  Some parents find that playing with trains with their children is a wonderful way to make connections with them.

Thanks again for sharing your experience.

Just another reason why I enjoy the World's Greatest Hobby

Northwoods Flyer

[robmcc]

Great story, Mike. My son also has Asperger's and I know how difficult it is on him, especially on a social level. He enjoyed his Lionel "hand me downs" when he was younger, but unfortunately they gave away to video games. We all benefit from the "therapy" of our trains. We had a mental health awareness day at work a few weeks ago. One of the exercises we did was to tell what we did to relax and unwind. I mentioned my toy trains and I was pleasantly surprised at the positive response from my co-workers.

[Penny Trains]

I know what you mean.  Noises, flashing lights, all kinds of things cause me to have mild seizures and/or feel like there's a wall between me and reality.

[emdmike]

With my G scale trains, they are quiet enough that I can go without my noise canceling headset.  I like to just "vanish" into thier little world and leave this one that overloads me all the time behind.  My whole railway in the back yard garden has lighted buidings, signals ect.  Even with no trains running, its enchanting and relaxing to look at.  I loved my late pre war and early post war collection I once had, but the noise and loud sounds made them less enjoyable once I moved from carpet layouts to ones that do not require me to lay on the floor to enjoy.  Thankfully, most of the G scale I enjoy has been left behind by the majority of modelers in that scale. Lionel, Kalamazoo and some LGB isn't as expensive as it one was.  I was looking at prices for new MTH 1:32nd cars to match my Lionel GP20's and they are like over a $100 each!  My Lionel, Kalamazoo, MDC and Delton cars much more affordable.  Mike the Aspie

[G BEAR]

Mike,

Thanks for sharing.  I don't have Autism, but I do have PTSD and SEVERE CLINICAL DEPRESSION.  My trains are the best things that could have happened in my life.  They are the perfect therapy for me.  Therapy had gotten to the point where I was tired of talking to someone so I ended it.  My trains are truly "PRICELESS" when it comes to my mental health.  People here in my section also love my trains.  One staff person would come in every so often and she would play with my trains on her lunch break. 

G-BEAR