We recently had some family visiting for a while so I was able to introduce our eight year old nephew to toy trains. To my knowledge he has never seen O gauge toy trains before, and has limited exposure to toy trains as a while. This child travels with the most recent pocket Nintendo constantly in tow, surfs the internet, plays youth sports, etc. He also has an active imagination. But, basically he is the type of kid who we constantly hear on the forums would have no interest in trains because trains can't compete with all the new technology and the other activities.
Our guest quarters are in the basement, and so is the train table. The train is not wired yet (that's another story) so it does not run. I don't have any operating accessories. I have no scenery. Most of our forum members would look at it and say, "Boring!"
Did any of that stop my nephew? No way!
When he first saw the layout he didn't shout, "Cool a train layout!" He said, "What's this?" I showed him how to operate the Lionel O-22 switches manually, and gave him some early 1990's starter set freight cars to play with. I showed him how to couple and uncouple cars. I pointed out the diecast automobiles. Then I left him alone.
When the family was leaving to go home I found out that he played with the layout every morning when he woke up, and every night before going to bed. Die cast autos were going in and out of gondola cars. Freight cars were put on sidings, coupled, uncoupled, etc. This non-powered layout kept his attention for the whole visit.
Chris
Chris...Wait until your nephew sees it running. Take pictures.
Chuck
All kids will normaly like trains until there about 10, then they split in to 3 groups. One phases away from trains completely, no interest in them, the other phases halfway, ( e, g. he'll look at a train when it passes at the crossing, and count the engines), and then you have the kid that will aways be a railfan. Thats just the way it is. The way God made it. And its a good thing thats it like that, you wouldent want everyone to like trains, then we would be like people sitting outside our local hobby shop for 5 days waiting for a Big Boy or something to come out. (Meaning the people who sit outside walmart for 5 days waiting on a play station 3)
Its a good thing he likes trains still at 8, at least, the way he does, playing all the time with a simple starter set! Hopefully he'll turn into a great modeler and railfan.
Grayson
"Lionel trains are the standard of the world" - Jousha Lionel Cowen
I don't come from a strong train history. My dad had an old Marx set when he was a kid, which I now have, and he did buy me two train sets growning up. It started with a HO on a 4x8 layout. I spent a fair amount of time on it (like most people play pool tables that sit in the corner of the basement). One day I went down to play with it after school, and it was gone. The other set was a Christmas present (O-27 starter sets) when I was 11. We never set it up on a layout, and it got minimal use. My parents sold that off too.
I didn't realize then that most of the fun is spending time with the old man working on building the layout and imagining this fantasy world, together. Not just watching a train go around in a circle, but getting involved. Hopefully my son grows up building this layout with me and takes interest. If I can get 9 more years out of him, that's a lot. It's good to hear stories like yours.
I know this, I'm not selling anything at a yard sale, just because it doesn't get much use.
Wes
Wes Whitmore wrote:he did buy me two train sets growning up ... One day I went down to play with it after school, and it was gone. The other set was a Christmas present (O-27 starter sets) when I was 11. We never set it up on a layout, and it got minimal use. My parents sold that off too.
he did buy me two train sets growning up ... One day I went down to play with it after school, and it was gone. The other set was a Christmas present (O-27 starter sets) when I was 11. We never set it up on a layout, and it got minimal use. My parents sold that off too.
You actually played with the first layout and they still decided to get rid of it w/o telling you?
I did, but not as much as I should. Maybe weekly, or twice a month after the novelty wore off. It went in spurts, and of course we would play with it when kids would visit. I grew up in a rural area and not many kids lived too close to me. The layout was pretty boring. It was a big loop on the outter edge of the 4x8, with a single crossing gate that would drop when the train passed by, which was nice. The track wasn't attached to the wood, and I spent more time fixing derailments. I guess it was really never intended to be there that long, now that I think about it. It was all layed on a piece of plastic sheet (like a trash bag) that was all green with a little automobile road and parking lot painted on it. Dad set it up in about 20 minutes. It's hard to keep interested at age 8 when there is a Atari and Pinball machine in the other room. Any improvement at all over a years time would have kept me intertained, but we didn't know better.
Chris, what you are saying is what I have said many time in the past - and have said from seeing myself. I have done too many train shows, talked with too many kids and parents and seen the reactions to believe anything else. I've sold train sets and helped sell train sets to these folks.
Part of the perception on the part of the public is that many still don't know Lionel is even in business. Lionel still has a long ways to go in overcoming that - even though progress is absolutely being made. And when they see the catalogs (even though there are now clearly products aimed at beginners) many come away with the perception this is an expensive adult hobby. I've always maintained that lower priced beginner types of products should be in their own catalog, apart from all the high end, pricey items.
From my own observations, mother's have a very big say in the purchase of that first train set. It needs to be practical and affordable. Not once ever have I had a young family inquire about command control, other than price, which usually turns them off immediately. Once you have the child's interest, and then dad's interest, the money and the advanced features become less of an obstacle.
I've done shows where there were high end products with TMCC and DCS right across from me. Folks would look at my small, homespun layout with no fancy trains, go over and look and the top end stuff and then COME BACK again and again to look at my layout and to ask questions. It happened so much, even others around me came to the conclusion digital control and expensive options on scale proportioned trains WERE NOT the answer to enticing new customers. The evidence was just too overwhelming.
We adults have to remember when talking to newcomers that the trains that interest many of us, might not have appeal to a newcomer - especially on price. Once someone is established in the hobby with a growing interest by purchasing some additional train items, THEN they become more accepting - or at least not as shocked - by some of the prices. People need a frame of reference. Many adults in the hobby now who recommend beginners purchase TMCC and DCS right off the bat forget how they themselves started in the hobby... they forget their first set or engine probably wasn't top line. It might not have even been Lionel but MARX instead.
This is true of many other hobbies and recreational activities too. Most kids with a budding interest in music don't start off playing the guitar with a Martin or a Les Paul. BUT they may have one of those once the kid shows interest and determination.
I'm encouraged by some of Lionel's new offerings, by the addition of some of the beginner items from the former MDK K-Line products, by Atlas picking up the Industrial Rail line and by the expansion of the RMT product line. Real growth in this hobby will not happen with more scale high end products, but with low end quality non-scale beginner products. Once you have a customer hooked, the sky's the limit. $400+ train sets or single engines will not introduce the hobby to a new generation.
And by the way Chris, I've seen trains take over from a kids interst in video games. I've talked to an awful lot of parents who are seeking some kind of toys that have postive, educational and family values... this hobby fits that bill to a T. It just needs to be promoted in a way that doesn't scare people off before they've even purchased a first set.
brianel, Agent 027
"Praise the Lord. I may not have everything I desire, but the Lord has come through for what I need."
This is what sparked my son's interest in trains, and I simply took that spark and added a little kindling. IMO, kids just need more exposure the rest happens naturally.
There could be toy train references in popular animated programs on Disney and Nickelodeon.
Who will make a tie in of Jimmy Neutron in Retroville on Nickelodeon and advanced Toy Trains.
The setting for Jimmy Neutron is called Retroville, so why not have them work in some Toy Trains to remind kids that O Gauge Toy Trains still exist and some even come with high-technology.
Andrew
Watch my videos on-line at https://www.youtube.com/user/AndrewNeilFalconer
I've been wanting to find ways to spread the word as well. Some for the hobby, but also for all of the small LHSs that are struggling right now. I want these guys to be around until they choose to close their doors, not because they are forced out...I' still working on finding a way to do that.
It's a start. I'm sure we are not the first ones to try to breath fresh air into the hobby. I live in a neighborhood, and there are a ton of kids running around all of the time. If I could just get a couple of them to take an interest in trains before Christmas, then maybe they could talk their parents into investing in the LHS inadvertantly.
your right wes, were not the first im sure. i wonder if its too expensive for some and maybe lack of space also. I know when i was in the service i wanted to have a layout but didnt have room at the time, untill i bought my present house.
And trains and scenery isnt cheap. it adds up quick. thats 1 down fall i see...
your right again, parents are the key. Who cares if they start ho , as long as it opens the door and gets them hooked. later on they will see the light of o gauge.
Great pics! Here are a few I have (2 year old) :
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