Grandsons' Train Layouts

It's a great thing and much better than playing PS4, Nintendo or playing on the ipads. After Thomas it may go to Lego trains, which are very cool btw. 

Great seeing your grands so interested it floor trains and your layout. 

When mine were young they had good interest until I showed them some Darda cars and race track.  Must faster and more wrecks.  The trains lost out.  Now that they are older it is soccer for boys and girls.  A couple of the girls still like my layout some but the three boys are all soccer.

Charlie

Melgar,

Thanks for your post. I have been fortunate to have as a railroading buddy, my now 15 yr old grandson. He and I have had quite a few adventures together and he is still enthusiastic about railroading, even with his other interests and hobbies. His 3 1/2  year old cousin has caught the Thomas bug and gets excited whenever we take along some of our old Thomas track to add to his empire, screaming "More Track, More Tack"! . He has all the makings of a model railroader. Times and interests change, but is a gift to enjoy our hobby with them while we can. Thanks again for sharing.

Earl

I think you should build them a duplicate to that track plan, in Gargraves w/ Ross Switches, Legacy control!!!

Just kidding.  I also have gotten my grandchildren interested- 2 girls. 1 boy.  I got them Lion Chief sets for Christmas over the past three years/ two different families.  There IS "magic" in trains, still!!

My grandsons continue to do construction on their carpet central railroad. Of course, there has been some provision of railroad equipment from their grandpa. I'm happy that they're interested in building things – in this case a tunnel made from magnet tiles. Future engineers?

MELGAR

I like the tunnel, really cool.

Steve

I love seeing kids engaged in pure play like this, using their imaginations while playing with trains. I can still remember being that age. Motivated by Vic Morrow on TV, I would have my plastic army soldiers defend their Lego fortresses from soldiers of the other side, attacking from Lionel gondolas and flatcars. In our quest for realism and frustration over the wrong marker lights on an engine, we've forgotten the magic the hobby once meant to us. It's a shame you have to grow up. 

That's great Mel. Love the smiles on their faces too.

Better not run any tinplate through that tunnel though

Bob

"The magic of the hobby …"

How true. I recently bought my 4 year old grandson a Lionchief+ engine to run on our layout. I dug out some old 9500-series Baby Madisons for it to pull - complete with flickering lights. I have found myself running that train as much as my scale items and, for a few moments, I'm that kid that I once was.

My Granddaughter playing with her train

Steve

Fortunately, building a kid-friendly layout and buying THOMAS series trains for the youngsters in the family to enjoy -- in my case, two great grandsons, Matthew (age 6) and Hudson (age 5) -- is an effective "cover story" to my wife for my indulgence in the hobby. My L-shaped layout provides running room for the THOMAS (and other) trains, and the Christmas holiday season is a legit excuse for trains at the base of the tree.

Currently, the competition of their attention isn't soccer, but dinosaurs (books, videos, toys, T-shirts). So I bought Lionel's "Dinosaur Train Set" and placed toy dinos in a DINO PARK on the main line. They place the animals on that train for a ride and explain that the dinos need transportation to their summer feeding grounds.

Mike Mottler
mottlerm@gmail.com

Grandkids for me is what trains are all about, fun bonding time. I get to play too. The tracks stay up all year without the tree.

Oldmike

Great to see these young kids interested in trains and building layouts.  My grandson and I just finished his setup.  Although he can run LC remote control he still prefers  "pushers", as he calls them, those Williams dummy engines he "borrows" from my layout to push and pull his trains by hand.  I'm amazed at how much fun he has operating his railroad this way.  RICH

My Grandsons playing with their train.

Thanks to all grandpas for sharing your stories ...

The train hobby fosters a marvelous intergenerational exchange. Grandpas get an "infection" of youthful enthusiasm based on the "gee whiz" experience of grandkids and great grandkids.  The youngsters benefit from the rub-off effect of practical wisdom from their grandpas who may advise, "The best junior engineers know it's best to drive the train safely and arrive on time; no reckless speeding."

Mike M.
mottlerm@gmail.com  

I was in Charles Ro on Saturday when a grandmother told her grandson to go and see what grandpa found. The other thing I noticed was a father directing his 5 or 6-year-old son upstairs because the trains were running on the layout. I guess that's what it's all about.

MELGAR

My grandsons visited for two days this week. We ran lots of trains that I didn’t even know I had. It was lots of fun but it will take a week or so to put the train room back in order. The boys now can operate the layout by themselves – running three trains at a time on six blocks with five switches – but we do have to be careful to watch the speeds. These sessions justify every cent of the expenditures on the trains and layout during the past twenty years.

MELGAR

MELGAR posted:

My grandsons visited for two days this week. We ran lots of trains that I didn’t even know I had. It was lots of fun but it will take a week or so to put the train room back in order. The boys now can operate the layout by themselves – running three trains at a time on six blocks with five switches – but we do have to be careful to watch the speeds. These sessions justify every cent of the expenditures on the trains and layout during the past twenty years.

MELGAR

 

What... no New Haven power??? I am a-Pauled!!! (Sorry - couldn’t resist).

Great video Mel.

MELGAR - the video of your grandsons running the train is priceless  Judging by the looks on their faces they are absorbed in the moment.  They are two serious locomotive engineers!