I have built many layouts over the years. My first ones were simple 027 affairs with a couple of switches. My buildings were old shoe boxes. I continually improved upon my layouts with the result being a respectable " Toy-Rail" pike. When I discovered Scale equipment being offered by Lionel, MTH, K-Line and Atlas, I decided that I had to completely start over and build a detailed Hi-Rail layout. I spent several months designing the track plan and a couple of years actually building the layout. It is still not finished (Is one ever?), but I have enjoyed running my trains and photographing them in various vignettes.
When our granddaughter was born, I came home from the hospital and promptly ordered a Thomas the Tank Engine Lionchief locomotive. I eagerly awaited the day when I could enjoy this engine with her. When the time came to introduce her to the fascinating world of toy trains I cleared all of my scale equipment from the main line and turned Thomas loose. She would sit in my lap and watch the engine traverse the layout until someone came and got her ( Or my arm got tired). As our daughter and son-in-law live several hours away, we don't see our granddaughter as much as we would like. Whenever she arrives at our house Grandma gobbles her up and showers her with hugs and kisses. This last for about two minuted before she points at the train room door and says "Choo Choo". Naturally, Grandpa has to oblige and take her in to run trains. She got to the point that she would point to the power switch, then the transformer and finally the TMCC Cab-1. She knew the process for getting the layout up and running. She knows which buttons on the Cab-1 blow the horn and ring the bell. She even knows which ones activate the Crew Talk. As Thomas got to see more running time I would let her hold the remote and push the buttons for whistle, bell and station announcement.
This past weekend our granddaughter was here for a visit. She promptly asked to see the "Choo Choo's". She took the remote and started Thomas right up. "Its time" I thought. I dug out some old 027 track and an old transformer and assembled an oval on our family room floor. I gave her the remote and, as they say "The rest is history." We watched her run Thomas around the oval for the better part of an hour. She enjoyed watching our cat, Sox, as he tried to get the passing train. Here is a short video of Noelle, age 23 months, running her Thomas train.
As we watched her run the train, I told my wife "This is probably the best layout I have ever built." This is what the hobby is all about. She is not counting rivets. She is just having fun with her train.
Tom
