Our Children & Trains

   You got off light Arnold.

   They hid all the tools from me after I removed every doorknob in the house once I could reach them with two hands   I had to ask and be monitored or I might have the stereo apart too . ( Eventually I did get the stereo apart when nobody was home and fixed it for Mom . That got the toolbox unlocked permanently )

   I learned to "collect professionally"; "white glove style" , as well as repair many things. And to respect the property of others (or be left out ). I learned to care for items or do without (helps drive it home when you really cared a lot a feel loss)  I learned responsibility, goals, and payoff. I learned companionship, joy in helping, and pride in my own accomplishments as well as others.

  I learned you can only go so fast without a rollover; momentum, inertia, and accidents have a grey line and a point of no return. Knowing likely saved my life a time or two when you think about it 

My kids participated when they were young.....especially my son. As usual, for my son, sports and girls intervened in his teenage years and he has been lost to the trains since. None of my kids when into technical/scientific careers. All became lawyers. This is in contrast to my wife and I who are practicing physicians.

My son did pick up some technical skills, however. He's also been the one who is the "go to" guy at school or among his friends when something needs to be hung or fixed.

They are 33, 29 and 26 now.....

Peter

Putnam Division posted:

My kids participated when they were young.....especially my son. As usual, for my son, sports and girls intervened in his teenage years and he has been lost to the trains since. None of my kids when into technical/scientific careers. All became lawyers. This is in contrast to my wife and I who are practicing physicians.

My son did pick up some technical skills, however. He's also been the one who is the "go to" guy at school or among his friends when something needs to be hung or fixed.

They are 33, 29 and 26 now.....

Peter

Adorable

One of my kiddies at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, Strasburg, PA.

My two and I are just getting started. I really didn't run trains as a child, and it wasn't until my parents purchased the Lionel Pennsy Flyer for my boys did I start taking it seriously. We have a table set up now in my workshop, and they love to play with it. The oldest (who is four) also requested a train under the Christmas tree (which I started last night). When they saw it, they were thrilled.

Do I hope it stimulates them? I do. Do I appreciate the bonding time I get with them? I do. Will they stay with it as a life long hobby? I don't know. For now, I'll take the father/son moments any way I can get them though.

My Daughter had no interest.  I naturally got her a nice set.  It stays in storage.  

I am holding out hope for grandkids...

My children are all grown and two of them have children of their own.  When my kids were young, my trains held their interest.  My sons buddies would marvel at the many operating accessories.  These are kids that grew up with Nintendo and the like.  My three grandchildren have shown some interest in my trains.  I have set up a small layout for my eldest grandson, 10, in his basement, but I think his interest in it isn't going to justify expanding the layout.  Not yet anyway.  My son was watching my trains the other day because his son wanted to see the trains.  My son said, apologetically, "Pop, I can't seem to get an interest in the trains".   

Now, to veer off a bit.  I think the newer technology has sparked some interest in model trains among the younger folks.  It's what they're growing up with.  Technology that we as kids couldn't even fathom.  So hooray for all the modern electronics !   For us older farts, like me, I still need to see the mechanics of it all.  

CJ Meyers posted:

One of my kiddies at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, Strasburg, PA.

I love it when the girls show any interest.

Deuce posted:

My two and I are just getting started. I really didn't run trains as a child, and it wasn't until my parents purchased the Lionel Pennsy Flyer for my boys did I start taking it seriously. We have a table set up now in my workshop, and they love to play with it. The oldest (who is four) also requested a train under the Christmas tree (which I started last night). When they saw it, they were thrilled.

Do I hope it stimulates them? I do. Do I appreciate the bonding time I get with them? I do. Will they stay with it as a life long hobby? I don't know. For now, I'll take the father/son moments any way I can get them though.

 

Deuce, I think you have a great attitude. We can share the trains and express our enthusiasm about them, and then it's the child's decision to what extent, if any, he/she wants to be involved with the trains.

Arnold,

This is a great idea for a thread!

As an engineer, I did not encourage any of my three (now adult) children to follow in that career, which I felt might be encouraged by model trains, as it had been with me. I restored my HO layout when my son was a youngster but did not emphasize it, and his interests went elsewhere - to photography in particular - at which he now is a professional. He admires my layouts today.

I bought trains and set up carpet layouts for my three oldest grandkids when they were little. They are bigger now and have other interests - so probably no model railroaders in that group. Nonetheless, they used to wait for me to arrive at their place and set up their trains - and run downstairs to my layouts when they arrived here.

There are now two boys who are mechanically inclined and who have a carpet layout. They don't know it yet, but soon will be getting a new Lionchief Hudson locomotive to keep them interested. We have enjoyed many sessions together running trains and building/repairing stuff at their house and mine. This is a special grandsons/grandpa relationship because of trains and other things as well.

There is also a new little girl who likes to see grandpa's trains when she visits.

I love them all.

MELGAR

Girls and trains are 2 of my favorite subjects, and when combined is heaven for me.

My 32 year old daughter loved the trains as a child as much, if not more, than my son did.

It started out as 027 trains set up around the Christmas tree, and letting both kids take the throttle of the ZW, to give them a taste of power and control. Never met a little kid that didn't love the ZW.

Then, a layout consisting of plywood boards on top of the ping pong table in the basement. To this day, I wish I had a basement big enough to run trains and play ping pong.

Then, an O27 layout that completely filled the playroom in the basement, and finally my current O Gauge layout around the three walls of both the playroom and laundry room in the basement.

We gave train rides to the little people and animals my kids put in gondolas and boxcars. I told my kids stories about them.

The layout gave my daughter an opportunity to do arts and crafts. She helped me paint the backdrop, paint many of the little people and animals, and glue together the bleachers made of Popsicle sticks for the ballpark, and paint the bleachers. Of course, I still have them on the layout:

Arnold

MELGAR posted:

Arnold,

This is a great idea for a thread!

As an engineer, I did not encourage any of my three (now adult) children to follow in that career, which I felt might be encouraged by model trains, as it had been with me. I restored my HO layout when my son was a youngster but did not emphasize it, and his interests went elsewhere - to photography in particular - at which he now is a professional. He admires my layouts today.

I bought trains and set up carpet layouts for my three oldest grandkids when they were little. They are bigger now and have other interests - so probably no model railroaders in that group. Nonetheless, they used to wait for me to arrive at their place and set up their trains - and run downstairs to my layouts when they arrived here.

There are now two boys who are mechanically inclined and who have a carpet layout. They don't know it yet, but soon will be getting a new Lionchief Hudson locomotive to keep them interested. We have enjoyed many sessions together running trains and building/repairing stuff at their house and mine. This is a special grandsons/grandpa relationship because of trains and other things as well.

There is also a new little girl who likes to see grandpa's trains when she visits.

I love them all.

MELGAR

Wonderful

Arnold,

Here is a topic I created with project I did with my daughter earlier this year.  It was a fun project and she loves her train!

Link

Incidentally, my 30 year old son and 32 year old daughter have very little involvement with the trains, but they both think it's a good thing that I have them. I recently demonstrated a Lionchief Plus locomotive and remote unit to my son. He liked it and was interested in that operating system. He grabbed the remote out of my hands, said "give me that" and we laughed.  If and when he has kids, he might get involved again. My daughter is delighted that her almost 7 year old daughter enjoys the trains with me when they visit.

The boys are 20 & 17; both have trains of their own and are interested, but both have other interests (including our other family hobby--ACW re-enacting).  Both will be getting a new piece or two for Christmas this year--as they have for each year previous.  They are in charge of the trains under the big tree in the living room--one has a loop of FasTrack; the other has LEGO 9v track (about which he is kinda bummed as his last 9v motor died, so he will be switching over to the new PF motors).

Some of my earliest memories were sitting at the kitchen table with my dad making buildings and tunnels for my HO set.  Once I got into O gauge, I was able to do it mostly on my own.

I'm 28 now and the trains are in storage due to space issues (my next home will have at least a spare room for them!) but some come out around the Christmas tree each year.

No kids of my own yet, but I've got a 2 year old and a 3 month old nieces.  Last year the (then) 1 year old seemed interested in the train, especially when we put her favorite stuffed animal on a gondola.  Now she's getting very good at understanding how different things work (buttons and levers, that sort of thing), so I'm thinking I can get her pressing the whistle button and maybe I'll use one of the newer Lionel transformers with the big orange throttle (got one lying around somewhere) instead of a ZW.  I figured out if I put it right up against the wall, you can't max out the speed.

The tree goes up within the next week, so we'll see what happens.

I'd like to get her and her sister a set, maybe next year, but the rest of the family told me no since they live in a smaller apartment.  I figure they at least need one around their own tree.

Uncles aren't supposed to follow the rules anyway, right?

What do little girl's really want? Power & control:

My granddaughter has it holding the LC+ remote!

He's now 20, 6'2", 280lbs & a junior history major.

Priceless childhood memories evident here on this adored topic. Fantastic photos and videos and stories.  Ahh the generational memories. I am motivated to locate printed photographs (remember them?) possibly this weekend, then possibly scan them to share.  Until then, a great shout of thanks (bravo) to Arnold, another fun topic!

I suspect there may be a fundamental misconception here.  In my opinion, at least, the way to interest children in model trains isn't to expose them to model trains.  It's to expose them to real trains.

It was watching real trains in action -- in switching yards and on the main line -- that got me interested in toy/model trains in my childhood and later in life.  If my own only exposure to railroading had been limited to somebody's layout, I doubt that it would really have taken hold in my imagination.

Granted, finding switch yards and even busy main lines isn't as easy as it once was.  But it's probably worth the effort, and it's a good way to spend time with your kids.

Arnold D. Cribari posted:

What do little girl's really want? Power & control:

My granddaughter has it holding the LC+ remote!

Carina is definitely your granddaughter, Arnold !   

Power & Control ? Tell us something we don't know.....LOL 

Balshis posted:

I suspect there may be a fundamental misconception here.  In my opinion, at least, the way to interest children in model trains isn't to expose them to model trains.  It's to expose them to real trains.

It was watching real trains in action -- in switching yards and on the main line -- that got me interested in toy/model trains in my childhood and later in life.  If my own only exposure to railroading had been limited to somebody's layout, I doubt that it would really have taken hold in my imagination.

Granted, finding switch yards and even busy main lines isn't as easy as it once was.  But it's probably worth the effort, and it's a good way to spend time with your kids.

True enough and sometimes you can even enjoy a meal with the little ones while waiting for the trains to come by !

This converted station near Palmer, MA - https://steamingtender.com/

I spent quite a while doing my time machine travel log through hundreds of old photo prints when on a break from a busy Saturday evening. So quite to my dismay my scanner was used by someone here and not returned to its space in the office. So I attempted to photograph the old(couple decades old) blurry photos with bad light. Lol. But I had to complete this mission( there are no failed missions, just happy kids). My son holding his first Lionel loco. Hmm, how can I take this heavy thing apart.

the next photo is my son Playing with something lighter, watch that hammer!

When we moved to our old farmhouse we naturally set up a first basement layout. My Daughter was quite adept at running all trains ( the BUDD one of her favorites) with the ZW. Btw she still is a pro.

There were lots of smiles with girls trains and running upstairs in Christmas carpet  oval.

My sons first train show was the Westchester Toy and Train Show, 24 years ago.

i am going to see if he will come up from NYC to attend! 

fast forward to a couple of years ago when my grand daughter was fascinated by her mom's trains. guess what? yep, she regularly asks me when are we going to play with them again?

she likes the floor double oval set up.

Lovely pictures, Leroof, of your family with the trains.

We have two boys. The eldest is now 20 so he has moved on to other interests. However he still dabbles in Warhammer/Games Workshop modelling.

The youngest age 10 is train mad! 

In fact I don’t tend to purchase much for myself. Mason usually gets hold of the catalogs, see’s something in a magazine or TM video and chooses it for his Birthday or Christmas gift. This has led me into all sorts of “fun” trying to procure said item. I reckon he likes testing me LOL.

Here’s Christmas 2014 (Blue Comet)

Christmas 2015 (Dreyfuss Hudson)

Nick

When my grandson comes over (he's 6), one of the first things he asks is I want to play trains with him.  Guess what my answer is? .  He's been running the FlyerChief trains for a couple of years now, and loves it.  Who can blame him?

I have three sons (now ages 29, 25 and 23) and all had and played with trains when they were young - both Lionel and Brio.

I think Balshis makes a very good point above that the way to interest children in toy trains is to expose them to the real thing.  All three of mine would accompany me trackside for railfanning; for visits to rail museums and for rides on Amtrak and tourist railroads.  The older two eventually “grew out” of an interest in trains - both toy and real but; the youngest retained his interest and is now a Norfolk Southern conductor.

The youngest rarely has anything to do with toy trains these days but, on occasion, he and his girlfriend will go down to the basement and operate trains on my layout.

Curt

I got my first toy train long before I ever saw a real one.  Having the toys got me interested in the real thing.

palallin posted:

I got my first toy train long before I ever saw a real one.  Having the toys got me interested in the real thing.

Me too!

Nice photos & great thanks  to all the parents and grandparents for sharing those moments of fun! 

Balshis posted:

I suspect there may be a fundamental misconception here.  In my opinion, at least, the way to interest children in model trains isn't to expose them to model trains.  It's to expose them to real trains.

I concur with your statement.

I used to take two of my grandsons to watch the action on Amtrak and Metro North from the station platforms in Rye and Port Chester, New York. It was thrilling to watch Amtrak trains passing at high speed and Metro North trains stopping right in front of us to pick up/drop off passengers. We also took some short rides on Metro North. I'm sure this encouraged their interest in model trains - as I intended.

MELGAR

I decided to resurrect this topic I started about 2 years ago because yesterday I attended the wedding of my almost 32 year old son and had the time of my life.

As I mentioned in my original post here, I believe my son's mental development was enhanced when I introduced him to Lionel trains as an infant.

Coincidentally, this afternoon my wife and I watched a TV program on our DVR about Mr. Rodgers. During that program, Mr. Rodgers mentioned that young children crave control.  Did you ever let a young child grab hold of the handles of a ZW and control the movement of a locomotive? Their joyfulness when they do that is palpable. 

Getting back to trains and a child's mental development, I remember reading somewhere that toy or model trains can be very stimulating to a young child, and that stimulation is very good for their mental development. Do you agree?

Although I cannot prove my hypothesis, it seems to be true for my son. When he was an infant, I let him grab hold of the ZW handles and run an indestructible Postwar Lionel steam engine around the Christmas tree. Then, I built a first layout on the ping pong table in the basement, and let him experience the delight of running trains in my arms under my supervision on a regular basis. 

I am very proud of him. He is very smart (smarter than me) and at a very early age was very interested in opening up the locomotives, accessories, and switch tracks to see how they worked and how to repair them. He graduated #2 in his class in mechanical engineering, and is doing fine as a project manager of a construction company. He is a very intelligent, independent-minded, critical thinker.

Although he has other interests now, including being deeply in love with his bride, I have no doubt that he will someday return to model railroading, especially when he has a child. It's in his DNA to do so because his paternal grandfather did the same thing with me as an infant, that I did with him.

 Don't discount the little girls. They can be just as stimulating for them as it is for little boys. My now almost 34 year old daughter also loved the trains when she was an infant. I let her run the trains with the same ZW, and told her countless stories about the O scale little people and animals who rode in the gondolas. 

Do you also believe that toy or model trains can be very stimulating to young children and aid them in their mental development? If so, why? 

Arnold

Arnold a tip of my hat to you for anotherGreat Thread don’t know how you do it keep coming up with such wonderful topics. I have two daughters 37 and 48 and nether of them had any real interest in the trains. My 26 year grandson lost interest years ago but I think that was due to them living in Roanoke and us in Central PA. My 8 year old granddaughter loves them and will play and rearrange her Christmas layout endlessly. When I set up my MTH WiFi system and downloaded it onto her iPad she loves that. Before that I would give her the MTH DCS Remote and she loved blowing the horn or whistle and ringing the bell. Now she wants to help me screw down the track and set up buildings and paint figures. I am going to build her a small layout in my man cave/train basement and see what happens. Our last Christmas in our old house. Setting up my grandsons Thomas the Tank Engine she now has her own Polar Express Set.

A post script as a child I loved being with my dad running the trains he made take very good care of them. As a teenager we did not get along to well, go figure.  He found a bunch of guys in South Florida that were Lionel collectors and would met once a month at someone house and run trains and buy and sell stuff. Working with him and making the same money as him I bankrolled the hobby for him and it was and still is the best thing I could ever do for him outside of two granddaughters. My memories of him and that time and us reviewing Post War and current Lionel Catalogs are still very fresh in my mind and my drive for Post War now I thank him and some of the things he always wanted but could never afford. 

Thanks for posting those two pictures RJT, they are priceless! I think she will always remember playing with her trains, with Grandpa!