Retirement Community Model Railroad

I read a good part of the latest OGR issue last night.  I want to comment:

I read and collected that other (largely HO scale) magazine for many years, and now OGR for about 3 years.   That is the most useful, inspiring, and innovative model railroad issue I have ever seen!!  

- the Breckinridge Village article- made me want to move ( I live in NE Ohio).  The steel mill and refinery articles made me want to add each to my layout  (especially the part about using pasta- THAT is using the ol' noodle!).  The Collector" article on Texas Special sets made me want to collect.  The two articles by Eric Siegel made me want to spend more money.

WOW!!

It is a great article, and a great thing Dick will leave for future residents.

The home my 93-year old aunt is in has a rather large HO layout a group of men built.  When the home built a new building the HO group was given a much larger space.  It is great to see

I haven't seen the article yet but there must be many layouts which could be donated in the future. And... glad to see Arnold posting on the Forum.

MELGAR

This morning, myself and two other forum members will be going to a senior care center in Sierra Madre CA to set up a 72" oval of O and Std to run trains for the residents. We did this once last year and it was well received, so this year we have two facilities scheduled. We run both gauges of trains, including some clockwork. We mostly run modern, but do display some originals. Not the same as what your speaking of, but a great time. We allow quite a bit of time for discussion and we hear a lot about their dads, brothers trains etc. The ladies seem to be just as enthusiastic.

Steve

That sounds great Steve!  Have fun with those folks!

Thank you for the above contributions to this thread, all of which are heart warming.

I can't think of a better way to keep the elderly (I'm one of them) engaged and happy than for them to have a model railroad to dream about and tinker with.

A model railroad could also be a great promotion for the nursing home or retirement community, distinguishing their facility from all of the others. And once the model railroad is up and running, they should invite a lot of little kids to see it.  Doing so would make those in the nursing home even more excited. The elderly love to be around little kids at play. Such a positive  environment becomes a form of paradise on earth. Arnold 

Arnold, yes speaking of elderly, I received my first Social Security deposit yesterday.  Of course 60-something isn’t elderly, but none of us knows how soon we may not be able to get around anymore.  I have not been by the model railroad room at my aunt’s facility when it is open, but can look in the fishbowl window as Dick mentioned in his article.  It may be open when they have events, which I haven’t attended.  

I will be retiring on November 1st. I have thought of setting up two loops of O gauge track (one inside the other) and running post war trains in a retirement village or a large veteran's hospital that they have here in my home town of Murfreesboro TN.  This would be a temporary set up maybe around Christmas.If any of you have done something like this before, what was your experience? What else do you add to your temporary layout other than the trains? Maybe some of those ceramic buildings? Are you able to barrow tables from the facility, or did you bring some of your own? Did you do this by yourself or did you have help? How long did it take you to get everything set up?

What a great idea! The Sun City development nearby has a model railroading club that puts up a Christmas-time layout in their community center. It is relatively big - a big oval with the ceramic and plastic buildings arranged in little scenes. There is a raised middle section that has a similar oval and scenes in smaller scales. The volunteers staff it during the day and change out the engines every hour or so. When kids visited, they handed them a handheld controller and let them control the train... This development also has a larger, permanent O gauge layout and outdoor garden railroad in an outbuilding.

I have done the same. Since I live in a 55 and over active retirement community, I was asked by the car club to set up a simple track plan at their monthly antique car club meeting and ran trains for the folks there. Rekindled a lot of memories. I would like to start a train club here but my own club is 4 miles away. We recently had the car club visit us and they had a very enjoyable time. 

I did a 29 slide presentation to the men's club here where I live, 4 Seasons at South Knolls, Jackson, NJ for about 125 members of which I am a member. Set up a layout, ran some trains and showed/explained about our club and the progress we have made over the last few years since we moved. What was interesting to them was having a scale big boy and a 2026 sitting side by side. Every monthly meeting we have a guest speaker. My presentation had the folks wide awake and enjoying every minute of it. I live in a place where most men had trains in their earlier years, some still do! It sparked a lot of enthusiasm when folks heard the hobby was alive and kicking.

Doug, which Sun City, where?  We're at the Sun City near Charlotte and do the Christmas thing with a December layout open to the public.

Wally

Thank you for the kind words on Dick Philpotts Breckenridge layout i will make sure he knows. When i first saw the layout it screamed to be made public . I told him it was made to be in OGR everything about it was perfect !  Special shot out to Allan Miller who couldnt have agreed with me more !

Thank you, John!!!

tncentrr posted:

I will be retiring on November 1st. I have thought of setting up two loops of O gauge track (one inside the other) and running post war trains in a retirement village or a large veteran's hospital that they have here in my home town of Murfreesboro TN.  This would be a temporary set up maybe around Christmas.If any of you have done something like this before, what was your experience? What else do you add to your temporary layout other than the trains? Maybe some of those ceramic buildings? Are you able to barrow tables from the facility, or did you bring some of your own? Did you do this by yourself or did you have help? How long did it take you to get everything set up?

  I think all that will vary greatly from site to site, and depending on what you include in the layout. Even the daily schedule could have impact on things; a need or not for lights, etc.. All homes/villages/etc are different. Some are merely apartments/homes, some are nearly full hospitals, Vet's hospitals are both...or at least used to be until they closed them "all" (lots   doesn't  effect me, but disappointing)

There may be motor field generated static/noise, data/signal conflict, or even spark concerns around some medical equipment too. 

   Plastic/tin is "safer" in any public setting; I'd ask the manager about their preferences.

And a reality check....  I asked about doing it years ago while a freind was battling COPD at a really small nursing and neighborhood retirement home. They said they already had one but had to remove it due to patients battling each other over it, one guy mistaking it as their's from home and another hating him for that, etc, etc.. My freind passed and my own health took another downturn about that time, so it never got past the one meeting.  It made me laugh as I already heard the idjits arguing like kids; imagining a train at the heart of it wasn't too hard 😂

  I also think of Pappy and wonder if the trains were really friend or foe to his well being; we only heard his side of it.  Either way, I know I'd sure NEED one where ever I stay long.

  It really isn't even optional; Food, drink, sleep, medicine, clothes, shoes, trains, a 30" dia. or square table, glasses👓, my briefcase of tools, and my music; I just can't see far away, so that is my base "needs", in order 😎. 

Adriatic,

Thanks for the reply and all the good information. You mentioned several things I never even thought about. The two residents fighting over the train layout never entered my mind, but I can see where it is possible.I guess I should talk to some of the facilities managements in Murfreesboro and see what they say.

Shell Point Retirement Village, on the Gulf Coast of Florida, has an excellent railroad "club" and room, open to the public, with attendees there (from the facility) as guides.  We took our grandchildren there, and their parents as well as the kids (and grandparents) loved it. 

The layout is 43' X 41' L-shaped,  HO Scale, very detailed, and is actually a depiction of the entire State of Florida. 

There is a depiction of major cities (Orlando,  Miami, Jacksonville, etc.), Disney World, etc. (see below), and they run passenger as well as freight trains all around the layout using DCC control.  Vehicles run around the streets, activated using magnets underneath.  There is a small circle layout of "O" Gauge, N gauge and S gauge also.

 This list of features, from the Shell Point website:

• Freight yards in Pensacola
• Tallahassee's old Capitol Building and new Executive Building
• Gator Bowl in Gainesville, with working message board on Goodyear blimp
• Disney World attractions
•  Bok Singing and Citrus Towers
• Kennedy Space Center, with space shuttle Columbia taking off from the launch pad
• Resort buildings and hotels along the east coast (Palm Beach and Miami)
• Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, with audible organ
• Everglades, with wildlife
• Sanibel lighthouse
• Shell Point (retirement village) itself

https://www.shellpoint.org/trainroom/

Does anyone know if there are any model railroads at nursing homes, retirement communities or children's hospitals in the NYC metropolitan area?

Sorry, have no info about NY area.  But, back a few years around Christmas time, when my Mom was living at an assisted-living center, they put up a Christmas tree with a few fake gifts underneath in a common area near the front door.  That looked so lifeless to me, that I asked if I could put a small PW oval on the floor under the tree.  They were initially concerned about operational problems, but I convinced them that I could set it up so the engine only ran forward and would start as soon as they plugged the transformer in each morning.

Well, it didn't work as planned (problems with E-unit) and became a static display.  But, the residents and visitors all liked it and commented on it.  And, despite all the attention, everything from my childhood came home unbroken.

Chuck

We have taken a few of the kid's layouts we build, to rehab and nursing care facilities when members have been at one after surgery or when full time care became necessary. These are built on hollow core interior doors, rest on 2 chairs or a couple of cardboard boxes or a folding table, have enough action that people enjoy the display and are easily transported via pickup or mini van/SUV.