Son and I set up train set at retirement condos

Great work. Thanks for sharing. I bet the residents are enjoying it!

That was a very nice thing to do. Anyone over 60 today likely had trains as a youngster - this will bring back many good and happy memories. 

Well done!

That is really nice, and an excellent thing to get your son into. We all benefit immensely from the mixing of generations, and the train will be a great "memory lane" for just about all the residents. 

Best off all, though, is your gift to the community of the two most valuable currencies: time and attention.

That's  Great !! I did something very similar a year ago at a senior daycare center down in VA.  I set up a Standard Gauge floor layout for all to watch and ask questions , even passed an old 500 series freight car around for them to feel the weight and to examine . I got a lot of heart felt stories of their having trains growing up.  It was a wonderful feeling bringing them some joy  and in some cases bringing back fond memories for the day .  I look forward to doing it again .

My son and I set up a 4x8 at a school for disabled children.  We run the Polar Express and the Kline girls train.  At the end of the day we give away a Lionel rtr set.  Fun for all concerned.  Never saw a kid that didn't like trains.

Quite a few years ago, I was talking with a man who lived in place for older people and was given permission to build a model railroad in an empty storage room and there was no other resident who had any interest whatsoever. He was very disappointed.

JohnnieWalker posted:

That's  Great !! I did something very similar a year ago at a senior daycare center down in VA.  I set up a Standard Gauge floor layout for all to watch and ask questions , even passed an old 500 series freight car around for them to feel the weight and to examine . I got a lot of heart felt stories of their having trains growing up.  It was a wonderful feeling bringing them some joy  and in some cases bringing back fond memories for the day .  I look forward to doing it again .

That is a great track plan. Very interesting continuous operation.

RoyBoy posted:

JohnnieWalker posted:

That's  Great !! I did something very similar a year ago at a senior daycare center down in VA.  I set up a Standard Gauge floor layout for all to watch and ask questions , even passed an old 500 series freight car around for them to feel the weight and to examine . I got a lot of heart felt stories of their having trains growing up.  It was a wonderful feeling bringing them some joy  and in some cases bringing back fond memories for the day .  I look forward to doing it again .

That is a great track plan. Very interesting continuous operation.

Thanks for saying so. I have another version of it that I would like to set up one day.  Actually I would love to make this my permanent  table layout. Its the same layout but it has six switches installed  so one can reverse the direction of the train. All the cardboard cut outs and pieces  of wood are almost spot on to the size of the buildings and light towers.  plus a few homemade pieces as well.   16x6 is the size.