Kids, grandkids and model trains.

My kids and grandkids have been exposed to my obsession with model railroading for the better part of 24 years. At first my love for the hobby was muted by the lack of funds to do much other than to buy a few trains and keep them stashed away. Early on I might run a circle of track on a small layout, but, not enough for the kids to notice much. They did get to go to train shows now and then... but they were not particularly impressed (are we leaving soon?). My older daughter thought the hobby was boring/dumb etc (she's 24). My son was a little more receptive and really enjoyed model railroading when he was about 9 years old when I joined a model railroad club. He has since distanced himself from the hobby and even told me to get rid of his HO stuff if I wanted to (he's 22). My youngest daughter was most exposed to model railroading. She even liked me to buy little shorty tank cars (because they were cute) and told me to never get rid of them. She liked me to run trains of only tankcars (she's 20).

My two daughters each have one son (my two grandkids). The first grandkid was bombarded with toy train stuff (by me, of course ) from birth. While my older daughter didn't object to it... she didn't nurture the 'train thing' and now he doesn't seem very interested unless it has to do with video games. I got him some Thomas The Tank Engine learning video game modules for V-Smile (he's 4). My younger daughters son (18 month) is also heavily influenced by model trains and train toys (hmmm I wonder by whom??? ). This one may be the future Calzephyr II of Trainboard. He says "wooo- whoooo" and "chuk-a-chuk-a-chuka" more often than 'mama' and 'papa'. Some of the 'in-laws' recently told me that he's always pointing to railroad tracks and railroad toys and commercials with trains etc... and says "wooo- whoooo" and "chuk-a-chuk-a-chuka". He says 'TREN' (spanish for train) better than any other word in spanish. I think I got this one hooked real good.... heh heh heh! I got him a bunch of Thomas trains for his Easter basket. He took them out and began to connect them together to make a consist... at 18 months he knew which one was the lead (the engine) and which followed (the cars). THEN... he pointed to my layout and mumbled something which obviously I couldn't understand. He got mad and grabbed his trains and wanted them to go on my N scale track! He knew that pushing them on the floor wasn't right! He got upset when I told him they don't go there... I couldn't calm him down until I ran my N scale trains... but he was no longer interested in his Thomas toys. Wow... an 18 month old that knows that much about trains... HE MUST HAVE THE MODEL TRAIN GENE!

I think I've done my part to keep the hobby going... how about you?

 

CalZ.
You are probably the wealthiest guy on all train boards. The other guys on the boards do not know that you and I have been friends for quite a long time, and I have seen you with your kids and grandkids.

If the people of the world had the love and devotion for each other that you have for your family, there wouldn't be any wars for thousands of years. I always thought I was a Class A father and family, but compared to you, I am nothing more than a piece of sand on a beach compared to your earth.

Keep on truckin', and if you can believe this Jose, I am the proud owner of a California Zephy Kato passenger set and a pair of Denver and Rio Grande PA's running on my western Penna pike. I like them so much, I will come up with a reason later, like they got lost in Chicago or something. hahahaha.

How is the Sawgrass club. I will be seeing you at your show at the end of this month. I re-joined the Deerfield club as now I live just a block or two away, and they completely rebuilt the layout and it is terrific.

Looking forward to seeing you,

Your friend,
Ken (formerly known as Steamguy) "FloridaBoy" Willaman

 

Oh, by the way, I better explain what I meant by wealth. A man who is loved by his wife, children and grandchildren is more wealthy than Warren Buffet and Donald Trump combined.

Ken

 

I think I've done my part to keep the hobby going... how about you?

CalZ,
Ahh, You got one with the train gene, Congradulations!
It Skipped a generation here, too, but has arrived with a vengance.
I had two girls, and although they enjoyed the little houses and cars, and the occasional train show, and even the times we chased or rode Steamtown trains, they never really took a deep interest.
Enter my first Grand Daughter; Her face lit up as she saw an N-Scale Thomas run around a loop of kato track at 1. Sitting on my lap installing Micro-Trains couplers at 2. Sitting on the floor of my office taking turns running all of my steam engines at 3. Then she got interested in other things, and although she still enjoys the occasional train running, she is on to other things at 9
My second Grand Daughter is 5 and loves being a girl. Dressing up and playing with dolls are her thing.
They both enjoyed the small garden railroad I had at the old house, but only to put their dolls on and give them a ride.
Third Pitch, a fast one right down the middle, a hit! That one is OTTA HERE! My Grandson arrives. Thomas videos, Brio, An O Gauge Thomas for his first Christmas. Now at 3 he has managed to tire me out of trains, much to the delight of his father. (" YOU need a break!!?? See! be careful what you wish for!! Ha Ha!")
He can play with a loop of Kato track and a few N-Scale cars for HOURS! He knows most of the railroad paint schemes and can spot a Santa Fe logo a mile away. It also helps that his other Grand Parents live in a little town in the mountains of Southern California, what is the name again, Oh Tehachapi, yeh thats it. :shade:
So between watching trains on the loop, and running trains on our club NTrak layout with him, I have truely been blessed.
He drives his parents nuts, but they have learned to use the trains for their benefit. I give them my old TRAINS and CLASSIC TRAINS mags and he gets to look at them while he goes "potty". His favorite thing to watch on DVD is Cajon Pass and The Ultimate Tehachapi. (Mine TOO!)
I often wondered what would happen to my collection and other train related junk that I have when I finally get on that Train to Glory. I have no doubt, now.
I Think the greatest thing is being able to hand him any of my N-Scale engines, steam or diesel, and know that he will be careful and put it on the track gently. I have attached two pics of us on the club layout. I clean the wheels and hand him the engines and he puts them on the ready track and couples them.
Ain't Life Grand!!:w20z6q:

 

Well, any of you folks who know me know that my main compadres in model railroading are my youngest sons, Sean (10) and Cole (4). Sean has drifted a bit, but not too far (he asked me earlier tonight if we can scratch build a car this weekend!!), and Cole...well, he sounds like your grandson. His life REVOLVES around trains. If we hooked all of the Thomas track together it would literally fill every room of the house. I was just saying in another thread that he set up a quite complicated track, with numerous switches and loops, and was running FIVE trains at once...without a single wreck. This simply by watching the trains and directing them along the switches...no controler, no DCC... nothin but battery powered Thomas trains. I love my trains, but the enjoyment would not be nearly as great if my kids were not right there with me!
Best,
John

 

As I've mentioned here before, my primary scale is N but there is a 4x8 layout in HO Scale for the kids, in a reversal of the previous generation.

Our daughter (almost 7) has more of an interest than our son (10) these days. We want to let each of them go their own way rather than chafe under our "direction" in terms of discretionary activities (within limits, of course).

However, yesterday at an LHS our son noticed the HO Scale "tombstones" from Woodland Scenics and thought they should be added to the layout. This caused our daughter to say "No way! I've worked hard on my layout and you're not going to ruin it!"

I guess I'd better not mention to her the bungee-jumping cow that he wants to put in somewhere either... and I will need to remind myself of "Rule #1" as well...

 

I'm trying hard to get my girls involved. I have five year old twins, who are getting more used to the 'ol train horn

They squashed their first nickel under a CP freight just the other day

they've been asking when my tracks will be ready for all my N-scale engines sitting in their boxes. I guess I'd better get that layout started this summer

 

Although I can't share any Kid or grand kid experiences Because I have none I am the product of a grandfather Corrupting a grand son AND I LOVE EVERY SECOND OF IT lol.

My grandfather started in the 60's when N scale first came out. and he was addicted to the drug until he passed away. He was more of a "Drug pusher" He had got his son's me and his son in law addicted to the hobby. So I was pretty much in the hobby at birth but I say 6 since it was my first actual train set and it was when my grandfather gave me his 4' x 8' layout although we where both on the thing all the time.

 

Over the years, I have tried to do my part. I have been in the hobby since the late 60s, and off and on over the years tried to get my sons involved to no avail. I blame the "video game" generation for that. My youngest son (now 18) loved trains as a kid. He had train wall paper in his room, and loved his toy trains, but as he got older and into the video game thing, forgot all about trains. My two oldest sons now have families of their own, and unfortunatly, my kids are spread all over the place. My 18 year old north of detroit (he does come see pops a couple times a year), and the other two are in AZ, and AR. So, I see them maybe once a year so dont have much oportunity to influence the grandkids with trains. The only hope I had left, was my late in life daughter. She is now nine, and has just gotten the bug recently. She is "Gandy-Dancer" on this site. She does not get on much, but every so often does. She helps me in the basement with my layout, and loves to run them. I promised to get her, her own trains to run on the layout now so she can run them without me watching over her shoulder wondering if she is going to mess up my expensive locomotives, hahhah.. I have let her run some of mine, and even do some simple switching operations, and she loves it. I hope it sticks.. I never let her get into the vedio game thing, which she is ok with. She plays every so often with them, but never turned into a "video zombie". I would limit her gaming thing because I wanted her to know there is alot more to life. So far so good with that..

 

Boy the whole video game world really has influenced the kids. My oldest sons (stepsons actually) were really interested in the 4 x 8 HO layout we had years ago. Even bought their own engines for it. BUT when their buddies were only into video games, that is the way they went too. Sad really. I did try to get them into some of the train sim games, but they just gave me the look...you know, if you can't blow stuff up the game is "boring." My ten year old is teetering on the edge of this now and I feel rushed to get the garage cleaned out and the layout underway before it is too late. Afterall, this hobby won't last if we can't keep kids interested in it!
Best,
John

 

Some great stories of good ol' fashion fun. Video games are a killer to this and other similar hobbies. Unfortunately... there isn't much we really can do. Train sim games are just not going to beat out games like Madden Football or the latest versions of Super Street Fighter or Resident Evil. I just can't see the interest in some of those games. I tried to 'get into' Mortal Kombat and even tried some Madden Football. Those games just didn't do it for me... I'm just and old 'f@*t' I guess.

Don't feel bad though... I was guilty of getting my kids into the video game craze... I bought them the Play Stations and XBox as a way of keeping them happy. I brought on the spurn of model railroading by giving them a more 'IN" way of using their free time. My kids are much better at video killing and maiming than model railroading

Ken (Floridaboy; nee Steamguy)... Thank-you for the wonderful words and welcome back to Trainboard! YOU are not just a grain of sand in any way... shape or form. You've worked long and hard with the Deerfield Beach Railroad Museum (nee South Florida Railway Museum) to bring great events to the folks in South Florida. You may not have infuenced your family; but your extended family, those modelers and the many people you've shared your joy for the hobby are better for knowing you. :thumbs_up:

 

Hey CZ, my kids (40-34) look at my layout and say "why didn't you do this when we were little?" Truth is I could not afford 4 kids and trains to the extent I have now. the grandkids, 4 girls and 1 boy, 15 down to 18 months love them. One grand daughter, now almost 16, runs a MT Gambler set I bought her when she is here. I had HO in the 50's and they ran them on a small layout in the basement in NJ, when we movet to Florida there was no basement. I first started in N with the Atlas E units and still have them. In fact my PCM E-7 pulls 6 Atlas and old Kato cars, cost each, $1.99-$3.99 each. Cost me more just to retruck them.

 

Ken, good to see you back, sorry I do not still have South Florida as my territory with Hino as would like to meet you. Hope you are felling well and happy. Bob.

 

My kids think trains are pretty cool but a LOT of interest was lost when they started taking daddy away all the time. I love my job but my kids come first. I'm seriously looking into maybe moving up in the company and getting regular hours. The bad thing is that I will have to uproot them and move to Jacksonville, FL.

 

My son is almost 3 and is train crazy. We live within a couple of miles of the Old SP yard in San Antonio. He will hear a horn in the middle of the night and come and wake me up to tell me that he hears a train. He likes them all from Thomas to just sitting by the railroad track waiting to see a train come by.

It has given me the excuse to do some model railroading. As a child I wanted a layout so bad but we just did not have the room. I would set up my HO and Lionel set up on the living room floor. Now as an older first time parent I have the chance to help make a dream for my son and I come true while working on it together. I hope he does not outgrow it. I Will try to keep him involved as much as possible and hopefully continue to nurture him in the hobby.

 

Oh, the train gene

My grandfather on my mother's side has the train gene very strongly. He is alive, and about 92 1/2 years of age. We go out on picnics along the Columbia Gorge sometimes and he and I watch the UP freights as they go by. He used to work for them. My mother likes trains okay but has never been hugely into them. My dad, apart from going and seeing the occasional steam train, usually doesn't pay much attention either.

BUT my four year old girls are completely nuts for trains. They have their little engineer's caps, and they love playing Thomas trains and having me get down on the floor and play Thomas trains with them. They LOVE seeing trains. If I don't stop or at least roll down the window when there is a freight going by they get upset with me. Sometimes there's just nowhere to pull over and it's raining really hard. (chuckling) They went to the WGH tour with me when it came to Portland. They have gone to see a couple of club layouts with me. They like running around the house pretending to be trains and making little train whistle sounds. When we go to the zoo we pretty much have to ride the little train. If we go downtown they like to ride the light rail train. If there is any opportunity to look at, ride, or play with anything on rails they want to take advantage of it.

My wife can be a little ambivalent, but she comes along with us when we take excursion trips. She actually suggested that we go out to Hood River, Oregon, this summer to see Thoma$ the Bank Engine and is in the process of securing tickets.

This has given me an excuse to get back into model railroading. Now instead of it being my activity it's something for which I can at least nominally involve the kids. I am planning my modular layout and, to hold interest, we are going to have some sort of module they can decorate. I am thinking T-Trak for their modules. I haven't decided, yet.

Adam