Well, this afternoon I was running a few trains, switching in the yard, etc, and my youngest progeny came bounding out to the train shed and wanted to play trains. So I gave her an MWSL
MU'ed loco set to play with, while I continued switching and running locals.
She ran them between Dolton Junction and Midwest Junction, sometimes at break neck speed, and other times at a quite realistic speed.
A couple of times she slammed the locos into the track ends at Midwest Junction and Dolton Junction, but no damage done. A few other times I pushed the STOP button on my DCC controller so the locos wouldn't crash! But we had a ball. It was great having to co-ordinate my switching moves with her highballing along the thoroughfare track. And she enjoyed it too (she always does). After about 20 minutes she decided she was finished playing trains, so she went back into the house with Mum.
RE: Big Kid, Little Kid
All right! That's cool to read about your daughter and you railroading. I know that on my previous railroad, our two youngest kids would operate with me. Each would have a train and we would run it across the railroad, together a couple of times until they got the hang of it and then they would "solo". It was a lot of fun watching them.
Re: Big Kid, Little Kid
Yeah. She is only 2 1/2 years old. My other two kids (11 and 9 years old) have been regular operators on my layout for a few years now - I actually give them an assignment - switching cars, or running through trains, or whatever. And they quite enjoy it. About 6 - 9 months ago, my 2 1/2 year old was out in the train room with me and she grabbed a controller and started turning the speed knob while I was concentrating on something else. She had learned it by watching me I guess. So I explained how it worked, and showed her how the direction and speed works, and let her have a run. She picked it pretty quick too. But she still needs some 'guidance' now and then - young kids don't have a long attention span and tend to get side tracked!
RE: Big Kid, Little Kid
That is an awesome story! Our two youngest are 6 and 9 and they loved to run trains. We have since moved and that railroad is gone. We are now settled in our new house and I have a portion of the hobby room to build my next railroad. I have an area that is 8' x 11'. I am strongly considering an around the wall style layout. Have you ever seen the HOG Railroad website? (www.hogrr.com). It is an interesting website. Scott Perry designed a "beginners" layout that is that same surface area as a 4'x8' layout... but as you will see, it is vastly different from the old stand-by 4x8. I have been intrigued by it and have studied it and the website for some time... thinking that this may be the railroad for me to build. Simple to build/construct... should not take a great deal of time to get up and running... the kids will have fun "running" trains... and I can try my hand at scenery. I never seem to get a railroad to a point where I feel like I can start on scenery. I always design too big and end up burning myself out on a big layout that never gets done... well they never really get done but you know what I mean.
Scott
Re: Big Kid, Little Kid
Hi Scott.
Yes, I have seen the Hog RR website. It's quite interesting. From what I have seen, an around the wall layout of so many square feet often has much better operating possibilities that a 'island' layout of the same surface area. And I guess an around the wall layout can have broader radius curves too - always better!
James