Need EVERYONES help! Please

stripes

Member
I have noticed several threads about young people and our hobby. Well I am partly involved in developing a new web site to address just that question!
What we need is anyone to submit pictures, articles, stories, videos etc... about both model railroading and trains. The site is based out of Canada, but I would like to see the content and input be global!
Please check out the site: The Roundhouse (Home) and email in your
comments, pic`s, etc... to info@railroadtown.ca I think once you see the site you will get an idea of where we are going with this.
Thanks, everyone!
 
Great job. Wish I had something to submit, but right at the moment I really don't have anything appropriate. Good luck.
 

RonP

Member of the WMRC
Good luck with your project. Some advice becuase i am doing the same thing and have learned a bit in the past month or two.

Make sure you constantly improve your design to be unique from all the others that try to do the same.

Work your but off to get as much clear and good articles as you can to have your visitors coming back to read more.

Make sure the articles are written by the people that submit them. There is nothing worse then loosing credibility becuase of plagerism. This in no way means you cannot do a project written before in your own words. As often those projects done before you aren't clear and that is why you are doing the site aren't you.

Good luck bud I bookmarked your site.
 

RobertInOntario

Active Member
I think anyone under 50 is young, right? Makes sense to me!

I hope your site goes well -- sounds like a great idea!

I think MRR is something that a lot of folks get into once they're somewhat settled in middle-life. I'm sure a lot of young people don't have the time for MRR, what with university/college, starting careers, getting married, starting a family, etc.

I also think that people (who get back into MRR and rail fanning, etc., in their 30s and 40s as I did) come from some sort of railway heritage. That is, their dad was into trains or took them rail fanning, etc., which is what my Dad did as well.

I'm hoping the same thing will happen with one or both of my sons -- better yet, I hope they start out young with MRR and stick with it!

Rob
 

stripes

Member
I agree Rob, how many of us really caught the bug by seeing a train set going around a Christmas tree, or getting that Lionel or Marx set for Christmas! I know that as a child my parents used to take me every year to the train layout display at Jordan Marsh, (now Macys) I was hooked ever sense. One of the dreams we have is to take a small layout to local schools and promote the hobby, and the web site.
 

RobertInOntario

Active Member
I agree Rob, how many of us really caught the bug by seeing a train set going around a Christmas tree, or getting that Lionel or Marx set for Christmas! I know that as a child my parents used to take me every year to the train layout display at Jordan Marsh, (now Macys) I was hooked ever sense. One of the dreams we have is to take a small layout to local schools and promote the hobby, and the web site.

Thanks! That's a great idea -- taking a small layout around to schools. It could [obviously] be very educational. If it's a layout depicting, say, the '40s or '50s, you could explain the history behind it. You could also explain railway operation as well as the tools and crafts you used in constructing the layout.

I read in one of my British MRR magazines that some train shows have a layout that can be operated by the kids, totally hands-on. Obviously you'd need to have pretty tough locos and rolling stock, and simply accept that some damage and "abuse" would be normal!

At any rate, it's a great idea, that I think more MRR clubs should take on. It would be great if our MRR clubs went out regularly into local schools with portable layouts. Maybe some do? I think this could be fun -- I already know that my layout is a "kid-magnet"!

Rob
 

Russ Bellinis

Active Member
Thanks! That's a great idea -- taking a small layout around to schools. It could [obviously] be very educational. If it's a layout depicting, say, the '40s or '50s, you could explain the history behind it. You could also explain railway operation as well as the tools and crafts you used in constructing the layout.

I read in one of my British MRR magazines that some train shows have a layout that can be operated by the kids, totally hands-on. Obviously you'd need to have pretty tough locos and rolling stock, and simply accept that some damage and "abuse" would be normal!

At any rate, it's a great idea, that I think more MRR clubs should take on. It would be great if our MRR clubs went out regularly into local schools with portable layouts. Maybe some do? I think this could be fun -- I already know that my layout is a "kid-magnet"!

Rob

A lot of the railroad shows have small layouts the kids can run. At the Los Angeles County Fair there is a garden layout that is the size of a football field. It was originally built in the 1930's by two brothers who taught machine shop classes in the local high school, and part of the students assignments was to scratch build rolling stock for the layout. The two brothers scratch built the locomotives. It was originally standard gauge. Unfortunately by the 1980's virtually all of the scratch built locomotives had broken down and since they were all scratch built on lathes and mills in the high school shop classes. I think the brothers even wound their own electric motors. As the trains broke down they were taken off the layout and put away until nothing was left running. There was even talk of tearing down the entire layout. In the 1990's the L A Garden Railroad Society took over the layout and took up the track and relaid it with LGB track. They have refurbished the scenery and details, there is a 6 foot chain link fence around the layout, but they offer behind the scenes tours every year at the fair. The old scratch built locomotives and some of the cars are on display in the station that has all of the controls for the layout, and they are beautiful! Anyway, the society has a number of small portable train sets that they set out inside the fence with push button controls low down on the fence so that kids can run the trains by pushing buttons. There is always a "flock " of kids gathered around those push buttons running the trains.
 

stripes

Member
Thats gives me an interesting idea Russ! The layout could be protected by a plexiglass cover on hinges, but use a small inexpensive DCC like Bachmann`s for the kids to take turns running the train. Would teach them history, Railroading and Computerized operation, And we all know the appeal of comp. to kids today! Each kis could get a handout telling them about the layouts prototype, How the layout was built and how it operates!
 

MadHatter

Charging at full tilt.
Well, not all of us had Lionel under the tree or had parents or family interested in trains- I'm one of those people. :)

I guess I love trains because every year we would take the train to Cape Town to visit our family (my father had a free pass, because of work his company he worked for did IT for the railways).

For 13 years I was alone in this until, one day, I took a copy of Trains mag to school and another guy said he has the same mag. Man-o-man was I shocked- I thought I was alone, hehe.

Anyway, this site idea of yours is cool and my son- his name will be Seth- is arriving at just the right time (June 8 about). :mrgreen:
 

nkp174

Active Member
Madhatter, congrats! Lisa and I are expecting Nov. 3. My Large scale for the christmas tree plan has been drawn up...the Thomas trackplan is in place. My LGB survived 3 toddlers...very durable...and therefore I want them to grow up like me...christmas trees look odd without large scale trains circling the tree. I won't let them play with my On3, unsupervised, until they're in high school...too fragile.

As a university kook...I would say that I knew several people with, at the very least, and interest. One guy in particular had N-scale. The most important part was that they didn't see themselves as having enough time for organizations...or space for layouts...or money to purchase much. I didn't really care, so I still collected super detailing parts/scratch building tools & supplies, and worked on stuff as I had time.

In school growing up, the interest in trains seemed to peak around the start of jr. high. Most of my friends had layouts at that point...largely because they'd seen my layout.

In two trips to England, I've run across two days out with Thomas...and those were the longest lines I saw anywhere. Little kids with cool accents that had very impressive knowledge of trains for their ages.
 

stripes

Member
Thanks for the kind words and encouragement guys! And congrats to both of your famillies on the new additions! I had posted the same thread on another forum and you would not believe the feedback I got!
 

Pitchwife

Dreamer
Thats gives me an interesting idea Russ! The layout could be protected by a plexiglass cover on hinges, but use a small inexpensive DCC like Bachmann`s for the kids to take turns running the train. Would teach them history, Railroading and Computerized operation, And we all know the appeal of comp. to kids today! Each kis could get a handout telling them about the layouts prototype, How the layout was built and how it operates!
Another thing you could do would be to set up a computer with MS Trains on it that they could run. Would be even better of you had the Controller (can't think of the name right now) to go with it. Easy to set-up/tear-down. Not much wear and tear on the equipment and lets them get right into it for about $10.
 
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