Charlie's New Adventure?

[Drew1125]

Well, I was approached by my 6 year old daughter today, (she had been thumbing through one of my model RR catalogs) who asked me if I would "help her build that Harry Potter train"?
Wow! This is my 4th (& final) daughter, & she's the first to ever express any interest in model railroading... (up til now it's never amounted to more than,"...yeah, that's really cool dad...do tou have $5? )
Sooo...I feel like I should jump at this chance...it sounds kinda fun...maybe I'll be switching to HO sooner than I thought! I thought something real simple would be best...maybe a 4x6?
I'm going to try to finish up some details on my N scale layout, & then we'll see...I'll keep everyone posted on what's happening!
You guys let me know what you think...I think it's a good idea to help a kid out who shows an interest in the hobby.

 

[billk]

Chalie, I think you are one of the luckiest men in the world! Go for it.

Do you ever check out the Bachmann forum?
Go to http://www.bachmanntrains.com/ and click on "Ask the Bach-Man" (yes I know it's corny). There is usually some Harry Potter stuff there. From reading it I would say it is a good way to get her started, but try to get her interested in "real" model railroading asap.
Bill K

 

[roryglasgow]

Charlie,

If you're interested in other British structures that might look at home on a Harry Potter train layout, check out Hornby's website at:

http://www.hornby.co.uk

-Rory

 

[Drew1125]

Thanks billk, & Rory!
By coincidence, I had just read a product review of the HP set in Rail Model Craftsman magazine. They said the loco was a product of Bachman UK's OO line, & that it is an exquisite model. They said the cars were of a slightly lower quality, but overall, it's a very nice train set.
The cataqlog mydaughter was looking at is from Model Expo Inc. (lots of ships & planes), & they have the HP set for $89.99, which about the best price I've seen it for.
I'm kind of excited about the challenge of doing this...I'm sure I'll be checking back for more help!
Thanks again!

 

[Tyson Rayles]

Charlie, I agree with the others, GO FOR IT !!!!! She may lose interest later, but then again she may not. But she's gonna lose interest real quick if you say no. It may slow you down some on your n-scale layout (which I for one hate the idea of) but I think in the long run it will be worth it to you.

 

[roryglasgow]

Charlie,

Check out this link. I think that this is the deluxe set (with the THREE cars and Platform 9 3/4 kit). J. C. Penney is selling it for $50.

J. C. Penney

-Rory

 

[YakkoWarner]

Charlie, remember this is her layout, and let her set the pace, even if something doesn't look realistic or even to scale if she wants it, let her do it her way. She will lose interest if it goes too slowly or is too restricted. You are a lucky man.

 

[John Sneed]

Charlies new adventure

My wife is a big Harry Potter fan and went out and brougt a Hogswarts express train set.I told her I wourd set up a spur that it could set on when I made my new layout.I have made a place for it on the plans of the track that can be run on the main line from time to time.Sometime it takes so little to make your home run smooth and easy I,am not quite sure where I,am going to put the station yet One problem at a time
Good luck with your daughts porjact.I hpoe it goes as smooth as my did John











.

 

[shamus]

Charlie, great idea, just let her help you do it, I made a Thomas & Percy set up for my Grandson Nathan for Christmas, and it's all down on a board so he can just pull it out from under his bed when he wants to use it. (Seems like every day)
Shamus

 

[roryglasgow]

hehehe I think most of us would be hard-pressed to find a location for King's Cross station! Let alone a platform that exists in some kind of parallel space!

-Rory

 

[Drew1125]

Thanks to everyone for the comments!
Rory,
Thanks for that Penny's link...that's definitely the best price I've seen!
As far as letting her do it her way...well, let me tell you something I've learned from living in a house full of women...you have two options for letting them have it their way...there's the easy way, or the hard way, whichever you choose, it will be THEIR way!

Seriously though, I DO plan on letting her get her hands dirty...so to speak...suffice it to say, if it's hot, sharp, or in any other way dangerous, I'll be handling that, & the rest will be totaly hands-on for her.
I've been doing some measuring, & we've been looking at some track plans...I think we've settled on a little 4x6 plan. I want this thing to be light weight, so I want to use as much foam, & as little wood as possible. I'm sure it will have to be moved occasionaly, so I'm taking that into consideration.

 

[Walt Gillespie]

Charlie; If you haven't bought the set yet I'd recommend looking on eBay. Before Christmas there were a ton of them but I've notice lately that there are still some being offered and I'd expect them to have a pretty good price as with the holiday over the present needs are done.

Good luck on having your daughter interested in model trains as I had four sons and could never get one of them interested. Last one is now but he's 30 and his job just doen't allow the time. But, I keep dragging all my good stuff under his nose and hope he'll take the plunge!! .... Walt in Indy

 

[rockislandmike]

My wife's not interested at *ALL* in trains. However, I have piqued her interest a little by naming my shortline after - Heather Valley Railroad. Of course, she's decided they should have a shoe shopping excursion, the Patent Leather Express.

Which is of course now in the works. Good excuse to have a steam loco on my layout, after all. And some custom-painted Harriman coaches.

I got her to pick out the colors for the Heather Valley trains as well, and left it up to her to design a logo.

 

[RI541]

Charlie,
Funny you should mention this Harry Potter set.My 11 yr old wants this set also.

I'm in the same boat that you are I do N scale.Since I dont have room for two layouts I though of making a shelf layout for her or maybe something bigger her bed room is 10X12 so I might be able to squeeze something in there amunst her "junk".

Keep us posted

Shane