New Here

[hiscopilot]

Hi, I am new here and new to the hobby. It is for my very young son (I KNOW...) he is an exceptionally gifted child who holds an extreme interest in trains and cannot stay out of the model train section at Hobby Lobby. SO this year he gets a transition set-up from toys (brio/ thomas) to model (HO bachmann, etc).

My mom has started him off with a Thomas HO set for his birthday and I want to create an Isle of Sodor. Anyone ventured down this path? WOuld love to see what others have done. I have designed what I THINK I will do time money and cooperation permitting.

I have lurked here for a short while, and there are great people and information here. Looking forward to learning a LOT from this place!

Thanks
Amanda

 

[LongIslandTom]

Welcome!

I can relate-- I gave my 4-year-old little nephew a Thomas the Tank Engine HO set from Bachmann for his birthday this past September. He got such a kick out of it too. :thumb:

My little nephew does get tired of just watching his Thomas the Tank run around in circles though, but I try to keep things interesting by bringing over some locomotives and rolling stock from my HO collection to run on his circle of track every time I visit him.

To keep his interest up I'll help him turn that circle of track into something a bit more elaborate.. Maybe a 3.5' x 6' small layout with a few spurs and some scenery. I think the best part is sharing the experience of creating the scenary so in the future he might attempt some of it himself.

Anyway, welcome, and please post as you progress on your endeavor!

 

[YmeBP]

HEYYY!! you are in the right place these people are the best!!! I've been able to do some amazing stuff in a very short period of time w/ their help!! I've only been rr'ing for a month and i'm hooked something fierce!!

 

[Knighthawk]

Welcome Aboard!

This is the best forum I've found for getting all of your questions answered about this hobby. Let us know how you get along on the little guy's layout as it progresses.:thumb:

 

[ezdays]

Yes indeed, welcome to the Gauge. Lots of fine folks here, lots and lots of great info... Glad to have you aboard.

 

[hiscopilot]

Thanks! I like being places where people are soooooo friendly!

I will start by teaching my son with the basic oval. We're going to expand it and make an Island of Sodor by building hills, buildings, and other scenery. He's going to love it.

Then, when he's ready we'll build a made up town of our own creation. If he sticks to it, I will pick something local-ish- like Chattanooga to build and learn some Tennessee history along with it!

I am excited. Perhaps as much or more than he is... but the guys golf, Mathy and I hhave out homeschool stuff, my hubby and I watch movies... so far nothing really that intrigues and involves all 3 of us. I think this will. If I have trouble getting my husband involved, I'll just add an airport and he will be happy!

 

[Herc Driver]

Someone say airport?!?

Welcome to the gauge!!!

 

[hiscopilot]

Someone say airport?!?

Welcome to the gauge!!!

Thanks!

Oh yeah, hubby is aviation enthusiast. We figured that would carry over to our son when he developed interest in the Jay Jay Jet Plane stuff at a very young age. We decorated his room in airplanes, and he just isn't that fascinated with them. So, if I can figure out how to do it, I will switch the decor over to trains! There are airplanes, trains, fish, and golf items littered throughout this small overstuffed house.

Ugh!

 

[Doc Holliday]

Welcome to the Gauge. You're never to young or old to play with trains.
Doc

 

[Ralph]

Welcome Amanda!

I think both you and your son are going to have somfun with this project! I've long been a great admirerof the scenary on the Thomas The Tank Engine show. Model Railroader Magazine featured a story about it a few years ago.

Ralph

 

[lester perry]

Welcome

Welcome to the Gauge. My Grandson was a big Thomas fan but has moved on to Poppy's big stuff. Now I have an 18 month old Grandson who is beginning to like Thomas. If you are looking for Thomas stuff may I suggest http://www.ttstation.com/. They are very knowledgeable and have everything you can imagine for Thomas deco. We have a Thomas play room for grandsons. Any way welcome again hope we can be helpful.
Les

 

[hiscopilot]

Thanks for the continuing warm welcomes! I think its great the way thomas grabs them and sucks them into the wonderful world of railroading! I have always been fascinated myself (could be that I had a train yard about 100 yards from my childhood home and the sounds of the tracks rocked me to sleep regularly!) but I grew up nearly impoverished and with a single mom so I was never afforded the opportunity to do this. I am soooooo glad I get to do it with my son!
I will have to check into the Thomas stuff...

As we have come along on our ideas, we have made a few decisions I believe to be good ones... we will start with the Thomas Deluxe set by bachmann. I can actually use the ez track since I have figured out the minor modification to make it work with the atlas + tracks I have already. Then we may get a set or two more from the series but there are so many of the characters they dont make. So, if you read the character descriptions, it twlls you what sort of trains the characters are based on... I will just get trains similar to them and "pretend". Then we can use them for real on a layout or 3 later or sell/ trade to fit the theme or city we decide to do when we go knee deep into it.

My mom said to me today,"Whata re you going to do if he doesn't take to this model train thing?"

I thought about it for a minute or so and realized there isn't much possibility of that and formulated the answer ,"Well, I guess I'll just sell the stuff huh?"

It is sooooooo difficult for me to wait until next week to start playing with the stuff, but I have to... I need to get up and clean the house right now, but cant stop reading all of these great threads!

Shew, lots of information!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks again!

 

[hiscopilot]

He got his trains today!
He LOVES them and figured them right out!
I put some pics of the Thomas set in my gallery- dont know how to link them here though. I'll figure it out.

 

[LongIslandTom]

Very easy to link the photos! Just click on the Insert Image button, then put in the URL where the photo is located. Voila! :thumb:

(figure I link them for you

Very cool to see your son enjoying his Thomas the Tank Engine!

 

[Ralph]

And so begins a life long hobby? Good for him (and you)!
Ralph

 

[YmeBP]

This is giving me thoughts I've been trying to figure out what to do about motorizing my sons thomas's. I actually was going to use it as ruse to get my wife to allow me to buy a mill ops: so i can mill out the body of the train and install running gear.

I have tons of power loc and my older son can help the younger one. I'll have to go hunting for just the cars for this.

 

[shaygetz]

Welcome to The Gauge

My 5 year old son loves running Thomas with my model trains and has even started following me in model photography...he took this one off of our Christmas layout.

 

[hiscopilot]

Shaygetz- my son is looking at your picture and he says but Annie and Clarabel are facing forward (apparently clarabel faces backwards)... he went up and told the train guy at the museum the same thing as they had their trains the same way! Sorry, I am not trying to be a smart aleck, its just the observation he made.

Here's Matthews trains:

And he has already asked for the rest of the sets so we can build Island of Sodor tonight... HA!

I think he is natural though. He gathered some items and created "scenery" around the track and he has already learned how to use the rerailer and to couple the trains and cars. He loves it. He invites the neighbor boy (10 year old) in and they have 2 tracks set up for now until I build the table... and they go back and forth and really enjoy it together too.

Thanks everyone for all of the advice. I can now be sure that we'll be around for a while! NOw, only where can I get the money to afford all of this?

 

[Ralph]

NOw, only where can I get the money to afford all of this?

Welcome to the hobbyist's dilemna! We're all right there with you!
Ralph