At the Smiths Falls Railway Museum in "Sensational Smiths Falls", Ontario Canada, our typical visitors are Mom, Dad, and the Two Kids. The Two Kids usually have the wooden Thomas The Train. So, we make sure that our gift shop is well stocked with the wooden Thomas The Train and Friends.
Then they see the HO scale Thomas The Train stuff that's displayed right next to the wooden Thomas! Dad had better have an HO layout so that Mom can buy the Two Kids HO Thomas and Friends! Or else, Dad is going to use this as an excuse to get back into the hobby - but with the kids.
Later during the summer or fall, the family will attend a model train show to look at the nicely scenicked layouts. Thomas and Friends are usually on these nicely scenicked layouts.
And, like the Energizer Bunny, their interest in the hobby keeps going, and going, and going.............
If you think you were passionate about the trains when you were young, you haven't seen anything like the passion of these kids with Thomas and Friends. As the kids grow older, I'm sure they will naturally gravitate to the bigger stuff - the AC4400's, the SD40s, the GP9s, the 4-6-0's, the 2-8-0s, etc, etc. IMHO, the future of this great hobby is looking good.
Bob M.