At what point is what your building good enough for you? part 2

[hamltnblue]

I clicked on the original title thinking it would be about something else. It wasn't but the title was right on so I made a part 2. Several months ago I started a layout with my 12 year old Son. We first started with a 2 track basic layout on an 8x8 with no scenery and had a couple of trains running on it. We then started with foam and scenery and ballast etc etc.
A couple of weeks ago I realized that My Son hasn't been as enthusiastic as he had been earlier in the project. It seemed that he was gung ho and doing great with every aspect but slowly backed away. What was missing was the trains and running them/playing with them.
I changed gears and I just finished cleaning the track on the 2 mains and have trains running on them. I'm working on the inside track leading to the yard and will have it running shortly. The primary objective from here on is that the trains will be runnign throughout the process!!.
The layout we have is much more than I ever had as a kid but I realized as a kid I had more fun because I simply ran the trains, and the rest was in the imagination. So the title I borrowed is right on. At what point is what your building good enough for you?
My answer is it doesn't matter what is good enough for you. If you're sharing it with your son or daughter, it should be about them. it's exciting when you leave them alone and you find them with the lights off in the basement watching the headlights going through the tunnels. I and many others here did the same as kids. Until the layout is final, (and I hope it never is), there will always be trains running on it, and work will only be done when kids aren't using it.

No message, and yes I'm gabbing, but it's a lesson learned and an observation

 

[riverotter]

"If trains ain't runnin', the crew ain't happy."

My latest project is in half of two bays of a detached garage (about 31' x 24'). As soon as the first group of "dominoes" were assembled and connected together (about 2' x 24'), some track was laid and trains began to be run.

There's a time to work on this hobby and there's a time to play, and if the play doesn't come on line PDQ, the enthusiasm for the work wanes. I don't even mind having to tear up some track when the next set of modules get connected; that just means there'll be more track to run on soon!

Mine's not the only way to do this hobby ... it's just my way. God bless the patient folks who can spend two years building a basement full of benchwork, then another three years handlaying miles of track before the first consist leaves the yard. That's what makes this hobby so great - its flexibility!

 

[sparkyftw]

I am at the point where I want to get something running, but I am losing interest from planning it out.

I may just temp put down snap track and see what I like, then slowly replace it with hand laid or flex to give to a better look... plus, the giant box I have of code 100 is free, new track isn't.

Edit:

I know what you mean with your son. When I first really got into trains, I just threw some track together and enjoyed it. But because of what was happening in the world, I got distracted from the rails. This day being Sept. 11th. In fact, I was running trains when I heard of the attack, and this was around 4 in the afternoon.

 

[Yoc]

For us, running trains is a must, there are now buildings as yet, only roadbed and track. With a 5 yr old, a 7 yr old, and an 8 yr old as crew, I have to keep the trains moving. For me it's helped spot where I needed to rethink ideas, for them "train time" is fun time. Once school starts I'll spend more time working, but for now the trains go in circles, and that's enough. Ironically the 5yr old is the most interested in running at scale speeds and making horn noises at the crossing. He's my train buff.

 

[UP2CSX]

Very interesting observations. I have no children now who are interested in trains but I remember well when I had two young boys who were. They helped me work on my first layout, which was a little 4x6. They thought laying the tracks and then running the trains was the greatest thing ever. They even each had one junk Tyco locomotive they could run around at top speed until it derailed and smashed into the floor. I remember at the time becoming irritated with them because they were holding me back from making a real model railroad. How stupid I was. Those were some of the best times we had. For those of you who are dads with young kids, keep them in mind while you're building and running. What's good enough for them is a lot different than what's good enough for you but you'll have plenty of time to get to that stage later in life. You'll never have a chance to relive the time with your kids.

 

[Yoc]

The layout we're building now is the kids'. We're looking to move out of the apartment next spring into a house, that's when dad can build his dream layout, however I really want the two to interchange. To me that will be the fun part. Now to find a place with a 20' x 40' room... Yes, I'm buying the house based on the dimensions of my "dream" layout, not having a wife makes that chore much easier!

 

[UP2CSX]

Andy, when I bought my current house, I had three criteria:

1. It had to have a basement for tornado protection

2. The basement had to be finished and big enough for a pool table and workout equipment

3. There had to be enough space left over for my layout, even though I didn't know how much space I'd need at the time.

It all worked out so keep looking - the right house is out there, especially now.

 

[Jess Red Horse]

I took a kind of different approach with my two Grandsons, when they would come over for a few days I would explain too them that they were going to play with the trains but first we had a little work too do.

I would have them helping me in different ways and all the time telling them that if they wanted their own layout at home that they would need to learn to put it together and maintain it other wise they wouldn't be running any trains at home, they understood this and it wasn't a problem.

During their little tasks around the layout they would ask questions about how they could light their buildings when the time came for them to work on their own or why the "S" curves are a bad idea and so on, this told me that they were thinking and were serious about making their own from what they have learned during their visits.

When it became clear to them that I was not going to be building their layout they got more involved knowing that the success of their layout would depend on how well they learned their lessons during our layout time.

They would return home and I would get a phone call at least once a day about a track of train question and when I spoke with their father he would tell me how hard they were working on getting their temp layout running and were very focused at the task at hand.

We used our time together as a hands on class room and when the hour or so of work was completed then we would run trains for a hour and then a little more work and we would go back and forth until we gave up for that day.

So it was important for them to see that the work and the fun go hand in hand and they were rewarded for their efforts, this is the same way we teach them all their original native skills, they do not get a bow ready made for them, they must learn how to make one and why each step is so important to be able to reach the point where they are shooting their own arrows.

But I do know without the reward of play time they would have lost interest so it is a balance game, too much work and they don't think it is worth the effort and too much play and they don't learn to do the whole process on their own.

Our teaching methods have worked for many generations and they don't know it now but they are also learning how to be the teacher themselves.

I over heard one Grand son talking outside the window too the older one, one said lets ask Grand Pa if we can go into the pool and the other said, yes, but lets clean it first so that we don't have too after we have the fun, it was at this point that I knew our old ways had survived the modern generation.

 

[vato loco]

I miss the old mind set of youth! When I was young (yes, I was young once, and not hatched from a egg this age I remember filling the floor of our familys sunken in living with Tyco Trains and AFX Slot car tracks! yes, I had train/slot car crossings and such all over my moms living room floor. I would start building it friday afternoon right after school and Saturday morning the living room was filled with model trains, ho slot cars and half of the neigborhood kids Never worried about scenery or if the front plow on the steamer was broken cause of a fatal grade crossing! (Many of good drivers lost ther lives tring to beat the train during a race.) Or worried about carpet fibers in the motors we just had fun! then my mom told me no more carpet central any more in the living room then it was plywood central in the garage.......smaller but us kids still managed to have fun in smaller 4x8 area ..LOL's Now a days, Detail, detail, details.......The fun sometimes turns in work/job, and just Running trains in a loop on carpet or bare plywood disappears and so does the simple fun! My current layout is still bare and yes, I enjoy watching trains chase one another around on bare ply wood. If I add a little imagination, beer, and chip's I can be very happy for some time it's still better than whats on TV! I feel the hobby is what you make it and judging others layout based on your idea of what a model railroad should be.......wrong! I can go either way to be happy, Fully detailed layout or plywood central RR. Just turn on the trains and pass me a beer and sack of chips and I'll be very happy! BTW: still got my slot cars too ! wana race