Greg Elems said:
Seeing the younger generation studying your layout intently bodes well IMHO.
I hope you're right, Greg.
I've heard the pessimistic view that kids in the age group seen here are naturally fascinated with anything mechanical, but when they get older and their thinking becomes more abstract, they abandon any interest they might have had for trains, being diverted to computers, video games and other contemporary "distractions".
I'm sure it happens, but otoh, there's more to it. When I was a kid (early '60s), PCs and video games were unheard of, but there were still many "distractions" from trains: The Jet Age, the Space Age, TV, the latest Detroit Iron, Rock 'n Roll, etc. As for real trains, they didn't appear any more to the average person than trains do now. Usually they were seen as an obstacle holding up street traffic. I was given a train set at an age that required me to "grow into" the toy. Normally the Christmas season was the one time of year the set saw the light of day. The only reason I kept it all those years was that it is a keepsake, a gift from my grandad. There was no reason to suppose that I would ever become a mrr'er as an adult.
Yet, here am I with all these trains. I can only hope the same thing happens here and there with the current crop of kidlets.
For now anyway, Louie the Loader seems to be reeling them in...