I’ve had a lifelong fascination with trains, stemming from my father’s near 40-year career on the Santa Fe (and later BNSF) railroad. Some of my fondest childhood memories included trips to the train depot in Fort Madison, Iowa where I would see freight trains come and go. When I was 8 years old, I’ll never forget coming home from school one day to see Dad in our basement, setting up what would become our HO scale train layout.
Fast forward to early 2018, when my interest in the hobby was reborn. My oldest son (then 2 years old) had received the best Christmas gift from Santa Claus: a Lionel Polar Express train set. This led to my exploration into O gauge accessories. We built a layout, added locomotives and accessories, and connected with other modelers in our area and on social media.
Many of us talk about the future of toy trains and how much the next generation may be interested in pursuing it. I do not claim to be an expert, as many of you are parents and grandparents who already do an incredible job of involving children with toy trains. However, I’d like to share a few ways of involving kids in toy trains that have not only worked with my three young sons, but ideas from other hobbyists as well (including the “Train Dads,” see sidebar below).
Give children a chance to operate the layout
I have had so much joy as a parent seeing my sons control our layout. Does this mean that I let them run my Lionel Legacy locomotives unsupervised? Nope. However, I’ll never forget the huge smile on my 4-year-old’s face when he controlled a Legacy 2-8-0 Consolidation steam locomotive for the first time with the LionChief app on our iPad. As he hit the whistle button and saw the whistle steam feature activated on the engine, he felt as if he were in the cab in the engineer’s seat! Along with the LionChief app, my children enjoy the simplicity of the Lionel remotes, whether that be a Universal Remote or individual remotes that accompany train sets or older LionChief Plus locomotives.
Do a project together
Observing the creativity of my children has been enriching. They have ideas for new locations of buildings, scenery, die-cast cars and trucks, figurines, you name it! While trips to our local hobby shop may include their pleading to purchase every new O gauge item on the shelf, it’s fun to see them think out loud about what a new package of trees or foliage would look like on the layout, or perhaps some new cars for our auto racks. Two recent projects have included gluing cow figures into our cattle cars and weathering boxcars with chalk. The weathering idea really caught on with my 4 year old, and he took it upon himself to weather a gondola car in his collection of wooden trains!
Take family trips to a railroad museum
Living in eastern Iowa, we are fortunate to be within driving distance of incredible railroad museums and historic sites. While visiting family in that area, we’ve traveled to the Boone & Scenic Valley Railroad and the James H. Andrew Museum in Boone, Iowa, as well as the McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park in Scottsdale, Ariz.
During the past two summers, my wife and I have taken our sons to the Illinois Railroad Museum in Union, Ill. during their “Day Out with Thomas” excursions. It is heartwarming for us to see our children’s excitement when they see Thomas and Percy chugging down the tracks! Their interest in the permanent collection of equipment is thrilling for them as well. Walking alongside these giants is an incredible experience for them at such a young age.
Check for events in your area
Speaking of locomotive giants, we were fortunate that Union Pacific “Big Boy” No. 4014 came through our region in summer 2019. At that time, our oldest was almost 4 years old, and our second child was just a couple of weeks old (our third child would arrive two years later). “Big Boy” headed westbound from the Chicago area on the morning of a July day, and the locomotive and consist made a stop in Wheatland, Iowa, later traveling to Des Moines.
Seeing the world’s largest operating steam locomotive was an extraordinary experience. We’re looking forward to more special trains and excursions as they come close to our home, notably the upcoming CPKC Steam Tour featuring the “Empress” No. 2816 4-6-4 Hudson steam locomotive and the CPKC Holiday Train in November/December.
Set up a Christmas tree display
For many of us, this is how our fascination with the hobby got started. A great way to keep children’s interest in toy trains is to set up a holiday layout around the Christmas tree, whether it be a simple loop or a large Christmas village. In our home, setting up the Polar Express around our Christmas tree has become as much of a tradition as hanging up our stockings, watching holiday movies, or leaving milk and cookies for Santa.
Keeping our children involved with the hobby can start with rewarding experiences and projects on the family train layout, taking a trip to the local hobby store or train show to select the next locomotive together, or by simply standing near the railroad tracks and seeing a friendly exchange of waves between the locomotive engineers and our kids. Isn’t this an incredible hobby? Happy railroading!
Meet the Train Dads
A few years ago, I connected with a few model railroaders on social media. The five of us — Michael McNamee, Chris Raines, Nicholas Tate, Matt Rotchford, and I — all have two things in common: We have O gauge layouts and we’re all fathers. The “Train Dads” group was born, and even though we all reside in five different states, we have stayed in touch.
While many of our conversations usually revolve around the hobby, we always come back to talking about our children and families. My wife and I are the proud parents of three boys, ages 8, 4, and 2. All three of them are young “trainiacs!”
Read more about the Train Dads.
More for kids
Elementary school layout project
Playmobil and kids in the garden railway
