Change in modelling direction

[acko22]

Hi all,

So after some long thoughts and discussion with the domestic boss I have come to the decision on my long protected layout and my chosen gauge!
With the twins betting older and a lot more interested in things they have taken taken a huge interest in choo choo trains (possibly helped by my job) so I have decided to move to the darkside for now and move over to OO gauge!

I am going to be keeping my bespoke N gauge stuff that I have had done custom but for now the run of the mill stuff will be getting sold to fund a OO gauge layout so the girls can play trains with daddy!
It's a bit of a departure and I will still be dabbling in N gauge but the focus for now is going to be using my existing base boards to do a layout I can share with the little ones until they are big enough to be able to appreciate how delicate N gauge is!

[LASteve]

It's the pleasure you get out of what you do, and if the girls can enjoy with you that's fantastic and pretty much all you can say. Good luck on the dark side, but we'll be happy to raise a glasso n your return. In fact I'll raise one now 

[AlexanderJesse]

Which road to 00 will you go? AC or DC?
From others (a german forum) and my own experience, I got the impression that AC or 3-rail track (usually Märklin over here on the continent) is simpler with less electrical problems.

And have fun.

Most important hint from the german forum: don't build a layout. Just lay track on a flat surface. And give the kids Lego and cardboard boxes... let them do the scenics.
And don't get angry if you have to relay the track every few days. THEY know how "trains is played"

[Bealman]

Oh, great... let's go back to three rail track 

[Dalek]

Have you thought about lego trains ? Thats how my son got interested

[njee20]

My son's been playing with Kato Unitrack and a few less detailed bits of N gauge since he was 2. I built him his own layout when he was 4, which is under his bed. He now just plays with all my stock, and can operate the ECOS competently, although his is just DC. He's never broken anything noteworthy, only casualties I recall being the etches on a silver bullet tank hatch, a bogie on an FIA flat and a smoke deflector on an A1. all easily fixed. I've broken far more in the same time! He also has Lego trains and Brio, all of which he plays with differently.

Regardless of that I hope the 'move' works out and the girls enjoy it!

Which road to 00 will you go? AC or DC?
From others (a german forum) and my own experience, I got the impression that AC or 3-rail track (usually Märklin over here on the continent) is simpler with less electrical problems.

And have fun.

Most important hint from the german forum: don't build a layout. Just lay track on a flat surface. And give the kids Lego and cardboard boxes... let them do the scenics.
And don't get angry if you have to relay the track every few days. THEY know how "trains is played"

I agree with the point on scenics, my son changes his mind weekly on what he wants, and is fully content to change it around! But surely AC has no market outside a small range of Marklin models?

[Steven B]

My seven year old daughter is quite happy putting my N Gauge stock on the track - fortunately nothing's been broken off but I am thinking of getting some Kato and Peco models for her to use as I got rather nervous when she was re-railing some Revolution Class A tanks....

T-TRAK works well for kids too - the Yorkshire Area Group has seen four or five models built by children/grandchildren under the age of ten - everything from a farm to Jurassic Park.

Steven B.

[Paul B]

My nephew (now 10 years old) has been playing with trains since he was tiny! He started off with the wooden push-along trains, and also had some battery operated ones for that track. Then his grandfather built him a Thomas layout, from a starter set which came with a plastic printed sheet, for which they got him all the extra track and buildings.

Last March, I was operating a club layout at the Swindon Model Railway Club show, but it didn't look like I was going to be getting any help (it is a big 16 foot ling layout - I have operated it myself before, but some help never goes amiss!) So I asked my nephew - he was so excited and proud that I would trust my models to him! We had a great day together, and he was a very good operator (apart from the occasional time he wanted to run coal trucks at the back of an express steam passenger train!  )

So children can run N gauge quite happily, as long as they appreciate that it isn't a toy - and is not cheap!

(as an aside, my nephew said to him mum afterwards that he felt so grown up, as every other railway show he had been to, he had been watching others operate the layouts - but this was the first time HE was doing the operating, and everyone was watching him!  )

[Tank]

Sorry to see you change gauges, but I'm sure you'll be back in the future.    My kids love N, but it is a little more fragile than OO, and there have been a few accidental breakages.

Most importantly, I'm glad that your girls are having fun, and that you're putting them first.  Good daddy!   

[Toothman]

From the beginning of covid till now I'm spent a lot on n gauge it's in my spare bedroom but I'm going to move it to a shed which will be insulated from the weather. I've just bought 0 gauge pannier with sound and some track and will build a freight yard. This engine is brilliant so I'm going to be kept busy