For anyone who has a layout and small kids - how do you ensure the layout is 'safe' from them?

[andyman7]

With my son, as long as he was interested I always made sure he had his own projects - that meant that whilst 'dad's' stuff could be looked at he had his own projects to handle. His layouts went through various iterations as different things inspired him, until it got to the point as a teenager that we could share stuff as he is now into superdetail models and looks after them very well. He still has his 'own' fleet and an end-to-end layout project that I handed over to him but there are fairly frequent stock transfers and track access rights across both layouts 🙂

[Wheatley]

The indoor layout is a good 4ft off the floor, so for a long time he was too short to see it, let alone do any damage. Once he was tall enough to reach it it acquired a perspex screen about 8" high but in truth that was more to protect it from me squeezing past (it projects out into the study doorway, consequence of having a 9ft layout in a 6ft room, and I'm not 18" wide anymore.) Since then I've done more damage to it than him. 

 

He's 15 now and still runs it for ten minutes on weekends before he goes to bed. 

 

To be honest the greater problem was getting into the habit of not leaving edge tools lying around between sessions, and religiously clearing up bits of swarf etc. And finding every single dropped track pin. 

Edited December 17, 2023 by Wheatley

[DCB]

First thought is about safe.   Would your electrical equipment pass a PAT test. I don't mean is it  PAT tested. that is irrelevant as something can be damaged within milliseconds of being awarded a certificate, much as a car can after an MOT.  I was electrocuted by a faulty controller as a child, Nearly died I think.

Second weight. the good old 6X4 with 2X1 and 3mm ply top is not really going to do much harm stood on one end if it should topple over onto the Dog Cat or child, stick 12mm ply on top and it's a different kettle of horsemeat.
In my day we put all the track and stock away before moving the baseboard, nothing  was screwed down, that meant we could build a floor or dining  table layout with the same track and stock.  My Dad had a collection of Matchbox toys I was not allowed to play with and he put them around the picture rail 7ft above floor level. Aged under 7 I still climbed up and got them.  So a layout too high for kids may mean they get hurt trying to see it, pull it over on themselves etc.    

As regards safety of the stock etc well laid track with prototypical track layouts helps,  I generally expect my trains to stay on the rails when running flat out on the continuous run, maybe not light engine but with a Seven or Eight coach rake,  Full size steam railways tried to avoid sharp curves, facing points and reverse curves to mention a few of the usual places models fall off the rails.    Not very obviously a lot of 2000 era RTR is very bad at staying on the track.  1960 stuff acts like a ground effect F1 car by comparison.   (1950 Hornby Dublo 3 rail is surprisingly fine scale and got coarser  with 2 rail)    Probably best not to let Junior play with the best toys.
To keep kids interested  a double track continuous run is great for races, as are lights, and exploding Giraffe cars .