Jongudmund Posted August 6, 2016 Share Posted August 6, 2016 On another thread about the future of the hobby I responded to a comment about reviving Battle Space and making something more of it with an idea for trains that fire at each other. Probably a silly and unworkable idea, but it got me thinking about actual toy trains that can bring children into the hobby. I used to love my pushalong matchbox trains when I was a kid. Recently I found a few in a charity shop and they are now on the shelf next to me as I type this. You do sometimes see other trains sold as toys, but not many. I don't know any small children who don't love Brio and other wooden railways. As a fan of Lego I have a blog about my Lego railway and I know there are lots of kids who have Duplo and then Lego trains. Hornby have done some sets with 'play value' - their Dinosaur park set a few years ago and then their Battle Zone set. They have also done stuff with various franchises like Harry Potter and also the Western train chase from the start of Toy Story 3. The big 'kids' range in terms of model railways is Thomas the Tank Engine. There are a bewildering array of other Thomas toys that can be had as well, including some with tracks. But what about other propriety lines - will anyone bring out a Chuggington train set and why have we never seen a commercially ready to run Ivor the Engine? As a 40 year old man-child I would just HAVE to buy Ivor. So what toy trains could be made? And more importantly, what would you buy? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkSG Posted August 6, 2016 Share Posted August 6, 2016 There are Chuggington toys, but they are plastic Brio-like track and models that make no pretence at realism. Bachmann did a series of Underground Ernie trains that ran on standard 16.5mm track. I don't think anyone has done an Ivor toy or model. When I was a kid I had a Big Big Train set. A couple of years ago, I took my daughter along to an exhibition with me and they had a Big Big Train layout there - a massive one that filled the whole of a room, on the floor, just like mine did. She loved it! I really wish they were still available, and I think she does, too. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jongudmund Posted August 6, 2016 Author Share Posted August 6, 2016 I've seen the Chuggington toys but like you say they are plasticky and not like a train set. Had forgotten Underground Ernie. How many survive though? Every kitbash I read about uses one of the chassis. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zomboid Posted August 6, 2016 Share Posted August 6, 2016 I wanted brio trains after getting an electric set... Kids will play with anything. Large cardboard boxes are one of the best toys. So "proper" train sets are fine, if they're robust enough. Bachmann make some right tat for the American market, Christmas or circus themed train sets. I can't see why anyone would part with actual money for them, but they must sell an amount... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glorious NSE Posted August 6, 2016 Share Posted August 6, 2016 There's also the likes of Tomy that make a large range of plastic toy trains. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcm@gwr Posted August 7, 2016 Share Posted August 7, 2016 Not forgetting the 'Santa Specials' that appear in the lead-up to Christmas, in all known (and unknown) scale/gauge combinations! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianusa Posted August 7, 2016 Share Posted August 7, 2016 Santa Specials. Do these sets ever make an impact or are they binned before the Easter Bunny arrives or the batteries wear out? They represent good value for money, usually sound and smoke and seemingly would make a nice Christmas present. Obviously they are one set wonders with not much chance of ever growing beyond the oval on the floor but perhaps might have an influence to go on to greater things. Brian. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
28XX Posted August 7, 2016 Share Posted August 7, 2016 I will be buying the biggest job lot of Brio I can find for LJ's Christmas present. She is getting quite good at following rules in games, so I expect we will have a single line with passing loops and a train each. Trying to teach her bell code, Ding Ding! "The train is coming!" is as far as we have got. She's only 30 months though. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Classsix T Posted August 8, 2016 Share Posted August 8, 2016 Mainline Peak plus nuclear flask, five Hachette MK1 's with various sprung parts...you can see where I'm going...length of track and a cheap dc controller, at any good (or bad depending on your point of view) exhibition second hand stall. And a bicycle pump to test the flask afterwards. Natch. C6T. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Titan Posted August 8, 2016 Share Posted August 8, 2016 Mainline Peak plus nuclear flask, five Hachette MK1 's with various sprung parts...you can see where I'm going...length of track and a cheap dc controller, at any good (or bad depending on your point of view) exhibition second hand stall. And a bicycle pump to test the flask afterwards. Natch. C6T. Should that not be three Mk1's , or are you reckoning on needing spares? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Classsix T Posted August 8, 2016 Share Posted August 8, 2016 (Couldn't remember how many!) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkSG Posted August 8, 2016 Share Posted August 8, 2016 Footage here, if you need a reminder: (Flask crash test starts at approximately 5:20) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jongudmund Posted August 8, 2016 Author Share Posted August 8, 2016 Flipping hell! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruston Posted August 12, 2016 Share Posted August 12, 2016 On another thread about the future of the hobby I responded to a comment about reviving Battle Space and making something more of it with an idea for trains that fire at each other. Probably a silly and unworkable idea, but it got me thinking about actual toy trains that can bring children into the hobby. This is only one of many threads over the years where people have commented on how to get children interested in the hobby of model railways. Somewhere on here there's also a thread about creating an exhibition layout to get children interested too. I have to ask why people think that children need gimmicks and something "to interest them"? We were all children once and we're all interested in railways and railway modelling but did we need gimmicks and silly things to get us interested? I'm 46 years of age so I was a child in the 1970s, the years long after every little lad was a trainspotter but before they were all glued to staring at computer screens, so I didn't become interested in them just because everyone else was. My interest in railways came from travelling on trains to go on holiday and being given the most basic Hornby 00 clockwork set. I didn't need gimmicks and silliness. I think you either get interested in railways for what they are or you don't and no amount of toy or gimmickery is going to alter that for an individual. Just my Two New Pence worth... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianusa Posted August 12, 2016 Share Posted August 12, 2016 Agree with the last post. There has to be a spark of interest for any hobby to last a lifetime and it can't be just thrust upon an unwitting child just because Dad likes trains. Many years ago, Hornby trains and other Meccano products were thought to be the toys of choice for boys and thus were purchased by many parents who just had to keep little Tommy up with his contemporaries, who also had the same toys. This was the reason for many of a certain age to be interested in trains, real or model which in turn created a generation of trainspotters. My parents were supportive of my interests but my Dad tried to interest me in football but that was a disaster much to his chagrin, so the interest has to come from within - it can't be put in! Brian. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rue_d_etropal Posted August 13, 2016 Share Posted August 13, 2016 I remember David Boyle saying many years ago, not long after starting Dapol, that the problem with model trains(I use that term deliberately) in the UK was that there was not enough play value, compared to in the USA where they still offer items similar to the old Triang Battle Space. Shooting thing, exploding freight cars might not be to everyone's taste, but are probably more popular that just watching a train with a face(and maybe wobbly eyes) going round and round. Somethin as simple as the giraffe car, using same technology as the royal mail pickup devices. With electronic devices it would be easy to add something interesting for the age range which is not interested in trains with faces. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianusa Posted August 13, 2016 Share Posted August 13, 2016 When I first got back into trains in this country, Lionel was the obvious choice, so just about every operating accessory had to be included on the layout. Great fun at first but nowadays they lie unplayed with as the trains continue to run around them. This is similar to the average child who will play with a toy for a while until the next thing comes along. The layout now exists quite well with static accessories such as stations, etc, but nothing needs to be operated any more except the trains themselves. Brian. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejstubbs Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 Flipping hell! I know, some of those man-perms are truly frightening... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnarcher Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 It seems a bit late but may I query the thread title? I wouldn't disagree with wanting to get children interested in the hobby - good for them and it, however (and I'm not sure if the title is meant to imply this) I don't think that's the most important thing for the future of said hobby. I suspect most children who dabble lose interest for a period in the face of distractions like exams, first employment, romance, etc etc, and some return later as adults (with adult interests now), and some adults come to the hobby without previous childhood interest. So by all means discuss engaging the interest of children, a very good thing, but if we're talking about the future of modelling I reckon how to attract adults is more important. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Classsix T Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 I see your point John, and it's something rarely mentioned even on this forum when the "attracting new hobbyists" topic comes around, is that there is and always has been a chunk of what we'd broadly call rail enthusiasts that just aren't into the modelling side of the hobby. Just as there are full time railway industry workers for whom it's just a job, to be left at the door at knocking-off time, I have friends into either the modelling, photographic, cranking (some of whom can be particularly ambivalent to "toy trains") and spotting aspects of the hobby, but not necessarily all or any of the others. Perhaps this is the demographic that attention should be aimed at more carefully. Is Rail Express the only monthly for example that carries an integrated modelling section? C6T. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnarcher Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 Yes, I suppose rail enthusiasts are one type of person who might be attracted to the hobby as adult, even with no childhood experience. I have had experience of a couple of people who came into it, also no real childhood involvement or even real rail interest, but from other model-making hobbies as the variety of the modelling (wood, metal, electric, scenics etc etc) attracted them. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Classsix T Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 Well I for one have done "all of the above" and railway preservation, which I forgot to mention previously. Indeed, I'm Editor of a diesel preservation Group's newsletter. However as such I have to be mindful that not everyone within our merry band necessarily wants pages of articles on detailing our favoured traction in miniature. Believe it or not, at Forty three and a half, I'm one of the youngsters! A selling point of model railways should be the ability to recreate fond memories. Something even more pertinent in this day and age of unit based passenger carriage, declining freight and foreign built traction and rolling stock. The latest Crank-ex I was wondering whether to patronise wanted £92 standard class. Plus, from what I've heard lately, as well as not being able to have a crafty fag, leaving your seat just to have a gander out the droplight is frowned upon. I shan't be doing tours again. I won't be the only one. A consequence of the above is Galas are getting full to the extent of not being a very nice day out. What better way to enjoy yourself therefore than having a trainset to play with at home..? C6T. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium jjb1970 Posted August 17, 2016 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 17, 2016 Play value of toys is an important quality in making them attractive to children and it is worth remembering that a child's vision of realism in toys can be very different to that of an adult meaning that there need not be a contradiction in a child wanting play value at the same time as realism. I've made a train set with my little lad and we've gone for play value, one of the great things about DCC is that it opens up all sorts of opportunities for play and I'll admit that I enjoy just playing with trains. I really believe that in a real sense there is no such thing as the hobby, as the hobby is unique to all of us and each of us takes something unique from the hobby. If people enjoy fine scale scratch building and striving for perfection then that is great, but it is no more worthy than those who like playing with toy trains or collecting models or any of the other facets of model railways. To me there is only one important thing about model trains and that is that whatever aspect of them you indulge yourself in that you take pleasure from it and are happy. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkSG Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 On 17/08/2016 at 22:01, jjb1970 said: Play value of toys is an important quality in making them attractive to children and it is worth remembering that a child's vision of realism in toys can be very different to that of an adult meaning that there need not be a contradiction in a child wanting play value at the same time as realism. That's a really good point. This is a photo that I've previously posted in the Garratt thread, showing my daughter's modifications to my test track: The point is that, to her, this is realism. It has a station, complete with an engine shed, there are trees and houses (mostly out of shot) and an airport. But most importantly, the "clock tower" is a model of a real tower in our town. OK, so it looks nothing like the real tower. But it's a tower with a clock on it, and it's a model of the one she knows. This, for a (then) seven year old is detailed scenic modelling! When I had my first train set, we'd lay it out on the floor and use cushions and blankets to make cuttings and tunnels, and to me at the time it seemed very realistic. At some point during my teens I made the transition from representative to properly realistic scenic modelling, and I've (mostly!) got better at it since. But, like a lot of modellers I started out playing trains. I think that being able to do so is one of the most important routes into the hobby. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nearholmer Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 I like the last post a very great deal, because, if anyone who wanted to make/sell toy trains to/for kids started not with trains, but with kids and playing they would be starting from a much better place. Kids don't see trains as we do, so they don't play with them as we do. They like to use them as part of a sort of landscape, preferably with people and animals, and "goods" to be transported. Fortunately, brio gets it pretty much exactly right for tiny children and, IMHO, where Playmobil dabble in trains they get it absolutely spot-on, for a slightly older constituency. Hornby and Bachmann on the other hand are hampered by starting with trains, and trying to head towards children - its the wrong way round! Bachmann's G-scale Thomas stuff was "Sussed" by my daughter in about a second, with one question: how do I get the driver in? Answer: you can't, the cab door is just black paint. These things will sell to well-meaning dads and grandads, and will appeal to some kids, but Hornby c1927 had a better toy, with opening carriage doors, and cattle wagons that opened to admit (dangerously poisonous) lead cows. Kevin Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.