By Jo Anne DeKeles LSOL.com Customer Service Manager

Author  Bio Are their young engineers frequenting your railroad? As in all other hobbies, the young are the future of our hobby. We need to encourage their early participation so they will have the desire to be active on their own in the future. How old were you when you got interested in railroading? Did someone encourage you? Who are you going to encourage?

Larry Mosher: My son and I started in large scale 17 years ago when he was 7 with a starter set and added to it each year. We finally got to the point where we moved it outdoors. And for a few years he'd be out there with "He Man" and "Skelator" making them jump off of the bridges and trains. He finally lost interest when he got into High School so I was "forced" to take over. His first child should "arrive" in 2 weeks and it might just start all over again.

Tom Smith: We see thousands of kids and young families get excited over the trains and many take home a club membership form never to be heard from again. We need to do some follow up with the ones excited enough to want to take an application with them. The cost and size of the hobby can be prohibitive to many. It is my thinking that a personal call and invitation to a meeting or our own layout might give the opportunity to get a better look and feel of what we do. It would also give a better chance to really talk over what is involved.

Rick Henderson: I think many a child that is exposed to model railroading at a young age has a great chance to return to his roots after he has experienced other pursuits in life. I started with my dad at the age of seven on weekends. For about 10 years I was deeply interested in the trains but as a military family we moved often and I was starting over often. This background interest in trains kept me returning to the hobby in various scales through the years when I may have been sidetracked by necessities like women and work. But I always came back to trains because of the exposure I had as a child. Now after fifty years in the hobby of model railroading, I can’t think of another hobby I would have enjoyed more. My hope now is that my daughters give me grandsons that I may encourage to take the right track, not to mention inherited my trains.

John Damkier: I agree that children should be exposed and encouraged to play with trains. I do not think that large-scale is required. In fact, HO or N is better as the kid can start out with a smaller layout that the parent can afford in cost and space. This stuff is just too big for most people and parents are not going to turn their yard over to their child. Start them small, they will migrate to G when they are older.

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