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Whenever I attend the East Coast Large Scale Train Show (ECLSTS) one of the pleasures that I look forward to is visiting with Ric Golding of Carlyle, Illinois. He and his wife, Jan, model in 1/20.3 and 1/22.5 on his Kaskaskia Valley Railway
Whenever I attend the East Coast Large Scale Train Show (ECLSTS) one of the pleasures that I look forward to is visiting with Ric Golding of Carlyle, Illinois. He and his wife, Jan, model in 1/20.3 and 1/22.5 on his Kaskaskia Valley Railway (KVRwy).
Their railroad uses LGB, HLW, Bachmann, Aristo and USA engines with a variety of rolling stock from LGB, Bachmann, Hartland, Aristo, and USA. Ric uses RCS, Locolinc and Aristo TE power control.
Mostly the railroad runs battery operations, but he says he will always have some track power to just sit back and watch a train run or allow a friend with track powered equipment to share in the fun of running a train. Here are some shots of the railroad at a recent operating session.
In 1998, the KVRwy was a 120-foot figure 8 through a flower garden in his backyard. A tool shed with a two-track yard serves as protection for power packs and other equipment.
He added a 100-foot section in 1999 to connect to the garage for more storage. A small operations/classification yard was also created.
He continued to expand in 2000, with a powered loop and double siding for access to a lighthouse. (Ric is in the boat business.)
In the winter of 2000/2001 Ric completed a connection with a siding going to the inside portion of the KVRwy. This was built on a 2% grade coming from the basement bench work.
There is an eye-level loop around the basement ceiling and some additional storage and industry track in the basement.
Ric turned an old HO layout into a mining operation supporting the large-scale railroad. He built a John Allen "Timesaver" section into an industrial park, and made it removable to take to train shows along with a new addition of the portable setup - the Inglenook storage yard.
He brings the John Allen "Timesaver" section of his railroad to all of the Large Scale shows and Ric is a big believer in railroad operations. He also believes that operation of large-scale trains is the key to bringing kids into the hobby. At the Southeast Large Scale Train Show (SELSTS) in Perry, Georgia in February we had begun to discuss a potential article, so I was anticipating some time with Ric at the ECLSTS to plan for the article.
When first meeting Ric, you realize pretty quickly that he enjoys life and he really enjoys trains. At the shows, Ric spends almost all of his time at the Timesaver but most of that time, he is not running the trains. Kids are running the trains.
Ric likes to ask grownups if they remember the first time they got to run a train. He asks if they remember how that felt to actually control the train rather than just watching an old guy run it. . (Do you remember?) My memory of that moment is pretty clear. I was thrilled that my dad let me handle the transformer control to run the American Flyer Pacific he had given me for my sixth Christmas. I was really excited and Ric explains that is his point. "We need to get kids excited about running trains." Look around at the attendees at the next club meeting, or your next visit to a hobby shop, or your next large scale train show. Most of us are no longer kids.
A lot of children that I know play with Brio or other wooden or plastic trains that run on the floor or on small tables. They seem to really enjoy playing with these until they are about seven or eight when they begin to move on to video games or Gameboys. The electronic toys bring an excitement that cannot be found in pushing toy trains around a wooden track. Ric's theory is that if we allow the kids to actually run some of our "electric" trains they might remain interested in the trains at an older age. Of course, many kids are not even exposed to the hobby, but those who attend the shows present a real opportunity for us to show them how much fun they can have.
Some children will only be interested for a few moments, but most will stay until the controls are taken away to allow another child to run the trains. At Perry, Ric had up to 8 children waiting in line for their turn.
Ric explains, "You are going to see a few of us beating the drum about this at shows and on Large Scale websites. You can't imagine the smile you can put on a little kid's face by just letting him push the button to blow the whistle. What harm is it to let a child bring a train into a station or position the water hatch under the spout of a water tank? These kids are the future of the hobby, but if all we do is allow them to look and never touch, they'll go play with a video game or something else instead of trains."
"The kids say they have fun running the trains, but I have more fun than they do by showing them how it's done. We use a regular HO transformer with the Train Engineer for the switching layout and turn the throttle down to 50%. We've never had equipment damaged and we've made a lot of smiles."
Ric said that part of the secret is teaching them about controlling the trains and about the speed to run them. It is also about teaching them to be patient and waiting for the whistle signals from the sound system. Watching them slowly back the locomotive up to couple with the cars is fascinating. Patience is also taught to children by showing them how to operate at prototypical speeds. Look at the concentration on this little boy's face.
Teaching them about how railroads really work is important as well. When did you first realize that if a steam engine needed water, the water went into the tender and not into the smoke stack? Allowing a child to slowly bring the train into the station to pick up passengers or place the tender under the coaling tower will teach them railroading while they are having the pleasure of running the trains.
Most of the train displays at our shows are at a height making it impossible for children to view them unless being held by an adult. Of course, the height is just about right for us older people who don't enjoy bending over to work on our trains.
Some of the modulars at the shows are set up on the floor and that makes it easy for the kids to watch the trains.
But watching and running the trains are two different things. And Ric believes that if we want to "capture the kids" we need to let them run the trains. Take a look at one young man at the ECLSTS. He was fascinated and stayed for almost a half hour running the trains.
Later that day, Ric had several more young people who were intrigued with the fun of "operating".
Two of Ric's secrets make it easy and fun for the kids to run the trains. The height of the layout is important. It must be low enough for the kids to see without being held. Remember to station people to protect against runaway trains. Even though the kids are the center of attention, it is important to protect the equipment.
Ric believes that we need to find ways to bring kids into the hobby so that there will be a future to the hobby. If the hobby doesn't continue to grow, our trains are going to cost more and new products won't be introduced because the demand won't be there to keep the manufacturers in business. It is also important to pass on a love of the historical past of trains. Besides, it is a wonderful hobby and it would be a shame to have it disappear because we didn't help children become interested in it now.
Next time you are at one of the Large Scale shows, stop by and see Ric and his Timesaver layout. Be sure to notice the line of kids waiting to operate. The next time some children come over to see your trains, why not let them spend a few minutes running some of your trains. Read my earlier article about my young friend, who I introduced to the fun of running trains. Kids: The Future of Garden Trains
We may hear more from Ric in the future on the whole subject of operations. That is another subject where Ric is very articulate.
