Pizza Box Layouts

That is great and we need to do more to encourage youth to participate in the hobby.

The NMRA Northern Utah Division (NUD) has been helping kids make N scale “pizza box” layouts by sponsoring the Pizza Box Layout Club for several years.  Close to 200 children from 2 to18 have participated.  They meet once a month for two hours while being coached by their parents and NUD members.

Over 20 of the layouts were on display at the 2018 N Scale Enthusiasts Convention in Salt Lake City.  (One member of the NSE Convention committee told me, confidentially, that some of the kids’s layouts looked better than some of the adult’s modules on display.) The pizza box layouts will also be featured at the 2019 SLC NMRA National Convention in July. 

Check it out at  http://www.northernutahnmra.org/pizza-box-club/

Lou in Idaho (formerly Utah)

Getting kids interested

  I think the best way is for parents to take them out and show them operating trains. It's harder than it used to be to find trains but most towns have someplace interesting nearby that can be accessed, or museum railroads if no active lines are left. I grew up watching the SP and to a lesser extent the ATSF and it made me a lifetime hobbyist.....DaveB

Keeping it going

A buddy of mine from Valparaiso, IN has an organization that is aimed at getting kids train sets. They accept donations and buy up all kinds of stuff throughout the year and then build sets and give them away for children's Christmas gifts. Check out his group on Facebook.  https://www.facebook.com/ReTrainingOrganization/

If Mom and Dad don't have an

If Mom and Dad don't have an interest in trains then the odds of their offspring being into trains is greatly reduced. I think that most model railroaders do try to get their kids interested...I did, tried very hard to get my 2 boys interested.....gave them train sets....let them be a part of my layouts, list goes on.... In the end however when grown...neither of them seem to care about trains outside of wanting their homes to be AWAY from the tracks. Perhaps, like with many in this hobby, the fact that they had exposure when young will turn into a passion when they hit an age where they have more time, money and space for modeling.

The old saying comes to mind...you can lead a horse to water, but can't make him drink!.... So you can lead a kid to trains, but you can't make them play!

So exposure alone does not get a kid interested.....I think there needs to be a hardwired circuit in a brain to lead down the path of modeling anything...either you enjoy that stuff, or you don't. Does not seem to be much in between. 

Flipside

Well Said

I think attitude is everthing.  Too may times I observe model railroaders with “grouchy old man” disease or extremly introverted.

This does note bode well to attract anyone to the hobby.

Joe

Let's not forget creativity!

I love trains. Loved e'm all my life. The one thing I say all the time though is I'm basically in this hobby for the artistic and creative side of it. My love for trains is what kept me from being some kind of military or plastic car kit modeler etc. but it's the artistic creative side that has kept me in the hobby all these years. Put one of those Pizza Box kits in front of a little boy or girl who is already pre disposed to art, creativity, making stuff with their hands etc. and you've got a gold mine. Identify those type of children and target them. Not to the point of excluding others, mind you, but I would bet my bottom dollar you'll have success.

how young?

i've recently heard older modelers saying how more young retired people are needed because there's not enough to operate their layouts.    As a younger retired guy I'm become involved with helping complete and operate 3 layouts.

Scale Trains "NEW" Not NEW Locomotive

The BIG announcement at Amherst Show from Scale Trains---ANOTHER DASH 9 That should bring in more young modelers. I guess I have to face it, I am a dinosaur and I am becoming extinct. I don't need brass quality looks and price on operating plastic locomotives.  That stuff just falls off during an operating session!

Not a real problem at the museun

Since the club is located in the Children's Museum of Oak Ridge we spend every third Sunday interacting with children of all ages, and we also open the layouts for most special programs and events. Every Summer we conduct a train clinic where every attendee gets a T-Trac module to scenic, run and take home at the end of the week. We have a couple of layouts where we allow the little ones to "play" with the layout, and we have wooden trains for the very little one in the "Hands On" area which is accessible to visitors anytime the museum is open.

We have several junior club members, who after visiting the club and or attending clinics, have yanked there parents into model railroading.

Getting younger people into the hobby

Up to date, we have given away 14 small custom layouts to children. We did this as special Christmas gifts.  One parent is a teacher from the old school.  She has been trying to get kids to be more creative using objects around them.  She introduced one of our layouts that we donated to her class.  She was surprised how much it inspired ALL of them.  Interest was high both with the boys and the girls.

It was from some of their ideas that we began working on things like helicopters lifting off and landing (hiding the lift rods) and our new Automated Golfer.  Our latest product scheduled for late March came from one of these children also - EZ Tunnel.  Having 4 children of my own, I learned early how creative they can be when given a topic to focus on. 

Pleasantly Surprised at Amherst Show

Traveled from Virginia to Amherst for the "Mecca" show (was awesome by the way).  One thing that really struck the four of us that traveled up there was how many younger modelers were in attendance!  I'm not talking about kids with their dad/mom- there were a LOT of teenagers to 30 somethings in attendance, often in groups of 5-6 and SO excited about stuff.  As Joe F and crew often state- the hobby is alive and well.  Very encouraging.  

Craig

Children & Trains

I was a B.S.A. Asst. Scout Master and Merit Badge counselor for Model Trains back in the 1990's.  I heard parents tell the boys, "They did NOT want to spend lots of money on trains.  But rather spend it on X-box or other systems and games.  I was not going to confront them on facts.  You can lead them to water,  just can not drown them.  lol

Later Gators

Boudreaux,  Pres. B. C. E. R.R.

T-Trak and other contained

T-Trak and other contained layout options. 

I'm not going to try to "get"

Getting young people into the model railroading hobby

Passive-Aggressive Layout Crowd Control : Viewer perception

Dear MRHers,

Don't know about you, but it's this kind of layout signage which makes me realise why the general public don't tend to think of us as "Friendly Approachable Model Railroaders"...
(esp when we hide behind the backdrops, avoid eye-contact at all costs,
and if caught out-in-the-open, typically respond with a snarling "...Don't Bother Me, I'm Running The Train...")

(Pic C/o a random MyTwitFace post)

I totally appreciate the drive to protect the umpteen hours of work and craftsmanship we've put into our models, but over 20 years of exhibition layout presenting suggests we would get a lot more positive interaction, and "better crowd behaviour", if we got out front of the layouts and actually worked _with_ the crowd...

Happy Modelling,
Aim to Improve,
Prof Klyzlr

Please do not touch signs are

Please do not touch signs are ok in my book provided they are done with some taste. They can be easily overcome by engaging with the folks that stop by to look. Good interaction with visitors will make them feel welcome. Just as inviting someone into your house you are not giving them permission to convert your assets to theirs or to make use of your credit cards or check book.

The signs only convey guidelines to the masses. The manners and behavior levels of the general population has taken a big drop over the decades from the time when I was a youngster to now. Children were taught not to touch and grab everything when I was growing up, but that no longer seems to be the case. The value folks placed on property that went through the depression years was often passed on to their children, so they took care of things better. It seems that in more modern times these folks have been raised on throw away goods and not learned the value of taking care of things. This also translates to the way many folks view the property of others.

Not much problem in my area either

This is not much problem in my area either as our club is in a public library that has a great kids and teens area and actively pursues those age groups. Many club nights we don't get anything actually accomplished on the railroad because we are interacting with all the visitors. As i pointed out in another thread, our latest two members are young men who are gamers and wanted to learn to build credible structures and scenery. They are getting into the trains too. We get a LOT of return visitors each week, TONS of kids so I suspect we will have provided the needed exposure to kick a few of them into modeling of some sort as they age.

As for the need of parents being interested...that just isn't the case. My parents weren't interested but they saw I developed an interest and they bought me a train set and encouraged me. Made all the difference. By the end of his post Dale hits it right on...something in my head was hardwired to enjoy trains. Could be my exposure to so many of them when I was a very young kid...could be my grandfather spending time with me engaged in that interest. I don't know but I am the only one in my family with the hobby. My daughter has more than a passing interest but I am not sure she will stick with it.