Large Scale Central

Grandkids, guests and other fun

General Discussion
#1

This has a been a fun week so far. Two of our grandkids are visiting from TX, so I haven’t had much time to work on the layout. Yesterday the girls helped out for a while, with the 8 year old breaking rocks and the 5 year old spreading ballast. And of course, they got to run the train a bit too.

This morning I had a couple hours free and was able to do some more work on the cliffs at the upper east end of the layout. This was one of the first areas I built and did not look as good as the rest of the layout, so ever since our open house I’ve been redoing it. Removed a few of the old rocks and put in a lot of new rocks, creating three mine tunnels and some much more interesting and realistic cliffs. Also incorporated some pockets of soil for small cacti and succulents.

Then one of the guys from our club came by to show the layout to his friend from Temecula. So I got a chance to talk trains and show off the layout a little bit, which is always fun.

I’ve also completed a small ore bin which will be part of a mine high on the cliffs near the west end of the layout. Next I need to build a foundation for it, and then build the headframe and eventually the hoist house.

When the “revised” cliffs are finished at the east end, I’ll scratchbuild a couple structures to go with the mines there, plus a mine tram, ore chutes, and other details.

I still have to finish adding a rock facade to the retaining wall, and have to build several trestles before I can get the lower level track put in. The two biggest trestles will cross the western canyon on the mid-level. One of these will be about 12 feet long.

#2

Ray,
Pictures please.

My grandkids [B-7, G-6, B-4] each have a special area of the layout [diorama] that they call their own. This increases their interest and my pleasure. On their 6th Christmas, each receives a book/tape/DVD of the Polar Express. The 7yo and 6yo have picked out which loco is to become theirs if something ever happens to “Papa.” The 7yo has been very good at helping with ballast for years, and has operated trains [under supervision] since age 3.

It sounds like you are making great progress on your layout. Enjoy.

Again, Pictures please. Your projects sound interesting.
JimC.

#3
Jim Carter said:
Again, Pictures please. Your projects sound interesting.
No pics yet of the recent days activities. But if you haven't already seen them, you can see pics of the layout here:

http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=3009006&a=32116967

I’ll try to get some new pics ASAP.

#4

More guests today – my brother-in-law and his wife are visiting from Colorado with their five boys, and came by to see the layout. All were duly impressed. Having visitors to the layout is a great way to reinvigorate one’s enthusiasm for the project!

Had lots of running around to do today, but did manage to squeeze in an hour this morning to cement in some more rocks. And later, the girls helped out again, this time with the 5-year-old breaking rocks while the older one watered plants. Breaking rocks is an especially popular activity for these girls. Give a 5-year-old a rock, a hammer, and safety goggles, and you’ll have a happy kid and a pile of little rocks in no time!

#5

Ray,
Thanks for the pictures. You have an outstanding layout. I especially like picture #11.
JimC.

#6

So Ray, is grandpa buying dinner or do the grandkids get to run the trains or are you buying tickets for Sea World?

#7

They get to run trains, of course. Although, they do enjoy breaking rocks almost as much as running trains!

As for Sea World, it’s way over-priced IMHO. We have plenty of other things to do with the grandkids.

#8

Jim, I like that idea of giving each of the grandchildren responsibility for part of the layout. My grandsons are 5 and 3, and I think they can handle that.

Since we are in Perth and they are in Launceston (think LA - Boston), I have been putting together a few stories based on the trains and some toys and figures picked up at various sales. We take a few photos, put together a simple tale using big text with plenty of white space, put it in a binder and send it off. My daughter tells me the lads enjoy them; the older one memorises the lot and “reads” it to his younger brother!

#9

Great thread guy’s!
I had a good time(and not so good time’s) building my sub-roadbed with my 7yr old son.
After about 16lbs of 1 5/8" screws he put the final screw in the ladder’s last week. Now if I can convince him that the train can’t do jack rabbit starts and stops and doesn’t need to run a scale 700mph then only to be blown up at the bridge like Gomez Adam’s did on the TV show all will be good. :lol:
(Stupid Adam’s Family…great show though!)
Dave
http://saabpics.com:3000/gallery2/v/MrWinkey/Railroad/Completing+the+loop+016.jpg.html

#10

They probably enjoy breaking up the rocks because they like what you do with them!

#11

Dave:

This was posted on myLargeScale last week:

http://www.flixxy.com/train-track-engineers.htm

Show it to your boy at your own risk!