This is what happens with unsupervised kids at an open day

KeithT

KeithT

Hillwalking, chickens and - err - garden railways.
Country flag
Warned to stay off the track he hoofed my Annie clean off it.
Not sure if I can get this repaired.
Minutes later another almost wrecked the Zermatt-Bahm Steam Pub coach. Roof clips and coupling snapped.
Reaction from parents? NIL,
And these are people known to us.
I still had to patrol the layout and warn several times
V probably my last open day.IMG_4484.JPG
 
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Not good ...send parents the bill...
 
Totally agree, Mike... really sorry to hear about that, Keith - behavior of little brat in question = appalling but all too often par for the course these days I fear, behaviour of his parents = utterly disgusting...... :mad:

Jon.
 
Zerogee said:
Totally agree, Mike... really sorry to hear about that, Keith - behavior of little brat in question = appalling but all too often par for the course these days I fear, behaviour of his parents = utterly disgusting...... :mad:

Jon.
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That's so sad, what were the parents thinking? Any normal person would be mortified if their kids did that sort of damage. Do what Mike suggests, send them a nice big bill
 
I'm sorry for your loss..................I will admit that I was asked to leave an open house many years ago when my two boys got bored and I lost site of them for a second and they both ended up in the pool.................Very embarrassing but a lesson learned about how fast kids can get into mischief.......
 
Last year for the same charity 6 cars, not cheapo ones, lost 1 or 2 wheels each and the horse drawing a covered van lost both front hooves. :-(
 
mike said:
Not good ...send parents the bill...
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Sadly, by the time I discovered how bad it was they had gone.
When I picked up the loco I only looked at the other side which was undamaged.
 
KeithT said:
Warned to stay off the track he hoofed my Annie clean off it.
Not sure if I can get this repaired.
Minutes later another almost wrecked the Zermatt-Bahm Steam Pub coach. Roof clips and coupling snapped.
Reaction from parents? NIL,
And these are people known to us.
I still had to patrol the layout and warn several times
V probably my last open day.View attachment 224896
Click to expand...

I can certainly empathise with your situation. The parents may blame the kids (if you can catch them in the act), but I blame the parents!
 
I run horses for courses..... kids, Thomas. Visitors, interesting stuff. Mates, and fellow garden railroaders.... the good stuff.

One of my party tricks with kids at shows, is my Climax running on rollers (look, that engine is exercising, as one kid put it).
Kid, with mum in tow, watches the firebox flickering... so I ask him if he can blow out the fire. Of course they can... as I stop the loco with the hidden controller. The look of surprise when I tell them they have broken my engine (usually mum is smiling behind them). Backfired once, the kid burst into tears. Next act, is to see if they can click their fingers to make a spark to get the fire going again, no, not fast enough..... get the drift. Finally, a flick of the switch, and it's not only the fire that lights up.
 
trammayo said:
I can certainly empathise with your situation. The parents may blame the kids (if you can catch them in the act), but I blame the parents!
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They are the type who arrive, dump the kids then sit down and start chatting oblivious to what the kids might be up to.
There was another incident too where an 11-12yr old when my back was turned picked up a controller and was whanging the locos backwards and forwards whilst his parents looked on. They got an earful.

I have decided - no more charity open days. Sad but self preservation.
 
There is an upside to this.
On dismantling and thinking "How the hell do I get that axle through there?" and past inaccessible loops of wiring I realised that the centre axle is split each side being located in a central squared plastic spacer.
The kick had punched the half axle partly out of the spacer and jammed it against the frame. It meant that I could extract the components, re-assemble them, I didn't even have to worry about quartering and simply insert them from each side.
Whilst the rods were off I was able to refit the wheel spoke trim I removed about 5yrs ago and forgot to fit!
Not the trauma I had expected although I have yet to run it.
I still think that open days are "out".
Not gone down well with my wife needless to say.
 
Keith,

I hope that you can get that fixed. I am not familiar with the workings of the Annie, so can't really work out exactly what bits may be broken. I hope that you can source the parts.

We do seem to live in an age when a large number of people seem to absolve themselves of responsibility for anything at all. Their mantra is that it is always someone else's fault, but never theirs!

For public shows that I do, I have two little gimmicks that can involve and amuse children in areas where they can do no damage:

One is an interface module that allows them to drive a train, but within set parameters (that I control from elsewhere) and no, they can't reverse it!

The other is a signal control interface that allows them to stop and start a train. The signal that is controlled must be out of reach of the little Bs or they will soon work out how to change the signal aspect by force! There is a dealy built in too, so that they cannot press stop/start repeatedly, but must wait several seconds after each press!

That said many want to do more, touch, grab more.

Good luck,

James
 
Gavin Sowry said:
Next act, is to see if they can click their fingers to make a spark to get the fire going again, no, not fast enough..... get the drift. Finally, a flick of the switch, and it's not only the fire that lights up.
Click to expand...

Yeah ! While the kid's not looking you plugged 'em into the power transformer.......15 amps +, well lit up !

On a more serious note - If you are going to do open days/shows make sure you are part of a society/group that provides insurance that covers you against accidents to others on your property or at events. Or just invite good fiends and other society members to your open days. "Where there is blame there is a claim," as the ambulance chasers say. Mores the pity. Max.
 
'sfunny, in a way, no matter how many little notices you put out on a running day, advising visitors that 'LIVE STEAM TRAINS GET VERY HOT' and 'THESE MODELS ARE VERY FRAGILE', you will always get klutzes who need to test the truth of both statements. Because of the height of our track - almost four feet in places - children get to stand on raised platforms [dairy product crates], set at a safe distance from the tracks, but their registered keepers are not so encumbered. Trust me, an all-metal Accucraft K27 loco and tender weighing around thirty pounds, hauling half a dozen cars, is just NOT going to stop because Mr No-Brain puts his pinky on the line....

I'm very glad that the OP got his Annie sorted. Thankishly, every single part is readily available from Bachmann in the USA - what happens here in UK is terra incognita for me, I'm afraid.

tac
Ottawa Valley GRS [www.ovgrs.org
Fenland Light Railway [fenlandlightrailway. co.uk]
 
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