This is what happens with unsupervised kids at an open day

The one thankful thing is that just minutes prior to this happening I removed the K27 from the front of the train.
It would not have been an option for me to repair a K27.
 
When I have kids visiting only certain items make an appearance, I've got a battered USA trains diesel that is missing all its details parts, and only runs on one motor, that I use,
And for rolling stock it tends to be newquida playmobil or lgb toytrain, and a short train to keep things simple

Dan
 
I should take you to task on that as, in previous employment as an offset printer, we used sponges. We knackered them frequently and had a large reserve of dried out and flattened sponges - just drop them in water and off you go.
I'm saddened by the SWMBO reaction as ours is to try and mend stuff, but the girlies won't go back into the kitchen for a bunch of rissoles. There again, quite right too.
 
a98087 said:
When I have kids visiting only certain items make an appearance, I've got a battered USA trains diesel that is missing all its details parts, and only runs on one motor, that I use,
And for rolling stock it tends to be newquida playmobil or lgb toytrain, and a short train to keep things simple

Dan
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Don't knock it. That stock sounds like everything I've got.:rofl:
 
Testing, testing , testing.
It works!
Yippee!
I have to say that this looked pretty terminal, all the drivers were locked hard and the rods akimbo.
IMG_4494.JPG
 
Paul M said:
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
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Sadly, there are not as many normal persons as we would like to think. For some reason, our hobby is seen as toys. They're meant to be played with. If something breaks, well that's just the breaks, is the mindset of parents.
 
In 2014 we stopped having our Halloween open house. Even staying with HLW and Aristocraft 0-4-0 locomotives, it got to be a pain to repair or an unplanned expense to replace an engine that a 34" drop from the layout to a concrete slab floor. People just couldn't understand that 'toys' are breakable and not always repairable. Our LGB and other higher priced items have been kept in their storage cabinets when we have company.

Rodney Dangerfield wasn't the only one that got no respect.
 
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As I take my hobby out to shows, I meet people who have an interest in trains - some even having worked on railroads in the U.S. Others, see it as a demonstration of toys. I say they are "big boy's toys" (which they are!). Some children are really interested and I will answer their questions as if they were adults. I will even let them have access to the controls.

I try and protect my investment, but you cannot legislate for the unforseen (like adults who have spent the afternoon in the beer tent).

If I see children touching, I ask them not to. If they persist, I raise my voice so all can hear " Don't do that please - Mammy and daddy might not be able to afford to buy me a new one". It either stimulates a question and answer session or the offenders are dragged away.

Of course, I do get the response "Don't you shout at my children!". It then degenerates (with my help) to a metaphorical bibical quotation - "Go forth and multiply!" And the same goes for other mindless adults under the influence.
 
trammayo said:
As I take my hobby out to shows, I meet people who have an interest in trains - some even having worked on railroads in the U.S. Others, see it as a demonstration of toys. I say they are "big boy's toys" (which they are!). Some children are really interested and I will answer their questions as if they were adults. I will even let them have access to the controls.

I try and protect my investment, but you cannot legislate for the unforseen (like adults who have spent the afternoon in the beer tent).

If I see children touching, I ask them not to. If they persist, I raise my voice so all can hear " Don't do that please - Mammy and daddy might not be able to afford to buy me a new one". It either stimulates a question and answer session or the offenders are dragged away.

Of course, I do get the response "Don't you shout at my children!". It then degenerates (with my help) to a metaphorical bibical quotation - "Go forth and multiply!" And the same goes for other mindless adults under the influence.
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My alternative is something to the effect "Go and get photographed....!"
 
Gavin Sowry said:
Curious, have you developed an Irish accent yet?
Just trying to picture that in my ears (which my wife tells me don't work in any case.)
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Ar - to be sure, to be sure. No!
 
Mmm, I did an open day earlier in the year, and yes, one little charmer thought he could stand astride the elevated section of track and watch the train go between his legs - unfortunately he wasn't tall enough. Of course, as the loco and stock tumbled about 18" to the ground, his parents were offering all sorts of apologies - this after they had been standing on my veg patch (unplanted but bare earth and obviously 'garden') to get a closer look at the depot area.

Fortunately the loco fell on to the grassed area, and although it was the most delicate loco that I have, it only suffered cosmetic damage.

Will I do it again? Probably yes, because the charity in question is our local church, which means that you have an automatic overseer - literally, if you get my drift :nod::nod:;)
 
Are you so feudal out there, that the local minister is known as 'Overseer' then?
:eek::giggle::giggle::giggle:
 
PhilP said:
Are you so feudal out there, that the local minister is known as 'Overseer' then?
:eek::giggle::giggle::giggle:
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I was thinking of a higher authority than that.

I have to say, though, that there is a big difference between the over-exuberance of said french youngster, and the deliberate thuggery that Keith experienced.
 
Maybe blatantly ban parents with children - its not the children, its the parents.

and another story - a distant friend of ours asked me to get a layout for their brat (little darling)- I gave a reasonable estimate and she was horrified.
 
I think you have to accept that children under say 5 will want to touch, and to some extent I encourage it. I run locos and rolling stock accordingly, usually just an LGB MOW with the overhead removed, which is more or less indestructible and importantly very easy to rerail, and a wagon. Sometimes I run an 0-4-0 steam shunter with a sound card and with the couplings removed (ref OP). I have a pile of Playmobil people and animals that I let them load onto the train. I ran a couple of sessions for my wife's toddlers group recently, 1-4 year olds, no serious damage except they seem to be fascinated by the little stones making the track ballast (Alpine grit) and feel they need to load it stone by stone into a wagon, so some re-ballasting required. They like the locos disappearing into the shed and reappearing again as if by magic. This is all on my small outdoor track. I use an old iPhone as my outdoor controller and if the children are old enough to understand smart phones (about 8 years old these days) then I let them take turns driving a loco. For demos of the serious stuff (adults only) I use the indoor track where it is definitely hands off unless invited.
 
stockers said:
a distant friend of ours asked me to get a layout for their brat (little darling)- I gave a reasonable estimate and she was horrified.
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The brat or the supposed sponsor of the 'Toy Trainset'? :wondering:
Anyway, as mine was in the garden behind our café I installed a fence and shed once the track and groundwork was done. I couldn't supervise it all day but on a couple of occasions there was a child who had climbed through the fence while a parent looked or not. Child grabbed, shoved into the owners arms and both frog-marched to the street outside with a yell of 'Go, and never come back'. It worked.
 
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