Hi folks--After 40 years of modeling various other railroads (but a lot of Santa Fe) in mostly HO, and while trying to keep my 6 year old son interested in trains, I let him pick out a Genesis GP15-1, based upon the online photos of the various models. When it arrived, we were quite pleasantly surprised at the intensity of the Mandarin red-orange paint--it made all the IC orange and white diesels I had on hand look dull, lifeless, and boring by comparison. Then I picked up the Morning Sun Frisco in Color Book, Volume 2, and now I'm trying to learn more about the Frisco (also having added a second GP15-1 and an Atlas Trainman GP38-2 to the roster). John
You have done two great deeds. The first is becoming interested in the greatest railroad of any time, The Frisco. But more importantly you are getting a youngster interested in trains. That's not an easy thing to do these days. I commend you on your efforts and welcome to the wonderful world of Frisco!
John, I like your style! Welcome and .... KEEP THAT YOUNGSTER INTO TRAINS ... as Howard said, "That's not an easy thing to do these days".
Well unfortunately, keeping him interested is not working out so well. He had wanted a purple and silver passenger diesel a few years ago. I said when they (good ones) are made again, sure. Now the BLI ACL E-7A I ordered is in, and it's a wonderful diesel. I paid off my layaway and am picking up it and the Santa Fe E-6A "Fast 14" (124 mph speed record unit) that I also put aside (after seeing them in person) tomorrow...but Johnny is losing interest in trains. I'm really kinda sad about that. Once it's been here a few weeks, he just isn't interested. I'm the only one who runs them anymore--though he can go run the trains any time (I always leave one on the mainline for him to run if I'm not home). True story: My older son, James, loved trains in general, and loved Thomas the Tank Engine up until about age 5, when we were picking him up from the nursery in our gym after our workout--when a stupid lady said to her 4 year old son "You don't want to play with those Thomas Trains--trains are for babies". I wanted to punch the ..."lady"...out right then and there (but didn't). I hoped James had not heard, but he did. Two weeks later he stopped playing with all trains and never has since. We had plenty of money in Thomas Trains, both wooden and HO... In our schools, here in PA, even the teachers make statements like "trains are for babies" in the open classroom in kindergarden and first grade. That is a shame. I live about 1 mile from the west end of the PRR's famous Rockville Bridge, in arguably one of the most historic railroad locations anywhere in the U.S. The Train Yard gym we attend ("Train hard at the Train Yard") was located right across the street from Enola Yard, at one time the largest rail yard in the world. We have so much history here...the locals just don't care. R/C planes and cars are more popular than model trains. Johnny still likes trains, so he says, and James likes to ride real ones...perhaps someday they'll come back to trains, but given the video games, I won't hold my breath. I've traded a lot of trains on Ebay trying to keep Johnny interested and happy. Just sold a bunch of SP tunnel motors including the bicentennial one and Kodachromes. Thanks for the kind comments anyway-- John
Those are probably the same people that spend their time playing stupid games on Facebook and sharing it for all their friends to see. If you go in their houses you will probably see all kinds of collectibles and other hobbies that they think are what everyone should be doing. People I work with think it's funny that I am into model trains. These are the same people that are involved in some sort of "fantasy NASCAR pool" and they talk about it all the time. To me, that's a waste of time but pointing it out to them is futile.
Welcome to the forum John. And as far as your sons, you planted the seed, so chances are they will be back. Its pretty normal for them to lose interest for a while, its just a part of growing up. Stay the course, raise them best you can, it'll work out.
Amen. Maybe playing with trains as a kid (and also pretending to build roads and airports in the sandbox) had something to do with my being a civil engineer today. Also, my first job was for Bowser Trains. Since it was a machine shop, in PA you had to be either 18 or a high school graduate to work there...for me that was 2 days difference either way. Lewis K. English, Sr., used to walk around at least once a week and say "see, doing this job (milling, drilling, turning motor armatures, etc.) is why you want to finish your college degree". He was a degree'd chemical engineer, prior to becoming a train manufacturer. Shirley English, his still living wife, who still works part time in the office at age 90 or so, wanted to be a civil engineer very badly, but in that era, women could not do so. She always asks me a lot of questions about highway projects in the area. Anyhow, I am still friends with the folks at Bowser, including Lee (the boss) and Rich (the retail store manager), and have fond memories of having worked in the retail store, and doing mail order, and having done some of the manufacturing. If there's Frisco paint schemes they could offer on existing products that have not been offered, I need to know which ones you want to see done most, and I can ask nicely and put a bug in their ear. Respectfully submitted-- John
John, an aspect that was always missing from the trains in the past was the sound. While we can't fully reproduce the ground-thumping sound of the big diesels without some serious amplification and external speakers, one manufacturer of DCC sound decoders for locomotives, Soundtraxx, has truly captured the sound digitally and made it possible for each of our locomotives to have a true voice, and their decoders also very faithfully mimic the various lighting features that locomotives have had. For many of us, that is the icing on the cake that makes the modeling and operating experience much more enjoyable. If your son hasn't experienced the sound, that may help. Another aspect that you may not be familiar with is the actual reproduction of the operation of a railroad via the use of car cards and waybills. The puzzle aspect of shuffling cars to pull pickups and spot setouts may be something that will help keephis interest.
I've been mad at Bowser since they stopped making their 69" Scullin drivers. Wish they were still around with good NS tires on them.
Don--I totally understand your frustration. At some point, people just stopped buying the steam locomotive kits (actual sales just faded away to very few), and they also realized that some of the steam super detail parts are also a money losing proposition--there is no money at all to be made--the costs of making, packaging, stocking and picking parts outweighed any meager sales that still remained. There was no profit to be had. I believe, for those reasons, much of the factory workforce was simply let go, and some of the steam locomotive parts are out of production and will not be replaced once existing stocks are depleted. When they made drivers, they made a whole bunch at one time--and then had them in stock for a long time--but with virtually no sales, it certainly didn't pay to make any more, and that trained workforce is gone. It would take years to hire and train replacements, and the sales just aren't there. I'm very sure I assembled some of the very drivers you seek, back in the very early 1990's.
Keith--Oh, yes, we tried the sound equipped steamers--even with smoke! Have had lots of them, including several big MTH steamers (a Challenger, two 4-12-2's and two 4-8-4's) and a pair of the most recent Y-6B's (prior to the current run coming in right now). Johnny just got bored with them all and wanted colorful diesels.
