G'day All,
As some of you know, Jade and I have been building a layout for our son Keith. As he is only 2½ years old we have made it in N scale and also made it VERY low to the ground.
The idea was that we would not even think of building this for him until he was at least 5 years old. However, after the amount of times he has been in the layout room with our somewhat larger and more expensive trains and the fact that he NEVER tries to touch them... we decided "what the hell" let's start it and see what happens.

The layout is 6'-2" long and 2'-4" wide. The base has been made from 9mm mdf as is the shelf underneath. The legs are made from 40mm square white pine. Both loops are powered with a CDA controller. Thus far it has taken three days work to get the layout to this point and Keith Loves it. He sits with Daddy whilst we both have our "cuppas" (his is milo, mine is coffee) and watch the "toot-toots" go around.

His only locomotive thus far is James by Tomix and a couple of those troublesome trucks. He also has Annie and Clarabel. Funnily enough, he seems to like the more prototypical locomotives more than the Thomas stuff as he also has an old Minitrix 2-10-0 that he runs along with Jades Minitrix Bavarian locos and rollingstock.

Due to his age, we built a small shelf under one corner of the layout to place the transformer. This way all the terminals are hidden from him and the transformer is securely locked into position so that little hands cannot rip it out or pull on those pretty wires.

As we get more done over the next few weeks, I will keep you updated on the progress. There will be a lot about this in the next few Adam's Corners as well... I promise that Adam's Corners have not stopped, just we have been UNBELIEVABLY busy, but, so far as that all will be revealed in the not too distant future.

As always, feel free to leave comments or suggestions.

Cheers,
Adam

Im a guy, and im gonna feel really..uh.. Not like a guy for saying this.. But thats cute!
In like years to come when i have kids, id love to share a hobby like this with them, and especially at such a young age!

Well done WUISKE! Ill be following your posts and i hope Keith loves the layout!

G'day Adam,
I remember years ago when my Dad purchased a slot car set for my brother and I for Christams...... it was a four lane set and my brother and I had our photo taken with completed set up.......
Then Dad and his mates had a wow of a time with it
Well done mate, it makes me feel good to see a Dad sharing real quality time with his son.
Good stuff.
Regards and respect

It may test the limits of your wits & patience but the smiles are all worth the effort...

Mitchell's thomas gets a fair old run these days... but often the request is... i want daddys train   I must have good taste 8)

Keith's layout, yeah right?

When can I have a go daddy?

Soon son, soon!

Yet Daddy, my turn?

Soon son, soon!

Can I play now Daddy?

Sorry son, it's your bedtime!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Keith's layout, yeah right?

When can I have a go daddy?

Soon son, soon!

Yet Daddy, my turn?

Soon son, soon!

Can I play now Daddy?

Sorry son, it's your bedtime!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You beat me to it Teditor, but that is what usually happens. Only Keith has to beat not only dad but also mum. Poor kid I pity him really. 

But good to see you are starting early with him, once he respects the models etc you should have no problems in the future. I had one of my young sons aged 5 running some of my best HO scale models and he did alright, without me really supervising him, he had watched me do it and did the same almost that I would have done. So never underestimate the younger people, some are better at it than a lot of adults actually.

Actually, Keith plays with it CONSTANTLY! I swear he could be running past it on fire and he would still stop to make the "train go".
Last night Jade and I got the backing boards in and Jade painted themblack this morning so soon enough the trains will dissapear into their tunnels.

This afternoons effort involved yours truly "trying" to get into the full swing of a neo german esk cleaning process for the office and modelling room. It worked really well until Little Sir decided that the trains could not run unless Daddy was standing there watching. He then grabbed one of my paint brushes, stoped the trains, turned the power point off (for safety I think) and then started "dusting" his models.

So now that Keith is back upstairs, I may be able to get back into my cleaning spree.

Cheers,
Adam

Hi Adam, nice to see another layout build thread! It looks like this isn't the first one you have built. What are you going to do for scenery?

Here's an updated photo of the layout with the backdrop on and painted.

I've had a read of the posts here and have quietly been chuckling away at all the insinuations that this is more for Daddy than Keith haha. Oh, if only you all were privy to the way our little man's mind works... When it's playtime, whether with cars, trucks, his Thomas Take along, and most particularly this layout, the old boy is in trouble from the young station master more often than not.

Just the other day, our poor Adam was trying to teach Keith about points, and here's Little Sir, sternly pointing his finger and furrowing his brow whilst telling Daddy off because he made the toot toot go on the wrong siding!

And evo_db, I'll be honest in saying that when we started I had this grandiose fairytale notion that Keith would do the scenery on the layout... Umm... not sure how we'll go with that though.
We're going to try a method we haven't played with before, that being cardboard strips weaved to create landforms, then cover with plaster. Grass etc will be done with static grass.
As the original idea was for this to be a Thomas layout, it will be Pommy based, whilst still trying to make it realistic-ish (well sort of) to run my Bavarian stuff without it looking too out of place. And even if it does look a bit astray, you never know... The Germans could have flown over Britain in the 40's and dropped some... uhh... locos...

Great to see you starting early with him. My 5 year son knows his way around NCE PowerCab Throttle. Selects his own loco and away he goes. It's now got to the point that last week I had to go and buy another throttle just so I can have a turn.

Hmm.. Track diagram? ....any chance you can post one?

Hmm.. Track diagram? ....any chance you can post one?

Here's the lazyman's version of the track diagram... Bird's eye view!

That's great!  My eldest is 5, my youngest just turned 2.

My first layout was an enjoyable disaster.  I mean, it works and it's a lot of fun, but it's limited.  It has tight curves and a steep grade.  When I started model railways I found my old Hornby stuff including a track plan book, selected a plan and off I went thinking it would all work out.  Well, those Hornby plans were a bit optimistic.  But I learned a lot from that layout and I still get a kick out of it.

Best of all, the kids think it's a real blast with their Thomas stuff so hopefully they'll be the next generation of modellers.

Ha!  They'll probably be on here with young Keith there arguing about wheel standards or something.  



Dullan Plain

Wow, it HAS been a long time since we've done much on this little layout. I guess we've been a tad busy... However, there has been some progress (and lots of play in the meantime).


Someone decided to get in and add some plaster to Keith's little N scale layout today... Keith thought it might be a good idea to put some gloves on. Finished result is rather pleasing.

Ya got snow in Queensland?