On a lighter note, has this ever happened to you?


Back in the 80's, when I had my first HO and a friend from work stopped to visit. We were in the basement and I lead him over towards my layout to find a gun reloading book. He noticed the layout and said "nice toy trains". I said thanks and for him that was the end of it. But, he had his 5 years old boy with him and not being tall enough, he keep saying " let me see, let me see". I moved the stool over for him and ran my GP-50 with some cars around the layout. My friend told him just watch and don't touch and we went back to BSing. A few laps later, the boy grabbed the GP-50. We quickly got it out of his hands and no damage was done other than a few broken stanchions. At least it didn't end up on the concrete floor. :rolleyes:
Ahhh, the tragedy. You've forgotten what it was to be a 5 yr old boy around trains :oops:
 
Ahhh, the tragedy. You've forgotten what it was to be a 5 yr old boy around trains :oops:
I was nervous letting the 5 year old that close to the layout, but I also remember being that age and being totally fascinated with trains, so I couldn't have denied him that experience.
 
Oddly, I've never had a visitor make those kind of comments. I've had some ignore the layout and I've had workers that stopped working to check it out. A friend of my sons (in his thirties) saw a photo and insisted on seeing it in person. He spent a good hour plus behaving like he was blown away by it. That was really gratifying. I do have an issue with the touchy feelly visitors mostly because they are adults that should know better. That said, you can call my toys, toys because that's what they are. To me, anything you have that you don't need, but just makes you happy is kind of a 'toy'.
 



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