Thomas themed layout for my 2yr old

[gazzarose]

Well I'm finished, or at least as finished as it's going to be for Christmas. It does look a bit bare, but part of the plan was to have something we can play with and then as he gets older we can at things and develop it into a nice layout.

There's one more quick pic to add to the last update. Here it is after I painted the green. I walked round the paint section of my local B&Q for ages looking for a grassy green in a smallish tub, I really didn't want to but 2.5 litres just for a few brush fulls. One of the ladies working there asked could she help and I explained what I wanted and she made me a sample pot of paint from a colour I picked from the colour board. It cost me £3 and I've got enough left in the tub to do touchups if I need to.

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So heres the final product.

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The Station is one that I had about 20 years ago when I was about 13 and has spent the interim period in my dads shed, but he found it just in time when he was sorting some stuff out. Its a bit battered, but its perfect for what it needs to be for now.

The white 'light' switches in 2 of the corners each control the power to one of the loops, so my boy and my nephew will be able to control they're own train, but I'll still be able to control speed on the loops and also shunt things around in the fiddle yard using the 3rd controller while they play.

[gazzarose]

Heres a few more pics, I can only upload 3 at a time so sorry for the multiple posts.

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[gazzarose]

Gordon and his brother, 4472 The Flying Scotsman

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Here is my first attempt at a repaint.

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When I bought the Thomas set it came with an 'Annie and Clarabel' but one of the wheel on the Clarabel was damaged. I rang Hornby and instead of sending me new wheels they sent me a whole new Clarabel. Somehow my boy got hold of the older one and raced it around on the floor. I stole it back, painted the body red, and added a gaugemaster axle hung track cleaner to it so now I've got a track maintenance coach.

[gazzarose]

Well, that was a success. My boy absolutely loved it. I think he spotted a train on the dining room table a couple of weeks ago where I was building the layout and he has mentioned 'Gordon' a couple of times but we've been keeping him out of the dining room since. So when I suggested going into the dining room yesterday morning he burst through the door and climbed straight up on a strategically placed chair, and with a massive smile on his face said 'Thomas'. He's really got the hang of turning his switches on and off to start and stop the trains and a couple of times has sat on my lap and turned the controller knobs, mostly in a controlled manor.

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My gran was with me when I took my boy to a model railway exhibition in Pontypridd about a month ago and secretly bought me a little diesel 0-4-0 that she gave me for Xmas and my mother bought me some scenic stuff including a phone box and 2 pillar boxes as well as a little loco that I always wanted when I was a kid. So my matainance coach has now got a matching loco to pull out and Percy has got a new friend in 'Smokey Joe'.

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[yelrow]

Gaz, very well done. Great way of introducing your youngster to model trains.

[mijj]

A great layout and a very productive time. It will keep the lad happy - until next Christmas perhaps ?
Jim.

[Walkingthedog]

Brilliant, well done. Those little paint pots are excellent. I buy several in green, brown and black etc. You can mix it to make almost any grubby colour you want.

[Mr Bones]

Well done. He will love it.
Make sure he's allowed to play with it though. I woke up one Christmas morning to find a sack full of Hornby bits. Was really excited, Dad set it up and that was it. I was only allowed to look and couldn't touch

And before anyone says was it this Christmas - no it wasn't....... It was last Christmas

[gazzarose]

He's really enjoying it. Because he's got the switches I'm only in control of speed and direction, but he can start and stop whenever he wants, hes getting quite good at stopping in the station.

I'm hoping we'll just have some fun with it for the next year or so without me getting carried away with scenics, which is something I've never done. I think after I rebuild my garage I may have a little inglenook type layout out there that I can practise on with scenics and then as and when he wants to we can do his layout. But for the foreseeable future I suspect its going to black paint roads and cereal box loco sheds and generally have fun, because it seems however old you are, if you peel back all the prototypical super duper scenics, we all just want to have fun playing trains.

[gazzarose]

Oh, and we won't be doing much playing for a week, at 8 tonight we're on a plane to Tenerife, so there'll be a bit of radio silence.

Happy New year everyone.