Historic Model Trains

Kids now-a-days are a lot more interested in updating their face book page than in actually putting their faces into a book.    If it doesn’t connect to the power grid and add to the monthly electrical cost, lots of boys and girls are just not that into it.  This is after all the computer age and if a kid isn’t looking at three things at once he feels like he is slacking.  But, as you know, our traditions is really a useful thing for them have.  It’s not enough to know that there were some guys named Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson and Benjamin who now have their faces on our money.  I don’t mean to get on my high horse, but it’s our duty as patriotic citizens to pass on some sense of our rich history to them.  So how do we get them to crack the book on the traditions of this country without feeling like we’re pulling teeth? model locomotives can put our youngsters on the track to becoming more culturally and historically literate.  Yes.  Yeah, historic toy trains embody a beautiful history with them but don’t burden us with feeling that we are being educated.  Try using model trains to teach our traditions this way:

Incorporate our traditions into the toy locomotive track plans that you create with your kids:

Try to make your set-up period and place specific.  For example, let’s say that you choose to depict the American Southwest in the period just after the Civil War.  You can get your kids to learn about this period and then add period details that will really add to the enjoyment and historical accuracy of your traindesign.  They might read about the telegraph and add telegraph lines next to the tracks.  Or they might create a vibrant town near the tracks to represent the boom cities that were the winners in the railroad speculation game.  Maybe even have a few washed out prospectors still panning for gold in the nearby stream.

Historic model trains are also a good alternative to the usual diorama or scale model:  

Diorama and similar craft projects are fine but if you’ve already gotten your youngster into toy trains why not take advantage of his or her hobby to really impress at his next school presentation.  A static diorama really can’t compete with the dynamic movement of a historic model train design.  Just imagine, for example, adding a model train display to your child’s essay on Jesse James.  You could show the robber stalking the period specific train with his whole gang and also show other aspects of this rich period of American our traditions.  It’s sure to be a coup!

Visit a model train Museum:  

If you’re anywhere in the American West you are never far from historical train sites and museums where model trains are often featured.  This can be great fun and be very educational as well.  Some rolling exhibits may come around as well. Just keep your ears pricked and you are sure to come across one sooner or later.

All of these things are sure to place your child on track to greater national literacy.  Just being familiar with different types of trains gets us one step closer to understanding their development and the great our traditions that goes with it.  

Here is more information on Model Steam Trains. Here is a website with a free mini-course dedicated to Model Trains.