Boy Scout Railroading Merit Badge Class

Great job, thanks for doing this. Wonderful for the kids and the hobby.

Great job, Kevin!

Peter

This is great, Kevin.  Were the boys more interested in the logic aspect of the puzzle, operating the trains, or both?

Your Ingelnook sheet looks clear and helpful.  I'm curious whether you had the boys track their moves somehow (how?) or if the main purpose was more to just experience the challenge than to keep score.

I'd love to do something like this with a group of adults who may be new to trains and your day with the Scouts has inspired me.

Thanks for posting (and volunteering),

Tomlinson Run Railroad

Good morning and thanks to those that responded.

To address Tomlinson Run Railroad's question, I did not keep score, as my intent was to get the boys interested in how fun trains can be.  None of them had ran model trains before and associated trains with only going around in circles [Insert point here - I like both switching & roundy round].  The boys were interested in both and in the cases when it wasn't their turn (each scout only got 1 turn) they would stand by the table and give help and pointers to the scout that was running it.

My first go around in 2014 it was 100% PowerPoint and classroom type teaching and the boys lost interest (think Ferris Bueller classroom scene, LOL).  That's why I brought in the N Scale layout last year.

In regards to my O22 Switch question on another thread, time got hectic right after I asked it.  Didn't have time to get around and prepare a layout with board/foam and acrylic glass on the ends to prevent flying trains, but I'm pleased with the end product.  I did watch the Lionel video but still had some issues getting it to work, so if you notice the voltage plugs weren't in play in the photos. 

If anyone is interested in the PowerPoint presentation that I used this year, let me know and I'll e-mail you a copy.

Kevin and Don,

Congradulations to both of you for doing this presentation to the Boy Scouts, the combining of the merit badge for model railroading and Operation Livesaver is a perfect fit. This presentation may have inspired some scouts in model trains as a hobby and instructed them for their personal safely when they encounter real trains. I know from my personal experience that both Kevin and Don and the Boy Scouts enjoyed the presentations and the questions that were presented, quality time spent.    

Kevin great job on instructing the Scouts.  I'm currently an assistant scout master and I would be interested in your PowerPoint presentation as I'm thinking about being a railroad merit badge counselor myself.  My question to you is why you elected to do this during a camping trip vs. say during a Troop Mtg?   The level of participation could have been much higher. 

I can only imagine what your vehicle looked like with your camping gear plus all of the tables and trains after the camping trip was over!!!     

Thanks!

Two thumbs up Kevin great job!!!  I was a Scout Master back in the day it was

very rewarding keep up the great work.

In April there is be a BSA event in Houston at the NRG complex.  From what I understand Houston METRO is going to work with BSA concerning the RR badge.  Part of the training will include tours of the nearby Rail Operation Center for Light Rail.  I do not know the date off hand.

Great stuff. 

It may even save someone's life at a railway crossing years later  down the road    .  

Allegheny posted:

Kevin great job on instructing the Scouts.  I'm currently an assistant scout master and I would be interested in your PowerPoint presentation as I'm thinking about being a railroad merit badge counselor myself.  My question to you is why you elected to do this during a camping trip vs. say during a Troop Mtg?   The level of participation could have been much higher. 

I can only imagine what your vehicle looked like with your camping gear plus all of the tables and trains after the camping trip was over!!!     

Thanks!

Kazar

I teach the class during the South Florida BSA Council's "Merit Badge College", which is a 3-day weekend of instruction in over 60+ Merit Badges.  It's held at a high school (for the classroom space) and all of the camping participants reside in a tent village on the football and baseball fields.  Fun times. 

Within our Troop (I'm an Assistant Scoutmaster), we do teach Merit Badges to the Scouts.  Whenever we've announced merit badge counseling at the beginning of each semester, I've offered to do Railroading at those times but there was never a response.  Interesting enough, one of the scouts at this year's Merit Badge class was from my Troop.

As for my SUV?  I didn't camp in 2014 and 2015, but did so this year.  Just leave it to your imagination what it looked like  including space for my son (who camps every year) which is why the bringing of a 3rd table (to keep it O Gauge) next year makes me wince.

I will send you the PowerPoint when I get home this evening.

FYI - I'm also a former Cubmaster for the Pack that both of my son's were part of)

To be honest, I don't think switching puzzles are going to be very popular with most kids. I remember seeing a hands-on bare-table switching layout at a local train show (more than once) which was being largely ignored in favor of continuous-run layouts with long trains.

Big railroads have largely shifted away from "loose-car" railroading because unit trains and COFC are more cost effective for shippers. Just an alternate viewpoint of what might be more relevant to teach kids about modern railroading.

Kevin, thanks for your reply, I only know too well what the vehicle s look like following a camping trip.  Hopefully it was DRY!  

I commend your efforts with the scouts Kevin. It is appreciated by many many parents who will probably never get the opportunity to say it to you..

Both my sons and grandson were involved in scouting  while growing up.

Thanks

Larry W. Peterson

Erwin TN.

Kevin,

Thanks for posting this. I too have taught the MB here in NE Pennsylvania at our MB College. I also have an O guage  Inglenook  layout that I use for the badge and at our local club's open house. (I originally built it to teach proper radio procedure at Steamtown). The council is planning to hold a RR Camporee at Steamtown Nat'l Historic Site in Scranton this year. Would you share your power-point info with me and also a copy of your Inglenook instruction sheet.  At our club's open house we use colored key tags in a box and randomly assign the switch list making up a new consist on the make-up track. There is no restaging required. Adding a caboose to the incoming consist makes it even more complex if you have the time.

Thanks.

Earl

I used color photo prints of each of the cars which we reshuffled after each round.  One of the reasons why I chose the different colored cars was that so there wouldn't be any confusion. If I had used, say, all of the same exact type car (like an FEC Rock Hopper) then I would put numbers on top of each load to differentiate each car.

The favorite car by far for the scouts was the Pickle Car.

Kazar & Earl, check your e-mails for the PowerPoint.

Kazar and Earl,

I'm glad that you enjoyed the PowerPoint.  

I originally received a PPT presentation from OGR Forum Member NavyBen back in 2014 and made some tweaks here and there along with adding material and reformatting it to be more in line with what I was presenting.

Any chance you could post it/send it to me? I might end up doing this for my (much) younger brother's troop.

El Classico posted:

Any chance you could post it/send it to me? I might end up doing this for my (much) younger brother's troop.

El Classico,

Check your e-mail for the PPT.  It's too large (30MB+) to post on OGR so I sent you a Zip File.

Triple kudos to you guys for doing this.  I just cannot think of a better way to expose kids to the fun of model trains.   

Ed

Thank you

Kevin,

I am the scoutmaster of my two boy's troop and recently became a RR Merit badge councillor. I would definitely be interested in you power point presentation. You have definitely inspired me, gonna have to build a switching modular layout.

Thanks, Bill

bill@billhenning.com

Kevin,

Once again, thanks for the PowerPoint presentation.  Between yourself and NavyBen who originated the file, you've done a fantastic job.  To duplicate this presentation, it would take me countless hours.  Very much appreciated.