I am not going to claim that some kids aren't out of control, that parents can let kids run wild and not think of consequences and so forth. That said, in a perfect world everyone would be careful, everyone would be aware that a vision line locomotive is a 1500 dollar item, and so forth, but the reality is many don't, and while I obviously understand why people get upset when something gets broken, it isn't exactly like these are unexpected or unknown, anyone who has ever been around a train show or any kind of public event can't claim that they don't know that.
I think what makes it worse is these shows are often sold as 'family' entertainment, the Greenberg shows and others mention a lot of things that are designed around kids, like a play area, a train drag strip, all kinds of things obviously aimed at younger people, so these shows are attracting kids to see things that are very expensive. A more adult show, like a gun show, is aimed mostly at adults, as are things like boat shows and cars shows, and for those attending they know boats and cars are expensive, as are guns, and they therefore are a lot more careful, whereas ma and pa seeking something to do on a weekend sees a train show, that advertises toys, toy trains and the like, and they think 'aha, something for the kids', they don't think of it as a place where a bunch of old grumpy guys go to complain about everything, crop dust each other and create mayhem with their scooters*lol*.....seriously, part of the problem is people don't know the cost of these things, don't understand that they have a primary focus on adults rather than kids, and may not be as vigilant as they might be at a more adult oriented venue.
I also am going to earn the wrath of the 'those were the days' crowd, but I would be willing to bet that if you talked to people who were vendors back in the day at various shows where kids went, you would hear the same complaints, there were kids who were responsible kids back then, responsible parents, and there were parents who raised kids who were wild and out of control *shrug*. The big problem is that toy trains are in reality anything but toys, they are either expensive collectibles akin to stained glass lamps, or they are operating marvels that often cost more than an Ipad, these are adult toys, not really kids toys so the stakes are much higher.
As far the a 5 year old with trains, saying "I was responsible" is like pointing at a 5 year old playing paganini on the violin and telling your kid "see that, you can be doing that too"......the problem is that kids mature differently, and when they put an age on a train that says "8-14", it is because they have determined that 8 is when the typical kid can safely enjoy the product. Every kid develops differently, and when you ignore the age posted, you run into trouble. The other factor there, too, is adult supervision, a 5 year old with adult supervision can probably play with a train, but one doing it on their own may end up breaking it. I don't know the kid in question or his parents, but I wonder if the parents realized how relatively fragile the train was, if they set it up for him and then let him play with it, they may not have realized how fragile it was and may not have bothered to explain to the kid it was fragile, that you couldn't play with it like a toy truck; it could be they are good, diligent parents but fell into the 'toy train' trap with it, assuming it was more akin to playmobil or brio, rather than being something more sophisticated.
My recommendation, is if you want to give something like an electric train to a kid, is to talk to the parents about it, let them know what you want to give, tell them it is relatively fragile and what they think of the designated kid, in terms of responsibility and so forth, and make sure they understand it isn't a tonka truck or something.
