O gauge Trains for a kid?

Josh,

I whole heartedly concur with your idea of every child should have a Lionel train however, 15 months is a little young.  I am with the Glancy Trains Modular Group in Detroit and one of the events that we set up for is Day Out With Thomas at Greenfield Village.  Needless to say, we run Thomas, Percy, James and Diesel along with the Thomas cars.  We have created some scenery modules that also include other Friends of Thomas such as Timothy, Harold, Sir Topem Hat, Dan and so on.  These pieces are great for the little ones, but I think you should wait until maybe 5 years of age to start her on the electric O Gauge Thomas trains.  There are small pieces that can and do come off for which a 15 month or even a 2 or 3 year old may want to taste rather than give it to you for reinstallation.  There are also some small pieces that do not necessarly come off, but they will break off pretty easily which could also become a tasty little morsel, or at least Emery may think so.  For now, go with the Thomas videos and stories.  Possibly even get her into the wooden Thomas sets.  The name of the manufacturer escapes me right now.  One of the pitfalls of getting older.  I admire your desire to start her into toy electric trains at such an early age but would recommend a little patience.  whatever you decide, I wish you the best.

Interests change, especially with little kids.

What has worked for me is to have a couple of things they can play with when I'm there:

#1 A loop of track with big curves that can be set up on the floor.  Mine is O72 and is approximately 7x11.  This gives enough room to run a decent train and lets them run it fast enough to make them happy but the wider curves keep it on the track at a higher speed.  It also gives a way to distract very young kids from the expensive scale stuff on the layout.

#2 A *CHEAP* Diecast engine.  Cheap so you won't mind if it breaks.  Diecast so that will be less likely.  Mine is from an old starter set and I remember seeing the replacements for sale at the Lionel Visitor's Center for $50.  There are a lot of ways to get a cheap diecast engine.

#3 An assortment of brightly colored cars - especially gondolas and box cars - that are also inexpensive and you wont mind if they break.  

Running the transformer...

I play it by ear as to how much to guide their hands (based mainly on age and how well they do) but their hand is on the throttle.  Bell and Horn buttons go full tilt as soon as they are discovered.

When a train derails, I put the handle to 0, turn off the transformer and then unplug it.  I stress this is for safety.  Even a 2 1/2 year old figured out where the power switch was on my transformer within a few minutes.  (Yes, it was a girl.)  In our case, we derailed onto the carpet (floor layout) so there was no damage.  Our biggest hazard was the adults not watching where they put their feet.

Stuff to do:

Let them load and unload things into the cars.  They will love that.  If they have a favorite stuffed animal and it is small enough, offer to give it a ride.  Some love it, some don't.

Let them pick cars with which to make up a train.  Let them pick the order.  It doesn't have to make any sense at all.  It does get them involved making decisions and running the train though.

Most importantly...  Have fun!

Spike is correct that you need to be careful about anything that can be a choking hazard - most kids go through the 'put everything in their mouth' stage. However, most kids are past that well before they are 5 years old. My daughter was over it earlier than my son and he stopped putting everything in his mouth by 2. Girls may be quicker at getting past that stage, but it could just be my personal experience that my son took a little longer with it.

That said, my daughter is 4 1/2 and has been driving the O gauge Thomas (and Percy) for a couple of years now and my 2 1/2 year old son has been driving them since he turned two just before last Christmas. The best thing about Thomas is it stays on the tracks even if the kids put it at full throttle. After only a couple of months I now trust my kids to drive many different trains, he has learned to be easy on the throttle with them and is very good at not flying them off the rails (after a few mishaps of course I bought my daughter a reissue girls train when she was born, the first time we took it out she broke the tender steps off). We also have the wooden Thomas, the metal Thomas and the battery operated Thomas. My son likes to alternate through all of them every day.

While 15 months seems young for O gauge, it depends more on how she is with other toys and following directions in general. I would let my kids operate trains at that age, but only while in my lap and with my hand over theirs on the throttle. With enough supervision, you can figure out when they are able to drive them on their own. Just make sure you watch her carefully - I will leave my son alone at the controls to get rolling stock, etc., but I would never leave him out my sight. He knows I have to be with him to drive the O gauge Thomas, he can play with the other ones (wooden, trackmaster, etc.) by himself.

The commitment will be more with you and your parents in that you will have to be patient with her learning how to use it, watch her carefully, and be prepared to just smile not get upset and make the repairs if she brakes it. Following these rules and being ok with/expecting mishaps was crucial with teaching my kids the immense fun of O gauge. Whenever she is ready, have a great time showing her!

Don't do it. We gave a nice set of Lionel Thomas trains to a three year old for Christmas. When he opened it up, he tossed the engine across the room and he loves Thomas. He has one he can ride!!!!!

Don

My feeling is 15 months is far too young to be playing with an electric toy train.  They are barely a toddler at that age.

I'd go with Brio and/or wooden Thomas the Tank engine trains. 
Last I knew, both brands were compatable.

Stick with the wood.  They are durable, replaceable, and my wife and I actually enjoy setting up the table once in a while.  It's like doing a puzzle.  

I bought the Lionel Polar express for my 4yo demon child.  He is rough on that puppy and is probably too immature for trains right now (lesson learned). But that train and cars can sure take a beating, wow!

My granddaughter has been running the Coke anniversary set, under supervision, since she was eighteen months.  She learned how to make it go forward or backward in about two minutes.  She runs the train for about five minutes a session, then it's on to the next activity.  I was all set to buy her one of those wooden Thomas sets but it turned out to not be necessary.

Pete

My nephew was the same age when I started letting him drive my trains. He helps drive my conventional and dcs equipped trains. I've also setup a test track for him to play with the cars on. He does well but sometimes can be a bit rough on the cars (he plays with junk cars). You just have to spend time with them and teach them.

Coincidentally, I am building a model train layout for my grandkids - ages 2 and 4 years.  After talking with my daughter in law, we decided it will be the wood-track, unpowered Thomas and Chuggington push toys for now.   I recommend this as a first train set and then, when they are older, a second layout with their first electric ones.  

The "layout" I am building is 26" x 64"  (the wooden push toy track has radii as sharp as 6" so this is more than adequate space for a very complex layout) on 16 inch legs.  It folds in half into a type of suitcase and the legs fold so it is only 26 x 32 x 6 inches (i.e., all the trains and stuff fit inside it and it will fit in a closet or under a bed easily when folded).  I did this 25 years ago, with N gauge for my middle son, because we had no where to keep a train layout permanently set up in his room at the time. Now an attorney, he still has the set in his home (and it still works).

BTW, it is stunning how many named train characters there are: dozens and dozens -- and that the average 3 or 4 year old know every one by heart . . . 

I gave my nephew a wood Thomas for his room.   But I did/do let them press buttons on the Cab-1 for my and Houston Tinplate layouts.

He is now 6.  I am collecting at meets/shows some nice $10.00 cars from the 1950's.  Have some FT, spare good transformer and a spare Williams 44T.  See how he treats it before investing in new stuff!

The latter might be something to watch for if s/he (all readers!) has a train interest tward school age.

And don't forget the open, club layouts in the area if you have them.  Taht can spark, or increase the interest in the young person.

I would suggest the Large Scale Thomas, James, etc.  released in the back in the 90s.  They were designed for youngsters and are readily available on Ebay. 

Josh!  My wife and I made a decision that for each of our grandkids we would purchase a Lionel train set for their very 1st birthday. So far we are now at 4 grandkids and two more on the way. So far so good. In most cases , yes the parents are the ones who need to provide supervision because I've read all the forum comments about safety etc..........but with proper direction the look on the grandkids eyes when each saw the train for the first time, heard the horns and the engine roars etc. and what a thrll when the little ones seek out grampa to run the train. Last year, our 4th purchase the litle guy was simply thrilled with his train. Dad put up a small circle around the tree with a small fence and he was mezmorized all ****.My youngest son who has three of my grandchildren and three train sets after several ****'s made the big leap and put all three sets on a permanent board..........and the empire has started. What a thrill when on my trip home this past holiday the grandkids took PopPop to the basement to see their growing train empire that daddy is now patiently spending quality time providing hours of enjoyment. Now the empire is growing with buildings, animals, people the works.

My wife and I just completed a search via the Internet and found two starter sets for the two future arrivals. Actually one set arrived at our house 5hrs before we received the call that our 5th and newest grandchild was born.  The other grandchild is due in August and we are ahead of the schedule. It sounds maybe extreme, but I guess its my way of sharing the world of trains like I had done with both of my sons, and like I remember growing up.

The Lionel Scout was the most recent purchase and we also found a Pennsylvania Steam Freight Set etc. I think that if you want the younger generation to enjoy the world of trains that we as parents can provide the necessary guidance doing those younger years so that down the road children can really enjoy the excitement that we all have had........if you can remember back that far for some of us.  

As I poster earlier I beleive wooden trains are the way to go.

I guess a lot of folks like to build tables, and make layouts, mounting the tracks and scenery to the top.
I went in a different direction.

I built a low table for my kids and painted the top green. Absolutely nothing was fastened to the table.

I did fasten the wooden Brio trestles to some straight and curved tracks because we kept knocking them over. They were fastened on the socket side of the track, with about 1/2 the trestle sticking out to hold the next piece.

I did this because watching and playing with kids lead be to beleive that a lot of their enjoyment came from setting up and rearranging things.

The little ramp tracks that allowed the trains to be driven off and on the tracks certainly came in handy.

Just registering another vote for wooden trains. My sons started with them and made the transition to O Gauge when they were ready. Even with O gauge, there is a period, differing with each child, when they can play with them but not while unsupervised. With wooden trains, they can be left to figure out track geometry on their own, which will carry over to electric trains. Kids sometimes need to just be kids and there is something to be said for the creativity that comes with unsupervised play. They can't experience that with electric trains until they are older.

 Each Kid will be different, I have three of my Nephews Very involved in trains 3R O-Gauge in particular. The youngest is now 5, and has been  able to run trains since he was about 18 months old. I have found the CW-80 Family of transformers to be the most intuitive for youngsters to use, and that big orange handle really gets their attention.

 The youngest got his first locomotive the day he was born, and I doubt that he will ever outgrow the hobby. His Brother is three years older and they almost always have a floor layout set up in the Family rrom. With proper supervision there have been no problems, and they do have wooden trains for the unsupervised play .

 I do agree with the start with inexpensive die-cast locomotives and CHEAP and COLORFUL rollingstock (with lots of Gondolas, Hoppers and flatcars) on a carpeted floor, also be able to Expect and ACCECPT some minor damage. Yep, loading toys into open cars will likely be a very popular activity.

Always promoting the Hobby,

Doug