Thanks, KD. I am so fortunate to belong to such a great modular club. They deserve the applause as much if not more than I.
You are absolutely right about letting kids take control. That's why i have push-button action accessories on my modules. I've let kids run trains before with TMCC but Lion Chief will make it even easier.
The problem is how to do it with large groups of kids. It is easy to do if there are only a few kids "in sight."
We did bring some wooden whistles to give to them, but could only get 64, and there were over 100 children. We gave them to the teachers to figure out. They said they were going to use them as "star of the day" etc. rewards in the coming school year.
I talked to Operation Lifesaver but really didn't give them enough time. They are looking to see if we can get child--focused safety materials for future shows.
I'm still working full time, but may cut back to part-time early next year. More time for shows! LOL.
I am fascinated by what children (and adults) know and don't know about trains. I had a Lionel 072 switch equipped with a manual throw and diverging tracks on display, and gave a short demonstration of how trains change tracks. They could throw the switch, see the rails turn, and then push a car onto different route. We talked about towers and dispatching centers. Many had been to Washington DC Union Station, or ridden the Metro, and were amazed to learn how many switches there were and someone, somewhere, was throwing them to route trains. Then they wanted to know how the "train driver" would know which way to go.
! 
Well done!
