The look on their faces!

What a terrific, fulfilling display. I am working on a very simple layout for autistic kids after talking to professionals about this. They thought it was a terrific idea. It just a circle of track on a round table top. Theres no beating giving back and your pictures are the icing on the cake.

c. sam;

What a great story.  Thanks for sharing.

c.sam, the Smoky Mountain Railroaders and yourself are to be congratulated for a truly worthwhile community effort.  You are right, the looks on the faces of the spectators says it all, pure delight.  Great job and a great example for all of us to follow.

c.sam,

Hats off to all of you. If not for groups like yourselves these folks would be forgotten. Who's to say that one of us might be in such a place in years to come. I'm 69 this year and hope to play with my trains a few more years. When and if the time ever comes for me, I sincerely hope that a group such as yours will still be around. Once again, Hats Off!

c.sam that's very nice what you guy's did

for these people.They all looked so happy.

Thanks for sharing, ALEX

Kudos to all in your group for your wonderful way of sharing our hobby.

c.sam, Thanks for the story and related pictures.  I live in an independent living condo building in a continuing care retirement community.  Play pool each week with a fellow who is 97 and another only a few years younger.  Great guys.  I discovered that many of the residents enjoy trains so I set up a double loop of Fastrack around one of the several Christmas trees we have in our 3 story complex.  What great fun.  My wife has had to relocate to an Alzheimer portion of the health center and I plan to set up either 0 or N gauge in one of their several lounge and activity centers. What you and others have done encourages me to become even more ambitious with train plans. Keep up the good work.  There are many wonderful people in retirement and health care communities who enjoy what we Forum members love. Dick

C.Sam, way to go adding some relaxing pleasure to fellow seniors .  But one question, what happened to the "ScaleTrax" modular setup we use to see?

Ron

Excellent, C. Sam.

The looks on their faces are priceless.  Our trains truly bring out the kid in all of us, and take us back to those happy moments, whenever they were, no matter what age.

Nice work!

Way to go C.Sam and thank's for the pictures. They really show the magic of toy trains.

to forum members.....my mother in law is in a home now and the women tend to get good craft things to do....not much for the gentlemen.   I took my stack of older train mags over and the guys really enjoy them. So if you are looking for a place to go with train mags, not only placethem for young folks to see, but also for those that have just a little time left.

Fantastic!  Job well done

c.sam, thank you for this.  i spent the last few years nursing both my mom and dad through their last illnesses, buried them both the same year.   your photos strike very close to home.   am reminded of them every day, my trains were my dad's.   might think that an hour or so of a train display wouldn't make much difference, but if you've been there you know that isn't so.   something like this can make a huge difference.   thanks again.  i don't know you but you're a good man.

The ScaleTrax layout is undergoing some repairs and modifications at 'the clubhouse' and becoming a semi-permanent layout around the walls. Our place is barely adequate space wise and not what we desire to have as a meeting place. It's in the basement of an old church that is being aggressively marketed by the owner (the bank). Its near an expanding hospital and is prime real estate so we expect to lose it any time now. Its also pretty 'rough'.

Hopefully we will come across a larger place soon that we can develop into a nice facility to have open houses and get togethers. At that time we will convert the old layout into a permanent one that we can build on. It is composed of 24 (I think) 4 foot tables with three lines and some crossover switches. A good start.

Thanks so much for the kind comments. It is truly a GROUP effort and we owe YOU GUYS a debt of gratitude for encouragement and support. This Fastrack layout would not have happened without the generous donation of the track from Lee Willis and Rico-mon (Rick) recently!

I see alot of smiles on the lady's also, are they as responsive as the men. The reson I ask is our church is starting to partner with an (old) lady's home this could be an idea if the lady's enjoy also.

Redball

That's a great thing you guys did!!  Very Nice

In a word - YES! The first time we did this a year ago, my wife was surprised when an older lady pointed out our Santa Fe F3 and correctly identified them as "That's the Santa Fe Super Chief and I rode it from Kansas City when I was young..."

Many of them have fond memories of train travel in their youth. In the photos above notice that several of the ladies really liked the heavy smoke from the RK Ten-Wheeler. It is a crowd pleaser.

Bless you and the Smokey Mountain crew Sam.

Heck of a good job you all did there.

I think I'll try once again to get a group up here. Fell on my face last time.

This gives me a good type of event to push for club action, and at the same time, will give us a place to run.

There are quite a few retired folks and assisted living homes in the area, my wife works at one!

A very good thing to do. I congratulate the Smokey Mtn modelers. 

Very nice thing you and your club did. Thanks.

Jim

Good on ya Sam,
Those folks will not only appreciate someone coming to bring some excitement in their lives ,they like us older folks grew up with toy trains. It's something they can relate to and I'm sure have a wealth of stories to tell, but the big thing is you all taking time out of your busy lives to bring some joy to those who aren't  as outwardly mobile as the rest of us...that's priceless.

David

Congratulations, Smokey Mountain Model Railroaders, a generous and very caring thing to do.  You should be proud.  Thank you.

Ron, the newbie.

That is wonderful, Thank You Guy's.

c.sam>>that is so awesome.  Thanks for sharing!

Bravo!  You and the group should be proud.

Our club (FMRC) does 2 of these shows every year.

Sam is right. I would recommend every club do something like this...

most of the time they even feed us !!!!!