Using LionChief controls mounted on the fence for kids to control LionChief trains at shows; how to and animated accessories that work!

I have found (w/ young grandchildren) that the Lion Chief PLUS engines I run are a pain w/ young kids- they try and blow the whistle or horn (at least half the fun for them) and they keep releasing the train when they open the coupler.  (The newer ones you have to first push the "shift" then the coupler- that's an improvement!).

I have bought all of the grandchildren (three families) LC starter sets and all but one (including my own LC+ locos, I have 5 of those) have been perfect.  The one that was NOT perfect, the set was replaced by the LHS and his distributor (try that on an Internet buy!!)

Great product.  

For the shows I just unplug the wire going to the couplers. I have had that problem with the grand kids at home suddenly they are making sounds and an engine takes off without its train! Have got to get to pulling the coupler plug from my passenger train! But lots of fun to run. Found the blue tooth does not connect as well especially on the garden railway looses signal behind a rock mountain and tunnel. 

Last December I had an iPad on a museum-grade stand with the Lionel Bluetooth App for the kids to run the Polar Express train on the show layout's lower level.  Another track had conventional control of a Beep train.

I observed two classes of young engineers - a) button smashers where any control had to be exercised  (and abused) without any regard to the effect it caused, and b) kids who experimented and observed the control effect.  The second group also explored all of the sub-screens of the app, messed with sound volumes,  and occasionally disconnected the Bluetooth link.  Some of them became adept running the layout and got to use our CAB2s for the upper level.

If Lionel upgrades their Bluetooth App, a provision to lock the configuration screens to prevent novice engineers from messing up the configuration, it would be a nice improvement for public hands-on layouts.  The app was intuitive to most of the kids.  Much better than conventional control where the fwd-neutral-rev logic is not intuitive.

For some reason, the young engineers ran the trains in reverse most of the time.  Always stopped the trains on the backside of the layout instead of at the stations.  Can't fix that.  Derailments were rare even though trains and scenery were within reach.  I had to restore 1:43 diecast cars and trucks to proper positions every day before showtime but had nothing disappear.

The Gatemen on the layout survived but I had a transformer for each trimmed to the minimum voltage to make them operate.  Again, the button smashers liked to press the activation button constantly.

The Bluetooth app and LionChief locos were a huge win for our visitors.

For the amount of shows that I do in a typical year (other then 2020) Polar Express runs 4 weekends 12 hour days 8 days of running. Thomas 5 - 10 hour days and the many trains shows I set up at 2 to 3 day events. The controls have to be bullet proof kids will abuse them and with a large layout and perhaps 20 trains running it is hard to keep an eye on everything. A few kids will try there best to reach over the fence to derail a train throw things on the track or try their best to break a controller. Thus the heavy duty bolted down covers over the LionChief controllers and heavy duty switches and push buttons are needed to protect things from getting broken. The system I have improved on each year keeps things running most of the time. I had considered I Pads etc. they they are to easy for the kids to destroy. Most kids and families are great but you get some and who knows where the parents are; often staring at their phones not near their kids thinking they can just dump their kids to play. The few spoil it for the most that are good and enjoy the displays with their children. LionChief controllers are cheap compared to an I Pad etc. 

I have found that the 4x8 switching layout works well for older kids, I am able to often get some teens to selectively invite other teens / children that look interested in to run the LionChief Plus engines with switching loading and dumping logs, barrels etc. We have always tried to invite kids that do not show signs of having a cold or coughing and being located next to the washrooms have always asked them to go wash their hands with soap and water before coming inside the fence at the display and handling the controllers and switches etc., a little precaution so relevant to today's situation. 

Just a note on the fencing and making sure that your layout is safe and the public is safe. I came up with the fence idea that I have now used for many many years, after a couple of displays I had done at major railway companies displays. I was asked to set up and run model trains for an open house at a large Railway station for a rail company and run some of their trains. They said they would provide some crowd control fencing. I set a large display with several trains running. What they gave me was like the airport roll out things on movable posts. A little kid from across the station spotted the trains and came running across right into the display before his parents saw what he was doing and I saw him from the other side of the display and was not able to get to him in time. He grabbed a large O Gauge steam engine running at speed with a large flywheel and pulled it off the tracks and had his finger stuck bleeding in the side rods. It took some work to pull his finger free as with the worm gear in the engine could not just back it out. I was worried about a lawsuit of course. I also saw at a train show a large elevated O gauge layout as with most train shows a rope around the display. I was at the far end and heard screams then a crash looking over a kid had gone under the rope and grabbed a steam engine derailing it and the engine and long line of nice scale passenger cars crashed in pieces 4 feet to the cement floor with of course everyone yelling! After those incidents I put up the fence and always post signs do not touch the display. I occasionally still get kids leaning way over the fence or the odd kid climbing my 2 foot high fence  to grab something derail a  train or pull something off the layout. But it is protected much better with a solid fence and signs to not touch it is pretty obvious if you damage something or climb the fence you are at fault rather then with a rope etc. Would also protect you a bit of someone tried to sue you saying they got shocked or injured from your display. With the battery powered controllers on the fence this also makes it safer rather then some sort of powered control panel connection. Staying safe and keeping kids back with a fence is much better then what I see at shows wear some operators have to yell at some kid coming past the ropes. Makes for a much more positive experience for all. 

?? How does your train club display or others you have seen keep kids back from the displays??

I decided to use the iPad after visiting a couple of Museums where the iPads were common for interactive displays.  The curators I talked to were very positive on the reliability and durability of their iPads.  The steel case and stand I purchased from the river site provided good protection and the iPad is none the worse for the experience.  The biggest problem was fixing the Lionel app's volume and other settings after kids explored the app's options.

I agree that ropes do not provide any protection.  Plexiglass around the perimeter works best.  Our modules have 6" to 8" Plexiglass but several operators are in attendance at shows to deter determined intrusion of hands.  Our modules are 40" high so the youngest crowd needs parental help (and supervision) to stand on foot stools to get close to the trains.   For unattended layouts we have used 24" or higher Plexiglass walls.  Different crowd and opportunities for mischief.  That said, my snow village layouts have operated many seasons without Plexiglass and tragedies.   Tracks are 6" from the edge and no heavy scale equipment is running.

One problem with having Bluetooth control of trains is Legacy engines with Bluetooth on the "adult" layout.  Even though these engines are being operated by a CAB2, they can be selected at the iPad (or a visitor's phone) if another controller has not already paired.  To prevent this, I pair the engine with my phone app when I start running a Bluetooth engine at shows.  I can operate it with either the CAB2 or app.

@kj356 and @Tracker John

You both have the exact sort of situation (public interaction) that I had in mind when I started making my LionChief Gateway project. I have spent a good amount of time developing a system that acts as a Bluetooth LionChief Repeater with the added benefit of being able to set your own speed limits or even use completely custom switches/control panels to run the trains.

It would be possible for my board/software to use things like arcade machine buttons or even elevator buttons to run multiple LionChief Trains (each from their own set of buttons). It can automatically link up to the trains of your choosing and can even run in between the real LionChief remote or app.(with your speed limits and disabled features like couplers locked out). You can also hook up custom display panels to show how fast each train is moving, everyone love blinky lights! In theory my code would even allow me to write a completely custom app (without a disconnect button or settings screen for example) that can run in a Kiosk mode.(locked down functionality).

I just recently used this code of mine to run LionChief Trains Using the Legacy Cab-2 https://youtu.be/4Ujb8xEGKEk

For other items I did with the project check out my main OGR Topic on this project: https://ogrforum.com/...ief-bluetooth-remote

Wow that sounds interesting! The more stuff the kids can do the better. Of note though most of kids that want to run trains at most of my events are 2-5 years old. However of interest during the Polar Express events we get a lot of the older children and teens young adults visiting the event. I have found over several years that teen girls I guess age 12 or so and up, tend to stick around for a long time at the Christmas /Polar Express layout waiting to try out all the trains and animation/ sound buttons, and looking at finding all the many scenic details animations and scenes. So for most shows the simple LionChief controls a few sound and animation buttons keep there interest for a long time (parents wear out and want the kids to move on). 

I have found at the train shows that letting older teens in to run the switching layout they are happy to do something more complex for a half hour or so.

That's fantastic. Many kudos for not only your generosity with your time, but also with your ingenious setup.