Model railroaders tend to be folks to like to share the hobby and recruit newcomers to it. I think we are unusual in that respect. For example, I am not sure I ever met anyone who fished or golfed and enthusiastically tried to spread the gospel of their particular avocation—or even cared if someone else joined their throngs. After all, what if some "outsider" discovered their favorite fishing hole or a bunch of duffers added to the wait for a tee time, then slow-poked their way around the course? Besides, why should they help advertise the wares of some manufacturer? Taking care of their business is their business. Share? Promote? Sailors, yes. Tuba players, no. Model railroaders, absolutely! It is one of the one of the things we do.

That said, I think each of us who has ever done any of this home-brew promoting has good stories about it. Ken Goslett's tale of a recent adventure of the promoting kind follows.—BILL S.


A few months back one of the owners of the local hobby store took me aside. "What are you doing November the ninth?" he asked.
"Why do you ask?" I replied, ever suspicious of such questions.
"The local library called, and they would like someone to do a talk on model trains, for kids, for about an hour. No big deal."

"Oh," I said while frantically thinking of excuses. Make no mistake, I enjoy model railroading, but as a recently retired teacher, I know that an hour can be a very long time in front of a class of children. It might even seem like a lifetime, especially if the students are throwing things. But, I like the hobby guy. He's been good to me, letting me take every locomotive out of the showcase and run them up and down the store's test track on a Thursday night.

"Okay," I said, "I'll do it."


Who knew what might happen in the interim? I could get the flu or be abducted by aliens, and they would have to find another lucky candidate. Besides, I like children, even other peoples'. Admittedly, my 34 years of teaching experience had all been with teenagers, but how different could a group of 7 to 12 year olds be? They are toilet trained, right?

As the date drew near the hobby guy had more news. He had enlisted another modeler, Jacques, to be my co-presenter. Jacques is a great guy, knowledgeable, and in possession of a loud voice, an excellent choice, especially the loud voice part.

We began to plan. We could show the different scales with F-units from N, HO, and O scales. Jacques had a G scale Climax he could bring. With some flex track and a power pack I could entertain the kids with some HO diesels with sound. Some magazines, a Walthers catalog and a handout for the parents would take up space on the table. We would talk for a few minutes and then dismiss them early. That always worked in high school.

Despite being November, the day in question dawned sunny and warm. I enviously eyed the neighbors who were outside washing their cars. I could have been railfanning. Perhaps no one would show up. We arrived at the library an hour early and began to set up. Within minutes two old fellows appeared. They looked exactly like the two old hecklers from the balcony in the "Muppet Show." Describing themselves as "refugees" from the local seniors' residence they took seats in the front row and began to paw through our displays. There were no children in sight.


Jacques is a genius. He appeared with one of those rectangular 9-volt batteries, the kind used in smoke detectors. Its terminals were the perfect spacing for HO track and twisted at a steeper angle made contact with N scale rails as well. We had power! The display locomotives whirred back and forth powered by his tiny battery. I got the sound locomotive going and being QSI, it could be made to "talk" in English in the program mode. Statler and Waldorf (the Muppet guys) wanted some coffee and tried to steal my copy of RMC. We were ready.

At 2 p.m. the kids began to arrive. The promised age group of 7-12 looked more like 5 to 8. There were twenty-two of them and they were in high spirits. I needed my nap. They loved it when I asked a little girl to hold one end of a piece of flex track while I bent it around her. Jacques made the locomotives move forward and back. I passed the HO scale Walthers catalog around and they tried to lift it with only one hand. We made a tree by stuffing ground foam onto a plastic trunk. When I did the "talking locomotive" bit, the kids rushed the table. They grabbed the 9-volt battery and ran the locomotives off the end of the flex track. They blew the horn and rang the bell on the sound unit. They put the tree on a flat car and tried to couple it to the locomotives, in fact all the locomotives at once. They loved it.

The parents seemed pleased as well, although one woman did ask why all the model railroad boxes said that the products were known to cause cancer in the State of California. I replied to the effect that even lentils are known to cause cancer in the State of California and she went away confused.

A second group arrived an hour later and we repeated the performance. Again all went well and nothing was broken, not even the Atlas Trainman locomotive that one youngster held over his head hopping with glee.

I came away unsure that we had really converted any children to a future in our hobby. They were very young, after all, and our pastime is largely an adult one. These were toy train aficionados, rather than modelers, but my wife was more positive, saying who knew what the kids took away from it. In several years they might awake as model train lovers. As it was, they left the library happy and covered in ground foam. Jacques and I also left happy, even though we did not "dismiss early." You see, we had fun too.

-KEN GOSLETT