Sarge's thoughtful response to my first part of this thread which title, above, was Aelita's from Wos; illuminated and underscored a crucial piece of information which had escaped my notice...viz:-
' In my formative years I was a bit of an outcast, so my childhood wasn't one of good mates tackling a project together or anything of that sort. My entertainments were much more geared to self-expression rather than fun with friends...(edit)...a piece of data supporting my thesis that one's adult interests are hugely the result of the climate of one's youth. '
I really hadn't thought about this crucial piece of the situation and I should have because I am a story teller above all and whats the use of my stage setting without an audience to enjoy it with me?
Clockwork trains and Meccano were shared with Tim a friend from across the road, we combined our stuff to build bigger settings.
The Trix Twin stuff was technically Dad's but he wasn't able to spare the time to play much but I was always glad when he did.
It was Alex's skills with electronics and enthusiastic participation that made our Triang Hornby layout so enjoyable and long lasting a friendship even despite my insistence on Faller Black Forest buildings like the leaking watermill and running the Lord of the Isles pulling modern rolling stock. A loyal LNER man he managed to tolerate my GWR perversions!
Daniel was my most loved playmate from his infancy going to watch the HST blast through the Stevenage line to those Faller and Playmobil toys we set up on the bedroom floor, to programing an Apple 2 to control a parent luring train that ran from the school foyer (I taught shop there) back out across the carpark bearing a FOLLOW ME banner.
Then a few years later my wife left me and so I went to Queens to stay with Joe who was a brother in law and who let me stay rent free in return for minding his baby daughter Asherah.
A guy named Frank on Model Train Journal had generously given me an 027 Lionel Atlantic made from blue plastix plus a loop of 027 track and other guys had also contributed a boxcar and gondola so we had enough to get started and whilst Asherahs parents were at work we had the living room hardwood floor to spread out on.
Now its crucial that when a child wants to join in the fun with your trains that you do not get anal about things like scale or proportion and to that end you are better off with 0 gauge because it can take the abuse that would wreck an HO train.
Asherah had the most eclectic selection of toys many sourced from garage sales by grandma, so there was no common theme but that didn't stop her. Giant teddy bears, Lego Duplo as well as regular sized bricks were pressed into service to build farm buildings and zoo enclosures to hold animals of every kind and size including the giant teddy bear, a special attraction!
The train existed to serve her community of people who were also of all sizes and types from Polly Pockets to those strange cylindrical figures that plugged into playground equipment. Over time we incorporated just about every toy she possessed as well as several of mine like the china miniatures that used to come with Red Rose teabags.
I became a very busy engineer because to my surprise Asherah wasn't really interested in controlling the locomotive, no, she wanted to tell the driver where to go, who or what to pick up and then watch with satisfaction as her empire grew ever larger as we added more track and locos over time to the point where by the time we had set it all up we only had an hour or two to put it all away.
It was Asherah's world and she was in charge don't be surprised. My job was to tell the stories that explained why trains were so important to her world and why a medium of exchange was usually necessary because Daddy has to work and so do all the little people or how can they afford to build houses and farms and zoos and feed their animals?
I wasn't trying to indoctrinate her, it was just a sensible way of explaining how the world - in this case hers - had to work if it was going to make any sense. Playing trains I was surprised to notice had become much more enjoyable in this al fresco format and I believe that I achieved my goal of ensuring that when she grew up she would have the same solid core of happy childhood memories to draw upon when times werent so good.
it worked for me and still does.
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