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My best friends son loves my engines. He has seen the big Wilesco, but had never gotten to see it run. So I did a short video of him running the engine, blowing the whistle, and just enjoying himself. I love to see a toy being played with they way it was meant to!
newsteamer123
startin him at a young age
like meeee even though im 14
Bugsy
Good one, Owen!
A steamup with the neighbourhood friends and their kids is always satisfying.
igy569
I love kids. Seeing their delighted faces when they get to see and play first hand with these awesome toys makes it ALL worth it. Yes.. even 14 year olds.. heck.. the 18 year old from across the street came over a few weeks ago.. thinks they are really cool. He even said that I am kinda cool.
I believe I should be flattered.
johnreid
Looks like you have a good friend now
igy569
johnreid wrote:
Looks like you have a good friend now
*laughing* James has been my friend since he was 1! He and his sister (13, my daughters best friend) are mostly the only kids I see other than my own these days...
metalhead100
Funny you mention this Owen,
For Halloween my Wife and I took my son and his 2 cousins ,both girls,and their Grandma (of all three) to town for fun and candy.
Sunday morning I had a Steam up with my coffee ,and the oldest of the 2 girls ,who is 10,sat down on the other side of the table and asked me a zillion questions and was seemingly interested in the greasy metal racket .
She comes from a Sports loving family ,with no mechanical aptitude at all.
Her father does no work with tools of any kind. So I could imagine it was pretty neat for her to see something like this.
So I broke out the Wilesco Toolshop-O pleanty ....and fired it up....
She sat there watching and asking questions for quite a while and only got up when I shut them off...
Guess I'm a pretty cool Uncle !
Jim
gd9704
That's nice to see....
My son is 4, and while he's mildly interested in my steam engine, he'd rather play with something he can push around the floor.
Great video, and it's great to see a young person introduced to a great hobby!
Les
It's great to see them so interested at a young age.
kevininasia
Yes, I agree... nice to see a new generation of kids with an interest in steam engines. Since full-size steam engines are largely a thing of the past, it's important to maintain some awareness of their former glory. Toy and model steam engines are a great way to carry on that tradition.
I'm surprised at how quickly young kids seem to be able to figure out steam engines. My youngest daughter is not yet 2 years old, and she already knows how to run many of my engines. She knows where the oil, water and alcohol go, and some of the parts (boiler, burner etc). I believe that if I passed her the matches, which I won't be doing for a while yet, she could probably get one going. With the help of the 4 year old, it would be almost a certainty.
I read with much amusement the warning on the side of my DV2 box that said "For ages 14 and up". How many of us had accumulated a fair bit of steam engine experience well before our 14th birthday? But I realise that this is a different day and age - the age of safety warnings and lawsuits, which tempers my amusement with a touch of sadness.
MooseMan
Oh yes....that's what it's all about! I think the moment you grow up is the moment when you lose the ability to grin like that....keep steaming and it can be postponed indefinitely.
logoman
not my video, but the sentiment is the same.
TE1DRIVER
I fired the SE3 up at work and all the lads who are much older than me were beside themselves with delight steam is great.
Sandman
Great to see that steam still has a fascination for the younger generation.
That is what will ultimately keep our hobby alive.
tmuir
Thanks for sharing the video.
My younger son, James who is 2 1/2 is just at that age anything steam he loves.
His favourite thing is me letting him hand crank a flywheel on one of my steam engines.
Its good to see children enjoying something other than video games or tv.
dampfmaschinenjoe 1967
I like to see the little engineer at the engine room. I am waiting that he takes an oilcan and greases up the crossheads professionally !
even though im 14 
But I realise that this is a different day and age - the age of safety warnings and lawsuits, which tempers my amusement with a touch of sadness.