I never really quite got there with my Hornby "OO" gauge train set when I was nine years old. Even revisiting the idea of a miniature railway in my bedroom with a Graham Farrish "N" gauge set when I was 12 years old didn't seem to help.
My problem was that I never quite wanted to commit to a particular layout. Nailing down the track in a certain configuration seemed like a bad idea. The incentive was that with a particular setup struck down you could then spend hours making papier mache hills and crafting lifelike trees from washing up brushes. I did try this from time to time, but my creations seemed so far removed from the pictures I saw on the box that it wasn't long before I gave up.
Even with these youthful missteps I'm still a believer in the value of model railways for kids. A simple double route setup with three trains running is a great example of a finite state automaton. Working out which trains need to go where, when and in what order is a visual exercise in logic with all sorts of educational benefits. It's similar to coding competitions that limit developers to just a few bytes of data.
These finite state systems with their timetables, points and variable length/speed trains are the perfect antidote for technology that has almost limitless flexibility. If you can understand the logic of setting up and running a model railway any programming or logic work you do after that will be all the more efficient.
Thankfully, another binary toy came to the rescue. Lego City Trains have been a revelation, not only for my kids but for me as well. I've finally put those childhood train set inadequacies to bed while setting up various Lego train sets with my kids over numerous weekends.
Firstly you don't have to commit to one layout. Being Lego it is easy to dismantle and reconfigure to your heart's content. Also, creating a landscape for your train to pass through happily jettisons any thoughts of chicken wire and soggy newspaper. We've built a whole city for our passenger train to snakes its way through and it didn't take us six months to achieve.
The children also seem to be enjoying it more than I did at their age. For starters they can build it themselves, rather than having to get a grown-up to help with the fiddly bits and soldering like my Hornby set.
The remote control aspect of our kit (7938 Passenger Train) has been a hit as well. One of them will take control of the train while the other two make announcements at various stations on the route. There seems to be some morbid fascination with safety announcements and crashes, but I blame First Great Western for that -- I'm sure it isn't my over protective parenting.
Andy Robertson is Wired.co.uk's GeekDad and reviews Skylanders figures.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
