N scale is for years 14 and above?

[bobdobbs]

Posted to the Atlas list

Hi

I was just at my LHS yesterday, (Trackside Trains, Burlingame, Ca), and saw the new Atlas gondola (Herzog, very nice), but in the lower right corner there was a small round sticker indicating "ages 14+". Is this some liability thing, or are we limiting N scale to mid-teen and above. I ASSume it is for some product liability thing, or maybe the distributors and not Atlas are affixing the stickers? Inquiring minds want to know. I started with N scale about age 10 or so, and would hate to know I was ilegal for 4 years- Practicing N scale without a License!

Dobbs
SP/SSW/T&NO/PE/SD&AE/NWP

[sirenwerks]

If it's some industry standard means of getting around the liability issue, I am all for it. Both the Atlas and Deluxe products I bought this weekend have the stickers (but the magazines didn't?). I hope it means more little things, like vehicles, will now be manufactured.

[TrainCat2]

This has been a big discussion on the HO A-Board for several days now. Atlas verified that the sticker is to indicate that the item is for use by anyone physically older than 14 Years (mentally, we are all less than that). Items prodiced in China for under 14 must go through a new series of inspections and tests. The sticker allows the items to be shipped out of China without the inspections AND ADDED COSTS.

[Boiler-man]

Boy am I in trouble :

I gave my 4 year old grandson a 7ft X 5ft "L" shaped layout as a gift for last Christmas.

The kid was very excited and with a little help was able to operate it as well as the older kids

His mom and dad are not much into the train thing but the way I see it one is never too young to get started ;D!
My folks gave me a Lionel set for Christmas when I was 2 years old and when 7 I got into HO gage, stayed with that until I was 19.
At 24 I got into N-scale and have been there ever since (about 33 years or so).

I never had any warnings on any of the packages that stuff came in, what gives, is it the lead in the paint ????

[3rdrail]

Boy am I in trouble :

I gave my 4 year old grandson a 7ft X 5ft "L" shaped layout as a gift for last Christmas.

The kid was very excited and with a little help was able to operate it as well as the older kids

His mom and dad are not much into the train thing but the way I see it one is never too young to get started ;D!
My folks gave me a Lionel set for Christmas when I was 2 years old and when 7 I got into HO gage, stayed with that until I was 19.
At 24 I got into N-scale and have been there ever since (about 33 years or so).

I never had any warnings on any of the packages that stuff came in, what gives, is it the lead in the paint ????

This has been a big discussion on the HO A-Board for several days now. Atlas verified that the sticker is to indicate that the item is for use by anyone physically older than 14 Years (mentally, we are all less than that). Items prodiced in China for under 14 must go through a new series of inspections and tests. The sticker allows the items to be shipped out of China without the inspections AND ADDED COSTS.

[Dave V]

This has been a big discussion on the HO A-Board for several days now. Atlas verified that the sticker is to indicate that the item is for use by anyone physically older than 14 Years (mentally, we are all less than that). Items prodiced in China for under 14 must go through a new series of inspections and tests. The sticker allows the items to be shipped out of China without the inspections AND ADDED COSTS.

...i.e., they can keep using tasty lead paint?

[tom mann]

Ah, this explains why the Sponge Bob teething ring I bought for my daughter was marked for ages 14+.

Stay cool and find loopholes...

[Nato]

  How about a Gliden Paint Box car with an "Our Paints are Lead Free" logo on the side. Better yet how about a ratings system like PG 14 you cannot buy a 'Plowboy' car with their Tractor Pull Center Fold logo on the sides,or an R rated car only NASCAR Race fans can have this flat car with two Metal Minatures Kyle Petty and Jona Jones Chev's on it.  Nate Goodman (Nato).

[Greyryder]

...i.e., they can keep using tasty lead paint?

Only if they're making them in Mattel's factories.

[sparky]

This was posted on the A-board by jacobmarley.  Normally I find Al's posts to be somewhat eccentric, and not usually humorous, but this one is great:


14!!? 14? You guys aren't giving 14 year olds trains are you? Frankly, I think it should say, "Not intended for children under the age of 21". What 14 year old boy in his right mind is going to be interested in toy trains? The age about which we started getting a somewhat decent allowance and realistically interested in girls. I'm thinking the US Surgeon General should get involved in this to tell you the truth. A label on every train, "WARNING: studies have shown that the use of this product may lead to a catastrophic loss of social life in minors".

For the love of God! Don't do this to your children. They may end up pudgy, stinky, nerdy adults who are, by all accounts, on one of the lowest rungs of the social ladder. Just above sex offenders, and just below homeless alcoholics. Trains for kids? That, my friends, is child abuse.

 
Al
 

[Walkercolt]

Horizon has put in their catalog that all gas RC stuff is for 18+ years. It's liability lawyer crap. You can sue for getting hurt by a model train, but you CANNOT sue if the shoulder harness or the air-bag in your car doesn't work properly and you're injured as a result. The Fed's indeminfied the auto makers on "safety equiptment". Read your car's owner's manual...nowhere does it say the safety equiptment has to work. In fact, the last line in mine says "Safety equiptment is covered by seperate applicable warrentee. See dealer for details." I went thru the windshield of an AMC Hornet, factured my skull because the harness didn't lock, and was told by a personal injury lawyer"You can sue, but you won't get to trial." When I got rear-ended by a drunk illegal Mexican, harness didn't work and damaged three discs in my lower back. Exact same story. Birch Bigh and Ted Kennedy(who own the patents on US-style air-bags) wrote the law saying you can't sue over failed "safety equiptment" on cars/light trucks. And that lets the insurance companies off the hook too. Been there, done it, got the hurting back for the rest of my life for it. : The NHTSA says over 100,000 people have died from malfuntioning air-bags since their introduction. At least 10,000 of those people were killed when the car had no key in the ignition and wasn't running. US air-bags and "three point harnesses" are illeagel everywhere but the US, Canada, and New South Wales, Autrailia. I've had European spec cars, they have a four point "drop-down" harness like in racing, and nitrogen cylinder powered air-bags. No explosives. BMW's and Mercedes-Benz's come with a warning about the dangers of air-bags and shoulder harnesses on the sun visors and reccommend you replace them with Euro-spec devices.