Model Railroading

[Buckeyefan 1]

OK, needed to change the subject (healthcare). It's Christmas time, and I'm wondering how many of you are into model railroading? Was this a hobby of anyones growing up? Anyone still have their old trains? Who sets up a train for Christmas? Anyone have pics? How about memories of grandpa's old Lionel during the holidays?

Here's a temporary K-Line setup on the ping pong table. My soon to be 3yr old son loves it. He's really into the Thomas garb, but is wacky about all trains.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b152/tpc3416/12-16-05011.jpg
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b152/tpc3416/12-16-05012.jpg
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b152/tpc3416/12-16-05013.jpg

 

[Tom Andry]

Seriously, I must have missed that day in father-son class. When I was a boy, there was a guy around the corner that had this huge set up in his garage...I didn't get it then, and I don't now...not that there is anything wrong with being in to model trains...I just don't get it. But more power to you.

 

[mtrycrafts]

OK, needed to change the subject (healthcare). It's Christmas time, and I'm wondering how many of you are into model railroading? Was this a hobby of anyones growing up? Anyone still have their old trains? Who sets up a train for Christmas? Anyone have pics? How about memories of grandpa's old Lionel during the holidays?

Here's a temporary K-Line setup on the ping pong table. My soon to be 3yr old son loves it. He's really into the Thomas garb, but is wacky about all trains.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b152/tpc3416/12-16-05011.jpg
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b152/tpc3416/12-16-05012.jpg
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b152/tpc3416/12-16-05013.jpg

NOW this is a smart post Very neutral and can relate to many, not that I am into it now but I can remember back a few days ago when it was a little part of it. Or, maybe it was more than a few days ago, LOL

 

[Sheep]

Wow buck, don't get too deatiled with those tracks

My friend has a big setup in a long closet. Its alright, but they are nothing without details. You need to create a landscape to go with it.

SheepStar

 

[droeses58]

Though I don't have one now, when I was a kid, 5 or 6 I remember my dad and I building a killer HO settup in the basement of our old house. Then one day I found my dads old American Flyer stuff he had as a kid and setting up a simple little oval track on the basement floor [without his knowledge] and of course the first thing I did was drop his black steam engine on the floor as I was taking it out of the box, the engine still worked but I broke the [I forget exactly what it's called] cattle cage thingy off the front.

To this day my dad has his American Flyer set up in his basement and still plays with it [the train] once in a while and he's 72.

 

[claudermilk]

I used to be into it. My grandfather was the cause, he was one of the original Pasadena Model RR Club members & they had a huge setup I got to help out with a long, long time ago. I still have cases of his old rolling stock, including a whole bunch of brass engines in varying states of completion. My own small layout went away years ago when space for it disappeared.

 

[majorloser]

My parents were BIG TIME Lionel collectors. Most of my fathers stuff is from pre-war era. As I was growing up my mother worked for a hobby store that was a Lionel service center. Needless to say, I would receive the rare "Service Station Special" sets every year. I still have them and quite a few other. My uncle is also a huge collector of Lionel.

In my younger days I also had an HO and a N gauge layouts.

Now days I don't have the room for an O-gauge layout. I got my wife into trains, though, by buying the Anheiser Busch sets and cars every year. They are produced by Lionel, K-line and others for A&B. Nothing like a beer train running aroung the Christmas tree.

 

[Mr. Lamb Fries]

My family never really got into Model trains...
But, here are a few pictures of the trains my father plays with now!

 

[majorloser]

My family never really got into Model trains...
But, here are a few pictures of the trains my father plays with now!

Can't wait for Mule to show us his "toy" trains.

 

[brian32672]

Can't wait for Mule to show us his "toy" trains.

I just started reading this thread - And he was the first person I thought of.
I'm sure he will chime in here soon.

Ron, Ron, paging Mr. Mule.......

 

[Buckeyefan 1]

My family never really got into Model trains...
But, here are a few pictures of the trains my father plays with now!

Wow, pretty impressive. I've been to a few train shows in the last few years, and I've always liked the huge locomotives as well as the bullet style (streamliner?) retrofitted locomotives. I don't think they have the same horse power as the new deisel/electrics, but they were jaw dropping large. They sell prints of these old trains at the shows. I found a few online.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b152/tpc3416/4-8-8-4bigboya.jpg
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b152/tpc3416/2-6-6-6.jpg
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b152/tpc3416/garrattj.jpg
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b152/tpc3416/4-4-4-4.jpg
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b152/tpc3416/streamlinera.jpg
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b152/tpc3416/streamlinerc.jpg
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b152/tpc3416/streamlinere.jpg

 

[Mr. Lamb Fries]

Hey Buckeyefan...

My father works at a Cuyahoga Valley Senic Railroad
Its not too far from columbus (probably an hour and a half). in Penninsula Ohio...would be a cool one tank trip! check out some of the special events...wine tasting, polar express for the kids, visit with santa, harry potter train (when the books come out)...etc. On each special event, All the stops the train makes, the whole town dresses up for each theme. lots of fun for the kids. the wine tasting train is lots of fun for the "BIG" kids!. Its a really great ride.
Heres a link to the website: If you have a minute...take a look.

http://www.cvsr.com/index.shtml

Heres a line up of the trains...

http://www.cvsr.com/roster.shtml

 

[brian32672]

I've seen a couple of historical trains up close. But this is the one that sticks in my mind.
http://ngeorgia.com/people/thegeneral.html

 

[Buckeyefan 1]

My father works at a Cuyahoga Valley Senic Railroad
Its not too far from columbus (probably an hour and a half). in Penninsula Ohio...would be a cool one tank trip!

Thaks for the links! We weren't too far from there yesterday. Went to see my sister in Avon, Ohio which is on the west side of Cleveland. Peninsula would be around a two hour drive for us. I think that may be the same line we took our kids to this past summer. It was a full size Thomas train. There must have been 7 huge tents set up at a local ski lodge parking area. I think it was Boston Mills, which is north of Peninsula. That's such a nice area of Ohio - rolling hills, streams, quaint little towns...

 

[Buckeyefan 1]

I've seen a couple of historical trains up close. But this is the one that sticks in my mind.
http://ngeorgia.com/people/thegeneral.html

One of my favorites! My late grandfather bought me a Tyco Spirit of '76 locomotive (my first HO set) that looked very similar. I've not been able to find any on ebay. Mine fell off a train board, and cracked.

 

[hifiman]

In my childhood

I got into toy trains when I was a kid. My dad had an old Lionel "O" scale set that was piled in a box, but I couldn't play with. Eventually they bought me a pretty decent "HO" set. I loved that thing. I always played with it and saved my money up to buy more trains, track, accessories, etc. Of course being pretty young in a poor household meant that I did more dreaming than purchasing. Eventually I grew out of it. When I move out and wanted to take my trains with me I found out my Mom had given them all away. As an adult I couldn't imagine myself playing with these things ever again. My son is almost 12 and I know he might have some initial interest, but I doubt they would keep his interests for more than a hour (there's just too much competition from video games and legos).

 

[Ax-man]

Those are some really neat trains guys. Although I never did get into the trains, not because I didn't want to though, it does remind me of an older lady that was our 'babysitter' as very young kids in north Indiana. Everyday at darn near precisely 4 P.M. she would stop whatever she was doing and hit the front window to see the 'B & O' go by on the tracks across the street, evidently her husband was an engineer who had died a few years earlier.
I never will forget that.

OK, that was my 'moment of reflection' for the day.

 

[10010011]

One of my favorites! My late grandfather bought me a Tyco Spirit of '76 locomotive (my first HO set) that looked very similar. I've not been able to find any on ebay. Mine fell off a train board, and cracked.

I havea simmiler set in my mothers attic. But it is the one with the large modern desial locomotive.

I actullay saw the real thing in 1978 while fishing on the Mississippi river.

 

[BMXTRIX]

Man - that is EXACTLY what I need! A hobby that takes a lot of my time and costs a lot of money. Good thinking!



My dad had some HO stuff when I was growing up - it was fun, but only for a few hours at a time. As my son gets older I want to try out RC airplanes with him. Model rockets were definitely fun for me, and I liked slot cars more than the trains I think.

I had definitey grown out of most of it by the time I was 12 or 13 though - Junior High School age I think.

 

[majorloser]

One of my favorites! My late grandfather bought me a Tyco Spirit of '76 locomotive (my first HO set) that looked very similar. I've not been able to find any on ebay. Mine fell off a train board, and cracked.

I had the same EXACT train set. Also ran it of the tracks and on to the floor.