So I used to have a pretty good American Flyer S-scale set-up. Any model train Max'ers? I would love to see your set-ups if so. My set looks similar to this one.
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Model trains
- Thread starter WestTexasHusker
- Start date
When I was 4, my dad got a free Lionel Train set (O gauge) when he bought a new refrigerator or something like that.
We had a huge table set up in one of our basement rooms. We only had it for a year or two when somebody (probably me) left the transformer on all night and it burned out. Dad wasn't going to pay for a new one if we're just going to mistreat it, so it went into storage. Some of it got lost/damaged/thrown away in the move a few years later.
Twenty-some years later, when I had my own son, I dug around in my parents garage and salvaged what was left. Bought a new transformer at the local hobby store, and bought a bunch of accessories and was starting to have some fun with it and my son. But then as we started adding more kids, and the kids got bigger (and losing interest in it when compared to computer/video games), we needed the extra room, and couldn't leave it set up. So it went back into storage for another 15+ years.
We had a huge table set up in one of our basement rooms. We only had it for a year or two when somebody (probably me) left the transformer on all night and it burned out. Dad wasn't going to pay for a new one if we're just going to mistreat it, so it went into storage. Some of it got lost/damaged/thrown away in the move a few years later.
Twenty-some years later, when I had my own son, I dug around in my parents garage and salvaged what was left. Bought a new transformer at the local hobby store, and bought a bunch of accessories and was starting to have some fun with it and my son. But then as we started adding more kids, and the kids got bigger (and losing interest in it when compared to computer/video games), we needed the extra room, and couldn't leave it set up. So it went back into storage for another 15+ years.
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Yes those trains are in the attic most of their lives, but for those fleeting moments when they are up and running, pure joy!
I bought my dad a NN scale train when he was suffering from Alzheimer’s. I glued the track to a board and he had some fun with it very briefly. When i cleaned out his room after he died, I brought the engine and cars home and have them on display in a bookcase. He thought that engine was the coolest thing and it in fact is a pretty neat little machine.
I bought my dad a NN scale train when he was suffering from Alzheimer’s. I glued the track to a board and he had some fun with it very briefly. When i cleaned out his room after he died, I brought the engine and cars home and have them on display in a bookcase. He thought that engine was the coolest thing and it in fact is a pretty neat little machine.
One year when i was Cubmaster, the theme one month was about trains. So at the monthly pack meeting, I dressed up like a train engineer and told the story about the Golden Spike as I acted it out with props and a fake sledgehammer I made out of PVC pipe, and an actual RR spike I'd painted gold. Then during the part of the meeting where I present the scouts with the awards they'd earned for the month, I had them stand on the other of the train track I'd set up across several banquet tables, and I'd put their awards on a rail car, then drive the train over them for them to take. Then bring the train back and repeat for next kid. Etc. I had several kids and parents say that was their favorite pack meeting over the years.
It's probably a good thing I never found a place to permanently set it up at home, because I was having way more fun with it than my kids were, and was sinking a lot of money into it in a relatively short amount of time.
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I SOOOOOO want to. However, I am not going to do it. I'm just not.
(but be forewarned....this forum is in the 'normal' Cafe -- not Hot Topics)
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Ah! Good clarification there.... But alright, you've earned it, you deserve it, you.
(but be forewarned....this forum is in the 'normal' Cafe -- not Hot Topics)
In all honesty, this was and is, your fault. I said NO! But you did this.....
(but be forewarned....this forum is in the 'normal' Cafe -- not Hot Topics)
great story there. If I had the room, I'd love to have an HO set up.
A lot late to this thread, but I saw model trains and lost my mind. I've had 3 different HO layouts and have 35 engines, most with sound and countless freight cars. It's one of the few things my wife didn't get in the divorce....Anyway I digress. Anytime you want to talk trains I'm in. We have been converting all of our engines to RailPro decoders. No more of boosters and all of the other garbage that you needed when you had a big set up.
Like I said anytime you want to talk trains, just let me know.
TX Husker, is there any sort of table top train set (micro) that is worth a darn, that I could just set up, play with, and then store it away? I don't have room for a semi permanent set up.
I do like to set up my son's O Scale Polar Express that runs around the Christmas tree. That's a lot of fun. I have quite a bit of extra track but might splurge on even more this year!
You can get a Ready-to-run (RTR) set, but most of those are cheap and don't last. You could do a small 2x4 feet set-up as a switching module. Buy a GP40 engine in your favorite road name and 8 to 10 cars and switch them. You could build it to the free-mo standard and then take it to meets, that is always fun. You can get info at free-mo.org.
My dad built us an O gauge set up when I was a kid but most of it was lost in a move. Then in my early teens I had some HO stuff. Had fun with that but I had no money or talent to do much with it. Still have that stuff 40 years later but it's been hauled around so much most of it is busted. Now I have the money but still not the talent, haha.
I started watching Youtube videos of trains about when UP decided to restore the Big Boy. I resisted for a long time because I already have 2 expensive hobbies but I finally cracked and bought some N scale stuff. I have a 4x8 sheet of melamine in my office which I've tried about 4 different track plans on.
I had a plan I liked and was trying to figure out what to do for landscaping and then started having DCC issues with a lot of the locos. Cleaning track didn't help. Trying to set up an actual bus with multiple power points on the track but kind of lost my ambition with all of the problems.
I still watch a lot of videos and got to see the Big Boy a few times. What road names do you run? I have a mix of stuff I've liked over the years.
Cheers!
I started watching Youtube videos of trains about when UP decided to restore the Big Boy. I resisted for a long time because I already have 2 expensive hobbies but I finally cracked and bought some N scale stuff. I have a 4x8 sheet of melamine in my office which I've tried about 4 different track plans on.
I had a plan I liked and was trying to figure out what to do for landscaping and then started having DCC issues with a lot of the locos. Cleaning track didn't help. Trying to set up an actual bus with multiple power points on the track but kind of lost my ambition with all of the problems
.I still watch a lot of videos and got to see the Big Boy a few times. What road names do you run? I have a mix of stuff I've liked over the years.
Cheers!
In the top of my closet I have an American Flyer S-scale set from my childhood. I haven't run it in probably 35-40 years but I am guessing it works like a champ.
