The change occured after Lionel was sold to General Mills. During the late 70's Baby Boomers hit their peak earnings years and went on a nostalgia binge. Prior to this change the "adults" in the TCA were occupied by prewar or pre-1954 Lionel O-gauge. Collecting focused on actual trains, transformers and accessories were ignored, space and military was frowned on.
Nostalgia peaked in the late 80's and High-Rail running became the driver.. In the late 90's the Scale Weenies got in the act. Go to York and look at the Atlas Display.. You'll see a Diesel barely moving hauling a load of scale trains.. You won't find many kids anywhere
trigtrax wrote: Prior to this change the "adults" in the TCA were occupied by prewar or pre-1954 Lionel O-gauge.
Prior to this change the "adults" in the TCA were occupied by prewar or pre-1954 Lionel O-gauge.
To augment: prior to this change, the TCA was occupied by the really old stuff, some pre WWI, some 19th century even. The early 2" gauge by C & F, Electoy, Voltamp and other gauges by IVES and even more obscure (to us) manufacturers. Of course, the great Standard Gauge stuff was included as well, but soem of that was still actually too new to attract their full interest. The group formed when they woke to the realization that time and the scrap drives of WWII had consumed huge numbers of the relatively rare trains of their (and their fathers' and grandfathers') youths. The stuff they could buy new was of very little interest to most of them, and the concerns of children were hardly noticed. They were historians. Their intent was to preserve and display the past. Running wasn't much of an issue (note that TCA grading standards couldn't be bothered to notice whether anything ran).
The trend of realistic trains that appeal to adults has been around a long time. There was the introduction of "T" rail track, the 1937 scale Hudson, Super 0 Track and locos like the scale proportioned F-3 and Trainmaster. Even MPC made some product offerings such as the Standard 0 rolling stock line.
I think the real push towards adult scale trains came with the introduction of TMCC and Railsounds - that's when everything changed. You had toy trains that would now run more realistically and sound more real, and so why not put these features into trains that appeared more real. And of course, the prices of these trains will easily turn away any young family with kids with the comment I have heard all too many times from young parents" "these aren't trains for kids, these are for adults."
The collectible thing happened long before the scale push did. When the original Lionel Corp. when under and General Mills bought Lionel, that was the real beginning. And you had a lot of adults who had trains as children, and were now trying to buy back their childhood memories and were willing to pay for those memories. Of course it helps to consider that the average blue collar US worker was far better off a few decades ago than they are now. And the stock market was strong and the postwar babyboomers had money to burn, which helped drive collectible train prices up to some of the unreal levels they attained. Even MPC trains were selling a high prices. Not so long ago, many MPC box cars typically sold for $30-$60 each.
My how things have changed.
brianel, Agent 027
"Praise the Lord. I may not have everything I desire, but the Lord has come through for what I need."
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