Well my daughter and I got back from the hobby shop a little while ago, and I am happy to say I am the new owner of a Lionel North Pole Central Express train set!
It may not be top of the line, and I'm sure there are sets out there with better sound, but we set it up right away and have been running it almost an hour since. My daughter chases it around running in circles and LOVES to hit the whistle. Thanks to everyone who gave their advice to me for my first train set. Skullie
Great! Those air whistle tenders are brilliant, our little girl loves it too, long may it run. The engine is a good one, I have the same loco (not set). Happy Christmas!
Long live the air whistle! Enjoy your train. And more importantly, enjoy your daughter enjoying the train. To me, the greatest joy the trains in our home have brought is the bonding between me and my kids.
Jim
Modeling the Baltimore waterfront in HO scale
Lionel collector, stuck in an N scaler's modelling space.
First, Welcome to the forum. Next, congratulations on the train set. As time goes on, your daughter may get bored with just a oval of track. For little money, especially following Christmas, you can pick up an expansion pack that will give you some more track options and even some added cars. If you have a boxcar with opening doors, or a gondola, the kids love to put things in them. Also, most expansion freight sets come with a dump car of sorts, so you can have it do some action that also keeps the kids interest. As the father of two small children, I have learned that you need to keep them interested with lots of action and do it in a way that will let them get involved.
Good luck with your venture into O gauge trains. I got back into the hobby because of the birth of my son, now I have a moderately large layout coming together and have spent a good bit on obtaining lots of trains. You can get a lot more trains when the Mrs. know the kids are into it too.
Dennis
TCA#09-63805
Skullie wrote: It may not be top of the line, and I'm sure there are sets out there with better sound...
It may not be top of the line, and I'm sure there are sets out there with better sound...
Don't worry about that...if you and your daughter are enjoying it, that's what counts!
to the greatest hobby in the world! ENJOY the ride!!!
"It may not be top of the line, and I'm sure there are sets out there with better sound, but we set it up right away and have been running it almost an hour since. My daughter chases it around running in circles and LOVES to hit the whistle. Thanks to everyone who gave their advice to me for my first train set."
Skullie, you have nothing to be sorry about. That's a fine set. There's a big problem in this hobby that some feel the only way they can enjoy trains is if they are loaded with electronics, exact xcale replicas and expensive.... and that's the way it should be for all of us. One of the last K-Line catalogs had an illustration with the battery powered kid's train of a couple of kids asking "Dad, can we run our train on YOUR layout?" That's the other sad state of the hobby today. Most of us in the hobby today had dad's who entrusted us with our OWN layouts.
I've done something many in the hobby have not done. For many years I had a small inexpensive traveling train layout built on a hollowcore door. I went to shows and events where kids would be welcome and was always a big hit. Kids don't notice all the things some of us die-hard adult train guys do. Kids have their imaginations still intact and are able to play in ways most of us adults have long forgotten about. Kids aren't nearly as concerned about prototype or rivet counts.... they can see realism in ways we adults don't.
My own trains are inexpensive, non-scale types and I can tell you I have as much fun with them as absolutely anyone in this entire hobby... I do not doubt that for one second. Absolutely ANYONE! My track is 027 and my layout is small by most standards.... so what!! But maybe I'm still a kid at heart.
When I get a used plastic bodied cheap small DC powered MPC steam engine, I am as excited about it as the guy who just dropped a grand on the latest towering achievement in the hobby. Some can't have fun in the hobby without having the best top line stuff, but I'm glad I can. And to be perfectly honest, I have yet to meet anyone in the hobby at all anywhere who buys expensive top line trains to give soley to their kids.
The picute you painted Skullie of your daughter chasing the train around and blowing the whistle is priceless and is a memory that may be in your family for years to come. There's a blessing to be thankful for.
By the way, the engine you have in your set is the same kind I also have. I've had it for 15 going on 16 years and it still runs and works just fine. There are more expensive train products that don't make beyond their first year.
brianel, Agent 027
"Praise the Lord. I may not have everything I desire, but the Lord has come through for what I need."
Brianel wrote:
"My own trains are inexpensive, non-scale types and I can tell you I have as much fun with them as absolutely anyone in this entire hobby... I do not doubt that for one second."
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Ditto for me!
Hi everyone,
Thank you for the warm welcome to the forums as well as the hobby. I'm looking forward to enjoying it for years to come. Just to comment on some of your replies regarding expanding, I already seem to have become addicted to looking to expand!
This year it will simply be an oval under the tree for now, but after the holidays, I want to try and make a permanent table somewhere in my basement, most likely my daughters play room. I've already thought about adding the box cars, dump cars, or gondola's; any kind of car my daughter can interact with. One of the first things that came to me when looking at the add-on cars was that she would love to put stuff in them and send them for a ride.
My mother in law is also supposed to be digging up an old Thomas Kinkade village she has stashed away that she is going to give us for me to put around the train. I cant wait, its going to be a lot of fun.
The only ones who don't seem happy about the train is our cats who got used to sitting under the tree..until yesterday!
Thanks again everyone, these forums are a great place.
Sounds like you are having fun with the train set. Watch out for the cat as he or she will try to follow the train and catch it like a mouse or swat at the train, if it has a whistle the cat will probally run when the whistle sounds off.
Lee F.
The best value dump car is to purchase an expansion set from Lionel (preferably 40% off Hobby Lobby) or mail order. You get three cars (one dump), signs, 4 straights (one activates dump car) and a lubrication kit.
Jim H
Thats the truth Dennis I bought a Lionel set for son last Xmas, I got sucked into the hobby. Not sure whos into the trains more now, my son or me
Nick
Yeah it will be easy for me to get more cars for the train, my wife is really the one that pushed it so that I have something that will get me "in the holiday spirit", lol!
As for the cats, ours are older and beyong the chasing stage they just kinda lag around and do nothing. They got comfy sitting on the tree skirt and now when the train starts they all scoot out. The whistle is another thing they dont appreciate.
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