How small a minority are women collectors?

[Anonymous]

I'm just curious, seeing's as how I'm just getting started in the classic toy train hobby, if there are very many women involved in this hobby?

It *seems* like it would kind of be a guy-thing , if you know what I mean. I just hope I'm not the Lone Ranger female of classic toy trains.

Thanks for any info.

Debra

[Algonquin]

Hi Debra,

You are right that collecting trains is primarily a "guy-thing", but you are definitely not the Lone Ranger female. I now several other females that collect.

I remember one story I was told by one collector who said that she was never allowed to play with the family trains when she was young, only her brothers could. She said that now that she is on her own and making her own decisions, she is going to collect and play with trains.

My daughter, who just turned five, also enjoys Lionel trains. She currently has about five pieces and plays with them in our basement where our layout is. She is currently asking for her own horse transport car and a missile launching car.

Regards,

Tim Pignatari

[Anonymous]

Hi, Tim:

ROFLOL at your story about your daughter. I was going "uh-huh, uh-huh," right along all the way through your mention of her request for a horse transport car, but I lost it when you got to the missile launching car. Too funny.

Glad to hear you're encouraging her. I personally think it would make a great hobby for a youngster, no matter what gender.

I temporarily "inherited" my brother's set for a few years, but then he took it back, and that's the last I've seen of it, and I've wanted my own set ever since. I just never made it a priority. I'm sure there's many others like me out there who just haven't made the decision to just go ahead and do it.

One of the side benefits, I would think, is it seems like you'd meet a lot of interesting people at the model train conventions. Kind of get a person out of their same old rut, if you know what I mean.

Well, as soon as I get a chance I'm going to check out the literature that's available and get a book or two, see if I can figure out what I need in order to put a train set together.

BTW, will I need to become a mechanic and do repairs, those kinds of things? I mean I know these are older trains, but they *seem* pretty sturdy. What's your experience?

Debra

[Algonquin]

Hi Debra,

Postwar Lionel trains are relatively simple compared to the high-tech ones Lionel is issuing today. However, the postwar ones do benefit from some periodic maintenance, mainly oiling and greasing, to keep them in nice operating condition. This part is relatively easy. For the most part, this is all postwar trains need to get running again.

To keep them running smoothly and at peak efficieny, there are other maintenance activites that need to be performed such as replacement of the motor brushes, cleaning the motor commutator face of brush debris or re-greasing the lower armature bearing. These tasks are relatively simple once you see how to do it. There are books available that can take you step by step through each repair.

When I first got back into the hobby back in the 80's, I took my old engines into my local Lionel Service Station and had them do the maintenance. These days I am pretty comfortable with most postwar repairs. However, I take the new stuff in to my Service Station for repairs as some of the new circuitry is beyond my abilities.

The wiring on the postwar pieces is also very simple compared to the new stuff. But occasionally, I get a piece of postwar with dried out insulation on the wiring. I have learned to replace wire. It just takes a little pracice with a soldering gun. A Lionel Service Station can fix these problems also.

If you enjoy "tinkering", postwar trains can provide fun maintance activities in addition to running the trains.

Tim Pignatari

[Anonymous]

Hi, Tim:

I'm glad to hear postwar Lionels are easy to take care of. I'm not a "tinkering" kind of person. My husband thinks he is , and I suppose if he should accidentally makes matters worse while he tinkers, I can always send the car/locomotive in to the Lionel Service Station.

So a maintenance/repair-type manual will be added to my list of books to get. Any particular recommendations? If it's like how-to books, I know they're not all created equal; some are better than others.

Debra

[Algonquin]

Hi Debra,

There are lots of good books out there to help with specific types of Maintenance. I find the best way to find one to help me with a specific project is to look through the books at my local hobby shop. I buy the one that looks like it will help me the best.

There are also some nice reference books such as the Greenberg parts and repair manuals (some of which are still available). These books include exploded diagrams and wiring diagrams that can be useful during repairs.

Tim P.

[Anonymous]

The Greenberg Repair manuals are the best source of information on parts and wiring diagrams. There are two books covering PostWar trains, the one or 1945 to mid sixties and a second for "modern" (Gen Mills/Fun Dimension Era).

You can also find books from Kalmbach and OGRR press on common repairs. They have diagrams, pictures, and discussions of "how to" replace/repair various components in toy trains (relays, E-Units, smoke units, etc). The 1945-196xx Greenberg book also has general descriptions of how some of the basic underlying technology works and general repair hints. These are reduced format pages from the original service manual/bulletins.

[Anonymous]

Hi, Tim:

I take it the Greenberg parts and repair manuals are now out of print and I would find them in a resale type of situation?

I also didn't realize, although it makes sense, that there would be repair and parts manuals for Lionel trains just like there are for cars. That's great. There's a lot more information available than I realized, it sounds like.

Debra

[Anonymous]

Chuck,

Thanks for sharing the info on Greenberg, Kalmbach and OGRR (What's OGRR?). Are these the kind of things I'd find at a train meet or at a local service center/store?

Debra

[Algonquin]

Hi Debra,

There are several good books on repairing and restoring Lionel Trains that are currently available at hobby shops and directly through Kalmbach. These are all currently available including the repair and operating manual. I have included the URL’s to go directly to the description of each book here on the Trains.com site.

Greenberg's Repair and Operating Manual for Lionel Trains, 1945-1969, 7th Edition
Greenberg Books Product #: 10-8160
Price: $22.95
See the following URL for more details on this book:

http://shops.trains.com/product.asp?mscssid=LPGNSVNTDCSR2JKB0G095AV1QKDJ5XK3&idMerchant=1034&idGUID=&idProdCat=13&idProduct=5099&Size=


Beginner's Guide to Repairing Lionel Trains
Kalmbach Books Product # 10-8095
Price $15.95
See the following URL for more details on this book:

http://shops.trains.com/product.asp?mscssid=LPGNSVNTDCSR2JKB0G095AV1QKDJ5XK3&idMerchant=1034&idGUID=&idProdCat=13&idProduct=4290&Size=


Greenberg's Guide to Lionel Trains 1945-1969 Volume 1: Motive Power and Rolling Stock Centennial Edition
Greenberg Books Product: 10-8195
Price: $44.95
See the following URL for more details on this book:

http://shops.trains.com/product.asp?mscssid=LPGNSVNTDCSR2JKB0G095AV1QKDJ5XK3&idMerchant=1034&idGUID=&idProdCat=13&idProduct=5082&Size=


This is the general URL to the Toy Train Books Section of the site:

http://shops.trains.com/Catlist.asp?mscssid=LPGNSVNTDCSR2JKB0G095AV1QKDJ5XK3&idMerchant=1034&idGUID=&Size=&idProdCat=13&SubCategory=21


Regards,

Tim Pignatari

[Anonymous]

Hi, Tim:

Thanks, rather belatedly, for that info on the books available, especially the beginner one. I definitely qualify for that!

I apologize for taking two weeks to say "Thanks," but I got sidetracked with work, volunteer and social obligations.

BTW, I caught your message about archived forum threads, and I agree that many, I'm sure, would still be helpful to train enthusiasts.

Debra