Hello everyone, my situation is like Scott 218's!

[thor]

I too have been an HO train nut for many years, British outline - Hornby and before that Trix Twin which used AC 3 rail which is good because...

After a lapse of many years my son bought me a Lionel Disney set for Christmas and I have a lot of questions - or will have, no doubt!

I LIKE toy trains I started with Hornby O gauge clockwork and through all my years of finer scale I missed the play potential of those old trains. Now I'm a grand dad I wanted something similar, something rugged and from my reading here and research elsewhere I am wondering if Lionel will really fit the bill or whether I shouldn't just save this set as a future collectable and consider another brand/gauge entirely.

For as much as these trains cost I could just as well consider G gauge and save the problem of space by taking it outside!

On the other hand though the Lionel stuff sure looks rugged but then there's the never ending problems of them going bust, changing hands and so on.

Actually as an avid motorcyclist I have to say that Lionel reminds me strongly of Harley Davidson! Pros and cons alike.

So I guess what I'm looking for is a show of hands. Go Lionel or what other choices are there? Grandpa is a retiree remember!

[Jumijo]

Open the Lionel Disney set and have fun with it. If you enjoy it enough, buy more O gauge trains. Many manufacturers besides Lionel make trains in this scale. Theres's Williams, RMT, K-Line, Weaver, Atlas, MTH, etc. These could be your indoor trains. No rules says you can't have G-scale too for outside.

Jim

[cnw1995]

Thor, you have some basic decisions to make - like you must've experienced with British outline and speaking from my experience with British outline in N scale - there are ranges of 'expensiveness' with this gauge. If you like toy trains, this is the classic gauge for it. BTW, I wouldn't assume your set would be a collectible - in my experience, these modern sets are produced in such volumes to not be 'rare' or valued.
All this being said, I think you would enjoy the possibilities for sound, lights, and smoke associated with things in this gauge - welcome to the forum too.

[thor]

Thanks jaabat, what I'd like to get is a sort of quick run down of the pros and cons or advantages/disadvantages of these other brands some of which I've never even heard of! Also - if you or anyone else know this - does anyone make British outline (apart from Thomas the Tank Engine) in O gauge? I prefer those short 4 wheel open wagons to American bogie freight cars, especially for shunting and other yard work. Its doing yard work thats my favorite aspect of playing with trains.

[cnw1995]

Thor, CTT has featured some O gauge items in British outline - they are imported - I think the company is called Ace - you could search both this forum and look under the New Product Reviews on the regular CTT website. Another company that makes some British outline - including a great little BR diesel switcher is ETS - made in the Czech Republic. Both companies make those four wheel open wagons - a nice GWR one I recall from ETS, great tank cars too. Both manufacturers are more tinplate than scale.
Among the other brands - this whole forum is full of debates about the pros and cons Lionel and MTH are the market leaders in terms of volume - the others have their special niches - use your favorite search tool to look them up too - to see their items. None of the ones Jim mentioned has British outline.

[thor]

QUOTE: Originally posted by cnw1995

Thor, you have some basic decisions to make - .
All this being said, I think you would enjoy the possibilities for sound, lights, and smoke associated with things in this gauge - welcome to the forum too.

I've gone full circle cnw! Funny how that happens, same thing with the bikes, I've gone back to my roots with them too!

I went to a boarding school as a small boy so had the incredible good fortune to belong to the school train club which was using those pre-War Basset Lowke and Hornby O gauge clockwork masterpieces some of which had three spring motors and sophisticated remote operated controls.

Though I was seduced by the beautiful OO two rail life like electric trains I mentioned they never seemed as 'real' as the clockwork 0 gauge whose sheer heft made them so much more convincing even though in other ways they werent a patch on the 00 stuff.

I was also a Meccano nut and the beauty of Hornbys post war clockwork tinplate was that it went hand in hand with Meccano and you could make all sorts of operating mechanisms. For that reason I would have really preferred a LEGO system now, as I have boatloads of Technic and the grand children would really like that side of things but the LEGO train system doesnt impress me, I think they dropped the ball there!

I got an MTH catalog from a local dealer who went to great lengths to impress upon me how much better it was than Lionel who, he implied, were about to go belly up at any moment!

So when I posted the above plea I was really looking for some feedback from the other people here as to the pros and cons of the various possibilities, which is probably liable to raise strong differences of opinion I'm sure but I don't want to start a 'war' just get an informed over view!

Thanks for your welcome. I'm looking forward to being a part of the community

[cnw1995]

Each manufacturer has their partisans - but you won't find 'wars' on this forum - in my humble opinion, both MTH and Lionel produce wonderful items - as you will see from the MTH catalog. The others as wel... I think you would enjoy Williams - they make 'basic' but seemingly bulletproof trains - especiallyif you do not plan on getting involved in the equivalent of DCC in this gauge - which are two competing proprietary systems by Lionel and MTH.
What a fortunate youth - I have 'drooled over' those Hornby clock-work and Meccano items in books. The tactile feeling - the 'heft' in this gauge - is what really won me over too.

[Jumijo]

All of the train companies I mentioned sell nice stuff, Thor. I like them all and own something from just about every one of them. Either Bob Keller or Neil Besougloff (I can't remember which) is a big British rail fan. Consequently, British locomotives and other European style equipment certainly does get discussed and reviewed in CTT. Ace trains is a good source for that stuff. The boys at CTT I mentioned earlier could also steer you in the right direction. I'd love to get my hands on some nice 4-wheeled rolling stock to go behind our Thomas and soon to be arriving Percie.

What ever you decide to do, remember that there is only one rule: There are no rules! Enjoy yourself and have fun. Playing with toy trains is the best thing in the world for making you feel like a kid again, no matter your age.

Jim

[dwiemer]

Thor,
If you look in the back of Classic Toy Trains, ACE has a add. They are very nice and will send a catalog. They can be a bit pricey. As for the other companies, They are all good in their own way. No, to your dealer, Lionel is not about to go belly-up. They did declare bankrupcy, but that was a legal manuver over a technology lawsuit. The only company with real trouble right now is K-Line. That is to say that they have declared bankrupcy, but have also liquidated a lot of assets and are on the sale block. If their chief creditor buys them they will probably continue to run in a similar fashion. In any case, they have some good stuff and I would not hessitate to purchase some of their products. Williams makes good, durable products that are very much in the tradition of the postwar Lionel. They are strong and less expensive, without all the added circuit boards associated with other manufacturers features. RMT (Ready Made Toys) offers a limited line of "cute" engines and budd cars, etc. They are inexpensive, but should do well for having fun with your trains.
All this being said, Lionel and MTH have the biggest market share. They both offer very nice high end products that will set you back $$$. They also offer some less expensive items with less features. In my humble opinion that I highly value[;)] the trains available from the current market are well made and for the most part the companies stand by their products. If you read the forum, you will find some issues with different products, but you can avoid those specific items. In the end, you buy what you want. I would not be too tempted to go back to a dealer who pushed one manufacturer and gave bad information as to another. You can probably get some good deals on the net from some reputable dealers.
Welcome to the forum, I think you will find this a very good place to get more aquainted with the hobby. I encourage you to get the catalogs from the different makers, get a subscription to one of the magazines that suits your taste in scale/guage to learn about new products, and search the forum to see what others have experienced on the different items before you buy. Also, please feel free to ask questions, this is a group that is very forthcoming with information.
Dennis

[Anonymous]

Funny, in Nov. I saw a Hornby clockwork steamer at a train show, fell in love with it, and took it home. I think a combo that would fit very well with your stated "likes" would be a new Lionel 0-6-0 Dockside Switcher, a beautiful, detailed, "tank engine" for $100. or less. Short hoppers can be bought for this. Give it a look! Joe

[thor]

Appreciate your various takes on my query nothing worse than asking a question and being ignored! Thanks to y'all I found out a lot more about makers I never even heard of before and checked almost all of their websites.

I guess a subscription to CTT is the way to go, I never realised that there was this much interest in this aspect of the hobby. I guess a lot of people must be reaching the same conclusions as Scott and I or either nostalgia, grand children and semi retired status makes toy trains look more attractive.

[overall]

Thor,
I'm curious about the Hornby clockwork trains with the remote controls you talked about earlier. I know next to nothing about clockwork trains other than what little I have read. Did you wind it up and then control the speed using some kind of electronics? My late father used to work on clocks as a hobby. I know that a typical striking clock has one spring to run the clock itself and another spring to run the chiming part. The ones that are the most common strike the hour and the half hour. You said that yours had three springs in them. I can see where you would need one, but what were the other two for?

Thanks,

George