Do More Trains Really Equate to Happiness?

[Deputy]

Hmmm...someone needs to reduce his sensitivity levels. I was kidding...not deriding. And the fact that many folks USE "stripped down" toy trains without all the "bells and whistles" (so to speak) is not really conclusive. It may also mean that many folks CAN'T AFFORD strate-of-the-art trains. That's a major difference. This can especially be true of those that are married and have families and large bills every month. SOMEONE is buying those supernice loaded-with-options trains, or MTH and Lionel's premium stuff wouldn't be so difficult to obtain. Perhaps a more accurate statement would be that many or most folks would get the latest options IF they could afford them. Then again, we live in an instant gratification society and I'm sure it extends to toy trains. People gotta have one NOW, and if they can't afford a loaded train, they'll settle for a stripped down version.

Dep...with a TMCC control in one hand and a DCS in the other

[palallin]

LOL...still driving that Model T Ford are we ? I won't sell off the older stuff, but I certainly will do an upgrade with new featrues if at all possible. If I have an old Lionel 681 loco, I'll happily run a Trainsounds boxcar behind it to make it seem more realistic. Modern toy trains are complex only when compared to OLD toy trains. What they are now installing in Lionel and MTH has been around for a LONG time and been used by HO for many years. More features means you are getting more for your money and adding to your enjoyment. I doubt very much that people would still be buying toy trains if they were identical to the whistle/horn-only trains of the early 50s. Of course, for palallin, there is still the good ol' WINDUP train

Dep

*sigh*

'69 Chevy 4x4 pickup, actually, and, yes, I am not only still driving it, I prefer it to anything else. 

More features do not necessarily add to the enjoyment if they are frustrating to use and prone to failure.  You vastly overestimate to market for the new features.  By far, most of the trains in use are nearly identical to the '50s trains.  In fact, huge numbers of them ARE the '50s trains.  And MANY new trains sold fit into that category, too.  You seem to believe that I am some sort of oddity in the hobby (and thus an easy mark for your sarcasm), but the numbers suggest that I am rather in the majority.  (I refer you to any number of brianel027's posts for further reference.)

My point is that MANY (maybe even MOST) people don't need the latest gimcracks in order to enjoy the trains.    Less really can be More in this context as well.  Derision directed at those whose interests don't match you're own helps the hobby not one whit.

[Deputy]

I don't know about *more* trains, but some people seem to be convinced that that *more* COMPLICATED trains equate to more happiness.  some folks are satidfied by nothing less than all the features that can be miniaturized and stuffed into them.  ONLY the latest will do, with all the "bells and whistles" (pun intended).  Anything else is passe', sorry, unacceptable, even laughable.  So soon as some new feature is introduced, some of these folks will sell off whatever they currently have in order to maintain the cutting edge.  That this trend parallels the computer field is no accident:  featuritis seems to afflict many aspects of current consumer thinking.

LOL...still driving that Model T Ford are we ? I won't sell off the older stuff, but I certainly will do an upgrade with new featrues if at all possible. If I have an old Lionel 681 loco, I'll happily run a Trainsounds boxcar behind it to make it seem more realistic. Modern toy trains are complex only when compared to OLD toy trains. What they are now installing in Lionel and MTH has been around for a LONG time and been used by HO for many years. More features means you are getting more for your money and adding to your enjoyment. I doubt very much that people would still be buying toy trains if they were identical to the whistle/horn-only trains of the early 50s. Of course, for palallin, there is still the good ol' WINDUP train

Dep

[palallin]

I don't know about *more* trains, but some people seem to be convinced that that *more* COMPLICATED trains equate to more happiness.  some folks are satidfied by nothing less than all the features that can be miniaturized and stuffed into them.  ONLY the latest will do, with all the "bells and whistles" (pun intended).  Anything else is passe', sorry, unacceptable, even laughable.  So soon as some new feature is introduced, some of these folks will sell off whatever they currently have in order to maintain the cutting edge.  That this trend parallels the computer field is no accident:  featuritis seems to afflict many aspects of current consumer thinking.

[Deputy]

Well I have no kids. I'M the KID

I like buying the new stuff as well as some of the old. The advancements made by Lionel and MTH are amazing. The "immersion effect" has increased dramatically since the old days, especially with TMCC and DCS. I know some folks don't like the new stuff...that's okay. There's room for EVERYONE in this hobby. I'm not sure which is more fun...building the layouts, running the trains, or BUYING them and seeing them go together into a workable, believeable consist.

Dep

 

[thor]

My enjoyment has come from my daughter's excitement.  TRAINS, TRAINS! she yells as I pull track and trains out of  the closets, mostly to work on them or assemble track.  I have a few collectable pieces, but I have been purchasing more to play with..so SHE can play with them...

EXACTLY!  My 'daughter' (isn't but might as well be) has the same reaction. Almost every day she comes into my bedroom and says "Trains, Mike?" in a hopeful voice.

Also she'll sit still for at least half an hour and thats good for a 4 year old, just watching me working on making or repairing something. Its such a good hobby for teaching kids without them realising it. My wife said "the other day I got the trains down for her while you were out and I couldnt figure out the way it went together but she taught me!  That stuff is complicated and she's remembered everything you've told her, its like hearing you explain it."

That, my friends, is happiness knowing that you've actually gotten through. No matter how her life goes she'll remember the simple geometry lessons - start with a circle, break it into two semi-circles, put a straight in on each side, now its an oval...

Well, you know. 

[kpolak]

Hi, I'm Kurt and I have a problem...I just recently started down this slippery slope (June of this year)...

I dusted off the Lionel 224, and the Pennsy tinplate caboose, that my father and I purchased when I was 12, Im now 41 with a 2-year old, and second due in January.  I've been purchasing track, and rolling stock over the last few months, all early post war (before 1950) and acquiring the 'stuff' is exciting, and all but I have only been able to run the trains on the Kitchen table, as I am in the process of completing the Christmas layout on benchwork.  I don't even look at new stuff..$80 for a Christmas present dump car????I'll wrap my own presents, and put them in a gondola, and whala!  I'll even add a coal load (charcoal filter carbon) for the bad kids!

My enjoyment has come from my daughter's excitement.  TRAINS, TRAINS! she yells as I pull track and trains out of  the closets, mostly to work on them or assemble track.  I have a few collectable pieces, but I have been purchasing more to play with..so SHE can play with them...(GASP..early post war is not for playing! HEATHEN) If I can spend $10-20 on a car it's a plaything gondolas are great! under $10. Try and buy anything Thomas for that!  I'll equip the ZW with a rheostat and she can run this stuff all day, or at least until she breaks off the throttle lever.. FULL..OFF...FULL...OFF.. she doesn't get the cause and effect yet...but she will.. and she loves the whistle, toot-toot.

Kurt

[marxalot]

Definitely NOT. Any professional will tell you this. In fact, if you have more than 1 GG1 , 1 Hudson (of any manufacturer), 3 Plasticville kits, and 40 feet of any type of 3 rail track you are in great risk of becoming a problem to society. But you can save yourself. Just pack up those excess locos, rolling stock, kits, power supplies and miscellaneous equipment and ship them to me, Marxalot, aka Jim, in the Midwest. Contact me via e-mail and we can work out the details. I may be willing to share in the shipping costs! No, no, you do not have to say thanks, it is all part of my crusade to save people from the excesses of their hobby...... as long as their hobby is trains.........

Now seriously....... while I truly enjoy my trains of today I think those memories of my youth and trains are better. Great thing to share any train time with your family members. You mothers and fathers and uncles and aunts are making memories that will be highly regarded by someone younger.

 

[92hatchattack]

Personaly, i have a feeling that if i had an all year layout i may feel the same way. I have some feeling that i may, at one point loose intrest in it.

 

But as for buying new locos, sure, it makes me happy, but after a few months, that loco is not new anymore, and u feel u need another.

For me, i only setup for Christmas, and i cant get enough of my trains in that one month. I make one major purchase a year before Xmas, and ill tell you, even the next year last years purchase still feels brand new, cause i only used it for a month, and i havent seen it in 11 months.

 

I guess for some people , there can be too much of a good thing.....  But for others, such as the many members on this board, there is no such thing as too much train time :)

[ChiefEagles]

I'm happy and my inventory seems to increase daily.  I've got to get back on the wagon.  Dennis W, James A and I are members of TTBA.  We all have fallen off the wagon.  [TTBA= Toy Trains Buyers Anonymous].

[darianj]

If having more trains adds to the happines, than paying for them subtracts from the happiness.

[1688torpedo]

Hello All!      Don B- Whew!   I'm glad that Hiawatha did not jump off the shelf at you. That would have made some story on the national news., "Hiawatha Steam Engine jumps off shelf & attacks mild mannered train collector Don Baker, details at 11" Boy, you would really be famous if that had happened. Take Care.

[Deputy]

The Hiawatha doesn't light my fire. But that MTH UP #80 Coal Turbine sure does!!! Unfortunately, I'm not that big a UP fan. But the loco is AWESOME!! And only $999.95

Dep

[Frank53]

Frank, I would but they are old, probably dusty,  and I wouldn't want to impose, I really do appreciate your compassion however, to assist me.

Don - it would really be ok - I know they are old and dusty, but it pains me to see a fellow train nut such as yourself weighted down with all that old junk. I will gladly lighten your load and consider it to be my good deed for the day. After all, I am an Eagle Scout.

Hope Santa sends a Hiawatha your way!

If Santa sends me a Hiawatha, I would either have to send it back or dismantle my layout and move it into a larger room to accommodate the cruves - which I think is a G-R-E-A-T idea.

[dbaker48]

Don:

By selling all of your post war trains to me, you will be able to take advantage of even more of the modern bargains which seem to be calling your name.

Frank, I would but they are old, probably dusty,  and I wouldn't want to impose, I really do appreciate your compassion however, to assist me.

I havn't seen the Hiawatha yet, I did see the unpainted version that was on display at the TTOS convention earlier this fall.  It didn't jump off the shelf at me, but I wasn't seeing it in its full dress either.  The best thing for me to do is stay away from those Dens of Inequity otherwise known as hobby stores.  Hope Santa sends a Hiawatha your way!

[Anonymous]

Frank53, I once witnessed a O scale Coal Fired Turbine for the C&O at a show and I think the price was around 2500 dollars. I dont know the minimum radius for such a monster but it was a beauty. I probably would have bought the durn thing and made it work.

I say more trains does not equal happiness.

I also say a chosen roster of engines and rolling stock for operation and a variety of situations across a range of eras like the late 1800's all the way to the modern era is the best way to happiness. I look at them as several trainsets instead of one large collection.

Run em if you got em what makes you happy.

What makes me happy in this hobby is having the skills and a little bit of time and what little funds Im allowed to spend to enjoy model trains.

If you happen to see my PRR J1 steam pulling a heavyweight past a modern modular city, I hope you enjoy it and not get all messed up about wrong era, wrong equiptment etc...

LOL.

[Frank53]

Every time I open a train catalog I spot something else I'd like to have for a gazillion different reasons. While I am limiting myself to Pennsy/NYC (right now), there are a TON of other road names that I think are really cool. Too many trains? I don't think so. That would be like having too much money

Dep

 

I went to the local hobby shop today and saw the new Lionel Hiawatha in person. It is I-N-C-R-E-D-I-B-L-E. If I had the curve radius (O-54) to run it, I would buy it.

[Frank53]

Since everyone is satisfied with their current collection, I am expecting to see a huge inventory of stuff sitting and prices should start falling for clearance sales, and will I take advantage of that!

Don:

By selling all of your post war trains to me, you will be able to take advantage of even more of the modern bargains which seem to be calling your name.

[Deputy]

LOL...this reminds me of another philosophical statement..."money can't buy you happiness". Maybe not, but it sure HELPS, and try existing WITHOUT it!!!

Every time I open a train catalog I spot something else I'd like to have for a gazillion different reasons. While I am limiting myself to Pennsy/NYC (right now), there are a TON of other road names that I think are really cool. Too many trains? I don't think so. That would be like having too much money

Dep

[dbaker48]

Since everyone is satisfied with their current collection, I am expecting to see a huge inventory of stuff sitting and prices should start falling for clearance sales, and will I take advantage of that!  Thanks!
LOL

[wallyworld]

I agree from my own experience. I have to admit that while toy trains can approach the prototypical realism of our HO etc brethren, I don't want to be constrained by obeying "realistic-prototype" waybills, schedules, consists, replicating actual routes by design and all that. Not that there is anything wrong with that. I want an escape from being ensnared by do's and don'ts which are uncontrollably emeshed into the regulation of my daily real world life. I think contemporary kids, young and middle aged alike are really missing out in not being exposed to exercising their muscle of imagination, which is happily and admittedly, a wonderful respite from "the grind."

[Dave Farquhar]

Some of this stuff is the pent up desire to return to a simpler time or to relive, recapture frankly, a set of self comforting feelings that relieve stress.

You hit the nail squarely on the head there, at least for me. If it weren't for that, I don't think I would be into trains at all. The trains themselves, for me, take me back to a simpler time, and I've tried to make my layout look like someplace I would have liked to live, except it doesn't exist anymore (either it all got torn down to build big-box stores and McMansions, or the buildings are all vacant and burned out today).

[wallyworld]

It's a highly personal and subjective set of emotional chords rather than a cut and dried pragmatic set of choices. Thats the problem. Some of this stuff is the pent up desire to return to a simpler time or to relive, recapture frankly, a set of self comforting feelings that relieve stress. I think, at times, that from a certain compulsive point of view, the desire to "have one of everything,"goes over the deep end in that one has to ask how much is enough and I think the answer to that point, is you can never have enough. I think an early lesson I learned is focusing on a specific road which is easier said than done. When you like everything it's hard to cull and determine "a short list" let alone chosing one road. The economics of this are self explanitory. I have many an item that, in retrospect of chosing one road over the others, should have been left on the shelf. I think more is less in that it's like the cart driving the horse, and I prefer not to be led by the nose into having hoarded stuff in boxes or shelves that never run.

[jimhaleyscomet]

One way to recapture that "newness" is to have a new visitor come over to play trains.  Works well for me!

Jim H

[trainbrain]

I say no. Because if more trains or more anything would make people happy then they would have been happy a long time ago when they first got their stuff(George Carlin). But the pursuit for more brings only a temporary gratification and the cycle continues. The physical always craves more but only the spiritual knows when "It is well in my soul!"

[Smoke Stack Lightnin']

Happiness is a pursuit.  Even more money, as people that have become instant millionaires have said, does not make you more happy, it just gives you more options to look for happiness in other places.  More train stuff gives you more options.  I enjoy having more trains then when I had less.  I don't think I'm a bad person for enjoying the fruits of my labor.  I don't look down on people with modest collections or those with collections larger than mine, they're all my kinda people!

My 2 cents,

Rich F.

[dbaker48]

Here comes a differing opinon.  Yes, I enjoy acquiring new items!  When I purchase a new item I have invisions of what it will do, etc.. and I am rarely disappointed.  I enjoy the diversity!
Fortunately my family supports my desires, I can afford resonable purchases.  And everything works!  I don't know of another hobby I could get the equivalent $/hour ratio that I enjoy with the trains.
I have always with every layout I've had, get what I think is done or close to it, and then BAM!  Another idea for a minor improvement, and that can lead to a major redesign.  Then I experience the overall satisfaction all over.  Sometimes that change is a result of a new acquisition.

Lots of stuff I would like to have, but like everyone there is priority.  And, will always have improvements and implementations goin on.

Anyone want to get rid of a Lionel Hobby Shop?

[Joe Hohmann]

For 20 years, I only had a Christmas layout, so every year it came out, it was "new". Two years ago, I started a small 5x8 permanent layout, which is 90% "finished". Because my main interest is "scenics", there is always someting new to do:

*When I decided to construct a "flea market" area for my layout, it took over 3 months to find all the  items to have "for sale" (eBay, train shows, bead shops, craft stores, flea markets, etc.).

*I've done interior detailing for some "up front" buildings, with at least one more to go.

*I joined a modular club last summer, so now I'm building modules that take months to scenic.

*My passenger cars contain over 100 MTH figures that I carefully painted. A new set is on order, so here we go again!

When my 2 year-old Grandson visits every week, I have a FasTrack loop set up on the carpet. We turn down the lights, put our heads on the floor, and watch the train go 'round and 'round. Many would find this boring...we don't.

Buying a new train takes a very short time, and the "newness" wears-off quickly. My next project will be to use my other hobby, stereo/3-D photography, to take pictures of my, and our modular club, layouts in 3-D. Joe

 

[Jumijo]

I guess when it comes down to it, it's the newness that I wish I could recapture. That feeling of wonder while watching Thomas' eyes move back and forth for the first time. Or seeing smoke billowing from the starter set's loco. My kids and I were instantly hooked. And the funniest part might be, I was not into trains in any way until that Christmas morning. I bought the trains so that the kids and I would have a wholesome pastime to share during the winter months.

The time since then has flown by. As a history buff, I've greatly enjoyed learning about and owning post war items. Building our layout was immensely gratifying. And the train friends I've met here and elsewhere are priceless to me. I'm extremely lucky to have the things I have. And for those who are going to be getting their first train sets this holiday season, you are extremely lucky as well. It's something you're not likely to forget.


Jim