What rekindled your interest in toy trains?

[FJ and G]

Come on, admit it. 90% of you played with trains as a kid. Then girls, fast cars, college, military, career, and family came along. Then, one day in mid-life, you had an epiphany and suddenly your interest in model trains was rekindled and surprisingly, with equal enthusiasm you had for them as a kid.

Mine, happened while in a Wal-Mart near Little Rock Ark. in the late 90s. I hate waiting in long lines so I went to the magazine rack and pulled out an MR magazine. In the magazine was an O-scale coffee table trolley layout built by a middle-aged couple. Scenes in the coffee table were based on experiences that the couple shared over the years; e.g. trip to ball park, beach, park, and so on. I believe their first car also was included.

My last and current layout, incidentally, is based on some memories I've had with one of my first wives.

and your story?


dave vergun

[Anonymous]

Guilty as charged!!!!

[Roger Bielen]

My wife!

When the kids were small I would put a loop around the Christmas tree. As they got older the trains were religated to a display case in the TV room. My wife made the mistake of commenting "why don't you do something with those trains?" Ten years later I'm on my second layout, went from my original PW 2020 to several engines and a good number of cars. She released a monster.[}:)]

[Anonymous]

Dave,

The birth of my son, whose name is also David (Davy). His two older sisters didn't get me to thinking about the trains. But about 1992 when he was 2, I pulled out the old box, put the 2035 on a little circle of track, and it ran! Just as well as it did thirty years earlier. I don't care much about running the trains by myself, but it's fun with my son.

[Big_Boy_4005]

Hard to rekindle when the flame never went out in the first place.[swg]

[Dr. John]

I was an HO scale modeler for 30 something years. While I enjoyed scale modeling, I got a bit weary of the "That's not prototype" or "That road never ran RS-3s" and other such nonsense. I know, I know, I should just ignore those type of comments. Still, I decided to go back to my toy train roots a couple of years ago to enjoy the toy-like aspect of post war trains and accessories, smell the ozone and the smoke fluid, and have scenery and trains with a sense of whimsy and fun.

Sorry, I got a bit carried away there . . .

[nitroboy]

The birth of my daughter and a move to a new place that had real trains running close to my house. Plus after we bought our first house, hey, need to do something in that basement.

Dave

[Jim Duda]

Christmas!

Jim Duda

[Anonymous]

Mine started with a cheap set purchased from K-Mart in 1987, the year my wife and I celebrated our first Christmas as homeowners. Bought it to run under the tree. About that same time, I picked up the premier issue of CTT at a local hobby shop. I read about an upcoming Greenberg show in Valley Forge. When I went and saw what was out there to buy, I was hooked!

Three houses and three layouts later, here I am!!!

[ChiefEagles]

Well, had big half of a full basement layout. Seems the kids and I loaded up and moved [notice I did not say their Mom moved] to an apartment. Made Frankie a little layout [switching yard for HO on a wide board]. Well remarried and wife had daughter. 3 kids and us. Well 1940 house we bought had 5 bedrooms but one became a den [now computer room]. No train room. Frankie and I made a HO layout on a 4X8 to roll under his bed. Now they are ALL gone. Wife wants the big bedroom upstairs for extra large guest room, I get the middle size upstairs bedroom [13 X 13] and the the now guest bedroom up there is smaller. Just finished reinforcing the joices up in attic for putting down flooring and adding more insulation. Now the storage walk in attic over kitchen can be used for occasional used things [what is stored in my "to be" trainroom] and Christmas stuff and things seldom used [stored in walk in attic] will go in the big attic. What Frankie has left will go to his house. HO layout on 4X8 is being bubble wrapped. All this work equals an O layout with 72 inch curves on mainline and so on down to 027 for switching yards. This one also has a second level. All this track design was done by Elliot. Gave him the size and location of everything [doors, windows and etc] in room and told him what I wanted. He emailed me a layout that was just right. Now if you guys want to come to NC and help me lay down additional attic insulation, screw down 4X8 sheets of flooring and move things up into the attic, I'll be ready to build. Tonight after cutting 2X6's and nailing [thank God for air nailers and big exhaust fan I installed the other week], I'm [xx(].

[dk99358]

Three things over about a three year period.

I moved from northcentral Pa to southeastern Pa. I can't hunt here near as much as I used to so I needed a hobby to fill the time.

My son turned three and was past the 'grabby" stage so the trains would stay on the track.

My mom was cleaning her attic and sent my childhood trains to me.

Dale

[cnw1995]

Picking up a copy of MR in the local library hooked me like a fish. Then reading their 5 years worth of back issues - I got restarted a few years back in n scale - built a small 3 by 5 ft. layout with folding legs that I could hide behind the couch - covered with a quilt. Then got a basement with a house - and after eyeballing the large raised crawlspace - hmmm, no benchwork necessary - just have to clear out a lot of pesky stored items...and after getting tired of fiddling with tiny turnouts that didn't work right - dumped everything and got into O with a gift to myself from the family of a Lionel ballyhoo set. Now got my dad's old trains and having a ball. See some pictures at http://condor.depaul.edu/~dmurphy/pictures.htm

[Mikeygaw]

i agree with big boy... hard to rekindle it when you lost it... and lets just say at 19 some tempations may get in the way, but not much else to get it the way. And yes, while, only 19, i do have a few classic trains that I inherited.

[Anonymous]

Doug,

Your pictures look good. Looks like you have fun, especially with two helpers. Right above my computer here at work are pictures of my three children, at various stages in their lives. What a fun bunch!

[Anonymous]

Like Big_Boy and Mikey, it never left. I'm 17 now and have always been infatuated with trains. My interest in trains has never died down even the slightest! Why would anyone leave a hobby as great as this?

[wallyworld]

I am 53 and my interest never waned since my father purchased first train fifty years ago. I went through the full cycle- switched to HO in the 1960's, dabbled in N scale in the 1970's then on to Large Scale in the Eighties and now I have returned back to where I began a long time ago. I enjoy the relatively straight forward simplicity of both old and new classic toy trains as well as the freedom of expression it offers in my escaping a strict prototypical straightjacket of both operation and models. It's wonderful how truly open to all forms of expression and interest my fellow hobbyists are in the classic toy train niche. I'm home and I'm never going back.

[dougdagrump]

About five years ago my wife asked me to volunteer to help with her companie's kids Christmas party. I ended up helping someone who had brought in his layout to run and entertain the kids. As luck would have it about half way thru the first day one of his engines had a major malfunction and refused to run. During a break in the party I came home and dug out my old Wabash GP-7, #2337, which hadn't been run for at least 35 years and took it in. Did a lubrication before the party started again put it on the tracks and ran like a champ, although it didn't like the track to much.Believe it was nickle/silver so the magnetraction was useless and had to clean the wheels occaissionally.
Since then I have increased my holdings considerably and planning a new layout, aside from my wall mounted track in our office/bedroom

[Anonymous]

Three people/places were responsible for my re-entry to trains.

1. My wife Charlene. She likes trains. Her grandfather worked for the Milwaukee Road and was also a amatuer photographer. We have large (3'x4') photo in our office of Milw. Road engine # 704 on the turntable in Madison, WI. that he took. We have many other photos he shot at "work". All are treasured.

2. The RR park at Rochelle, IL. Going here gives me my train "fix" and helps keep the stock price at Kodak high too!!! Its a great place for everyone, even kids!!!

3. Ebay. I started out innocently buying UPRR books there and then I found the MTH listings. I was hooked again!!!

[4kitties]

I never lost it but I spent over 30 years in HO scale. My mother's death and nostalgia for the good old days re-kindled my interest in O gauge trains. The beautiful full-scale, highly-detailed models of today turned the interest into a passion that prompted me to sell everything (over 100 eBay auctions) and switch back to O. It was the best hobby decision I ever made.

[Anonymous]

I was really into trains (HO) during my younger years. Then along came work, college, wife and kids. Briefly got back into HO during the mid to late 80's because of my older child. Then one day in the year 2000, I asked my older son to show me how to bid for Lionel items on ebay, and the rest as they say is history [8D][;)]

[fjerome]

first, when i got married, my dad sent all the trains, which had been wrapped in newspaper and stored in boxes for 6 years, to our new NYC apt.

second, when my first daughter was about 4, i set up a couple of loops on the LR floor one rainy weekend and she loved them.

two NYC apt layouts followed and then the big retirement layout in FL.

also, the advent of radio control, atriculated steam engines, incredible sounds, detailed passenger interiors, great variety of rolling stock...

need i go on?

[Kooljock1]

I guess I never gave up on them either. Heck, I even remember building a LIONEL Freight platform kit in the dining room of the frat house! That was with a girl-friend who liked to "park" in the B&O/P&LE yard in New Castle!

Jon [8D]

[RI Jim]

Mine's the usual story: Had a layout in high school, got interested in girls and cars and then off to college. The train layout came down and the trains went in the attic. Many years later, I passed by a hobby shop window and saw a Lionel Maine Central boxcar that caught my eye. I went in and bought it to display on a shelf in the living room. To paraphrase an old TV commercial, "Betcha can't buy just ONE", it was down hill ever since.