OT Christmas shopping!

My annual Christmas shopping usually is a trip to the liquor store, but it is a little different this year. I have a grandson that is just crazy about trains. So in my brilliant mind I want to get him one this year. My wife, bless her heart always does all the buying but she is also notorius for buying plastic junk. I want this boy to have a good Lionel train set that will last him a life time and if he persues this hobby will be a good ideas for future presents. I spent the entire day yesterday looking at toy trains, that is if you could find one. One would think that with everyone out of work and our economy in the tank, that on a rainy, nasty Tuesday that shopping would be a breeze. I am here to tell you that every store I went to was so crowded that you could not push a shopping cart around in it. I have seen some crowds and toysRus rates right up there with the best of them! Guess what, no trains! I was at no less than a dozen big stores and all I could find was the battery operated chinese Junk!! After a tiring day I came home and got on the computer and found a man forty miles away that has a train hobby shop and he has what I want, and the upshot is that the price is with in twenty dollars of that crap I was looking at. While out and about I could not help but notice what other folks were buying for kids. Video games and everything electric and plastic to ride in or on. No steam engines or erector sets and for sure no decent electric trains. Then this morning as I was catching the news I see the youth of today have a new recreation, its knocking down store displays, the one they showed was a huge display of canned goods, this idiot threw a body block on it and cans went every where....I don't blame the kids I have to think that the majority are being raised without imagination or a work ethic and its a crying shame.

I have several grandsons who love trains! They are at the age where the wood ones are best but I'm waiting for the day that I can go shopping for electric trains!

Rick

Well good for you . Its agreat hobby for you to get into along with that Grandson . I collected toy trains for years until 2000 when tragity hit me . Then I had to hide & sell off most of it through a nasty divorce . I sold over 5,000.00 worth of Lionel trains & accesories , both pre war & newer stuff .The guy that actually ripped me off hauled 2 vehicles full out of here . I had one o;d set stilll in the boxes that was worth around 1,000.00 & he got it for 250.00 . Just made me sick seeing all those gorgous trains go . But i still have all my American Flyers trains & accessories .I think I have about 40 engines & God only knows how many full sets . Watch for toy train shows near you . Take that boy to as many as you can . I took my Grandson to a couple & it was a joy watching his eyes twinkle . You can find some good deals sometimes , but like anywhere else , theres always a swindler in the crowd . Get a tunnel , bridge & a couple action accessories for that layout . I made some shelves that are mounted on the walls in a couple of my rooms up next to the ceiling . I wrapped some of my engines in cellephane & set them on those shelves .Oh, during my divorce I learned my wife had an appraiser come in while I was working . He appraised what she could find still here & he set the value of my train stuff at 27,000.00 . So my divorce after 33 yrs of marriage , hit me quite hard . Njoy that Grandson while he"s little & hopefully he carries on with an interest in trains because its dieing out because of all that stupid electronic crap . Please send me pics after you set that train up . God bless & have a Joyfull Merry CHRISTmas . Ken

Funny you should bring this topic up.. I just bought my 8 year old a Lionel train set for Christmas. It’s the same engine my parents bought me years ago. He's been telling me every night "I hope Santa brings me that train set.. I put it on my list and dropped it off at Macy's"... To be young again and full of excitement!!.. Those were the days !! Merry Christmas !!

I kinda miss shopping for little kids. Everybody's grown,even the grandkids,so I just sat here and used Walmart dot com and waited for Fedex.

Thanks Ken for those nice thoughts, I am not able to send pix yet, but I hope to soon!

You need to find a hobby shop if you're gonna find a good Lionel train. Most stores don't carry them anymore. It's gonna cost you but grandkids are worth every penny. Enjoy!

Years ago I visited a batchelor in an old two-story farm house who was a model train enthusiast. In the upper story of his house he had a train set that ran through all two or three bedrooms up there. When the track came to a wall, it went through a tunnel to the next room until there was another tunnel etc. until it completed the circle. It was a joy just to see his enthusiasm in showing it to me! He's dead and gone a bunch of years already, but his memory lingers on.

I fool around with "G" scale Garden style Trains.I have an out door set up which mimics mostly Colorado Mining of the 1870 era.Most of my engines are nnalert 2/6/0 style drives and the cars are mostly from Bachman.Lehman Mfg. of Germany is my source for powered rolling stock. A search for Lehman Toy Trains will show much of what is available for this guage of small trains.My set up is an attention grabber. Most sundays i find people stopped and admiring what I have to show.

Thats what I got my grand son to.His dad works for UP.He wanted HO scale found a starter set by Bachman called Great Northern the Empire Builder.The 3 of us will have some fun with it.

Somebody just sent me this site to see. It includes a Tractor pull!

http://www.miniatur-wunderland.com/exhibit/video/4-minutes-wunderland/

Animal,not to be nosie but what did you get and about how much did you pay.The reason I ask is Im interested in starting a set,

jimmy

Went through that a couple years ago too. I wanted to add to my old train set for my son. Went through the local internet listings, most out of business, finally ended up at a photo/camera store that sold trains in the back (HO scale). There"s some old boxes back there too. Sure was nice to find some.

Son was into it for a couple years, but now is older. Guess I"ll keep it for future grandkids or one of my many retirement projects...

Tony

Jimmy I got a steam engine, tender 3 cars and a caboose enough track to make an oval about four foot in diameter it was the bigger scale not HO and it cost $189 before tax. The junk at toys r us had a bunch of pieces to step on and it was HO, battery powered for $179

Your story reminds me of a guy I wrote a feature story on back in the 60s: this guy was a machinist and all-around jack-of-all-trades. He built an entire train, engine and seven or eight cars of different types. Everything was perfectly to scale and spot-on authentic in appearance. It ran on tracks 15 or 20 inches apart, and the engine actually ran off of steam. It was one of the most incredible demonstrations of craftsmanship I had ever seen.

But, this guy must have paid too much attention to the train and not enough to the wife---after many years she divorced him and took half of the train. He got to keep the engine, the coal tender and a couple of other cars. I have often wondered just what the h--l she did with two or three tons of train cars? Spite is a terrible thing.