chief38 in another thread mentioned collecting Lionel trains.

I just started a couple of years ago with a 6 foot loop around our Christmas tree every year (that's all I can do at this time), and each year I get the Lionel "happy holidays" car, and an engine.

This year the engine is a Rail King 4-6-0 Ten Wheeler early American steam.

So a question:
It seems like every time I try to find something out of a catalog, even though it's a current catalog, I can never get the stuff!

What is with these model train makers? Especially MTH.... Is there still only one guy in his garage in Maryland??

Also, if you see something you like, either rolling stock or engine, are these all one-run items; get it this year or buh-buy off to the used market you go?

I can't seem to make sense of the business....

Model railroading is much more of a cottage business than gun collecting. Just look at how many model railroad magazines there are on the rack compared to gun magazines. Large scale (O scale and larger) model railroading has an even smaller share of the market. Some items are intended as collector items; others are just small production runs. Regardless, if you see something you want, get it now or you risk paying a lot more later, or not having it. I have yet to see the price go down.

Lionel is now owned by MTH- and really, both companies are now just importers. Nothing in either brand is made in the USA any longer. 99% of the newly made stuff is made in China, with some of the brass engine parts made in Korea.

It is a hurry up and wait type thing if you want some of the new, most realistic, overpriced and "electronical" junk that they are now producing. That just my opinion, and some of the guys really like this modern stuff and have no problems with it. I'll stick with real prewar and postwar stuff up to the 1980s as it is much tougher and more forgiving. Also, the prices have fallen quite a bit on these items than what they were 20 years ago when it was a "bull" market.

If you do want the new stuff- call a reputable dealer and see when the release date is. Model train dealers are much like firearm dealers- find one you like. MTH also makes the dealers stick to a minimum advertised price policy, but a dealer may sell it for whatever they want.

If you have any questions, give me a shout. I'm no expert, but I know of a couple of good dealers that tell the truth and don't feed me a line. I'm also sorry if I come across as being anti-technology and kind of a curmudgeon when it comes to the new stuff- I'm just highly opinionated. I really do appreciate the new stuff (I had a hankering for one of the MTH O gauge Russian 2-10-0's like used to run around Gainesville GA) and would love to buy some of it and nearly have- I just can't seem to justify it to myself with all the nice older stuff out there. It's just personal preference.

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Lost it all in a boat accident

Andy,

Wow is that disheartening....

Where does one find "the good stuff"?
What is the "good stuff"?
Are none of the new designs collectible?

I chose the O gauge because I can see the details better, but HO or N sure would let me set up instead of waiting until I get into a larger house.

I like the MTH Premier lines, and I don't mind the high-tech. I like the sounds of chatter and such.

None made in America huh? Sounds like an opportunity for someone, because it seems that every engine and rolling stock gets sold.

I have always thought anything made up until General Mills bought Lionel is decent. (Kinda like pre-64 Winchesters ) I think General Mills sold it off and it became a part of Fundimensions (sp.) in the late 1970's when the model train market was at its lowest. It was then bought by Richard Kugan in the 1980's sometime IIRC...and then I got out of it until just a year or two ago.

Ask some other guys on the new stuff- as I say, I'm not up on it. I pick up pieces by word of mouth- the same way I do guns. A newspaper ad doesn't hurt either. Rarely, but sometimes I'll buy it from the dealer. If a transformer doesn't way 25 pounds and it doesn't run on tinplated tubular track, I don't want it.

As I say, check out some model train forums and many guys say they have no problems with the new stuff- which is all "hi rail" and much more realistic than postwar Lionel ever was. The Premier line from MTH is as scale prototypical and realistic now as can be had- which is why many people turned to HO, N and even G or Number 1 gauges- the lack of realism wasn't there with three rail O gauge until MTH came along. Nearly all the HO stuff has been made in the orient for a long time before O gauge started to be and those HO guys don't complain of problems. I just don't like it. It's like Japanese Winchesters...they work fine, but the idea of them to me...and I do own one.

Find a club, forum or another enthusiast and talk to them- I'll help all I can, but I don't know anything about the new stuff. I'm just set in my ways.

Also, collecting toy trains is a different exercise than than an model railroader. The Collector wants them 100% NIB unrun, but the enthusiast doesn't mind the scratches, gouges and a little paint missing here and there- because he enjoys running them. I don't own any collector pieces unfortunately- so my collection is worth little.

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Lost it all in a boat accident

HO scale is more realistic because you can build wider radius curves. An O scale engine going around a tight curve looks toy-like and not at all to my liking.

The Athearn Genesis line is good.

I have my dads 1931 Lionel standard guage on display over the bar. Bought my son, now 24, a Lionel for his first Christmas. We put that up every year on a 4x6 around the tree. The local place where I'd add cars, buildings and accy's is now closed.

Why do people put trains around the Christmas Tree? I've never known. We never did it, but had an HO set that was my Dad's.

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War Eagle! '10 BCS & '13 SEC

Love them trains! I model New York Central in 1952, the year I was born. Steam and diesel together in HO scale, what could be better.
I also have Lionel and American Flyer.

Any webistes out there with collector prices for Lionel trains? Have a couple fo sets and a lady at work wants to buy them, but I have no idea what to ask.

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Huntsville, AL

I need to brag on our Memory Station here in Watkinsville GA...
He has trains and train stuff out the gazoo...he specializes in Lionel and O standard and O/O 27.....but if he doesn't know about it, he can find it.....
call him during business hours, closed on Sunday
No website....he does everything with a pen and paper...and the phone...tell Lewis Sheriff Berry sent you
706-769-8986

Now that I have a son who loves trains, and what boy doesn't like trains, it brings me a lot of joy to see him light up at the sight of the train running around the tree. Each year, a new engine and a new Lionel Happy Holidays (wish it said Merry Christmas...) car.

It is a classic piece of Americana, sort of like Hot Rods. Not everyone is into it, but it's classic Americana nonetheless.

I second that.

One other fellow that was kinda of the "trainsmith" of Atlanta was Marvin Acree. I doubt he's still alive- he'd have to be near or over 100 now- but if it was Lionel postwar- he had the parts or made them, and had many Lionel prototypes. His brother was THE doctor up here in north Georgia- he saved my life once.

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Lost it all in a boat accident

I built my younger son a 4' x 8' layout, atop book cases, after starting him off at five with a starter set made up by a local train-only hobby store. He chose a set with an Athearn F7 in NH colors. There were several such stores and hobby stores around Birmingham then - late 70's - one hobby store now. When he was in grad school, I gave him a Z-scale set for his desk. I tried to jump start his career/family with a G-scale '30yr Anniversary Starter Set' from German LGB in '98... he said, "You keep this one, dad... you always were the closet train nut!". I guess he was right... I have thirty-odd engines and over a hundred pieces of rolling stock now. Among my last purchases, as LGB went bankrupt, was my trio of F7's - in NH colors - full circle!

Oh - LGB's logo is an Austrian 0-4-0 steamer - known as a 'Stainz'.

John (aka 'Stainz')

I was trying to spruce up a theater lobby Christmas tree display a couple of years ago, so I used it as an excuse to buy that train set that I always wanted as a kid. I ended up with an Bachmann On30 set: that's an O-scale (1/4 inch equals a foot), running on HO track (simulating a 30" narrow guage, and allowing use of HO track and tighter curves, etc). Then of course, I started buying all those cheap ceramic houses and such that Goodwill and other such charity shops sell before Christmas, because they are roughly 1/4" to the foot as well. The two years that the train was at the theater, it got a lot of attention! I no longer work at that theater, but I just found some more Bachman EZ-track at the animal shelter thrift shop, I'm up to 28 ceramic houses and 95 trees, and I'm designing a new Under-the-Christmas-Tree layout that will cover half of my living room! Other than the original train set, which I bought new, I have put very little money into this. I'm definitely NOT a model train guy (I'm in awe of them, but I'm too clumsy and impatient), so I'm happy just playing Toy Trains once a year. One note: if you want to put a display up in a public area like I did, the old Lionel three-rail system is far more durable and stable than something like HO or my On30, which is why they were so good for kids. It's nice that toy trains are a hobby of their own that can co-exist with the model train enthusiasts! Now, where to put my dining table until January...

The custom of a train under a Christmas tree emigrated here with the Germans. They would build a miniature village complete with lights and then place a tree in the middle. Adding trains was a logical step.

I still have the Lionel 0-27 set my folks gave me for Christmas in about 1960. I really ought to get it out this Christmas. I loved that train as a kid. It was a pretty great present.

Don't know 'bout all that, but I had a Lionel Black River Freight when I was a kid. We ran it around the Christmas tree on the huge dining room table 'til the cat knocked it off one year. Did I mention that I don't care for cats at all?? Specially train killers...........

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Go big or stay home

THAT explains it!
(first generation American of German descent)