Post by boomer5344 on Aug 19, 2018 11:48:34 GMT -5
Hi,
I've been into model trains since the 1960's. My first trains were Lionel O gauge and Marklin HO. Later,I built a N scale layout when I was 11 years old,N scale was still in it's early years and didn't run well. In my early teens, I started finding lots of used Lionel and HO trains at Garage sales,Flea Markets and even Goodwill. The train collecting craze hadn't kicked in yet so trains were really plentiful and cheap. I built a small HO layout (The N scale was sold) and a large 12 x 16 Lionel layout in our basement. When I left home for college, the trains were all packed up. In the early 80's I jumped back into trains. I primarily collected Lionel tinplate as I didn't have a suitable room for a layout. I did a lot of buying and selling at train shows to supplement my income while raising a family. Sadly, a unexpected long term serious illness and then a unexpected layoff just after I returned to work forced me to sell off all the trains. After that, most of my time was focused on raising 5 children.
After about a 15 year hiatus,I slowly returned to the hobby. My kids were grown,I was now single/divorced and had a great career and the means to buy trains like never before. I liked the O scale hi rail equipment that was now available from MTH,Lionel.weaver and others. I focused on large steam locomotives. Over time, the collection grew and grew. A small layout - 8 X 12 was constructed in a spare room to at least run some trains. Unfortunately, I found the trains to be of poor quality, poor materials and very problematic. At least half of the new locos failed out of the box.Two years ago, my fiancee' and I purchased our present home. It has a full finished walk out basement. There is a large 20 X 40 game room. Perfect for a large layout. I had started to construct shelves to display a lot of the O gauge and tinplate trains. A large 16 X 25 layout was begun but progress was slow due to long periods away with overseas work.In the meantime, I had been accumulating a lot of nice HO locomotives.I also bought a few large HO collections while traveling. As my interest in the O gauge was waning (Due to bad quality issues and lack of parts/support from MTH and Lionel) I was looking for a change. I had picked up a lot of BLI,Trix and Athearn Genesis steam locomotives and found them to be excellent runners with a great reputation for quality and super mfg. support. In the fall of 2017, it was decided to start over and build a large HO layout. I display the 1950's-1980's HO from Mantua-Tyco (Red box era), Marx, Marklin, Fleischmann and Trix in my home office.
I had heard great things about this forum and decided to check it out. I'm happy to share my 50+years of knowledge.
I've been into model trains since the 1960's. My first trains were Lionel O gauge and Marklin HO. Later,I built a N scale layout when I was 11 years old,N scale was still in it's early years and didn't run well. In my early teens, I started finding lots of used Lionel and HO trains at Garage sales,Flea Markets and even Goodwill. The train collecting craze hadn't kicked in yet so trains were really plentiful and cheap. I built a small HO layout (The N scale was sold) and a large 12 x 16 Lionel layout in our basement. When I left home for college, the trains were all packed up. In the early 80's I jumped back into trains. I primarily collected Lionel tinplate as I didn't have a suitable room for a layout. I did a lot of buying and selling at train shows to supplement my income while raising a family. Sadly, a unexpected long term serious illness and then a unexpected layoff just after I returned to work forced me to sell off all the trains. After that, most of my time was focused on raising 5 children.
After about a 15 year hiatus,I slowly returned to the hobby. My kids were grown,I was now single/divorced and had a great career and the means to buy trains like never before. I liked the O scale hi rail equipment that was now available from MTH,Lionel.weaver and others. I focused on large steam locomotives. Over time, the collection grew and grew. A small layout - 8 X 12 was constructed in a spare room to at least run some trains. Unfortunately, I found the trains to be of poor quality, poor materials and very problematic. At least half of the new locos failed out of the box.Two years ago, my fiancee' and I purchased our present home. It has a full finished walk out basement. There is a large 20 X 40 game room. Perfect for a large layout. I had started to construct shelves to display a lot of the O gauge and tinplate trains. A large 16 X 25 layout was begun but progress was slow due to long periods away with overseas work.In the meantime, I had been accumulating a lot of nice HO locomotives.I also bought a few large HO collections while traveling. As my interest in the O gauge was waning (Due to bad quality issues and lack of parts/support from MTH and Lionel) I was looking for a change. I had picked up a lot of BLI,Trix and Athearn Genesis steam locomotives and found them to be excellent runners with a great reputation for quality and super mfg. support. In the fall of 2017, it was decided to start over and build a large HO layout. I display the 1950's-1980's HO from Mantua-Tyco (Red box era), Marx, Marklin, Fleischmann and Trix in my home office.
I had heard great things about this forum and decided to check it out. I'm happy to share my 50+years of knowledge.
