Sorry if this in advance if this is a redundant question.
I’m looking to buy my 6y/o son his first train set for Christmas. I don’t want to buy junk but I also don’t want to spend $350 either.
I’d like to get him something he can build on to and that will last. I remember the ones from my childhood and it seemed like the cheap sets I got as a kid were more frustration than they were worth.
Any help is greatly appreciated!
My recommendation would be a set from Lionel or K-line. HO is fine but will not hold up to a 6 year old engineer. I would say you will spend less then $350 but, you answered part of your question in your second part. There are operating cars available too to keep him interested. Ken
Hi xray328
Well this may cause a bit of controversy[:D].
But my suggestion is an LGB US starter set its big rugged.
and can be loaded with his other toys.
if it winds dragged out side as a child may well do it should survive.
I have a $1500 LGB locomotive I am quite happy to let visitors children play with
But have a very nice looking cheaper different brand large scale train that children are not allowed any where near.
I believe an LGB set can be picked up for about $250 US can be added too a piece at a time
If the child decides he is not that interested it can be packed away to run round the christmas tree.
Sounds expensive I know but you will end up spending the same sort of money regardless of which start set you get if its not spent on the set it will get spent on the additions
Regardless of size of train eventually chosen, if your six year old takes too it
you will be spending more money on it .
The thing that has to be emphasised is quality then quality then quality
It has to last a long time work well and have the service back up to go with it
otherwise the interest will evaporate very quickly when it stops working
regards John
Isn’t it ironic that the same scale seems to come into play for the littlest fingers and the oldest fingers? I’m going to second (third? fourth?) the motion for G-scale as the first foray into the hobby.
Xray, my son is 2 and already a train fanatic. Needless to say, there’s nothing I’m quite so willing to do as sit down and “play trains” with him. Currently, that means the “Kibri” style wooden tracks style trains. And yes, “Thomas” is his favorite.
But when he’s a bit older (4-5-6), there will definitely be a G-scale set coming to the house for his continuing train-running pleasure. It’ll probably start as a replacement for the “dimestore” train that currently circles our Christmas tree, but I’ll absolultely be open to (encouraging as often as possible) expansion.
When he’s a little older, he’ll work on ‘daddy’s train’ - the HO basement layout. And I’ll certainly encourage him to build his own layout as he gets to that point.
I’ll concur that in my experience, the durability of the LGB trains is probably worth a few bucks over brand X for our youngest model railroaders (Oh hell, who cares… we’re talking about Bachmann. I’ve touted their spectrum stuff as great-value-for-the-money often enough to risk a mild wiffle-waffle on their G-scale equipment).
Having said that, I’ve bought a few “non-LGB” G-scale starter sets for my neices and nephews, and I haven’t found any of them that aren’t of at least “good” quality and durability. I’m not aware of any “Tyco” equivalent in G-scale. If it came to Bachmann or nothing, by all means, go with Bachmann. I’d absolutely give two thumbs up to you for supporting the interest in whatever way possible. One of my childhood regrets is that my own father wasn’t really “into’” any hobbies at all and I got a bit of a “late start” on model railroading from lack of a mentor.
And, breaking with tradition again, I’m usually a ‘devil’s advocate’ where Ebay is concerned. But more often than not, that’s wh
Hi Kchronister
Well this 46 Yo big kid[:D]
Sometimes wishes it was all back on the floor rather than out in the garden.
My only gripes with G are the non std that NMRA came up with, but thats an adult gripe.
And daft thought it may sound no one maufacture’s a wind up one for those times I cannot be bothered with the rigmarole of getting the garden line running
OOP’S wandering [#offtopic]
Any way some of the toy action cars that are available look like fun but I have never worked up the courage to go and get the one I like the idea of.
regards John
Depends on how responsible you feel your kid is and how long his interest in trains will last. I got my first electric trains at 3 years and 10 months (Christmas 2 months before my 4th birthday). It was an Athern Blue Box engine that I still have, a few cars I think a mix of Life-like and Athern kits and a caboose. My Dad picked out an MRC Tech II 2500 that still works and I still use. The only damage I did that I can see now if some couplers got broken and things like the stirrups on the bottom of cars ended up broken off. This was on a piece of 4’x8’ plywood my Dad sprayed pained green and then painted a lake a roads. I expierimented, we have a picture with a Duplo tunnel I made. This was in December 1987. My first engine and the SD40 I got for my 4th birthday just need a cleaning and tuning to get running and this is after several moves and using them in an unairconditioned Arizona room (enclosed patio) in Phoenix.
My four year old son still loves his wooden trains and he has several neighborhood kids that are between 4-6 that come over and play with him.
My six year old daughter loves them also, Although, not as much. She is a girlie girl.
That being said, I have an HO set in the basement that I work on. My 4 yr old son handles all the cars and engines just fine. I do keep my best stuff out of his reach, but I have several old Bachman’s engines and freight cars that he plays with. I know most people will frown on getting some of the cheeper sets, but they work OK for me.
I also have some foam pads on the floor just in case. But my son is very careful with toys that are not meant to be handled rough.
Consider a Lionel “O” starter set at about $200. They now come with FasTrack, which looks great and will NOT come apart when run on the floor (but it can easily be taken apart for temporary storeage). Unlike HO or N, O starter sets are fine, quality wise. They just look more toy-like compared to the stuff the 20-80 year-old “kids” run.[:D]
Thinking back 36 years on my childhood, I’m glad my folks bought me Lionel and Marks
(or was it Marx?). At that age I don’t think I could have handled HO gauge. I agree with the above posts though…every kid is different. How does your kid take care of his current toys? This should give you the best insight into your decisioin.
I primed the pump for my son on his first Christmas. He’d seen the christmas tree and the lights, and some of the wrapped presents, but when his mom held him upright and that bell and whistle started going, and the lighted steam engine came racing out from a giftwrapped “tunnel” valve gear flashing and a string of cars following behins, it blew his mind, flat melted all his circuits.
I’d never heard him scream like that before, and have never heard it since. I couldn’t tell if he was scared, or thrilled or what, probably all the above, and it just overloaded his senses. Now he’s 11, my daughter is 6 and we’re all doing the HO thing, the first real layout.
I started by taking him to a yard, and seeing what he liked and didn’t like, it didn’t cost a dime. We’ve progressed to laying track and fixing couplers, and frankly, I don’t think he’d care if we were working on trains or playing with Barbie dolls. My daughter wouldn’t care if we were playing with trains or fixing the car. the point is that we are doing it together. I choose things for them to do where it doesn’t matter if they screw it up. I let them do some, try it first anyway, then show them easier ways and give them tips. I make a big deal out of their successes.
From there, we come to the real answer to your question, what set to get. What’s going to keep their interest for the longest period of time? Lionel might be something that they can stay busy with for hours, but if you aren’t into the tinplate thing and want realistic modelling, then you are putting distance and frustration between you and your children, not bringing them closer.
I’ve been an HO guy the whole time, there more of it out there than other gauges, which to me, means more room to grow and evolve, more time before the whole things is “done” and no more work or fun is possible. If the kid just wants to spend time with daddy, then a big part of the decision falls to you., and HO makes a lot of sense to me, soooo…
Given all
Hey are you trying to say 13 year olds run only junk stuff??? i am starting a 4x8 N scale and have a oval of track temoraily set up and have 2 engines a Atlas GP7 and a Kato sd70!!! and my freight cars are atlas athearn and micro-trains. I just want it 2 be known that teenagers are modelrailroaders to not “toy railroaders” But i would suggest starting with a O or G scale set. in 4 or so years he can move up to the HO and N stuf[:)] Tim
I would stay away from a train set. Go to your local hobby shop and ask them to put something together for you within your price range. You will get better equipment then what your average train set has.
Hi Tim
No one suggested teenagers are not model railroaders
The topic is getting a train for a 6 year old child.
You don’t move up or down to any scale other than in size
you just change from toys to models or vice versa.
depending on personal taste.
As you get older you will find the change goes G or O N HO O G in that order,
depending on how far your eyesight deterioates with age.
So you start the hobby with big trains and you finish it with big trains.
funny that so why do we bother changing in the middle.[:D]
regards John
I have two words that should eliminate any internal conflict, Life-Like. My first layout was chiefly Life-Like and it still survives to this day. Also another company you could try is Model Power. My brother’s first train set was a model power.
LGB - I bought a starter set when my son was born 20 years ago and added to it over the years and we set it up every Christmas. So it is played with for about a month and a half every year by everyone that comes over. A lot of kids have played with it and it holds up well. I had to re-power the engine this year (about $70) but for 20 years that’s not bad.
The doors open, it smokes and I have a sound system for it and the big wheels are much easier for little kids to get on the track
None of the kids that have played with complained about non-standard NMRA scales and all that old people stuff. [:D]
I have a 8 y/o grandson who has been running my HO layout since 4. But the other 3 and 4 year old grandkids just want to pu***he cars around. I keep a 4 foot section of track on a board ( has two rerailer sections) and that gets used more than the layout. I would suggest an in-expensive HO set that includes a dummy engine and just set it up as a push back and forth track. If the child takes to the trains then you can set it up as a simple layout, no switches. Good luck… Steve
I think the greatest importance is are you going to buy the kid a train for HIM to play with or are you going to by getting a train for YOU to PLAY TOGETHER WITH HIM. that is a big if. If you will be using it together then a very cheap set will work wonderfully even to n scale. But if the kid is going to play with it unsupervised and alone WITHOUT you then I would say that the O-Scale is the only way to go. And a starter set in O-Scale can be found without taking out a second mortgage.
In the Play together I would mention that on Monday of this week I saw an ATHERN starter set at Wal Mart for 29 or so bucks. NOt impressive to me, as a 58 year old Grandfather, but at 6 I would have delighted no end in it, ESPECIALLY if my DAD was going to run the trains with me. He did by the way, showing a young boy the fin of playing with trains and also from the beginning the economics of running a railroad loads and empties, dropping off and picking up cars all with a used Marx set from a second hand store. Both my son and daughter (she had the most fun and interest) and my granddaughter and now my grandson love their trains. The little three year old fellow is getting a “Thomas the tank engine” starter set this Christmas. His Brios ire fun but Grandpa’s trains are more like Thomas.
Thank you for popping up my memories,
And I know that you will make wonderful memories with whatever you buy.
Doug, in Utah
My 4-year-old daughter likes to play with Daddy’s trains (when he will let her). I am going to buy a dozen or so very inexpensive ($3?) HO freight cars and a $15 switcher locomotive to be “her” train stuff. Then she will have to have Daddy put away his expensive stuffto let her play with her train. If she drops a car on the garage floor and breaks it, I will not be heartbroken also. If she drops the locomotive (or charges off the end of the world with it), she is done until she does enough chores to buy another.
That said, I do let the kids sit and watch while I play with the trains. My 10-year-old son can help - throw switches or drive while I do the other job and uncouple cars.
When I have enough cheap cars, I’ll let them play while I watch. [:)]