Hello all! I am the mother of a three year old that is infatuated with trains. We have all of the Thomas you could imagine and recently his interest has moved on to model trains. We have a gentleman near by that has a beautiful garden railroad (which is new to my vocabulary!) which we have visited and my son was in total awe. I want to get him started in model railroading and I have no idea where to start. I have just learned the wooden railways of Thomas! I understand that there are different scales and track gages, but do not know how all of this applies! My father has an old electric Marklin (HO scale/3-rail) set that was purchased in Germany sometimearound the 1940-50s. He is afraid we will be unable to find trains that will work with this set and that has the same couplings. (Again, new to my vocabulary! Not real sure what I am talking about!) Just a crazy thought I could have something that could eventually be joined with my father’s set. ANYHOW, if there is some one or many of you that could help me with my pursuit, PLEASE pass the advice along! I need it!
I say go with O scale. These models can take a lot more of a beating than a HO Locomotive can.
[2c]
My four year old has been helping me with the layout for over a year now (HO scale). I bought a Bachman Thomas and converted it to DCC (and added a 3mm LED to make it have a lantern as the true Thomas does!) and he LOVES it… He usually starts off driving the RSC-2, but always ends up running the Thomas. I bought him his own DCC controller (NCE Cab4p) and now he REALLY loves it… we can both run trains. And the 2 year old loves doing the switches from the main control panel… Lots of fun in any scale, in my humble opinion!
Brian
So good to hear that a young boy is falling in love with trains. First off, how old is your son? Some would say that HO is a good starter set for a child that knows that they are not something that you can play with like a Hot Wheels car. I would say start with an HO or O scale, Pick up a set at Hobby Lobby or order one off line, As the child grows, he will be able to add to his set, and in a few years maybe start from scratch. If he is old enough to understand what modeling RR’s are all about, maybe you should introduce him to the forums. I like to see young children getting into the modeling of trains.
I do not know anything about the train set your father has, maybe some of the others will have more input on this subject. Good luck and if you have any futher questions, you are more than welcome to ask them here. The folks here are more than happy to talk with you about trains. Mike
My first railroad was an HO scale set bought from the hobby shop (you can get these for around $100 or less) and it was nailed in place on a 4’X4’ board painted brown. The set had an engine, 3 cars and a caboose. I got it when I was six. HO is probably the most affordable way to go and the cheaper sets come with everything to get started and aren’t overly fragile.
Hello, and welcome to the forum! [#welcome]
Märklin is a large manufacturer here in Europe, and 3-rail track and accessories can be found almost everywhere (don’t know how it is in the US). Their older cars and couplers should work just fine with newer couplers, and the 3-rail track system is still the same (there are 3 different types of track, with special track sections to connect them together).
However, if you want to use your old stuff and go with Märklin, you are stuck with Märklin. The 3-rail track and locomotives are not compatible with the 2-rail track system, which has a lot more manufacturers to choose from.
3-rail is often considered less sensitive than 2-rail when it comes to electrical problems caused by dirt on the tracks.
Märklin is also rather expensive compared to many of the other brands, but the quality is great. This is something you should be aware of before you start spending a lot of money on track.
A great product is http://www.woodentrain.com/ These are American made wooden trains that look like real trains and will run on the wooden Thomas track. Long after my boys tired of Thomas they still play with these, especially my 8 yr old.
Hi,
As far as the Marklin Trains go, they are very good, but they are rather expensive and they are not compatible with most American HO trains, they run AC power (American HO runs on DC power) they use the third stud rail that you mentioned and as you also mentioned the couplers are different, but there may be conversion couplers to fix that, but the type of track and power that they use will still make them incompatible with American HO.
Garden Railroading can be a very enjoyable option, but depending on the weather in your area, can be somewhat limiting in when you can enjoy it, many of the better quality large scale trains are designed to be very weather proof and not damaged by inclement weather, but do You want to run trains then? Large Scale can also get rather expensive (most quality items in this Hobby do) Another factor to consider is track laying, Large Scale track permanently installed outdoors, can be a lot of work to do properly and if your yard is not very smooth, a temporary outdoor layout can be a lesson in FRUSTRATION. Large scale could be set up indoors, either as a floor layout ( reconfiguring the track can be a lot of fun for kids) or on a table layout, but the size of it can be very restricting in what you can do indoors.
O-Gauge trains are the next step down size wise and while not the most inexpensive, there are some affordable starter sets, especially in 0-27. 0-27 trains run on the same size track as regular O-Gauge and their couplers, power supplies and other issues are compatible with regular O-Gauge, they are just designed to run on sharper curves than regular O-Gauge, and are generally scaled a little bit smaller than the same engine, car, etc would be in regular O-Gauge. the only incompatibility issue in mixing regular O-Gauge and 0-27 is that many regular O-gauge trains can not handle the sharper 027 curves.
One big advantage to 0/027 trains is that they are generally very rugged and not as susceptible
[#welcome] Get em started young![tup] Here’s Marklins site- http://www.marklin.com/
As mentioned, they are a little pricey but great quality. I personally think HO is a little small for a 3 year old. (and fragile) O or G scale may be a better size but they’re not cheap either. Sometimes you can find nice O and G sets at Hobby Lobby for around $200. You won’t have any problem finding track and accessories for these scales.
As previously mentioned, Marklin is pricey, and HO is for kids a little older. (My 8 & 11 y o grandkids love the HO, including the Thomas/Percy/James locos & their cars. That said, as also previously mentioned, is 0 or 0-27, which you may know better as Lionel, although there are other brands. As Christmas is just around the corner, I would suggest the Lionel North Pole Express, as well as a CD of the movie. You could add some Christmas Village type accessories, and make a nice layout that a three year old would love!!
PS[#welcome]
At 3 I would stick with little wooden toy type trains that he can push around. You could get him a simple electric train that goes around a simple loop. Then as he grows older he can have an HO snap together set with turnouts and such (like the Marklin). Doing scenery with realistic trackwork and all is not easy and takes adult guidance. Get him a magazine subscription and show him how to draw “layouts” (maps of where the train goes).
Good luck!
Everyones advice is good. I personally started out with Lionel O gauge in 1940 at age 4. We ran trains on a cleared off diding room table and took it down every time we were through. Since the choices of the Marklin are small, why not consider selling off your fathers set and use the money for a more common one? I hear E Bay is good for that.
Just my 2 cents
I would avoid selling your Fathers trains if at all possible, that is something that you will almost assuredly regret in the future, especially after your Father passes on. I have heard too many stories of people doing exactly that, then later wishing that they had not done that, the memories are worth more than you could ever get for the trains by selling them.
The Marklin trains could be used in many ways, such as if an 0/027 layout is built, they could be included as an amusement park train. If an HO scale layout is built, it could be built with a separate Marklin line on it that was used only for the Marklin trains. Seeing those trains run would almost always be guaranteed to bring a Smile to anyone who knew and Loved him, whether they “FIT” the layout exactly or not. If possible to store them, do so and if you must sell them later, then do what you must, but in my opinion, you will NEVER REGRET having kept your Fathers trains, but stand an excellent chance of regretting selling them later.
Doug
[quote user=“challenger3980”]
Hi,
As far as the Marklin Trains go, they are very good, but they are rather expensive and they are not compatible with most American HO trains, they run AC power (American HO runs on DC power) they use the third stud rail that you mentioned and as you also mentioned the couplers are different, but there may be conversion couplers to fix that, but the type of track and power that they use will still make them incompatible with American HO.
Garden Railroading can be a very enjoyable option, but depending on the weather in your area, can be somewhat limiting in when you can enjoy it, many of the better quality large scale trains are designed to be very weather proof and not damaged by inclement weather, but do You want to run trains then? Large Scale can also get rather expensive (most quality items in this Hobby do) Another factor to consider is track laying, Large Scale track permanently installed outdoors, can be a lot of work to do properly and if your yard is not very smooth, a temporary outdoor layout can be a lesson in FRUSTRATION. Large scale could be set up indoors, either as a floor layout ( reconfiguring the track can be a lot of fun for kids) or on a table layout, but the size of it can be very restricting in what you can do indoors.
O-Gauge trains are the next step down size wise and while not the most inexpensive, there are some affordable starter sets, especially in 0-27. 0-27 trains run on the same size track as regular O-Gauge and their couplers, power supplies and other issues are compatible with regular O-Gauge, they are just designed to run on sharper curves than regular O-Gauge, and are generally scaled a little bit smaller than the same engine, car, etc would be in regular O-Gauge. the only incompatibility issue in mixing regular O-Gauge and 0-27 is that many regular O-gauge trains can not handle the sharper 027 curves.
One big advantage to 0/027 trains is that they are generally very r
I would suggest O scale. HO can also be pretty hardy. I started with with a Lionel O scale Santa Fe Double Diesel set in 1964 at the age of four. In 1965 I got a Marklin Santa Fe E7 A-B set followed by an HO 4 x 8 layout in 1966 that had Milwaukee Road train in HO scale and another train led by a Santa Fe S1 in OO scale. That layout survived into the mid 70’s even after three moves. I salvaged much of the track (brass) from it and built another layout that survived to 1981. If the HO stuff could survive my handling (I liked to take things apart) they’ll survive almost anything.
These two statements seem to be contradicting each other.
Are you talking about all the different types of Thomas (and other brands like Brio) of wooden and plastic railways or do you mean really getting into electric sets? There are also Lego trains.
For electric trains and a three year old there are many options in today’s market. I started all my children with G-gauge (the garden railroad size). We got one locomotive at first Christmas around the tree and then have added one major piece of equipment each birthday & Christmas. Through the years we have collected enough to run trains around all the trees and all over the house.
I personally started with much the smaller HO scale (the most common size available); however, I think I would recommed trains with three rail sectional track (such as Lionel O-gauge). The reason is that the three rail track has power in the center rail. Neither you or your child will have to worry about electrical short circuits when the track is laid out so that the left rail ends up looping back and touching the right rail. The center is always the center!
There are several types and brands of three rail track on the market. Unfortunately all my
Hi,
it is wonderful to read that your son is into model railroads. All the replies here represent my personal opinions as well. Marklin is quite expensive when compared to the likes of Atlas, Athearn and other makers of north american equipment. From personal experience the Marklin equipment that I had was very rugged and durable. It required little maintenance and it would run in quite adverse track conditions.
Your fathers equipment might be collector items and could possible be worth a fair amount of money. Also as mentioned Marklin equipment is not compatible with DC equipment which is what the north american manufacturers produce. This limits as to what can be purchased and where it can be purchased. If you would like to go to a hobby shop then those that carry Marklin equipment are few and far between. Also we tend to model for the most part what we see or remember as a young person. Since you and your son live here in North America it might be more difficult for him to get into the European equipment.
So to sum it all up I would suggest to wait a bit until older and then start off with North American equipment.
Just my [2c] worth.
Frank
Jeesh, just remembered that I started my son in O-scale when he was two…Thomas the Tank engine… moved up to the Polar Express set at 3… that was great. We do it around the Xmas tree… Reminds me…where did I put it since my reorganization…
Brian