Hello, I desperately need someone’s help! My mom and I really want to get my boys a train for Xmas. My brother had a really cool one when I was little (mid 70’s) and we’d like one like that. It wasnt babyish and it had metal tracks… it was darn cool. I have NO CLUE what scale, what guage anything. We’re not rich but we dont want a cheap POS either. Can someone direct me to a good starter set? My boys are 8 and 9, and mature enough to take care of it. Please email me with any info (jackmatt@lcp2.net) because I might not find my way back here! Thanks so much in advance!
Hi Cheryl.
You can checkout the Lionel website (www.lionel.com). The site has the current catalogs with pictures and descriptions of each set. I would recommend reviewing these catalogs to first see if this was the scale of train you remember. Then if you have further questions or would like additional information relative to these sets, come back and post additional questions. We can address questions in more detail after we narrow down the type of set you are looking for.
I look forward to hearing back from you soon.
Tim Pignatari
Check out ebay.com.and in the search box type model trains. At this auction site there is always earlier train sets still new in the box. Watch the prices for while to see what they usually sell for. Some of the old sets have quality equipment. Stay away from the new sets unless the money is spent to buy one of the quality sets. A good train set will cost over one hundred dollars. Another way is to buy everything by piece and if your picky,youll wind up with a great train set. In most train sets you dont get much track anyway,unless you like circles and the circle isnt that big at that. Online Ive seen some great deals on earlier sets and is another good place to buy your railroad in pieces. I used to buy train sets after Christmas at major stores because they were dirt cheap,and you definitely get what you pay for.I wound up using rolling stock and engine from sets to practice weathering with paint. Guess they were good for something. There are trains for every price range and like I said before,you usually get what you pay for. There are many I cant afford,at least thats what my wife tells me. Brass trains are out of reach of most modelers,or maybe theyre single and own brass.Rivarossi makes a fine product but can be pricy,Athearn Genesis is cheaper,but I think theyre great,Athearn puts out some good ones and is cheaper than its Genesis line,Bachman also makes some good stuff and can be pricey for some of their really cool stuff. I would suggest that you go to a hobby shop that carries model trains and find the size you would prefer. Remember the bigger the train the more room you need to build a layout. If you can,buy quality equipment which will last many years and will give you more reliable operation. Most yougsters who get interested in model railroading do start with one of those new inexpensive sets and later will want better stuff,which is great to find out if the youngster is really serious about the hobby. But if you want to have a train set to hand down,and is actually a piece of art(take a l
Cheryl:Gerald gave you some sound advice there.But,I will stress one thing.Go to a hobby shop and look at all of the trains,take your sons with you and see what their reaction will be on certain scales(size of the trains)then go from there.That way you will have an idea of what your sons like.