Newbie here

Anonymous · November 27, 2006, 5:02pm

i going to get a train set for my son [7yr] , an i was thinking of the Lionl O scale NY Central starter set, it comes with the Fast track, now i would like to know if this alot better than the old track, for right now it will be layed on the floor to play with , when i get a house i will install it in my sons room on the wall to go around the room, or creat a layout in the bastment family room, the old track is alot cheaper than the fast track the store owner said he would swap tracks if i wanted too an that i would get a lot more for the old track, so is it wyse to stay with the fast track instead , he did showed me another track from another company i do not know the name but it look more real , he said the cost was in the middle of the Lionel old track and the Lionel fast track it had 3 track line with the middle one painted black and the tides look more real, any ideas would help

Don_Gibson · November 27, 2006, 5:15pm

i going to get a train set for my son [7yr] , an i was thinking of the Lionl O scale NY Central starter set, it comes with the Fast track, now i would like to know if this alot better than the old track, for right now it will be layed on the floor to play with , when i get a house i will install it in my sons room on the wall to go around the room, or creat a layout in the bastment family room, the old track is alot cheaper than the fast track the store owner said he would swap tracks if i wanted too an that i would get a lot more for the old track, so is it wyse to stay with the fast track instead , he did showed me another track from another company i do not know the name but it look more real , he said the cost was in the middle of the Lionel old track and the Lionel fast track , any ideas would help

PERCHANCE the O Gauge format at Atlas RR would do more for you, before someone here recommends MTH.

tstage · November 27, 2006, 5:30pm

Marcus,

First off: [#welcome] to the forum! Good to have you aboard! [:)]

As well as what Don suggested, try the Classic Toy Train forum page. [<–link] They might be better at helping you with your questions.

Tom

Texas_Zephyr · November 27, 2006, 6:05pm

I do not speak from personal experience, only what others have told me. I’ve been told the fast track is way better than the old track. To me it looks much better. One warning though. The new track has a circle of 36" as opposed to the old which was either 32" or 27". The old style track was invented in the 1940s, or earlier, with few improvements over the years. There has to be some technological advances in there somewhere.

Atlas also makes some really good looking track called “21^st Century Track System”. Once again I haven’t used any, just seen it in the stores. It almost made me want to drag out my template trains and run them once again. The Atlas track comes in either steel or nickel-silver.

Anonymous · November 27, 2006, 6:49pm

Anything in O is alot better than the smaller scales for a young child.

My experience is with O-27 and I have not run that train for about 20 years.

I have seen the fast track system in the hobbyshop and think it will take more room than the O-27 and look good. You can probably velcro that to the floor with no one the wiser. =)

A word of warning, the new engines of today have minimum radius of up to 54" and some beyond so be sure to look up any prospective locomotive model to ensure it will fit the radius of your fast track.