I’m trying to model railroading for my daughters one 6 and the other will be 2. I’m about to get my old Lionel Train, my father bought me when I was 6, repaired by M.B. Klien here in Baltimore, MD. I was looking on their website on the Life-Like HO Starter Train Sets, I was thinking about buying, when I picked my locomotive up from repair. Has anyone has any idea’s on the quality of the starter kits. Help is greatly wanted.
Thanks,
Eric
That would depend on Which Lifelike you are talking about… The box sets are Usually lesser quality than the individual upper end items (obviously)… If Lifelike (walthers) is packaging thier Proto line into sets now, I’d say go for it. If not, then do individual components. The box train sets are way too expensive for what they are and the quality (or lack of) you get in my honest opinion… It’s Further my opinion, that nothing, and I DO mean nothing, will turn off a youngster on trains faster than the shoddy quality of some if this stuff. I’m Sure MB Klien can suggest some good starter stuff for you when you pick up your Lionels. Again, Just my opinion…
The Life-Like brand is very good as a starter set. Diesel Thunder is the one I would suggest. It comes with two Santa Fe diesel locos (one powered, one dummy), 6 cars, trees, signs, telephone poles, autos, buildings, a power pack, and their “Power-Loc” track, which is very easy to assemble. It retails for $105.99, but you can get it for as cheap as $50 online. Then again, for a little more, you could get their Proto series sets. It’s all up to you. Hope you have fun!
-Brandon
If you’re looking for a good train set, I’d suggest any of the Bachmann Spectrum sets. They’re nice sets for a good price, and they have their high end engines and cars in these sets. Not like the “toyish” trains that the LifeLike ones have.
Kevin
Athearns are good-quality trains, and I would look for an Athearn set to start things off on the right foot.
A good starter Athearn set with a loco, 3 freight cars, power pack and an oval of Bachmann nickel-silver EZ Track can be had for around $70.
My son got a Lifelike set for Christmas, and another for his birthday.
The track is great, much better than Bachman, if you plan to set up on carpet or the floor.
The power pack is quite a pain, the throttle has two speeds, too slow, then a gap, and too fast.
The locos are noisy, but they pull as well as any I have.
The cars use talgo trucks, with the coupler mounted in a box on the truck, and between those and the fact that the cars are all underweight, you’ll see a lot of derailments at turnouts. On their track on the floor they work ok.
My daughter got a Bachman set for Christmas, The Grinch, and the locomotive is smooth and quieter than the Lifelikes, and the train stays on the layout track very well. I haven’t tried the power pack, but the track is a major pain to put together.
Lets be straight here, a six year old and two year old girl aren’t going to get a whole bunch out of electric trains. No worries, I use the same story and it works, very very well, never had anyone question it yet. But when it comes to buying decisions, you’ll get skewed answers if you give even marginally inaccurrate background info.
If these traisn are for the kids to run on the floor, go with a Lifelike set and enjoy the fun.
If these trains are also for dad, six the trainset idea, get a premium locomotive or two, some flextrack, a book on benchwork, another on layout planning, and as many Blue Box rolling stiock kits as you can find, since they aren’t making them any more.
Oh yes, bookmark this site, I have yet to see a question these guys couldn’t answer.
I was gonna suggest that. My Wal-Mart had some nice John Deere and Coka-Cola sets at X-mas time this year. Maybe something that some young ladies would like better.
(start em young and they’ll stay out of trouble, that’s what this hobby is about)
Good luck!
i started a topic on lifelike trainset stuff a few weeks ago. you may want to read it here is a link to it: http://www.trains.com/community/forum/topic.asp?page=1&TOPIC_ID=55030
hope this is helpuul.
Thanks for the input, I know M.B. Klein sells the Bachman and Life-Like started sets starting around $35 and they go up into the $100+ range.
Once again, Thank you.
Eric
Eric, I have another thought. In my experience with my 2 boys, now 8 and 6, but 2 and 4 when the train bug bit hard in our house, the simple loop electric train bored them very quickly. There is only so much play value for a little one in seeing a train go round and round and stopping every now and then. We made up games, like delivering different color M and M’s to help them start to count and learn colors, but in all honesty they much prefered to pu***he trains around the track. My reccomendation would be to look at www.woodentrain.com and take a look at the wonderful product line made by the Whittle train store here in St. Louis. Long after my 2 boys quit playing with Thomas, wooden track is alive an well in my house because of the more realistic trains from Whittle. You can pick up a nice set for $60 that will last for years and get far more play than the kids will get out of an electric trainset.
you may also want to look onto a bachmann thomas the tank engine set check out www.bachmann-trains.com for more info
hope this helps
tom
The locomotives in todays Bachmann and Life-Like train sets are pretty good runners. They are quiet and can run fairly slow without stalling.
Bachmann track is a little more difficult to fit together, but Bachmann offers the widest variety of track pieces and accessories. Life-Like track fits together easier, but the little brass tabs that provide electrical contact seem to disappear, especially when handled by children. Life-Like does not sell little packets of replacement tabs.
Bachmann starter train sets can be found in some hobby shops for about $49.95. Additional locomotives run about $32.00, with Thomas The Tank locos running about $39.00 to $41.00. If desired, the Bachmann locomotive, track, and power pack found in a starter set can be integrated with Bachmann’s DCC controller . Life-Like does not offer DCC products that integrate with their starter sets.
Since Life-Like has been purchased by Wm K. Walthers, its future appearance in big box stores might be in question. If Walthers does sell Life-Like trains to big box stores, then we might see dealers backing away from Life-Like.
Big box stores generally do not carry additional track, locomotives, or accessories for any of the sets they sell. It would be prudent to think ahead before you buy.
I concur with Simon on the www.woodentrain.com products. My son loves them. His set is now so vast that we plan realistic operations on them from time to time. They also have helped him to appreciate dad’s trains more. He is now more interested in modeling. He helped me scratch-build my first building a couple of weeks ago and wants to do the same for his wooden train set.
Well, I dropped off my Lionel Locomotive, to M.B. Kliens. While I was there I looked at the sets, I’m really leaning to the Bachman N series sets or the Thomas the Tank Engine, HO sets. My youngest daughter would like the wooden train sets, but my eldest is really into her Grandfathers, N Scale trains.