Hello, I just wanted to get a feel of what the average age of the typical postwar operator/collector is. Myself, I am 39 and started collecting Lionel postwar two years ago. Are there many others out there that did not grow up in the postwar era but yet collect these beauties?
Darrell
29 years old. Started collecting quality postwar at age 13-14. Collect all years of quality Lionel products.
old F@rt here lol 53 in Feb I started collecting them when I was about 9 sold them when I was about 33 started again about when I was 45 and still do even thoug selling alot again because no room for them.
14 here… I LOVE POSTWAR!
Although I just started collecting Postwar Lionel a few years ago. Train fever started when I was seven. HO was the thing back then. Very few of my trains survived my then young hands. About five years ago my dad gave me his HO collection of American Flyer, Athearn and Lionel. They all dated back to 58-59, and are still in like new condition, most with crisp boxes. While researching these items on the internet I stumbled across Postwar O Lionel…The rest is history.
Darrell
I am 23 and recieved my first postwar when I was three, a 204 alco passenger set . I had some marx and MPC starter engines as early as one though. My grandpa guided me through the hobby.
I was born in '58. When I was a kid slot cars were the rage, then Hot Wheels, then my first train set was N gauge. N was the “new” scale in the late '60s.
Started in 1995 with a Lionel set for my sons first Christmas. I have trains in N, HO, S, O , and G. I have postwar, prewar, mpc, and modern trains. Most of my prewar is American Flyer.
Last year was my first experience with S Am. Flyer. Nice trains that operate really well. And their sound system is really great. Smoke up a storm too. Flyer S gauge is now the focus of my collecting along with prewar Flyer.
I’m 57. I started collecting and operating Lionel Postwar 2 years ago. It’s all nostalgia for me, I received my first Lionel train 50 years ago when I was 7.
65
I’m 60 and just like Jeb Clampett, “Why would we want all that old furniture when we can afford new stuff?” He was talking about the pricless antiques in the mansion he bought in Beverly Hills.
I guess because I grew up with it and had a bunch, it hasn’t caught me yet. I had a new 773 among others and today have know idea what happened to that stuff. I could still have it in the family. We have a NIB girls set. My cousin was supposed to be a boy (so they thought) and my uncle got it for her, but then never opened it.
Trains are trains, but I can see why people like different stuff.[:)]
I even have my daughters hooked on Postwar Lionel. My Seven year old has a Santa Fe 2243 and my nine year old has a Santa Fe 2343.
Darrell
I’m 65 and operate my fathers trains as I did when I was a youngster, tubular track and all.
I have a mixture of stuff from 1946 to present.I do not consider myself to be a collector.I just like trains.
I use O-27 style track,42" diameter is the sharpest.
Oh,I’m 73.
I’m 43 and definitely a Postwar guy. I grew up in the slot car era and only found Postwar during my late twenties when I was given my Father-in-law locos. Made me dig out my Dad’s 2056 right after.
MIke S.
I’m 43. I started collecting about 15 years ago.
I’m 50. I have the super 0 track from my brothers and my childhood set. An board mounted N scale set from when I was 13. A Aristo/LGB set for about 10 yrs. This Christmas season is my first foray since childhood in to Lionel O scale.
I will be 52 in December, and started collecting AF postwar about 7 years ago. All S American Flyer.
Jim
57.I have been collecting as long as I can rememeber.
Ed
I’m 19, and will be 20 in January.
I got my first Lionel set when I was 6, and my first postwar engine(a 1066 Scout, bought with my own money) when I was 7.
A few years later, I got sidetracked with American Flyer, and was able to purchase several very nice pieces. My big purchases were a 312, 302, and 321, as well as a 799 Talking Station.
About 6 years ago, my interests shifted back to Lionel, and I was finally able to afford some of the nicer pieces I had always wanted.
Good Morning!
I just read all the previous postings and was surprised (and happy) that there are so many youngsters interested in the postwar era.
To make a long story short… I’m 63 and started with Marx and bought my first Lionel when I was 11, and had a nice layout by 13. I was a total Lionel nut, but at 15 I traded them in for HO (got taken as so many others did), and then came motorbikes, cars, and girls…
While I stayed with HO and avoided “toy trains”, I still remembered the wonderfulness of the Lionel of my youth. Then, when I was 41, my wife picked up a Lionel 2018 loco at DesPlaines Hobbies, and that started me to collect. Of course as soon as the fever kicked in again, the wife left me and with the kids grown there was no stopping me…
The collection grew rapidly in size, especially with the advent of Ebay (blessing & curse). I even built a couple of Christmas layouts in recent years. But I soon realized that having a 736 pulling a string of 6464 boxcars with a 3 or 4 year old at the throttle was not the smartest thing I have ever done. So the big dollar stuff went on the shelf and out came the “runners”…
Today, my interest has grown stronger in the HO collection and layout, and while the Lionel in the display cases still makes me happy, I just don’t have the fever I once had. None of my 4 kids are interested in trains, and the grandkids are not either. So it looks like they eventually may hit Ebay again some day, but that’s better than being thrown up into an attic or sold for pennies on the dollar to a buyer of collections.
Mobilman44