Well, the last time I was into model railroading was about 1977 and my dad was doing all the work… so “again” might be an overstatement of sorts.
I’m looking to get the dreaded Xmas train this year as my 5-year-old son is absolutely nuts about trains. I ride the Metra in Chicago every day to work so we now play “Daddy Goes to Work” with the Whittle Shortline wooden Metra train we have (check Whittle out, real roadnames in wooden trains!). Seems O is probably the best bet for the first train, but that’s going to be a Fastrack oval initially.
I think he can handle HO, but his little sister “M- the Destroyer” might not like that as much. I guess my question initially is three-fold…
Does anyone have kids under 6 playing with anything but wooden, O, or G? If so, how are they doing with it? I would love to get some less expensive HO stuff since I have limited space and just expect a few parts are going to be paid for twice…
Has anyone bought the HO Reversing Trolley Car Set that Bachmann makes? It seems like a good way to model a point-to-point elevated train, I’d get the Main Street road name and eventually elevate the whole track to run two trains on a smaller layout by having one run on the exterior and elevated against a city scene background.
Of the HO manufacturers, who makes the most durable engines/cars/EZ-style track? I"m thinking the FT-style engines are more durable simply because there are fewer things to break off and EZ-track means no roadbed to try to pull up, in fact this train may not have a permanent home for a while so EZ-track or something similar is a must.
I Think you can probably tell I want to do HO, I don’t have more than room for a 4x8 for 5x8 layout since our basement is used so much for indoor play right now and there are “things” flying everywhere some days. Of course, if the first train really needs to be O then the Xmas train will probably be a basic Lionel set like the SW Diesel Freight, I tihnk the open ho
1 My friends son has been running my old bachmann HO stuff with no damage since he was 4 and my G scale stuff too. See if there are any local train shows or shops as they might have some second hand stuff, see it test run though.
2 Is this and HO one or the On30 ( O scale on HO track)? I’ve got the On30 one and it’s a very good runner. Also have you seen the proto 1000 4 car Elevated train from Lifelike?
3 Athearn Ready to Roll range, tough models with good detail, Walthers trainline or Atlas trainman range. These three are all budget models using either new basic mouldings or old mouldings with updated decent chassis and paint.
Ez track is ok especially if you want to put it directly on the floor as it will protect chassis from carpet fluff. If you have a board though I’d consider standard setrack from without any grey plastic roadbed as you can reuse this if you want to scenic the layout later and ballast it. You could spray a fleckstone type paint from a DIY store onto the board to represent ballast.
Have fun
Paul
It’s the start of train-show season. Your profile doesn’t say where you live, but there might be a train show coming to town, or maybe there will be a club layout open house in the neighborhood. Most of these admit young kids for free, assuming that you’ll watch them pretty closely.
This is a good opportunity to see which trains draw your kids’ attention. Most shows are multi-gauge, and feature operating layouts. You can also get a handle on used equipment. You might find a boxed “train set” in HO for a reasonable price. If so, set that up and see how it survives. It will give you a much better idea of whether the children are ready for HO yet.
For young children I would go with O gauge or S gauge - Lionel’s NYC Flyer is a good start. That way you can have smoke, whistle, bell, and other sounds. Add some action accessories for more fun. It will easily fit on a 4x8 table.
Enjoy
Paul
I have 2 boys 7 and 11 yrs. old. They have been exposed to O and HO trains since they were born. I’m into the 3 rail O but I think they enjoy the HO more.
When my younger son was 5 I got him the Bachmann Thomas set for Christmas. He loved it and still sets it up now. The engine and cars were never a problem for him to set on the track. The Thomas coaches have just 4 wheels. The E-Z track is great. Can be put right on carpet and kids can put legos under the track to make “grades”.
For that same Christmas I got my older son the Bachmann McKinley Explorer set. Comes with an engine and 4 domed coaches. It was such a nice set that a week after Christmas I bought a second set so we could have two engines pulling 8 cars. These are a little more difficult to get on the track, but at 9 years old it was no problem at all.
The Lionels are great too. But they do get expensive when you want to expand or add on. We set up a O gauge Christmas layout every year and the kids love it. Their favorite thing are the handcars with cartoon characters on them. Mickey and Minnie, Porky and Petunia, Goofy and Pluto.
Also alot of fun are old wind-up trains by Marx and Hafner. These can be purchased on e-bay fairly cheap.
Whatever you choose I’m sure your kids will love them. Good-Luck.
In general, until kids to get to be around 8-10, the S (American Flyer), O (3 rail), or G is more fun for them. Playing with the trains directly is usually more fun than running them remotely for younger kids. This includes adding/removing loads to open top cars; pushing engines, trains, cars, and any wheeled vehicles by hand; racing trains on parallel tracks; putting obstacles on the track for the train to plow into; and setting up and decorating scenes with dinsoaurs, earth movers, or anything else that strikes a kid’s imagination. The animated accessories are fun to operate and watch - especially ones that require interaction like the electro-magnetic gantry crane. And room lights out with lighted trains and accessories is always a special treat.
Most of the above is not as practical with HO as it is with the more rugged larger scales. Now you can certainly teach the kids to refrain from the more destructive activities, and they will still have fun. But they will miss out on some of the more imaginative events that they might otherwise try. In my experience, it’s a magic time that goes by all too quickly.
You are trying to do alot of things at once ( I.E. boob proof and something dad can get into, also little space ), I would proubly go with On30 because the bachman stuff is inexpencive when on sale, can run on HO track and anything damaged can be used later as a base for somthing dad wants to do. There are some great conversion kits for any damaged rolling stock and more $$ for dad, and you can upgrade to On30 track later when the kids are older and they can still run their favorite engine from when they were younger.
I started my 6yo son out last Christmas with a Thomas O set by Lionel (he was 5 at the time). I felt this was a great way for him to get his feet wet with model railroading. It is big enough and simple enough for him to operate, and once he is comfortable with that, then I will ease him into HO. I bring him down to my work bench occasionally so he can watch me work on some of the models as well. He knows that the HO is “hands off” for him for now. I figure within the next few years I may start him on a steady diet of blue box kits and EZ track.
Just looking at it economically, I would invest as little as possible for the foreseeable future. On30 would be my choice, too, because O guage can get expensive, even if it is robust. You can use the EZ-track later, but you will be unlikely to want to. Hence, my advice to use it sparingly…go easy on the wallet, let the kids have a solid run at something new and exciting (maybe seasonal for that nostalgic feeling) and then get them going on something in HO in which all of you will have ownership as you plan and build it.
If your youngest can stand the process (you, too) you can sit them down for very short periods and actually involve them in your mutual self-education as you learn more about trains in general, layout planning, good track plans, eras and roads, and so on. It needn’t be a Master’s level of learning, naturally, but a few minutes of head-to-head around the kitchen table with some paper and dimensional drawings will be a wonderful opportunity for all of you.
My own re-introduction to model railroading was five years ago when my wife and mother-in-law gave me the Bachmann Christmas train set in On30, the one with the Thomas Kinkaid motif on the cars. It has been a fully reliable and pleasant addition to our Christmas festivities.
I live in the Chicago area, riding the Metra to work every day… we went to the Great Midwest Train Show at the DuPage County Fairgrounds and were a little disappointed in the quantity of running trains, although there was a guy who had a monster Lego layout running that my son watched for at least 15 minutes.
I wish I’d joined here before we went, it was honestly overwhelming all the stuff that’s out there, I didn’t even know what to look for… I think if I went again I’d be looking for cheap additions in open-topped freight cars, thanks Fred for confirmed my thoughts on what kids want to do with trains!
We’ve also been to the Elmhurst Model Railroad Club, it’s a pretty impressive HO layout that has open houses from 1-4 on Sundays, but I didn’t get much of a chance to ask questions of them yet. They have a website with some fun train videos we watch occasionally too.
I’m thinking an O gauge starter set (I still like the SW Freight by Lionel since we see SF engines on the tracks all the time) and then if he likes it I’ll hold off adding too much more than extra track and maybe another hopper or gondola car (grandparents are always asking what to get the kids, maybe my an extra freight car from them?) and go HO next year, but I’d love anyone who hasn’t ventured an opinion yet to add theirs! It’s great to hear your stories and advice.
The Bachmann trolley I was referring to is HO, but I’ll check out the other set that was mentioned too.
Where in Chicagoland do you live? I’m in Glenview. A great place to shop for a trainset is Hills Hobby in downtown Park Ridge. Really nice people there and they discount their prices somewhat.
I decided to keep it simple (well, I decided with my wife’s “help”), so I bought the SW freight set from Lionel and will initially set it up as a Xmas train. Now I need to make the layout more fun than an oval, are there any sites that haves Xmas layouts better than an oval?
Side note, I bought the set at Hobby Lobby, a store with mostly crafts. Hidden in the back is a row for models, model trains, RC stuff. The set was initially $299 (way high relative to other hobby stores) but they run a 40% off coupon in the Sunday paper comics section sometimes. Not good for high-end stuff but for basics they had some N, HO, O, and G sets and some scenery and track.
Paul the Painter:
We live in Downers Grove, so Glenview is a bit of a hike for us. We normally go to Americas Best in Itasca since they always have an O gauge oval running that keeps the shopping interesting for the kids.