Survey for School Project - Please answer

Classic Trains General Discussion
1

Dear members, I am taking a survery for my high school economics class. If you will please take the time to answer this short survey, it would really help me out because I am severly limited in population because my school is very small. Any help is greatly appreciated.

  1. Do you know anyone who owns model trains?

  2. Do you own model trains?

  3. Did any of your parents own model trains?

  4. Do you or your parents still actively collect model trains?

  5. What type of model train do you or your parents own? (Lionel, LGB, Atlas, etc.)

  6. Do you know the significance of scale and gauge differences?

  7. Do you only erect your train set during certain occasions?

  8. Did you ever think of selling or throwing away your trains?

  9. What is your favorite make of model train?

  10. Did you receive any model trains (or set pieces) from your parents?

2

  1. Yes

  2. Yes

  3. Yes

  4. Yes, I do, parents deceased

  5. “O” Scale 2 rail

  6. Yes

  7. NO !!

  8. NO !!

  9. ALL

  10. Yes

Welcome to the Forums, even though I answered it here, this would be better put

on either the Model Railroader, or Classic Toy Trains Forums.

3

Locomutt is right, you might get better response on the Toy Train of MR forum. But in the off chance that you’re looking for responses from people that ARE interested in the real trains - as this forum is - and may not be active modelers (at my age, I’m more into armchair modeling), here are my responses.

  1. yes

  2. yes

  3. no

4.I buy to run them, not collect them; there is a big difference. Both parents used trains like I used to use buses. They weren’t into models.

  1. In HO: Varney, Mantua, Silver Streak, Model Die casting, Athearn, Pacific Fast Mail, et al.

In Large Scale, LGB, Bachmann, Kalamazoo

  1. Yes, most unfortunately

  2. The LGB comes out on Christmas and Holidays. The HO seldom gets unpacked

  3. PERISH the very thought!!!

  4. LGB, currently; Varney, previously

  5. I believe it was my older brother (by 4 years) that unwrapped the Lionel set at Christmas time. The younger 5, of which I was the oldest at 7 - maybe 8, got to play with the set, too. Sharing was pretty mandatory in a large family on a limited budget.

Art.

4

1 Yes many.

2 Yes.

3 No.

4 Yes I do.

5 I own several different brands of ho equipment.

6 Yes.

7 No I am currently building a 10 x 12 layout.

8 No.

9 Really haven’t thought about it.

10 Yes my mother still gives me models and books for Christmas.

Dale

5

  1. Yes

  2. Not currently, left them all at MIT Model RR Club

  3. No

  4. No

  5. not applicable

  6. Yes

  7. no

  8. Gave them to MIT Model RR Club

  9. Athern

  10. Yes

6

  1. Yes

  2. Yes

  3. No exactly, my Dad owned a pretty decent assortment of early Lionel “O” when he was a kid, but they were given away by his parents while he was in the service during WW2. But no he wasn’t a modeller, didn’t own trains after that.

  4. No

  5. I’ve been in HO since 1988, but started as a tot c.1960 with American Flyer S (with Atlas track), then N, then HO, then Lionel O from 1973-88.

  6. Yes

  7. Sort of…we just bought a new house in June 2006, and I won’t be able to start work on the new layout til spring, so right now I just have a ‘test track’ loop of Kato Unitrack I use once in while (when the wife isn’t around).[:)]

  8. Only thought of selling when switching scales. I’ve kinda lost interest now and then over time but never really thought about just quitting entirely.

  9. I still have an affection for Lionel, they did a lot to create model railroading as we enjoy it today.

  10. Yes !! In the early seventies my Dad was finishing his career as a mailman. One of the businesses on his route in south Minneapolis was the “old reliable” Woodcraft Hobby Shop on Lake and Bryant. I knew all about them because they had a local Saturday afternoon TV show (15 minutes). Through them, he got me a Tyco HO trainset for Xmas 1971 that started me into model railroading for good.

7

  1. Yes

  2. Yes

  3. Yes

  4. Yes

  5. Atlas

  6. Yes

  7. No

  8. No

  9. All of them

  10. Yes

8

agiannini07, [#welcome] to the forums.

9

Very interesting survey.

  1. I have several friends that have model trains. Mostly HO and N gauge.

  2. I own several trains, too many in fact.

  3. My grandfather bought a Lionel train in the '30’s for under the Christmas tree.

  4. No

  5. It was a Lionel passenger train made of almuinum.

  6. Yes, Scale = the ratio of the model to the prototype. eg. In HO gauge 1 ft. equals 87 ft. The GAUGE = the distance between the top of the tracks.

  7. No, only put a Nativity under the tree.

  8. Have thought of selling, still may.

  9. Hard to say, the competition is great and mostly depends on how much money one wants to spend.

  10. The one mentioned above but passed it on to my younger sister when I went into the service.

10
  1. Yes. I’m in a train club and I meet other friends to run trains.

2.Yes, I sure do.

3.Yes. My Dad originally owned the trains.

4.Yes. I still actively collect.

5.Lionel and other brands of 3 rail O Gauge trains.

6.Yes, I sure do. I had HO as well as O Gauge and I had trouble with it. 'd be playing with one and I had resentment at the money I spent on the other. I got rid of all the HO several years ago except for one loop which is a specific scenic element on my O Gauge layout as a minature train in the zoo.

7.No. My layout is up year round and I play with it year round.

8.NO WAY! I would NOT get rid of the trains except to pay for my wife’s heart transplant. If I needed one I wouldn’t bother because the new one would break over no trains.

9.Lionel, although I enjoy all the other brands. I pick Lionel because I have postwar(1945-1969) and MPC(1970-1986) as well as contemporary. The other brands came along mostly later than that, although Williams started in 1975 or so.

10.Yes. Dad had the first trains I owned and the folks have given me pieces since.

Hope all this helps. This website is put on by the publishers of Model Railroader, Classic Toy Trains, Garden Railways and other model train magazines, so there’s lots of us out there.

11

1-Yes

2-Yes

3-Yes My Dad, Uncle, and Grandfather all have them.

4-Yes

5-Too many to list

6-Yes

7-NO

8-NO

9-Athearn

10-Yes from my dad, uncle and grandfather

Hope this helps!

12

1 yes

2 yes

3 yes

4 yes

5 LGB Marx Aristo Craft MTH Hafner K Line Lionel Bachman

6 yes

7 yes

8 no

9 Hafner

10 yes

13

  1. I have known several people who have owned model trains. I know of none local to me now.

  2. Yes I do.

  3. No.

  4. I wouldn’t say what I do is collecting. I acquire or build what will be most useful for the railroad I am building and operating.

  5. Many manufacturers and many scales (1/6, 1/2, O tinplate, On30, HO and N) as well as scratch built equipment.

  6. Yes, I have been working with them in various combinations for over 30 years.

  7. Except for the holiday #1 gauge trains, all are part of permanant layouts if not in storage.

  8. I have never thrown away anything from any scale model as even the broken and mangled can be salvaged for sceenery or materials. All hail the mighty junk box of mysterious wonders.

  9. I have no favorites. If the model looks right or can be modified to look right, runs fairly well and fits a need on the railroad, I buy it.

10.No. In my day girls weren’t supposed to “play with trains”.

14

Yes

Yes

No

No

Collect for 35 years Lionel “O” gauge (1918 to present) and MTH New Haven models – Operate “G” gauge outdoors MTH, Aristo-Craft, and USA Trains.(have sold off most LGB)

Yes

No

No

MTH

Yes

15

  1. Yes.

  2. Yes, a few locomotives.

  3. No.

  4. I do.

  5. Athearn, Life-Like P1K, HO Scale.

  6. Yes

  7. No.

  8. NEVER!

  9. Life-like

  10. Yes, my parents gave me my first train set.

16

I’d think this “survey” is finished - the date of posting was 6 Feb 2007!

17

  1. Many

  2. yes

  3. father did, not to interseted though

  4. I do

  5. K-line, MTH, Lionel

  6. Yes

  7. No

  8. NO!!!

  9. K-line

  10. Alot

18

1.Yes

  1. Yes

  2. Yes

  3. No

  4. Lionel & Tyco

  5. Yes

  6. Yes

  7. NO

9 Lionel

  1. Yes