If you were buying a HO locomotive for a 4 year old son, what brand would you buy? Some areas of concern: must be able to handle possible crashes or drops, and run well. My layout is not DCC at this time.
A blue box Athearn F unit (Not Genesis for a 4 year old who’ll take it into the bath tub with him)… Very few small breakable details and built like a tank… Don’t know if athearn still offers them but you may find them at hobby shops or online… Or, a Lifelike Proto1000 model of the same locomotive for the same reasons…
Good luck,
Jeff
At his age, a Thomas the Tank Engine set by Bachmann would probably be more appropriate as a starter set, and then move up to the Athearn Blue Box kit locomotive and rolling stock if he shows a continued interest in trains.
I would have to agree with cacaole. But I would buy him the wooden (Brio) “non-electric” version first: That way he could use his imaginatiion and skill level to put together his own layouts. They are pretty indestructible, too.
Tom
I faced a similar problem a couple of years ago. My 4 year old really wanted a Conrail loco to run on the layout. Foolishly, I went for a low cost basic Bachmann loco. It runs so poorly that it really was a waste of the few dollars spent. You can get great deals on Proto1000 from places like http://www.trainworld1.com/2005_ho_scale.htm P1K’s are $20.00 on closeout. I would suggest that something like and F unit or C liner would have fewer parts to break and be very easy to handle for a little one. Somthing else you might consider is the more realistic wooden trains from a great little family run company called the Whittle Short Line Railway http://www.woodentrain.com/browse.htm my boys are now 8 and 6 and they still play with these having long since grown out of Thomas.
Bachmann have improved their basic locos lately - the latest runs are excellent performers. Gone is the terrible pancake motor and power truck, now they have a can motor driving all wheels and picking up on them too. You can even get them with a DCC decoder factory installed for a little more. I have three of these which run very nicely indeed - would be the equal of Proto if Bachmann would only fit flywheels to them!
P.S. I’m not sure I’d advocate them for a 4 year old though - they have very fine plastic handrails now and some other fragile details (horns, bell on some versions). Athearn BB might be your best bet there, simply due to the strength of them.
A blue box Athearn deisal.
Those things can be dunked into water and literally blown down with a hair dryer before use on the track again in addition to any mechanical failures due to being tossed across the room.
I had a Life Like F7 trainset when I was about 7. The engine survived that time and you wont believe what it withstood in the first 10 years.
I would start the kid on older O gauge or 0-27. The first thing they might do is see how fast the thing can run and still stay on the track. The second thing they will try to do is place objects like text books etc on the track to sma***hru. And finally they might even attempt to operate the engine on AC power or some other wild thinking that more electrical power = more zoom!
Boom is more like it.
Same here a Blue Box Tank!!!
I would have to go with the P1K engines at trainworld. You can’t beat the price and they run very good. If you think he can handle something with handrails the Walters Trainline engines would also be a good choice.
Bob
I’m helping my mom babysit a 4 yeat old and his 1 year old brother. I just bought them a Thomas the tank engine set and am building them a 4’x4’ layout for Christmas.
ICMR
Happy Railroading.[swg][swg]
I’m not sure anything HO is entirely appropriate for any four-year-old. If you’re considering setting up a model, how about starting with Lionel 0.27 and then adding HO about 4-5 years from now in a “forced perspective” setting? HO has the deals but larger formats have more stamina and are a little less likely to die if dropped, etc.
Same here a blue box athearn Tank.
James
smalling_60626
I agree that 027 would be better for that age. I have N, HO, 027, and G sets for all of the kids that come over and the 027 and G seem to hold the “play” attention of the 3-7 age kids much better and they are easier for them to get on the track than the little wheels of the smaller stuff.
The little ones like to watch any size, but if they play with it, the 027 and G win out.
Thank you for the information. This definately helps.
Steve