The owner of my LHS collects Tyco Train sets, sealed in the box, for the nostalgia, its what he grew up with. Does anyone here have similar sentiments?
I have actually never owned an HO train set, and was wondering if these are designed to be 'toys" or are they too considered models because of running on 2 rail scale track.
Will the “train set” ever be revived? There is something so simple and fun about seeing the package, perhaps the quality of the locomotives and the rolling stock could be improved and more modelers might be tempted to actually buy them.
“Revived”? Thousands (or probably tens of thousands) of train sets are sold every Christmas.
Generally, train set equipment is lower quality than most folks in the hobby use, just like it was back in the day. Tyco train sets were mostly junk, sad to say.
Train sets are a good way to get one started into the hobby, providing they of good quality and fully compatible with all other MRRing gear.
Unfortunately, the train sets marketed are of lower quality and can easily take the fun away. I have never understand, why leading brands, such as Atthearn, Bachmann risk their reputation by putting such junk into the market.
I’ll second that. Unlike other manufacturers, Kato doesn’t seem to distinguish between sets and individual models. Back when I was in N scale, I remember seeing a couple of eBay deals that would have netted an entire Kato train in a set for less than buying the items individually - and I knew that if I’d gone for them, I’d have gotten the exact same quality as if I’d bought them individually off the shelf at my LHS.
FACT - the rollng stock and and locomotives in Athearn train sets are the EXACT same products they sell individually - no difference in quality.
Athearn has offered train sets off and on since the 50’s, back during their first RTR offerings. They stopped offering train sets in the late sixties when they stopped their orginal RTR line - but at that time they made RTR products that where sold under the “Cox” name - a hobby company that also sold entry level model airplanes.
Athearn train sets have ALWAYS contained the same products thet sell individually and their early RTR line was nothing more than factory assembled blue box kits. Just like today the current Ready to Roll line is nothing more than upgraded versions of the blue box kits (I actually remember yellow boxes and red boxes - but that gives away my age and how long I have been in the hobby).
Athearn also “assembled” and sold their products to “Lionel” for their HO line at one point - again exact same product - never cheaper for the RTR market. In fact it would make no sense - you already have the tooling, the parts, and the asssembly ability - why would you spend time or money to save a few pennys per unit? In those days we are talking about freight cars that sold for $2-$3 each.
The only thing that might be considered “junky” about an Athearn train set is the power supply.
Bachmann, well known for is poor quality decades ago, also uses the same rolling stock and regular line locos it sells individually today. So while a Bachmann train set from 1983 is surely pre
Sure. Since it’s a Tyco, let it run for a while. After a half-hour or so, it will fail. Then, you can put it back in the box and say, “I ran that engine on my layout until it just plain wore out.”
In defense of TYCO, they may be cheap, but mine lasted a long time. My first train set was a TYCO set my grandmother bought me for a birthday present. It spent the first year running on the carpet since my mom didnt want it on the kitchen table. After running into issues with carpet fuzz in the motor, I took the ratty 3/8" plywood board in the garage and put my set on there. Ran it for another year on that junky board and eventually moved it to the greenhouse so I could leave the train set up all the time. Even with the constant humidity, the TYCO set kept plugging along. By then I had merged a Bachmann set in with it and was using off-brand switches and rolling stock. After moving out from my parents house, everything was boxed up and put into storage. A structure fire was the final demise of that old TYCO set. I could have salvaged it, but the smoke and water damage took its toll on everything and at the time, I just didnt see the point.
A lot depends on just “when” you are referring to. Two-rail HO American Flyer and Marx, together with Tyco, Bachmann, et al., train sets of the past were all regarded as “toys”, with sales aimed mainly at a juvenile market - as was Lionel 3-rail. Lionel and Flyer produced quality sets up until about 1960, while the others offered mainly short life-span junk.
Today, of course, “toy” train sets are mostly the province of adults and to a degree less considered as toys. They are often sold as collectibles and bought by adults because for their nostalgia aspect. While today inexpensive sets are often harder to find, some tend to be of better quality than those of the past, but they are still rarely to the standards of most serious hobbyists.
As a true mass market item, the way they were from the early post war up to the end of perhaps the 70’s, the answer is a resounding…No! Children’s interest in miniature trains is but a minute fraction of what it was throughout the first 2/3’s of the 20th Century. Most train sets intended for children today are bought by older parents and grandparents who recall their interest in toy trains in their youth, not out of the child’s interest (with exceptions of unique items like the Polar Express). A broad interest in toy trains sets is unlikely
My current layout had the Bachmann Overland Limited set as its humble beginnings. I still like the reaction of visitors that come over to see my “trainset”, when they see it takes up 1/2 of a 33’x35’ basement.
For Christmas I got my first train set, an Atlas Trainman CSX set. My wife was surprised when I put on my suggested gift list and it was way better than I expected. Now my trainset takes up my garage and has grown tenfold.
Now and then I see a set that catches my eye. Athearns had a few nice passenger sets I’ve wanted. I bought one of IHC’s Presidential passenger sets to run under the Xmas tree.
I’ve always wanted a complete Tyco Blue Comet set. Prices for Tyco billboard cars have got up quite a bit in the last few years.
I have two Tyco sets that were given to me on my birthday and Christmas. One Tyco set I bought with my first paper route money. I cant tell you the name of sets as they were Union Pacific and Santa Fe engine that merge on my 4x8 layout in my youth. My wife has a Silverton Flyer that is Bachmann On30 set. That she decorate for Christmas. I receive a Bachmann train set from ebay that i lost the bid on for Christmas last year from my wife. A 4-4-0 engine with 3 overton cars.
I started out with a few sets in my teens. I don’t go that way anymore but the site of a set at christmas is still as strong for a kid as ever. That is as long as they still also get the latest video game with it.
One of the chaps at my club collects Kato equipment - models, sets, the works. He doesn’t model any specific prototype, just Kato. I’m guessing this might be what the OP was after?
Being in HOn3, I don’t have the luxury of starting with a train set.