Welcome aboard!
Hello everybody. I live in the suburbs of Chicago with my wife and 3 yo son. Now, I like trains (who doesnt like trains?) but my boy is obsessed with trains. Anything from cartoons like Thomas and Chuggington to wooden train sets to real trains both at museums and on the rails. He's hooked.
This Christmas he received the battery powered Polar Express set from Lionel. Pretty neat set. We've ordered extra sets of track ( its called Lionel "ready to play") and a couple switches and intend to set it all up downstairs.
I've come here to get advice and support to help him build on his model railroad... and move away from or at least recognize the difference between toy trains and model trains.
Wish us luck as we embark on the next leg of our long distance rail adventure! Woo wooooo!
Milemaker13;
Welcome to the forum!
The bad news there is no cure for model train disease.
The good news, it won't hurt you, or your young son, except in the parrental pocketbook! :laugh: There, it can do some serious damage.
For any advice specific to Lionel O-gage trains, I suggest you ask any questions that come up on our "O-scale" section. There are lots of Lionel fans over there with, (collectively, and in many cases, individually) decades of experience with Lionel products. I am an N-scale modeler, so I won't try to give you any advice about those "giant, oversize" trains you have!
Actually you have made a good choice in Lionel. It's big enough for him to learn how to get wheels back on the rails, and rugged enough to be at least somewhat resistant to the rough handling characteristic of extreme youth. If he's like my four year old grandson, his idea of "playing trains" may be to see how hard he can throw it against the nearest wall.
hwell:
The files below are about building a first model railroad. They are more aimed at smaller scales like HO or N, but much of the information is applicable to any scale. Browse through them if you like, and pick out any bits that you think will help you in your situation.
There are also lots of model railroad books available. Check out
https://kalmbachhobbystore.com/products/books and click on "toy trains." You should find several about Lionel trains, including track plans and tutorials for building Lionel layouts.
There are some strange types who think of Lionel trains as "toys" rather than "models." These are usually the weird old geezers who dress up in railroad engineer costumes, and regard HO-scale, steam, local pedler freight, switching, as the only acceptable activity for "serious model railroaders" since, to them, HO is god's own chosen scale. "Real" locomotives ran on steam, Etc. Etc. ad nauseam!
They're quite insane of course, so just ignore them. :hah:
Again Welcome;
Traction Fan :smilie_daumenpos:
View attachment WHERE DO I START rev 4.pdf
View attachment 1 How to build a better first layout.pdf
View attachment 2 How to build a better first layout.pdf
View attachment 3 & 4 How to build a better first layout.pdf
View attachment 5 How to build a better first layout.pdf
View attachment 6 How to build a better first layout.pdf
View attachment MODEL RAILROADING ON A BUDGET.pdf
View attachment Model Railroad Terminology 3.pdf
