A question of extremes

Thrilled me the most....awesome engine and whistle sounds. 

 

Disappointed me the most....poor engine and whistle sounds. 

Being able to get some highly detailed engines and rolling stock has thrilled me the most.  My biggest disappointment...my scenery skills stink

The increase in prototypical detail the various manufactures are designing into some of their products (3RS) is my plus.

 

My negative is the fear of making a purchase and being disappointed due to a lack of quality control.

For me, it is increased fidelity to the prototype of the equipment being offered. Also, I've been very impressed by the variety of models of unusual locomotives and rolling stock which have been offered in recent years. The upcoming FL9 by Sunset/3rd Rail would be one such example.

 

Bob 

what thrilled me the most is that i have gotten in to tinplate and what has disappointed me the most is it is hard to find  but still love my trains.  

As a collector, the most thrilling part of the hobby is obtaining a long sought item. The most disappointing is discovering that an item either isn't in the condition I thought it was. (I guess that's a major reason I have little interest in newly or recently made stuff. There is no challange in obtaining them.)

As a operator/tinkerer, the most thrilling part of the hobby is sucessfully rehabilitating a junker, and the most dissappointing is making a mistake cleaning a train, and ruining it (still happens from time to time)

After years of searching, I purchased MTH Premier Southern 1401 (20-3006-1) from a Forumite. Made in 1994, the early QSI unit ran only with my ZW. I emailed MTH, J & W Electronics, and The Scale Tin Rail. At York, I picked up a circuit board and sound chip for a RailKing Ps-4 (30-1125-1) from MTH Parts. Wayne Renga at J&W installed it. Now my Ps-4 runs like a Hamilton watch.

 

At York I also purchased an upgraded MTH Premier Big Boy (20-3021-1) numbered 4012 from J.D.S. Limited Productions for a 5-year-old whose favorite locomotive is 4012 at Steamtown. 

 

 

The thing that has thrilled me the most is the detail, sound and operational fun of scale command control locos.

 

My only disappointment is that there isn't room enough in my train budget for all the locos I want.

 

Andy

Ditto what Andy said.

.....

Dennis

thrill---the 990 legacy remote control

 

disappointment---the 990 legacy charging system.

The thrill: Scale constant speed, the ability to switch at prototypical railroad speeds, constant speed on grades, the ability of engines to creep along, The ability to purchase Classic Tinplate reproductions of original products from Lionel, Ives, American flyer and Dorfan at a semi affordable price.   

  

 The disappointment: The price of scale engines, the fragility of the product electronics, the inability of manufacturers to deliver product in a reasonable time frame.

 

Just my two cent and not a rant.

From the very beginning, and to this day, I just get a kick out of running old stuff. Postwar, and especially prewar. And if I need to spend a night or two at the workbench to get it in shape, all the better.

 

Disappointment: The way some people will purposely overstate condition, or hide flaws when selling. I consider it a theft and can't believe people go so low to gain a few dollars.

 

Tim

To me the most thrilling was the day I hooked up command control for the first time and it actually worked!  (Not because of the product but because I actually did the hook up myself).

 

The most disappointing is when you buy something and it either doesn't work or the description of the item isn't accurate.

 

--Greg

Today's plastic and diecast locomotives, rolling stock are better detailed than their brass counterparts of the 1960'-70's, souind and command control were mostly dreams back then, too.

 

Dissapointment: That sound and command control have created divisions within the hobby. (command/sound enthusiasts vs. conventional enthusiasts)

 

Rusty

Remembering how I would lie prone on the carpet running my 1939 Lionel tinplate set and pretending I am inside the loco or the caboose as the train is moving.  Then 50 years later with the current technologies, it's so great enjoying trains today.  

Extremes:

Favorites: 

1) This forum.  It may seem like fawning praise but I mean it.  Among all hobbies I have seen, none has an on-line community nearly this good for the exchange of ideas and the sharing of experiences, enthusiasm, and the occasional disappointment.  This forum and its databases and members contribute a lot to my enjoyment of this hobby. 

 

2) The range of big scale model locomotives that are available. True, there is a wider range available in N and HO , but there are enough, big, scale, model locmotives available, with awesome sound, good features, and detail enough, to absorb both my attention and my budget.  Besides, when you hold a 12 pound, 28 inch ATSF Northernin your hands, you feel something of the power and size of the original.  An N scale Northern, by comparison, feels like a metal hot dog.

 

 Least liked:

1) Existing digital control technologies for model trains . . .

a) it would be nice if there were industry standards - one system protocol fits all!!!!

b) why does it have to have so many buttons/so much complexity?  Is there some sort of feature war going on?  (yes there is).

--->I don't want to address 100 locos, or have 200 speed increments, or be able to edit/select/activate/control crewtalk, or vary braking rate or  . . . .  And I can already vary sound volume with a perfectly fine control knob on  the loco and smoke with a switch right there, etc.  I just want to operate four trains - turn the knob and they go faster, turn it the other way and they slow down, stop, and go backwards. 

--->Offer me a set of "remote Thomas" controllers that will run four locos on my layout at once and I'll buy two sets, just to have a backup (or  more likely because MTH and Lionel can't agfee on (a) above and I have to buy one for each!)

Thrill =  The detail and control of multiple engines from a remote!

 

Disappointment = Starting the hobby in a house with a SMALL room.  Next house will have a LARGE train room if my future wife will allow it (which she says she loves the idea now but we'll see when the ring hits the finger!)

About 1955 Lionel train set (671 loco) to bottom of box in attic. Freezing in winter and hot, hot, hot in summer.

2004 I unpacked set for shelf. Two years later everything operational except one sliding shoe coupler.

Thrill every time I give it another run.

Thrill = very helpful and informative 'brotherhood' of model train folks (this forum, train shows, Catoctin Mountain Hobbies in Thurmont, MD).

 

Disappointment = not having enough room in the house for the grand layout.

Thrill:  Availability of the Warbonnets in so many scales.

 

Disappointment:  The realization that there's never enough space for the layout to have enough track, lots of mountains, structures and roads, and still have room for shelves for the collection.  It actually took me a while to get this.

Thrill: finding O-gauge trains that are 50+ years old and making them run again.

 

Disappointment: the high prices on new O-gauge items. I won't be buying new.

My greatest thrill and the one that got me into the hobby was sound and command control. Even with having had some hiccups and the occasional board failure along the way, I still love DCS and TMCC (haven't got Legacy yet) controlled locomotives. The fact that Lionel and MTH have different systems doesn't bother me too much since they will play together anyway.

I would have to say my greatest disappointments (I actually have two) are manafacturers offering items in their catalogs and then down the road, sometimes waaay down the road, deciding "nah, not going to do it". My second disappointment is when some manafacturers have an obvious design flaw(s) in a product (thinking of MTH Scaletrax and Atlas switches) but seem to continue to pump them out without trying to correct the problem. If you buy it it's up to YOU to try to get it work the way it's supposed to.

Thrilled - By the neat tricks you can teach you layout to do using the non-derailing feature of O-22 switches.

 

Disappointed - By the gradual relentless-seeming elimination of the innocence and joy of toy trains in the name of realism.

 

Pete

Greatest Thrill: Legacy and Whistle smoke.

 

Biggest Disappointment: Prices.

Thrill:  Command Control and realistic operation (including sound)

 

Disappointment:  Quality control.  At this point I'd rather have less from a feature/detail perspective if I could get solid engines the worked out of the box on a regular basis.  It's to the point where I'm re-thinking my pre-orders.  

Thrill: Rediscovering tinplate after I was first exposed to it long, long ago and ridding myself of overly complex toys.

Disappointment: None worth ruminating about, although when A.F went under with the onslaught of HO, as well as Lionel..that disappointment was felt but it was ultimately premature. 

What he said.

Biggest Thrill....have Mike Wolf signing a black hat with his black magic marker 

Disappointment?...Mike realizing what he was doing and only finished half 

 

Seriously...the tremendous advancements brought on by Mike Wolf that catapulted us into a very high grade of operating engines, as well as the significant improvements which followed with Lionel.  And, most importantly, the countless great friends that I have met through the hobby.  Disappointment?  The handful of detractors that surface on this forum whose only reason for participation is to take cheap shots and add nothing to the friendly exchange of information.

Thrill: Detail, scale and ability to run both command and conventional from a handheld remote. The great information provided on the OGR Forum.

Disappointment: poor quality of certain locomotive features.

Thrill:getting into O gauge.

 

Disappointment: Some of my favorite MTH locomotives has those sophisticated electronics.  I'd like to see at least a couple of those in conventional a la Williams.  The upcoming Maryland and Pennsylvania SW1--I'm sure PS3 is nice, but I want just a conventional.

 

My 2 cents.