My wife recently had a friend and her husband visit us and I quickly got a request to "show the trains". I was a bit embarrassed to show the actual condition of my train room and abandoned layout, but I still have my collection on display shelving and knew that this would be enjoyable and offer up conversation starters.
My guest soon was asking about what I'd be willing to sell, as he wanted to set up a basic layout and hadn't enjoyed model trains since his youth in the '50s.
I knew that I didn't want to overwhelm him and felt that something basic, running conventionally would be best and probably harken him to his youth.
When I looked around and began to cull together what might be a nice approach and give him a couple of nice sets to run and represent a nice introduction to O Gauge, I quickly thought of the same trains that got me started back in the hobby 20 years ago: A RailKing GG-1 set and a RailKing Berkshire set.
I still had the original PRR GG-1 set from 1995, in great shape and perfect running order, as well as a still brand new, sealed NKP Berkshire set from 1995 as well.
Well tonight I had great fun laying out a couple of large loops of MTH Ritetrax, unpacking and lubricating up the new, 20 year old, "classic" MTH charmers. Put power to the track and BINGO! The GG-1 glides around and the Berk is great looking with that amazing smoke!
I'm having a lot of fun with these new, 20-year old train sets. My 30-year old son came by with my grandson and when he saw the trains running, he asked: "Hey, isn't that the train set you bought me when I was young?" I replied: "Yep, you remember getting this going when you were 10?" We both smiled and my grandson enjoyed them even more.
I have plenty of trains for my sons and grandson to enjoy going forward, as they are comfortable and preferring of the DCS equipped trains now, but these classic MTH sets from the early stage are still wonderful. I'm happy to get this gear together for a new friend and his desire to enjoy model trains again.
