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     Hi Fellow Members & George Brown, Associate Editor

 

I hope that this thread can be a Conversation Starter for the term, “Little Toy Train.”

 

Found on page 33, Article, LionChief Plus GP7, OGR Magazine, Run 276 Feb / March 2015

     George Brown, Associate Editor, wrote the following;

“It’s a great little toy! Yes, I know I that was the opening line to my review of the LionChief Plus 4-6-2 in Run 272, but as mentioned this morning to Decon Jack of Annapolis Maryland, I hold the new LionChief Plus GP7 in the same high regards”

     This is my view point, about the phrase, “It’s a great little toy 

       Here is my out look on the term “It’s a great little toy!” - I like the term “Toy Train Layout” but when you us the words “It’s a great little toy” - take something away from the meaning Toy Train Layout. What to you guys think about this phrase, It’s a great little toy! • The way this phrase is being used in this article seem like there is a hidden agenda, on being negative towards “Toy Train Layouts”

       This is a Conversation Starter, what do you think about this term “It’s a great little toy!"

 

O Gauge Railroading Magazine by George Brown

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  • O Gauge Railroading Magazine by George Brown
Last edited by trainroomgary
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Little toy trains, little toy tracks
Little toy drums coming from a sack
Carried by a man dressed in white and red
Little boy, don't you think it's time you were in bed?

Sorry Gary, I just couldn't resist.  One of my favorite songs.  One year, I bought all my sons an LGB starter set for around their Christmas trees.  I also bought each of them a little toy drum.  It was a great Christmas.

 

Bob S.

I didn't see anything negative about the comment, nor any hidden agenda in the review. If anything, it may have been meant in a tongue-in-cheek way. But I didn't find anything disparaging about it either, and I am a traditional 027 guy.

 

Aside from a very few exceptions, the 3-rail hobby was TOY trains for 95 years. If you weren't happy with that, you probably went to HO, which many did. It's only been the last 20 years, and in particular the last 10, where the scale offerings have become as impressive as they are.

 

While some call them all toys in principle (and maybe they are), I agree that an accurately proportioned, detailed and painted train is far more a model and much less of a toy. They're still all train and all representations. But you can't argue that some are far more accurate representations than others.

 

It's still a great time to be in the 0 gauge hobby. And given how SMALL the 3-rail market really is, we need both the traditional and the scale offerings for the overall financial health of the train makers.

 

Last edited by brianel_k-lineguy
If the intended audience isn't a child, then its not a toy.
 
But you could make the case that it is a toy in the way a Porshce 911 is a toy to a 45-yo man with a mid-life crisis.  
 
A $5000 koh's steamer is very detailed.  If you consider it a toy, then you truly are in the upper stratosphere of wage-earners.  The rest of us don't have that luxury.
 
Originally Posted by C W Burfle:

No matter how close to scale, how well detailed, or how expensive they are still just toys.

 

Originally Posted by Martin H:
If the intended audience isn't a child, then its not a toy.
 
But you could make the case that it is a toy in the way a Porshce 911 is a toy to a 45-yo man with a mid-life crisis.  
 
A $5000 koh's steamer is very detailed.  If you consider it a toy, then you truly are in the upper stratosphere of wage-earners.  The rest of us don't have that luxury.
 
Originally Posted by C W Burfle:

No matter how close to scale, how well detailed, or how expensive they are still just toys.

 

I don't know what else you would call it but a toy, regardless of its $5,000 cost.  it's surely not a necessity or an investment or even a luxury.  Toy fits perfectly.  

Originally Posted by C W Burfle:

No matter how close to scale, how well detailed, or how expensive they are still just toys.

According to Webster:

 

toy

   : something a child plays with

   : something that an adult buys or uses for enjoyment or entertainment

   : something that is very small

 

So I have to agree with C W (and Webster) here. No matter how you cut it or how nice they are, they are all something to play with or something for our enjoyment and they are small (smaller than the real thing anyway), a.k.a. toys. That term does not bother me at all.

My US Mail Lady, dropped off, O Gauge Railroading, Run 277 Today Feb. 27th.

     The first article I read was Product Reviews by George Brown.

As always an excellent review by George. I am planing my 2015 Model Train Budget and have added this to my plans. It is not a done deal but after reading the review and going to the MTH Web Site, it is on the list.

     Below is what I found at......

http://mthtrains.com/11-6054-1

http://mthtrains.com/11-80050

  Click screen shot to enlarge. 

MTH Lionel Tinplate Engine & Paasenger Cars

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  • MTH Lionel Tinplate Engine & Paasenger Cars
Last edited by trainroomgary
That's because you are much more affluent than the rest of society and cannot see the difference between a toy and a high-priced model.  This is why this hobby is disconnected from the general populace.
 
Be glad that the dollars make no meaning to you.  You are blessed.
 
 
 
Originally Posted by C W Burfle:

quote:
A $5000 koh's steamer is very detailed.  If you consider it a toy, then you truly are in the upper stratosphere of wage-earners.  The rest of us don't have that luxury.


 

I don't understand how the affordability changes based on the label we affix to the item.

 

 

Originally Posted by Martin H:
That's because you are much more affluent than the rest of society and cannot see the difference between a toy and a high-priced model.  This is why this hobby is disconnected from the general populace.
 
Be glad that the dollars make no meaning to you.  You are blessed.
 
 
 
Originally Posted by C W Burfle:

quote:
A $5000 koh's steamer is very detailed.  If you consider it a toy, then you truly are in the upper stratosphere of wage-earners.  The rest of us don't have that luxury.


 

I don't understand how the affordability changes based on the label we affix to the item.

 

 

I'm a college student, and it's a toy. Price doesn't change that. Models are a kind of toy. My Camaro is a toy. Might be expensive, but it isn't a necessity, it is a toy.

I consider all my trains as toys.  I used to have a Mini Cooper that I also considered as a toy.  I never needed it, but I always wanted one.  When I could afford it, I bought one. It was fun to drive, and I used it when I wanted to have fun driving.  When I got too arthritic, it wasn't fun anymore, and I got rid of it.  Toys are something you buy to have fun with, no matter your age.  You buy them for your children in hopes that they have fun with them.  You buy them for yourself so you can have fun with them  This can include just admiring their detail, scale, paint, or actually running them on a layout.

 

The layout can be the top of a ping-pong table, a carpeted floor, or a highly detailed miniature recreation of some part of reality.  But, in the end, it's not reality, and you can't actually ride in the toy train to get from point A to point B, so it is a toy.

 

Some folks just can't admit that these are really toys, and not methods of transportation.

 

It's my opinion, and that's that.




quote:
That's because you are much more affluent than the rest of society and cannot see the difference between a toy and a high-priced model.  This is why this hobby is disconnected from the general populace.



 
Be glad that the dollars make no meaning to you.  You are blessed.
 
So, explain to me how calling your train something other than a toy makes it more affordable.
How much money I may or may not have, or how much money I've spent on trains over the years has nothing to do with this.
 
By the way, there was a period of time when I couldn't even afford to have a telephone in my apartment. I think I know what it means to work for a dollar, and what it is worth.

Having come up through the ranks from HO and N, where our trains are MODEL trains, I think that George was indicating that the LC+ locos are non-scale locos and are Little Toy Trains (though compared to N and HO not little at all), whereas George would not use that description on the Legacy Big Boy, which is clearly not little, and is also a scale model.

 

Little toy trains is just fine for our semi-scale trains.

Model train is a more accurate term for true scale and highly detailed model trains in any scale/gauge.

Originally Posted by rogerpete:

guess I am going to need to change my signature line...

This made me LOL... seriously!  

 

I have a lot of "toys" that cost WAAAY more than my toy trains.  They are still toys... I could live without them.  I don't consider the term derogatory whatsoever.  I'm more inclined to call scale equipment "model" trains, but I still call them toy trains from time to time.

Models were something I built as a teen, like Monogram 1/24 scale hot rods. Other static miniatures like airplanes and ships are models too. They are too delicate to be handled much. A model is something you build from scratch our a kit, not pull out of a box and run. That is a toy.

 

I used to scratch build the rolling stock on my On30 layouts. Those were models. The O gauge, ready to runstuff I have today are toys. As I get older, I find it more fun to play with toys than to build models.

However, I did build a free lanced model of a prewar tinplate electric locomotive. It cost very little to build, but since I built it, it is a model,not a toy. The train it pulls is made of toys though. 

 

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