EDIT and Update: Are you mostly into just one brand of trains?

I pick up the road names that I like for rolling stock freight/passenger.

So all manufactures mostly evenly spread, whoever makes a roadname or car that I like I order.

 

Most locos are MTH on main layout love the operating system DCS.

 

1 Lionel, 1 K-Line, 2 Weaver on main layout locos that I really liked.

 

For my mostly 0-27 Kids displays that I do for public shows mostly Lionel engines and freight/passenger/operating cars as they had engines that are colorful, known and interest the public main themes; the Polar Express, Christmas, circus, Thomas, Nascar etc.

 

The scale more static display Brass locos passenger cars are mostly 3rd Rail, Golden Gate, Weaver.

 

So most all O builders are in my roster in an even spread overall.

 

I have to agree with this from Allan;

"My sentiments exactly!  I buy based on the trains (roads and era) and have both DCS and Legacy available, as well as conventional.  I couldn't care less about any "brand wars" or such.  Every manufacturer, from the smallest to the largest has produced their share of winners and losers."

I have mostly MTH premier engines, a few Lionel postwar steam engines, lots of MTH Premier rolling stock, around 20 or so Weaver 1:48 wood sided reefers, a good amount of Lionel rolling stock, tons of K-line 1:48 scale (mostly die-cast), and a ever growing fleet of the most detailed Atlas rolling stock I've ever seen.

 

I typically buy by road name so brand isn't important as long as they are full scale in size. To be honest with you, I'm happy with all the manufacturers. 

Um...whatever I like...although I have narrowed down my roadnames to UP, Pennsy, SP, ATSf/BNSF. So with that mix I have Lionel, postwar, new, and newest, Williams, with and without Bachmann, K-Line, MTH, proto 1 and 2, ao that leaves a motley crew to run.

Fun, fun, fun........

I'll buy any locomotive I like made in the USA between 1946 and 1969 anywhere near the Jersey Turnpike

Harry, I believe you mean the Garden State Parkway.  You can see the old Lionel factory from there.

I have only MTH engines as I preferred DCS over the display-less TMCC controller (Legacy was not available at the time).  Too heavily invested to get another control system.

Mostly Atlas and MTH rolling stock.

The only Lionel piece I have is my uncle's old GG-1 sitting stuffed in a display case.

You can call me a Lionel type of guy. I guess it's from being raised on Lionel trains. One of my main loves are the operating cars and accessories, I just like to see the action of these cars and accessories, it brings my railroad to life.

 

But I also buy what looks good to me whether it was Lionel or not. I try to stick with some of my favorite road names B&O, C&O, Chessie, WM, UP, SP & Christmas  styles.

 

I'm still preparing for my future layout which I plan to use the Legacy system.

 

Most of my locos are 95% Lionel, 3% K-Line, 1% MTH and 1% RMT and I also have fallen in love with the Vision line of engines. And they are about a equal mix between steam & diesel with some electric mixed in.

 

My rolling stock roster features 94% Lionel, 4% K-Line, 2% MTH and under 1% RGS & 1% KMT. A ton of them are operating cars with a fair amount of passenger, box and tank cars.

TIN............any brand or gauge is fine with me.

 

Steve

Mostly all Lionel, with 2 engines from K-line and two from Atlas. Rolling stock is all Lionel with a few choice pieces from K-line, Atlas and MTH. Most of the accessories and structures are Lionel with some MTH mixed in as well.

There are 91 posts from 85 people above (including me).  I went through and read each and tallied up results for the 85 responses.  I called someone a "Lionel person" or an MTH person" or or an "Atlas person" if they identified themselves as that, or if they reported that three-quarters or more of what they owned was that one brand.

 

For whatever it might mean, these are the results

 

Results are:

Lionel people   - 38%

MTH people      - 25%

Other brands   -   6%

No-one-brand  -  31%

 

In reading the results I reached the following qualitative conclusions:

• A good deal of Lionel brand loyalty - about a third of it's 38% and almost all of its margin over MTH's 25%, stems from mention of Lionel locos and memories from childhood.
• Everyone is "more loyal" when discussing locomotives than rolling stock.  Many "Lionel people" or "MTH people" admit to buying just about any company's rolling stock if it fits and looks good.
• In rather equal measure both "Lionel people" and "MTH people" mention the respective DCS control systems as a reason (and often the reason) for their predominant use of their preferred brand: roughly 25% of respondents -- roughly 2/3 of Lionel's total of 38% - about 25% of the total - are really what I would call "TMCC & Legacy people" and nearly all of MTH people were linked strongly to that company's control system.  Thus, in equal measure, each company has used a closed digital control protocol to lock down about a quarter of the market. 
• 25% + 25% = half.  So, fully half of people who responded consider themselves "bound" (my words) to a single proprietary DSC protocol because the industry has no universal standard. 

I'm not trying to start a controversy or beat up on any companies, just reporting what I find interesting in all the messages above.

All of my locomotives are Lionel, rolling stock is a mix between MTH and Lionel.

SInce I got back into the hobby about a year ago starting with my old Lionel sets most of what I've acquired has been Lionel, becasue that's what I new.  Most were purchased used.  The count is:

 

Locomotives

8 Lionel

1 RMT

 

Rolling Stock:

67 Lionel

2 MTH

2 RMT 

 

Not opposed to other brands, but Lionel takes me back to the late 50's and 60's and brings out the 8 year old kid in me.

 

Kevin

 

 

For me, I grew up with Lionel and collected it exclusively up until about a year ago, when my interests shifted to more prototypical modelling and I started looking into other companies as well for what I wanted. I am now in the "no-one-brand" category, and buy anything that strikes my fancy. These are my only special considerations:

 

-Lionel has the nostalgia factor, hands down. Legacy and TMCC are also my preferred control systems.

 

-MTH and Atlas O hold a special place in my heart for producing quality Penn Central products.

 

-I am still shying away from DCS mostly out of laziness in spending the time and money to incorporate it into the layout, and partly because of all the problems I hear about it. But something tells me I'll cave eventually.

 

-I'm currently in the middle of a love affair with K-Line.

I buy things I like that fit the budget. As it turns out about 80% of what I have is Lionel, but MTH made a much better helicopter car and Burlington Zephyr.  Their yellow belly Hudson fit on the layout better.  I have K Line, RMT, Weaver, and Atlas but I look at Lionel first (since 1948).

I have 7 locomotives and two on order. The current engines consist of 4 steam and 3 diesel. Of those,  4 are Lionel, 2 are MTH and 1 is KLine. Everyone is a Milwaukee Road engine. Of those on order, both are MTH. One is a Milw. Rd and one is a SD70ACe Norfolk Southern! So as you can see, the road name determines my purchases not the brand. Both of my passenger consists are KLine, one streamline and one heavyweight. My freight are multi brand in O scale. I usually buy freight that is a different or good looking paint scheme. The SD70 is because I really liked the heritage units of Norfolk Southern. If I get extra monies, I will get an Erie version.

Majority of my locomotives (80%) are MTH, but that's primarily because they are engines that either others didn't do or didn't do right, both based on the prototype engine and roadname/roadnumber.  But I am looking at a few Atlas O engines right now and I do have Lionel and Williams engines as well and I have both TMCC and DCS (haven't sprung on Legacy yet).

 

Rolling stock is a mix of Atlas O, Lionel, MTH, Weaver, K-Line, and GGD/3rd Rail.  I also have a couple of Williams' old freight car kits (unpainted and unassembled) from ages ago that still haven't been put together.

 

I don't care what the color of the box is.

No. I have preferences, but the model/prototype overrides everything else. I'm gun-shy

about 3rd Rail, but I've got a NYC T-3 box cab reserved, so...

 

I like TMCC a lot, but I have a DCS Remote Commander, and I have PS1 locos.

 

With rolling stock, I much prefer MTH.

Bottom line is - It really absolutely doesn't matter what brand(s) of trains you possess and/or prefer as long as they all work for you.

 

Pete

Any stats on folks who run both DCS and TMCC/Legacy?

 

---PCJ

I had 100% MTH until they were all stolen in 2007/8,

Now, I have 3 MTH, 2 Williams, and 2 post war Lionel locos.

My plan is to no longer spend $300-$700 per loco anymore;thus, I am a Williams only buyer now because I like the quality I get for $149-$225.

My lower level is DCS, but my upper level is conventional, and any new purchases will all be Williams conventional for now on.

Unless I make more money.

Not  brand but a technology, I really dislike the thumb wheel of the MTH controller, I like to switch car, it's a pain in the *** with a thumb wheel   I also don't like the fact that you have to park a consist where you build it when you are using super TIU, very inconvenient on point to point operation. So for me it will be TMCC or Legacy, aside if electronic is not available for a repair, I can always install a ERR kit. 

Nice job condensing the info Lee. Interesting stuff.

I didn't mention this in my original post to this topic back on page 2, but I know almost to the day when I stopped collecting 100% Lionel, and branched out to other manufacturers. It started in early 1993 with some K-line and Williams engines, and Williams passenger cars. In 1997 I started the transition to scale, and in 1999 I picked up my first TMCC engine.

 

Now it's time to clean out a bunch of that old Lionel.

3 Lionel Locomotives (NASCAR and  2 Wegmans)( 1 Set still new in box), 1 MTH ( 2-8-0 Pennsylvania Steam with Protosounds 2- My favorite Locomotive! Love Steam engines and Smoke! ), 1 K-Line Trolley (Coca-Cola).  I run all Conventional on O-36 Fastrack. Not opposed to buying any other brands.

Chipset, that must really suck to have your trains stolen. I'm glad to see you stayed on with the hobby. I'm sure quite a few may just call it quits if that happened. Sorry that happened to you. 

Lionel all the way, I like the support that I get from Lionel. Also since I started in 1954 and then started back up in 2003....I just wanted to stay with the brand that I knew. Nothing against MTH, but I did not realize that there was anything else than Lionel when I got back into the hobby.

A very satisfied LIONEL customer.

I already stated that I am motivated by railroad, Milw Rd, than by brand. I do have both TMCC/Legacy and DCS. Not that it is too late yet, but I sometimes wish that I just bought  your basic whistle and smoke locos from WBB. It would have probably cut my purchase dollars more than half. I am pretty low-tech in everything else, but the extras with Legacy and PS3 are really fantastic! I agree with another post that it would be nice if Lionel and MTH had gotten together on command control so that we wwould only need one system. I could buy only the brand that I like the CC system, but both companies offer products that the other doesn't. I am my own worst enemy when it comes to this hobby. I don't drink, smoke or have any other hobbies that take my dollars so I guess it could be a lot worse!

Lionel only.  Postwar and Prewar.  MTH did not sell trains when I was a 6yr old.  If it wasn't for nostalgia this forum would be a lot emptier.

42 years in the hobby, Lionel only other than 1 MTH boxcar, 1 kmt boxcar, 1 set of Williams passenger cars, and a ton of Atlas track. I was going to try some MTH but made the mistake of buying a legacy hudson, then the challenger, now a santa-fe northern, I am hooked on Legacy. I swore I would not buy these electronic engines, but the challenger on Atlas track won me over, will be selling a lot of my older Lionel, Lionel owns me  for now. I guess the big deal MTH vs Lionel for me is the control system, if MTH goes Legacy I would buy, if not more than likely never.

Lionel is my manufacturer of choice.

 

That is what I had as a child, and the nostalgia of a train around the Christmas tree is what interested me in getting back into the hobby.

 

I have a pretty high percentage of Christmas related equipment, but have other railroads or locos that interest me. It is all traditional size or smaller scale TMCC/Legacy locos. Lionel is the best for Christmas trains.

 

Mostly Lionel locos with a few K-Line and Williams and a couple of RMT.

 

Mostly Lionel rolling stock with a few K-Line and Williams and a couple of RMT. Also a couple of MTH Christmas related items. They made some really nice Nativity-themed box cars a few years ago.

 

Lionel makes far more than I can afford to buy or have space to store the items. I'm happy with TMCC/Legacy. I have no interest in getting the DCS system or expanding into MTH locomotives.