How often (and why) have you redefined your railroading interests since being involved in this hobby?

Very intersting questions.

 

Over my 64 years I've refined several times in scale . . . but I am in O gauge I think to stay, for the last seven years.  During that time I made three major changes in perspective:

- Lose the switches: I put down a nice big switchyard with 23 switches and many sidings to keep and move around alot of trains.  It lasted abouttwo years before I realized I did nto like operating trains in switchyards and I needed the real estate for my downtown.  I have no switchyard, not sidings at all now . . .

- Scale and only scale.  About three years ago I decided I would concentrate only on scale locos.  I stil make occasionally run a few traditional size locos and old post war along with traditional F3s (hardly any difference) and such, but I just liked the look.

- More 'Streets.  Over time, I went more and more to having Superstreets, as, if not exactly an equal to the trains, a major feature: a year ago I had 330 feet of track (four loops) and maybe 40 feet of Superstreets (one, two-lane loop).  A year from now (in transition now)  I will have 280 feet of track (three loops) and 140 feet of superstreets (three two-lane loops).

I have increased the size and number of parking lots on my layouts due to a interest in 1:43 cars. I also built a Drive-In Movie.

Started out with an O-gauge "Carpet Central" as a little shaver and called it my cupboard train because thats where it lived when dad didn't set it up.

 

Went to HO as a teenager because it was way more realistic!

 

Went back to O-gauge 3 rail because I could actually get the thing to run.

 

Discovered Hernia Gauge outdoor trains but could only look from the sidelines.

 

Went back to HO when the boys were growing up because Santa brought some of those "famous" train sets. Three different layout iterations later...

 

Went back to O-gauge 3 rail because I could actually run trains...again.

 

Got the outdoor itch again and built some 7-1/2" gauge stuff...found it to be too pricey...

 

Went back to O-gauge 3 rail because I could run trains again without getting wet.

 

Went into live steam outdoor stuff to satisfy the itch of running a real steam train.

 

Never lost that O-gauge feeling because I actually kept the trains this time.

 

Thought that spending a couple of grand for a 7-1/2" gauge loco was outrageous, now I can spend a couple of grand on a 3 rail loco...

 

Thought spending a dollar a foot to lay outdoor track was financially painful...got the latest oudoor magazine and find that 5 bucks a foot is the going rate for G-scale. Ouch!

 

I'm going back downstairs to the 3-rail trains because I can run them, watch them, work on them and stay indoors...it's a great hobby, especially in the winter!! 

 

Over many years, I've gone from N to HO and now O to stay. All trains are great, but O just seems to fit me. While I am far from an expert, realism has had a major impact on me. Need the lights in buildings and lamposts. Then the tough decisions were, again for realism, adding engines with sound (only 2 at this point) and starting to dabble with DCS, etc. I think as technology changes I like to learn and add some along the way. Terry

For myself, I changed from a 3 rail guy to a 2 rail guy.  I narrowed my purchases down to N&W steam and some NKP steam because those are my number one interests, always have been but in the past I bought up what ever looked interesting to me.  Buy doing this now I can focus my $$$ and work towards modeling my interests instead of wandering all over the place.  All this said some early diesels may creep in, but in N&W and NKP livery only....

Marx 3/16 under the tree when in the first to third grade. A lot of model building in wood and plastic planes and automobiles (good skills gained) into early teens when all the variety of prototypes in HO attracted me, and there was not any more Marx 3/16 seen in stores to keep my interest.  Then real autos became the attraction, and school took all the time.  After getting a career started, I found that people collected old trains although I had been seeing them in train shows for years, and

ignoring them, (when they could have been bought cheap!! AHHHRGGH!) as I picked up HO kits for Colorado railroads. After finding out there wasn't really much made in

Marx 3/16, and there were interesting prototypes finally being produced in Lionel compatible O gauge (Williams USRA Mikado, etc.), I started picking them up.  I decided to translate my interest in Colorado railroads to O three rail, with the memory that the Marx ran forever and didn't have to be "fooled with" as much to keep running as the HO.  I go through different phases, finding short lines most interesting, and within the scope of that I have built and scratchbuilt various short line rolling stock models for three rail, and am now on a structure building kick, but picking up parts for other rolling stock models. Frustration over the lack of a commercially available model incites me to find a way to build it..I am very frustrated..there are a lot of unmodeled steam era prototypes.   In the background of the modeling is traveling to and exploring historical RR sites such as Colorado narrow gauge.  Too much to do...too little time..

This is an absolutely great topic for those of us that are freshly back into this.  I can see myself avoiding a lot of paths that have been gone down.  Thanks for all the posts and experience.

A brief summary of six decades in the hobby. Went from Marx as a toddler in the 50's to American Flyer to HO in the 60's when AF vanished, went to G gauge in the 80's, then back to 0 via K Line in the 90's, took detours into clockwork after 2000 along with a separate small layout two years ago, along with a foray into Prewar American Flyer about two years ago. Built a garden railroad for summer use. which I am going to expand this year as well as a N gauge layout for my brother's kid.

What I have enjoyed is the learning curve in each as well as creating layouts that showcase each type. Round and round I go, where Ill stop, nobody knows.

Well, I got my first train set (a Lionel 2026 and three cars) in 1951.  But we lived in an apartment, and didn't have the room for a permanent layout -- even though our temporary Christmas layout was good-sized -- so I couldn't keep up my Lionel interests all year long.

 

Then my family moved into a house when I was 11, and HO began to look interesting.  I started buying Model Railroader, and got a couple of rubber-band-drive Athern locomotives.  Then Mom wanted her dining-room table back, and there still wasn't any place for a permanent layout, so it all went back in the box again.  I never lost my interest in trains, but actually running a model layout was out of the question.  Like others here, I turned to automobile models, from which I gained skills that would prove valuable later.

 

Fast-forward to the early years after I got married.  Still no room for a layout in our apartments, but I heard the call of HO again, and started modeling in HOn30 (we called it HOn2 1/2 in the Seventies).  In the absence of layout room, it all went on display shelves.

 

But the city where we lived at the time had a busy train shop, and I dropped in to see what they might have.  To my surprise, they were mainly Lionel, and I saw equipment I'd never laid eyes on outside of a Fifties Lionel catalog.  It was all horribly expensive (can you imagine, a like-new 681 turbine cost almost thirty-five dollars?), but fascinating.  I bought a #50 Gang Car for the princely sum of $5.00.  It needed some restoration, but I soon had it in good repair, both cosmetically and mechanically.  In fact, it's still on my layout today.

 

Time charged onward.  I was still buying postwar Lionel (as well as some of the newfangled MPC equipment).  For a while, I had a Super-O layout in a particularly roomy apartment, but even that had to go when we moved yet again.

 

Finally we left the city.  My wife and I got jobs at A Major Eastern University(tm), and we moved into a new house of our own.  And it had a finished basement!  When FasTrack became available, I knew it was time to make my move at last.  Still no place for a proper benchwork layout, but I could at least put track and structures down, and actually run the trains that had been living on shelves for so long.

 

My interests have solidified, now.  First of all, I have no interest in running O-scale 3-rail.  I have 2-rail O-scale equipment that I break out when I feel the need to scratch a scale itch or build an O-scale model, but that happens less and less frequently these days.

 

Secondly, I use no electronics.  No, I take that back -- I'm considering mounting a Williams Tru-Blast horn in one of my hornless Lionel F3s, but that's as far as I'll go.  No sound systems, cruise control, circuit boards, magic couplers, onboard stereo amplifiers or digital can openers.  None.  Nada.  Zero.  Nothing more complex than an e-unit.  That means I run only postwar or MPC (does that still count as postwar?) locomotives.  The cars themselves are a mix of postwar, MPC and modern, all of which mix seamlessly.  None of them are scale, and they all go together well, visually.

 

Now that I'm retired, we're contemplating another -- hopefully our last -- move.  And I'm quite happy with the direction of my running/collecting interests.  And this time, there will, finally, be room for a proper layout!

 

Great question

Started out with mostly 027 stuff with operating accessories.  Though 042 was a really wide curve.  Lost interest, stored stuff away.  Discovered gargraves and ross.  rebuilt stuff but included the 027 switches (huge error).  Lost interest again.  Visited NJ high railers layout and was re-energized.  Dumped most of the 027 stuff, dropped most of the turnouts because I just don't do freight switching.  Discovered I prefer passenger equipment with the occasional freight for interest.  Now I am limiting myself to my favorite RR (CNJ) commuter passenger runs.  Someday (space and time permitting) I would like the scenic elements I remember from my youth (8th street station, Newark bay bridge, Eport, jersey city terminal)  Some if it might happen, some not but the fun is the planning.

Good topic!

In the mid 1960's I received a Marx set as a Christmas present. By the early 1970's I was into N scale postage stamp trains and that lasted with a few years off for girls and college to early to mid 90's. While in N I joined N Trak and built layouts. 1996 or so I was attending a Greenberg show and saw a tmcc engine. It was love at 1st site, and soon after got into into MTH engines. I do enjoy the scale sized engines, although it eats up a large amount of real estate with those big curves, fascinating stuff.

Basically I am a train nut. I find ON30 interesting too.

 

I'll leave out the non O gauge detours of my hobby, as it's got enough turns and bumps without them.

 

I started out with a MPC o27 starter set; aside from an additional flatcar, that was all the rolling stock I had for about 20 years. At that time I started buying all kinds of MPC era rolling stock, especially liking the 9700 series boxcars.

 

Once in a while, I would buy an older postwar era car or engine to compliment my MPC collection. Gradually, those postwar purchases became more frequent. Then one day on one of the forums, someone had a thread like "let's see some postwar running", so I made up two trains, and ran them on my layout. MPC has taken a back burner ever since, though I still have a great deal of it. (I run it more than postwar on our modular club layouts; I can run longer trains with MPC cars) Then I really messed up and bought a 6464 boxcar. That one $20 car has cost me a lot of money since!

 

I bought a lot of postwar cars about 10 years ago that had a few Marx 6" tin cars with them. About 5 years ago, I went to an estate auction of a train collector and was buying postwar Lionel cars like they were going out of style (I guess they kinda are?) There was a lot that had 2 Marx 6" passenger cars, and I bid on them, thinking maybe I could do something with them and the other cars I had. A few short months later, I had a very small layout just for tin trains, and a fair amount of Marx trains.

 

Three years ago, I joined our local modular club. They use TMCC to run the trains, with a TPC unit for each loop if you run conventional.  I had a Cab-1 and a base sitting under my layout (which was being powered by a ZW at the time), but I had no real interest in it. I ended up hooking it up to my home layout, so I could learn how to use it. I'm sure the other club members were getting tired of me asking how to use the remote or accidentally shutting down the wrong loop. It turned out that I really liked being able to walk around the layout and control the trains. In the last month or so, I finished changing the wiring around so that the ZW is no longer used.

 

About that same time, I wanted to buy some Fastrack to use under the Christmas tree. When we went to the local hobby shop, they had a Christmas train on sale for about $50 more than buying just the oval of track. So I bought the set, and have since added the passenger (reindeer) cars and more than enough other Christmas cars. A Polar Express set with a couple extra cars rounds out a fair sized collection of Christmas themed trains.

 

Last year I bought a Century Club Berkshire. I was hooked on the sounds immediately. Since then, I have bought the Century club F3s and the turbine, and I've picked up a few of the boxcars as well.

 

Other little tangents include prewar Lionel. I'm getting more and more into this. I currently have 3 engines and about a dozen cars. Most are in pretty rough shape, but I still see the appeal of these trains. I also have a fair amount of Marx 3/16" tin cars. These don't see the light of day too much as they look too big on my Marx layout, and don't like the switches on my Lionel layout or the modular club. Lately I've been buying a bit of plastic Marx too, and I've had a club member give me a set not too long ago.

 

The big problem for me is that when my interests shift to another area, they don't leave where I've been. I still buy MPC along with the plastic Marx, and anything in between.

 

J White

The madness began in 1957 with a clockwork set.

In 1959 I received my first electric, a Sears/Marx 0-27

0-27 freight set.  I had that until I was drafted in 69,

then I passed it on to my nephew. Went without trains

thru the 70 & 80's- life responsibilities got in the way...

In the early 90's I picked up an old American Flyer

S scale freight set to try to restore. I also acquired a

bunch of HO trains & went silly with them.

Then Hurricane Katrina hit and my grand nephew

who lives down Biloxi, Ms. lost his trains in the

Hurricane.  Being a good uncle I gave him my HO's &

American Flyers to replace the ones he lost.

Actually I had an ulterior motive, I had been aware of 

Large Scale Trains and used giving my trains away

as an excuse to acquire some some.  It quickly became

around 15 locomotives, 80+ cars & 300 ft of track...

Eventually SWMBO mentioned that she thought that

N scale trains were cute & would like to have one

for a coffee table train..

Then began the acquisition of N scale trains as 

something to play with when it's way too nasty to

run trains outdoors.

A few days ago, I came full circle by bartering for

a Lionel Blue Streak Freight set.  I'm also in the process

of acquiring some prewar tin plate trains with the 

same fellow. He's a storage shed auction afficianado

and occasionally comes across trains in the sheds

he buys.  I've made a deal with him to  have first refusal  

of any trains he gets.

So, I'm still an analog guy, all my trains except my Lionel

large scale Polar Express are analog.  RC, DCC & the rest

fine for others, but I'm still just kickin' back, watching my

analog trains go roundy round, listening to the clickety clack

of the wheels passing over the track joints.

I have been an O-Gauge enthusiast since my Dad & Mom gave me my first Lionel set for Christmas when I was eight. That interest has never changed. The biggest changes over the years have been the size of the layouts that were all dictated by available space at the time of construction. Of course, as I matured in age, experience, and income available for the hobby, my layouts became much more satisfying in terms of what my layout goals that have been fostered over the years.

 

My love of passenger trains has remained unchanged since the first Lionel Sante Fe 2343's and the matching set of streamline cars I received as another Christmas gift many, many years ago.

I'll try to make this short, and in inverse order.  Pure 1/48 scale is my objective, primarily new MTH Premier and Atlas 3-rail.  As the story goes with many others, I got back into the hobby two years ago.  I am 81, and flew airplanes for many years, before and after a family and career.  Trains are expensive, but airplanes moreso.  I gravitated - age.  I wanted to replicate my formative years of the 40's & 50' in central Texas.  My grandfather worked for KATY.  I started with T&P (MTH) passenger, UP (Lionel) steam- freight and MKT diesel freight.  Motif hasn't changed, but UP has changed to MTH steam, premier, freight.

Objective of being able to run three trains, ability to reverse directions with long runs and sidings has not changed, but track configuration to make all that more efficient changes daily. 

Long time HO modeler then as the years passed and my eyeglass prescriptions kept changing so did my railroading.  Now mostly ON30 and 1/8th scale live steaming and of course bifocals!    Russ

Once.
When I re-entered the hobby, I wanted scale equipment lettered for C&O.  I eventually discovered that I like Traditional sized items too...particularly in Lionel livery.  Also, I discovered some other roads that I liked.  So I dececided that I would concentrate on roads that ran/run through Michigan and Ohio along with Lionel Lines.  There are a few exceptions in my collection though.

I have ALWAYS had Lionels, but got sucked into the HO scale in my teens because they weren't "toys", they were "models". Big mistake, but fortunately I kept my"toy trains" and finally smartened-up in my 20's. My interests have always been operating cars & accessories. Our family also has some Standard and G as well.

Never had a train set as a child. At age 16 my sisters boyfriends dad invited me to see his Christmas layout. Up for a month then gone. I was simply blown away by it. Age 26 my wife's dad had an antique shop. People were always bringing in trains for cash. Every holiday he would give me some. I set up a layout in my basement. 22 feet X 7 feet. Loved it.  One day I just stopped and packed it all away.

 

25 or so years later dug out some stuff and put around the tree.  Instantly got hooked again.

 

That was 2 years ago. I now have TMCC, Legacy, DCS and conventional. Built a fair size layout in basement and got into electronic part, lighting, scenery, weathering. Recencently decided to model Pennsylvania are railroads and move away from the toy look to realistic look. Always been an O gauge only guy. My hearts with Lionel but I have some of everything. K-line has become my favorite for rolling stock.  

Nice stories everyone.  There is a piece of me in each one of them.  Thanks for sharing.

My interest in the hobby has changed a number of times over the last 45 years, and each time my focus gets more narrow. Today my interest is pretty close to 3RS with the emphasis on modern equipment and realistic operation. The layout is based on 5 or 6 railroads that operate in the Twin Cities area. You can follow the progress here

 

https://ogrforum.com/d...9987972340381/page/1

Wow!!...Where does one start? My earliest memories of toy trains was in 1947, I was four-years old. My grandpa put me on his knee while "we" ran his trains. As I grew older my interest in prewar toy trains deepened. It's odd to think back now. Every memory I have of my grandpa was around prewar toy trains.

I dabbled in narrow gauge for a while, however, prewar tin kept calling me back. Now, here I am seventy-years old still chest deep in prewar tin. I share my interest with my grandchildren and great-grandchildren whenever I have the chance.

100% Lionel Postwar , MPC , now 99% MTH, concentrating on CSX hauling coal.

Some stages:

 

1. Went from 0-27 to all scale (more realistic looking)

2. Went from 100% diesel to a 50/50 mix (gained appreciation for the steamer)

3. Abandoned idea of one or two road names to whatever I like (who can resist Chessie color scheme?)

4. Went big on sky scenery (planes, blimps, helicopter) (all that available space!)

5. Started adding some post-war cars and accessories (just the cool ones)

6. Went from one passenger train to three (love the colors)

7. Soon moving the whole thing to a larger room (my wife loves me)

 

it has been great!

Somewhere buried in photo albums in my parents house is a picture of me at 8mo. old and my Grandfather, my very first christmas, hoisting me up to the Christmas layout so he and I could throw the knife switch on his circle of Std. Ga. On the track, clearly identfied is his Lionel #42 and two #29 day coaches.

 

1970-1980's I live only a few blocks from my grandparents and am over there almost once a week running trains. Grandpop has a small layout and a growing collection of tinplate and postwar. At home I have a small circle of postwar that's set up only at Christmas.

 

At around 13-14 I get some HO for Christmas and try some carpet central schemes, and finally get a 4 x 4 sheet of plywood to nail track to, some AHM buildings and some scenery that I keep in my bedroom.

 

At 16 Grandpop takes me to my first TCA York meet and I buy, with my paper route money, a red Cascade E2 and caboose from Bob McCoy. Since Grandpop has the Std. Ga layout, I keep my trains at his house.

 

Mid 1980s I'm away at college and have little interest in trains at all.

 

Early 90's graduated college, married, first child. Christmas time I dig out all my HO stuff and get it running, glue all the little buildings back together and I decide to keep it up for a few years.

 

Late '90s we move, all the trains get packed up, my train board gets damaged in the move, and overall interest declines.

 

Early 2000 Grandpop passes and I inherited most of his collection, and start the looong process of remodeling the basement and starting to build my dream layout.

 

Going forward? I may just ditch all the toy stuff and volunteer for an all 1:1 outfit. Wilmington & Western RR is about a 45 minute drive.

 

Regards,

Good Topic, as I am actually in the middle of a complete switch!

 

Growing up, my Dad ran mostly postwar & MPC trains - I always wanted scale stuff.  When I moved out, I had a modest HO layout in a spare apartment bedroom.  I had a ll the NS & Conrail stuff I could want.  Fast fwd a few years after that & my Dad passed away, so now had a ton of O Gauge.  When my wife & I bought our first house in Chicago, I had a huge basement & decided to sell the HO & go with O as a way to honor my Dad.   I went out & built a large layout & bought a ton of scale stuff.  Fast fwd again - After a few moves, I saw the layouts getting smaller & smaller, but was still running scale stuff. 

 

This year we wound up just outside Charlotte. with a 2 year old daughter & another baby due this June, I decided to go back to what started it all - Postwar Lionel & operating accessories , but with realistic scenery.   I am in the process of selling all my scale stuff off and picking up a bunch of classic Lionel Items

 

My reasons for doing this are the following -

 

The house we are having built ( we are renting now until it's finished in a couple of months) has no basement. Best I was able to do was a spare bedroom -so smaller layout - The SD80s & autoracks don't translate well to small size layouts.

 

My Daughter Lucia loves to play w/ the trains, but the scale stuff is not really child friendly.  Buildings, details, etc are a bit delicate for a child & I want to make sure she gets involved with the trains.  She loves train time w/ Daddy.  Plus the accesories lets her interact with the trains - dump logs, load barrels, etc.  I even opted to go w/ KWs instead of the DCS remote, so she could have   more hands on fun.  She loved running the trains under our tree this year with an LW.

 

Those trains are the ones my Dad loved &  by running his set & stuff from that era ( even if some of it is PWC), it helps keep the connection with him alive in my mind. 

 

I recently came across an old photograph of the layout he was building when he passed away in 2007 - I had forgtten about it - 3 levels, lots of action. He didn't finish it, but I  thought it would be neat if I could try & build a modified version of that plan for my new layout when we move into the house.  I don't know if there is something magical about the trains from that time, or just the idea of the 50s (I'm only 34, but have always been interested in the postwar period of America), but I want to create a "feeling" of stepping back in time to that era. 

 

I may be crazy, but until they stamp my hand as "insane" I should be good

I've been nuts about toy trains since I was four years old.  I was strictly an O gauge guy from 1951 until about 2001 when I started to branch out into S gauge.  Shortly thereafter I expanded into both O gauge and Standard gauge tinplate.  I operate an 8x20 O gauge layout year round and a 5x9 S gauge layout year round.  During the Christmas holidays I run Post war Lionel, O Gauge tinplate and Standard gauge tinplate under the tree.  If I had more room I'd be running the tinplate all year long as well.  As it stands, my lovely spouse is ready to murder me but God love her she resists the temptation.  I love 'em all.        

To me, it's not a matter of redefining. It's a matter of growing interest.

There's only one thing that waned a bit. I love history, and my special branch was the Great War, and the second, as these era's had their impact on my family and on the place where I grew up. Today, I just can't stand all that misery any more. I guess I'm getting an old sentimental, I even switch of the TV when there's shooting and bombing.

But toys and trains: I always liked them, no matter scale, era and so on.

There are things I don't like that much as other things. But even then, seeing pictures or hearing people tell about it: I'm in.

Sometimes I'm in a cafe. Every now and then stamp dealers and collectors meet there.

Old gentlemen, the cigar smoking characters. It's very peaceful, they sitting there with a magnifying glass and their albums, I love it.

Collecting is great!