...and they didn't require a Masters Degree in Electronics either! All you did was plug a transformer into 110 volts of modern electric power and you were ready to play train to your heart's content. I must have put a million scale miles or more on my first Lionel O27 set that I received on that long ago 1951 Christmas, thanks to wonderful grandparents where I lived with them and my mother on a small two acre spread in Farmers Branch, TX, 12 miles north of Dallas on old US 77.
There was also a striped engineer's cap with matching jacket that had cloth railroad heralds and silver PRR buttons, a child's record player and 78rpm recording of train sounds waiting under the tree as well. Perhaps no fancy choo choo or whistle tender but who was I to complain? Santa Claus had delivered just what I'd asked him for when I sat on his knee the day after Thanksgiving at the old Sears Roebuck store on Ross Avenue in Dallas, Texas.
Wow, what more could a five year old jr. locomotive engineer have asked for? I passed Milepost 74 on July 4, 2020, and to this day continue to thank the Lord for giving me even a greater gift than that hat, jacket, train and record: Loving grandparents. They were priceless!
Item: Why on earth pay Big Bucks for Century 21 high tech headaches when you can be that happy five year old kid all over again and enjoy life to it's fullest right now in your Second Childhood? Afterall, you won't take a thing with you when you join all the other railroaders, railfans, and modelers, who await your entrance into the Roundhouse in the Sky that's found just beyond those Big Rock Candy Mountains!
Joe
...well...all I know is, it runs nicely and was easy to work on. I guess that's all I was trying to say.