New to the hobby

Welcome to the Forum!  Have fun looking around and learning about everything you can think of. 

Everybody is new at something so no apologies necessary.  My first tip is to seek out a good train dealer and or repair person for you trains in your area.  Folks can help with that if we know your general location.

You can do more harm than good running trains that have not been cleaned, properly lubricated and checked out.

Have fun and enjoy the experience!

@TrainNewby posted:

I guess I just wanted to say hi since I am new to this hobby. I may be asking a lot of questions or looking for some good resources to get me started. I have a bunch of 1950's Lionel gear that was my dad's. Surprisingly most of it works, sort of. It has been abused for the most part, but I am wanting to get into the hobby with using this equipment and expanding out. Excuse me if I am not using this website properly since I am new to this forum also. Anyway, I just mostly wanted to say hi for now.

Welcome, ask any questions, none are simple or stupid. We all started with the “ can I ask a stupid question”  

today a newbie tomorrow. The next Lionel expert.

@TrainNewby posted:

I guess I just wanted to say hi since I am new to this hobby. I may be asking a lot of questions or looking for some good resources to get me started. I have a bunch of 1950's Lionel gear that was my dad's. Surprisingly most of it works, sort of. It has been abused for the most part, but I am wanting to get into the hobby with using this equipment and expanding out. Excuse me if I am not using this website properly since I am new to this forum also. Anyway, I just mostly wanted to say hi for now.

Welcome TrainNewby!

For inspiration and tips check out the tabs and blog entries here: www.warrenvillerailroad.com.

Welcome!

@TrainNewby posted:

I have a bunch of 1950's Lionel gear that was my dad's.

Congrats for finding one of the oldest, most comprehensive forums in the O-gauge section of the hobby. For the best exposure to folks with the most answers to your questions given what you have right now, switch to the sub-forum titled "Three-Rail Traditional Trains", as that has the most traffic. "3-rail scale" is the rarefied air reserved for...well the highest standards of realism possible on  three rails, meaning accurately-proportioned rolling stock directly modeled after real-world examples, smaller rails, smaller couplers, and locomotive pilots affixed to the body frames and not the trucks (requiring much wider curves as a result), a set of requisites which pretty much excludes everything Lionel made in the 1950's.

This particular topic may be relocated to "3-rail traditional" by the moderators if they see it. You can also request it be moved there (I think)

---PCJ

Thanks for the tips. I know about the not running of equipment now, but it has not always been that way, hence the term abused. I live in the Denver CO area.

Welcome!
I have learned so much here from a great group who are always willing to help.

Gene

The good news is that most of the 1950s stuff is robust, relatively easy to fix, and parts are available.  Even if you messed some stuff up, there's a good chance that it can be brought back to life. 

@Mallard4468 posted:

The good news is that most of the 1950s stuff is robust, relatively easy to fix, and parts are available.  Even if you messed some stuff up, there's a good chance that it can be brought back to life.

Hear, hear!

Yeah, there are quite a few of us who, for one reason or another, "imprinted" on the postwar stuff (I happen to be into Marx rather than Lionel, and still have and run most of my childhood set), and are willing to forego some of the bells and whistles (and expense!) of more recent stuff in favor of learning new tricks for the old 'dogs' to perform! Boomer collectors have driven up prices for some items, but there's plenty of other good stuff available at reasonable prices to round out your vision, whatever it happens to be.

So, welcome to the hobby, and don't hesitate to ask for help if you get stuck! Website navigation and group protocols will come with practice, and few here are inclined to 'bite' without provocation, so just jump in and have fun!

@Mallard4468 posted:

The good news is that most of the 1950s stuff is robust, relatively easy to fix, and parts are available.  Even if you messed some stuff up, there's a good chance that it can be brought back to life.

Everything said about the things from the 50s even the 40s and 70s is exactly correct. If he starts with that he will find it financially easy lots of fun and it just runs forever