The Essence of a TOY Train

Thus saith Tinplate Art!

Lying on a floor to watch the magic of a toy train making its continuous circular journey around a Christmas tree with the headlight reflecting its beam on the curves.

Many of us, like myself at 79, grew up with these marvelous toys. Perhaps their real charm over scale models is their semi-realistic nature with all the theatre of sights and sounds!

I hear ya.  I lost interest in the O gauge/scale aspect of things after I built a layout for a guy with the Cab2 setup.  Too complicated and took the fun out of things.  Then they go the Legacy route and it just seems like a money grab.  I sold almost all my o gauge stuff and now am more than happy with my small collection of prewar standard gauge trains that were made 90 + years ago and still look and run like almost new.  To me, that’s so cool.  They are toy trains, even the super scale stuff looks like toy trains to me.  If I have my choice to spend a grand between a mint 392E and  a modern scale model with all the ‘bells and whistles’, I’ll take the prewar every time.  I still run my prewar with a TMCC CAB1 but that is as much technology as I need or want when I’m playing with my trains.  Emphasis on playing.  I do appreciate some guys layouts and I miss mine to some degree, but I’m planning a simple standard gauge layout that will give me all I need,  Good topic TA.

Cheers,       W1

...and let's not forget...the smell of ozone and burnt/hot grease as the engine rumbles by your position (prone, head pressed against the carpet and as close to the rails as possible - better yet head situated so you are on the first part of a curve and the train looks like it is going to run right over you), the twinkle of small sparks from tiny oxidized bits of track rust that flash from the third rail roller pickups, and the rattle and clatter of the following consist (with maybe a faint squeak coming from one of the wheel sets which means you will need to stop the train and oil around)....

@Tinplate Art posted:

NOT scale models! The tin or diecast caricatures of actual locomotives and the necessary foreshortening for the short radii curves. The delightful colors of the prewar and postwar rolling stock. The scent and sight of the vaporized chemicals to simulate smoke. The sound of the open frame motors propelling their consists. The beam of filament headlights shining on those tinplate rails. The defiant three rail track. The hum of an AC transformer. The sound of an air whistle or bicycle horn. The sound of wheels on metal rails. All this and more is the essence of the TOY train whether Lionel, American Flyer, Marx, Ives, or the myriad other makers of these timeless toys!

You're forgetting the e-unit buzz and the occasional whiff of ozone,  Tinplate Art

Also, the way they race around those tight curves (many times with the aid of magne-traction). No scale speeds with TOY trains

Thank you, Mr. Butler for the additional essences of ozone and the occasional sparks! And a tip of my tinplate hat to John for the inevitable e-unit "buzz".

Also toy trains are not "good" and scale "bad"! This thread is to celebrate the toy trains of our youth and beyond!

My dark green MTH 408E pulling my green four car MTH state set has a delightful e-unit "buzz" and it is music to my ears!

And a recent plastic addition to my toy train collection is the Lionel 2" gauge battery powered "Lionel Construction Railroad". In spite of its RC control, LED headlights and digital sounds, it is still a great TOY!

And a modern fully equipped Legacy SD70Ace diesel model or the like will never bring you to wax poetic as RS Butler did in his so eloquent post.  So well said.  Long may they run!

We all probably want our prewar/postwar trains to be as clean and pristine as can be, but a little patina and a small ding here and there doesn’t take away from the charm.  My 511 flat has some scribbles in pencil on the underside of the wood load but that just means some kid was having fun with it 90 years ago so it kind of adds value to it for me.

RSB waxed poetic indeed! :-)

Wow. Do you mean there are people who think these things AREN'T toys?

Maybe our good friends, the scale folks?

To me a toy train is something that is designed to please the child in all of us, it represents the real thing but makes us use our imagination to see it as the real thing (and like others, this is not a knock on scale modelling or hi rail or command control). My layout will be hi rail but I will be running what I feel like running on it. My old post war trains bring back memories of when I was a kid and have other special meaning, the pretty banged up 671 that looks kind of frankenstein-ish (the wiring to the e unit and pullmor are things of nightmares *lol& that also memories because it was part of bunch of trains my mom gave my dad for their first Christmas when married.

In a sense given how rugged they are, and how simple to operate, they don't have the anxiety modern equipment seems to bring (in some people), you can easily fix them, they probably will take an EMF pulse and keep going. A child's world doesn't have grown up anxiety in it and having something that is rugged and simple if it takes away anxiety brings back that child like feeling (and again, this is just me).

Obviously things like Lionchief products , though modern, recreate some of that, they are not scale and have a simple remote system easy to use , they don't have all these features that can break, so I can consider them a toy train, too (after all, it is in the mind of the beholder;  a lionchief engine is close to enough to scale that it also can operate on a hi rail layout and look good, too, so it is kind of like the 700e I guess).

And yes, a scale train layout can be a toy, too. Besides the fact it brings enjoyment, there are people who simply love to run their trains, the way kids did their trains in the post war days, they might have a realistic layout but run them simply to run them....so maybe toy trains are really a state of mind?

I honestly am still amazed whether it be a postwar or prewar train that given the year these were made how extremely well they run. There's always something satisfying to me when I purchase an item that isn't in the best shape and I can put a little tlc in her and get her running smooth as silk around the layout. Yes,they are labeled as toys,and I'm fine with that. I love coming home to my family ,spending time with my kiddos and wonderful supportive wife (I definitely have an addiction problem 😁) and teaching them about what I'm working on. Then,to just sit back,set my zw and watch these simple,but elegant toys run around the track. What an utter delight to watch and listen to these. And I agree, the units don't have to be perfect. Like my 259e that a bit of paint on the top of the cab is missing. Not even going to think about a repaint. I love cleaning and waxing tinplate up,but having a few war wounds on 60-90 year old toys brings more respect of how well these machines still run and only to imagine the past life these great toys have had.

This is the way

Craig: Your link did not work.

The toy trains of my youth were Tyco, Athearn, Life Like, Bachmann, Atlas, Rivarossi, and Pemco for those who remember that short lived brand.  All HO, but all toys.  My first big HO layout was something my dad and I shared and it was 16'x24' in a portion of the attic of the house I grew up in.  I regularly ran 100 car freight trains and 10-20 car passenger trains with space to spare. 

To me the essence of any toy is its play value, and I got a ton of value out of that layout.  Probably more play value than I've had as an adult as I spent every day in the train room from age 12 through 18 doing something.  It could have been wiring up a reverse loop with a DPDT switch for the wye, adding a power drop, reworking the scenery which honestly never got far, rerouting a portion of track, or most days just running trains for hours while building a project on my workbench.  I have a lot of fond memories of those times. 

I consider my O scale trains in 2 and 3 rail toys also. 

I do enjoy the new features that the modern trains offer...but sometimes I run the stuff that I only dreamed about having as a kid that I was seeing  in other kid’s basements...and now I can !

For the reasons already posted, I’ve always found my Lionel trains, whether pre war or modern era (read: 1990s post-war inspired) to be a source of “escape” from my scale-like HO trains that I also enjoy. With a Cab1 and dedicated Powermasters, I can run everything in conventional mode without the need for a Command Base… something that isn’t possible with the newer control systems, or so I understand.  Keeping it simple, enjoying the trains, and not having to worry about programming or other tech-related issues is what I really enjoy about them.

@Pre-War Steve posted:

For the reasons already posted, I’ve always found my Lionel trains, whether pre war or modern era (read: 1990s post-war inspired) to be a source of “escape” from my scale-like HO trains that I also enjoy. With a Cab1 and dedicated Powermasters, I can run everything in conventional mode without the need for a Command Base… something that isn’t possible with the newer control systems, or so I understand.  Keeping it simple, enjoying the trains, and not having to worry about programming or other tech-related issues is what I really enjoy about them.

This is why my next layout in 2 rail O will be simple DC power.  Two main reasons.  1.)  I spend my entire work day doing technical tasks behind a computer.  I want my trains to be an escape for that.  2.) I have several vintage 2 rail items that I really enjoy operating that would take a lot of work to add DCC to.  I'm just not interested in that aspect of operations at this time.  I want to run trains simply and focus more on the layout this next go around.

No AC hum?

@Tinplate Art posted:

No AC hum?

Nope.  Just the clickety clack of the tracks.  Nice and quiet. 

@Tinplate Art posted:

NOT scale models! The tin or diecast caricatures of actual locomotives and the necessary foreshortening for the limited radii curves. The delightful colors of the prewar and postwar rolling stock. The scent and sight of the vaporized chemicals to simulate smoke. The sound of the open frame motors propelling their consists. The beam of filament headlights shining on those tinplate rails. The defiant three rail track. The hum of an AC transformer. The sound of an air whistle or bicycle horn. The sound of wheels on metal rails. All this and more is the essence of the TOY train whether Lionel, American Flyer, Marx, Ives, or the myriad other makers of these timeless toys!

Well, one picture is worth a thousand words.

Bob

Pictures do sometimes speak louder than words.

AMEN, AMEN! :-)

Nice photos, everyone, and what a great, fun thread! I grew up around my dad's Lionel trains; he loved machinery but was not big on scenery or super scale, and that has stuck with me. But I get hypnotized by a well-lit passenger train, and the lighting has inspred me to try some "night" photography. Still much to learn:

@taycotrains posted:

I do enjoy the new features that the modern trains offer...but sometimes I run the stuff that I only dreamed about having as a kid that I was seeing  in other kid’s basements...and now I can !

i do enjoy the new programmable trains (CAB2 and etc) but I also enjoy the pre-war, post war and MPC era trains. Recently I have focused on collecting MPC items that I could have only dreamt of in the 1970s. I hope to run some of these “new” MPC trains this weekend. Just conventional fun. Pictures to follow? Maybe. This is the true essence isn’t it? 😉

Speaking of night photography and toy trains...

BRAVO, RSB, for the above photo and the earlier poetic musings! :-)

From the archives:

@Tinplate Art posted:

Lying on a floor to watch the magic of a toy train making its continuous circular journey around a Christmas tree with the headlight reflecting its beam on the curves.

...And that's exactly what I was doing about 75 Christmas's ago.  Dad's 366W set racing around the circular track, controlled by a T-type transformer and #95 rheostat mounted on a scrap piece of ancient plywood, keeping the gateman hopping from his shed every lap of the train...and me, prone before the warmth of the fireplace, enjoying the scent of the balsam tree, the  carols and tunes by 'Der Bingle', Bing Crosby, and his contemporaries from the phonograph, mesmerized for minutes after minutes by that train. 

(sigh)

As Mr. Hope once sang: "Thanks for the memories...."

What got me started in O scale/gauge was when my Dad brought home from his parents' attic the Lionel and Marx trains he had played with as a kid in the '30s and '40s. I had never really seen this sort of thing up close, but what blew me away was that after 60-odd years, they still worked! Yes, they needed some lubrication, but even the light bulbs worked. It was a kick to think of playing with these (in my 40s at the time) as might Dad might have when he was young. Borrowed nostalgia, then?

Fred

Just a thought or two on what I believe is a lost generation or two. I call the lost generation the "imagination generation".  Seems young ones now days lack this imagination that we had in our past years.  As so apply proved by all the wonderful comments of the essence of a toy train.  No matter whether our parents or grandparents were able to afford the latest greatest train or a simple low end set, we were the King of our road.  We traveled great distances hauling freight of stones, blocks of scrap wood or just about anything we would let our imagination dream up on just a loop of tin track.  We made engine sounds with our mouths. We thought about all the places our lead, rubber or plastic figures were going.  Tunnels and buildings made of shoe boxes and cigar boxes.  Don't forget that we actually learned a thing or two as we played with our trains.  We helped Dad build a platform.  We spent hours working out a layout, using the geometry of Lionel or American Flyer track components.  We learned electricity and how it was used to power our rail system and the accessories if we were fortunate to have a few.  We learned maintenance on our engines, rolling stock, track work and accessories.  We built mountains using scrap wood, chicken wire and brown paper bags from the A&P.  I am sure these memories, sounds, smells will always be with us every time we hear those steel wheels on that tin track.  Just close your eyes and relive the essence of "your" toy train!

FuzzyD   

All well put by others and very memory evoking.  That said, to compliment that smell of ozone, hot oil and the clatter of tinplate trains on tubular track.  I think every one that does this needs a classing prewar console radio in the same room as the tree and the train.  Nothing beats the "warmth" of 1920's thru 40's Christmas music being played on a restored vintage tube radio.  Be the music streamed via your cell or Alexa to the radio or if your lucky enough, on a local AM station(yes a few still are on the air!).  I added one to our living room this past December and it just completes the whole experience of old toy trains.   For those wondering, our radio is a 1939 Airline(sold at Montgomery Wards), AM/SW. restored with added preamp for Alexa or my cell stream classic Tommy Dorsey or even Little Orphan Annie radio shows.    AD

Tinplate Art, and others, really nailed the wonderful essences.

I am thoroughly into the modern scale trains, running on DCC and Legacy. But, sometimes I fire up our family's postwar 2046 set ... and just sit back and take in all the nostalgia.

@GG1 4877 posted:

This is why my next layout in 2 rail O will be simple DC power.  Two main reasons.  1.)  I spend my entire work day doing technical tasks behind a computer.  I want my trains to be an escape for that.  2.) I have several vintage 2 rail items that I really enjoy operating that would take a lot of work to add DCC to.  I'm just not interested in that aspect of operations at this time.  I want to run trains simply and focus more on the layout this next go around.

This is the same "train of thought" (haha) that I have in regards to my focus on the original 2-rail O gauge... clockwork trains.  I have worked in electronics and the electrical power industry for over three decades, and when I sit down to enjoy the trains, it is a nice change of pace to enjoy a purely mechanical device and not have to deal with errant electrons or (heaven forbid) anything with a microprocessor.  It's a pleasure to see something that may be approaching 100 years old making its way around the layout... no electricity needed.