Thanks for the info Brian. That was a beauty of a train you received from Elizabeth. The Rail Runner that is.
Dave,
No, I still don't have that demo dummy. Thanks for being on the lookout for me.
No, I still don't have that demo dummy. Thanks for being on the lookout for me.
Keith,
I'll keep looking for you.
Funny that reading these posts while looking for info on a paint guide, got me reminiscing. My first train was an Ho scale Athern UP with an F-7 my Dad had got while we lived in Indiana. Had it set up on a 4X8 in the living room and grew till my parents split and we moved to Arizona. Most of it was packed away till I moved to Alaska and saw the Alaska Railroad in the blue and yellow livery that reminded me of Dale Earnhardt's old Wrangler car from the mid 80s. That's when I discovered N scale and all the ARR stuff I could get up there and had a layout from the dining room into the living room in my small apartment. When I moved back to Arizona everything went but stayed packed. Moved to Florida and a few years ago had to sell everything to keep a home and figured I would never get back into it again. I hated every minute of it because I wanted to start another one eventually.
Then Polar Express came out and I started to remember all of those days I had a train set up running around all over the place that had passed many a night away. Then Christmas before last a friend of ours got me the N scale McKinley Explorer and that did it. Tax time I told my wife we should do it and we got a P.E. set. Then we went to a few train shows around the area getting this and that and while the N was getting most of the run time, the P.E., it sat above the T.V. waiting its turn. Then this past Christmas when the village layout took up half the living room, we ran that train almost every night and it didn't come down until earlier this month. We had some of the cheaper G scale stuff run around the tree for a couple of past Christmases, but I wanted a Lionel and the Polar Express was the first one I wanted.
Now we are deciding either to stick with N or got all out with O. She likes the O because you can see everything easier than you can with N detail wise, but we can only put up a small layout for now, (She wants an 1870s or so Old West set up). So this Tax time I got her the D&RGW General with snow plow and we have had that running around a 4X8 in the corner. If we stay with O, I'm thinking of doing a year round winter/Christmas type layout running ARR, Southern Pacific, (spent many a day in Tucson out by the mainline watching those long SPs with 6 or so engines running in and out of town) and Polar Railroad, with her section set on the side to be run as a stand alone or incorporated into the big layout to act like a theme park setting like Old Tucson Movie Studios with a simple bridge attachment so all the trains could run everywhere.
So the movie really bought back a lot of childhood memories, and I'm lucky to have a wife who is taking an interest in the hobby as well.
Interesting story Rick. You are fortunate to have a wife to share your train interests. I think she is correct about O-Gauge being easier to see and work with.
We have a portion of our layout that is year round winter/Christmas. Never regretted doing this and it gives visitors to the layout a good feeling that only this season brings regardless of the time of year.
And if the PE promoted your interest to get back into the hobby, so much the better.
Thanks for posting your story.
When I got back into the hobby because of a 5 year old son who wanted a train to run year round. The P.E. was the first set I bought then the El Capitan and it has been fun ever since.We have added onto the PE with aDiner, Hot Chocolate car, baggage car and we went for the sounds tender which I thought was a loser. the Lionel Horseshoe Curve tender has the best sound system I wish I could upgrade the PE sound tender with the HSC tender system it would make for a better sound overall.
We also added on to the El Cap with a dummy A and B unit and some other passenger cars and we enjoy that too
I have resisted buying the PE for years, however, at the St Charles Show next to St Louis, about a month ago, a vendor had a PE on the table for $100. All he had was the engine and 3 cars, no boxes,no track or transformer. I still think that is a deal and bought it. It is a good little runner and the engine has a unique look. I have it set up on a loop of its own. I have the Boy Scout Steam engine on a loop inside of the PE loop. My 7 year old grandson loves running them at the same time.
The PE loop is 027 track and the BSSE is on fastrack. My grandson and I have put a few houses, some cows, signs and a bridge with it. Each is run with a seperate cw80 that I already had. The PE with its passenger cars are a neat contrast to the freight cars on the BSSE. My grandson also likes running these with the lights out.
My layout is next to this with the diesels l like to run. Now we both have our own layouts. Thank for letting me share this.
David56
Thanks Fred & David, wonderful stories. Following last weekends train show in Portsmouth, NH, I am more convinced than ever how favorable an impact the PE train set has had on our hobby.
