These things are fantastic!!
I just got back into trains this past spring after ten years of no trains. Before, I "built" 4 HO layouts- in quotes because none of them ever ran!! I spent weeks and months just building the benchwork and laying track- then we would need the room for something (like a new child), or we moved.
I never had a Lionel set as a kid, and frankly always though the three rails looked phony. Then for Christmas 2016, I bought my oldest grandchildren (2 girls) a Lionel LionChief Pennsylvania Hauler set for about $ 250. When my 35 year old son and I set the trains up for them under the tree- I was blown way. They ran flawlessly, sounded great, and the kids could run them full tilt all around that little circle and never derail.
Three months later I was ordering all the track to build my own O-gauge layout in the basement, following a track plan done for me by Metro Trains, in Ft. Myers FL, but shipped to me in Ohio, complete w/ two LC+ engines.
To beat the "benchwork drag"- I ordered custom tables for the Metro Trains plan, made for me by Matt Hewitt from Indiana. I figured I didn't know how many years I had-- but I wasn't going to spend two of them building tables!! He delivered and set up a 20 X 16 2-pod set of SOLID tables, and I was off and running.
I had trains running within 60 days, and started scenery work. My layout is realistic, not a toy layout, but mostly using the "traditional" O-gauge rather than O-scale. Being retired, I spend 2 or 3 hours, on maybe 2 or 3 days each week and make consistent progress.
But- the surprise for me as how MUCH fun I am having with the whole o-gauge hobby. Not only do the trains run great, I get to source 50 years worth of great quality engines and rolling stock, plus run both conventional and LC+ on the same layout (though usually at different sessions). Collecting and running.
Terrific!!
