I'm tired of being an armchair model railroader...

So I finally ordered the track for my $100 Layout (that's per month, not "total"). I had a hard time deciding what track to run, what track plan, blah blah blah and I finally decided I'm sick of piling up more and more toy trains with nowhere to run them. Since there's no such thing as a perfect layout anyway (especially when you're trying to cram an O Gauge layout onto a 4x8 table) I decided to just stick with the FasTrack that came with my Polar Express set. For my track plan, I used SCARM (a free layout design program) to draw up a simple layout based on Lionel's D-290 display layout. For now I'm leaving off the upper loop, but I might add one later with HO scale track so I can run my On30 Porter and Shay locomotives. One reason I decided to stick with the FasTrack instead of going with Atlas track is the built-in roadbed means I can run on the carpet until I get my train table built. Here's what the track plan looks like:

(Related links: A $100 Layout, Free train layout software)

Cheap Fun

When I first got into O Gauge trains I wondered how it got so popular when the "good" engines cost $400, $500, maybe up to $1000 or more. I soon found out you don't need expensive locomotives to have fun with O gauge. I bought this Atlantic (with tender not in picture) for only $89.95. Shortly after, I got another similar one for only $50 (no tender though). These things are perfect for kitbashing - they're cheap, so if I mess something up I'm not out a lot of money. They're big (bigger than HO locomotives anyway) so they're easy to work on. The factory detailing is kind of course (especially on the 8800) to they look really nice with just a little improvement. A lot of fun for the money...

New to 3 Rail!!!

I've been into model railroads as long as I can remember. In fact, one of the first actual conversations I remember having with my Dad was what locomotive to buy. See, my parents had bought me a toy train set (don't remember what brand) that had plastic track and multi-colored plastic locomotives and cars. At the grand age of 5 or 6 I'd decided that the green and red locomotives weren't "realistic enough" so we were discussing the all black locomotive with the white smoke box front - much more "realistic" to my kid eyes:)

Fast forward to 11 years old... my parents had agreed to get me an electric train set for Christmas. My friends across the street had a Lionel set, but I wanted an HO Scale set. After all, I was 11 years old - much too old for toy trains. Nope, I was going to be a Model Railroader. So I got my Tyco set (a Shifter Action Freight Set iirc) and I was off and running. My Dad helped me build a 4x8 table to put the layout on, we built some buildings together, and I never got around to building a layout because I couldn't decide on a track plan. Eventually I got into model airplanes and cars, and the trains sat in the garage until...

...in 2000, my 10-year old step son moved in with us. I wanted something we could do together and thought about my old model trains. That would be fun. By now my tastes had progressed enough that I didn't even consider the Tyco trains "realistic enough" any more, so I started looking for something even more realistic - and I found it in a P-B-L model of Southern Pacific's "Slim Princess" in Sn3. A few years later, I got a couple River Raisin standard gauge SP steamers (also brass) and started putting together a fleet of freight cars. Yes sir, now I'd really arrived... highly detailed models of a prototype that I love in a scale that was big enough to work with easily. Except... I didn't have room for a layout, so my beautiful brass models sat in boxes in my closet. I also bought a little American Flyer, but it was hard to find stuff that was in decent condition and reasonably priced. Meanwhile, I started working on a small HO Scale switching layout.

Then last Christmas (2012), our younger (7 years old) son said he might like a train under the Christmas tree. My HO trains looked too small under the tree, and I wasn't about to let him play with my expensive S Scale brass. I thought about buying an American Flyer set (actually American Models) but they didn't have anything that really caught my fancy. The only choice left was O Gauge... so I bought a Lionel Polar Express set. What the heck? I know it's just a toy, but after all it's just for running under the Christmas Tree, right? RIGHT??? Little did I know...

The train set arrived in the mail and I didn't really know what to expect, but for less than $200 I wasn't expecting much, especially after some of the tales of broken transformers, non-working locomotives, etc. I'd read about in the reviews. I opened the box and it actually looked pretty good - better than I expected, and the locomotive especially looked a lot nicer than some of the American Flyer locomotives I'd managed to acquire. I set it up under the tree and turned it on. Hmmm, this is pretty neat:) Maybe I'll get a couple extra cars and some more track and build a permanent layout. Maybe I'll see what's available on eBay and...

Oh. My. God. Short story is I quickly spent WAY too much money on... TOY TRAINS. What have I been waiting for, for the last 35+ years??? These things are FUN!!! So that's my story... after 35+ years of being a Scale Snob (in spite of never even having a layout), I'm in love with Toy Trains. For having fun with trains, NOTHING beats them. I still like my scale stuff, but for now playing with toy trains is IT. I'll be 49 years old next month, and I've finally arrived:)

Related Links:
Lionel Christmas Layout
S Scale Trains
A bit about Tyco Trains