ALL BRANDS

[romiin]

   Do you collect all brands of trains?   Or do you prefer one favorite brand.   And what era do you favor. Just curious too know what everyone  prefers.  I myself so far seem to favor the Lionel prewar,  but as my knowledge grows who knows.

[early0electric]

Early period Lionel O gauge trains exclusively and paper for me.

[Terry]

I collect Lionel trains introduced before 1925. Mostly at this point I'm looking for trains from before  1911.  I have a bunch of trains from the late 1920s thru WW2 that are left over from my earlier collecting efforts. Those are on the layouts, and I'm thinning them out so I only have the ones I want to play with.

My dad and I collected only Lionel prewar from the mid 1970s thru the early 1990s. In the early 1990s it became difficult to find Lionel trains we didn't have. The ones we needed were either rare or expensive.

At that time, we started collecting other American prewar trains --  mostly just keeping trains we got from the public, but we did buy IVES transition stuff and the better quality AF trains from other collectors or at shows.

We also tried to get an electric train in 3-rail O gauge from every country that made them. As far as I know we had every country but Argentina. 

I also did binge-and-purge collecting. I bought boxed prewar Marx sets for about 15 years, then sold them all in 2009/2010. I bought every David O King trolley I could find from about 1997 to 2012 and then sold them all.

I also put aside interesting items when I get them from the public so I can play with them later. I have AF S gauge, Marklin 00,  and Postwar Lionel that all came from the public. I'll start a Marklin layout soon on the area I'm currently using for a table.

I also have a large quantity of American 00 trains by makers like Lionel, Nason, ScaleCraft, Famoco and others. Trains made from 1935 to 1952.  I've been buying 00 (Pronounced "double O") since I was in high school. I'm going to do a 7 by 13 layout with handlaid track using all the techniques of the 1930 era.

I bought this house with the big basement so I can spend the next 10-15 years playing with the trains. I'm having fun.

[romiin]

  wow! Terry you have quite a history.  Do you collect layout structures?

[Terry]

I had some dealer layouts over the years, but don't have one now.

I have lots of buildings. I started keeping Marklin HO because I liked the buildings. They were originally made using the rubble from WW2. A whole craft industry arose in the late 1940s early '50s of people making buildings to sell to servicemen. Some can be very expensive - $3-500 each, but most are in the $5-40 range. I only have the cheap ones.

I also have US made buildings from the 30s, 40s and 50s from kits for the 00. Mostly printed cardboard sides or wood siding with many having full interiors. The ones I have were built by men for their train layouts when they were new. I built a few of them from vintage kits. 

I have Schoenhut along with the Lionel tin buildings on my O gauge layout, and the Lionel scenic plots that are on the standard layout. 

I spent years with clutter and and quantity, and now I want quality and openspace.

[starfire700]

I collect what I like, and often that changes, or should I say "expands". I have some of most brands from my earliest Lionel 1906 to 1910 to some modern Lionel and of course Modern Marx, which we produced from 1992 to about 2004.
I like variety, quality and rarity, but also like items that just "work" on my layout, the Lake Shore Railway.
It may be considered clutter, but works for me when shooting close-up scenes for videos.
You can see most of my collection in the Jim's Layout category, and all over the Forum, or on my Youtube videos, here is the link

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUfhIqTj6nbDLmY3rXzvn7g/videos

[Terry]

Jim mentioned that it needs to "work."  I take that to mean it goes together in his mind.

I watched Jim's video with the Bing station with the ornamental roof. I take from his comment's that he found the station and liked it, and then put it on the layout with things that "work" with it and did the video.

That sounds like fun.

When I first started buying trains I had a small O layout with a Lionel felt tunnel in one corner. About 4 foot square. It looked like pegboard from me bringing home accessories and mounting them on the layout.

I'm trying to recapture that feeling with the Marklin and S gauge.  I've never played with either of those, so they're new.

[romiin]

  Nice video James .Haven't watch them all yet, but I will.   Did you restore all your trains, they look awesome.  I wanted to know how you light up all your structures, is it done though a transformer, or some type of low voltage device.  I ask because I would like to light up my display train and a light tower when I get it together. Thanks Loco

[starfire700]

Terry hit the nail on the head. Our layouts are the world we create in our minds, (certainly better than the real world). When I find an item, such as the Bing dragon-roof station, it gives me a certain feeling, usually a good feeling, and that becomes a focal point to create the world of my layout. Certain items even inspire a video, such as this station. It went from brainstorm to production to published on youtube in less than half a day. Some videos I end up working on for a month or more.

The main objective is to have fun, keep the brain cells functioning for some of us, and create the world the way we see it or would like it to be. I also like a lot of dogs in my videos, we have 5 at home in the real world.

Loco, most of my trains are original, I don't mind a few scratches, because that is part of the train's history. I try to get the best condition that I can. I do have some restored items, but that is because originals do not exist, such as the Victory Yankee Streamliner and the red/white/blue 154 electric. I have even made some items that I think Lionel should have made, such as work cabooses for 2800 and 2600 series freights and a 2815 gray Sunoco tank car c. 1940. I will post these when I get a chance. Also some of my structures on the layout are transformer illuminated, a few have battery lights and the brown-stone buildings have LED (110v) lights attached to a sheet of plexi behind them. It gives a twinkle and also a cool blue shade of light. The battery lights are made to illuminate a bottle. They are a string of LED's with a simulated cork that has a battery and switch. 

[romiin]

   Nothing like a running train.   Dogs and trains, don't get better than that.  I might get there one day, but for now mine are just to look at.   I'm out of my league here,  but hope you guys don't mine my elementary questions .  The trains sure do spark your imagination.  I get a vision of what you would like to see and work to make it as real as you can.  For now I want to light up some of my cars, and maybe a tower light. I will look into leds with battery power so I don't have cords showing. Loco

[pjdog350]

Life is better with a dog. Plus trains. And cool beer.

[starfire700]

The battery bottle lights I mentioned probably would not work for your light tower, but would work for interior of buildings.
To minimize wiring on the surface, you can run wires under the benchwork to a central building or even a landscaped mound or hill. Then run thin phone wire on the surface to light poles and accessories. The thin wire will be OK as long as only 1 accessory or light is on it. Your under-bench wires would have to be a heavier gauge to handle the load without heating up. The thin surface wires can be disguised with landscaping material, paint/lichen/fish-tank gravel etc. It is best to have your accessories on a separate transformer, so they work independent of your trains and to spread the power load.

[romiin]

 I watched your videos James. You make the best train videos!!   and your collection is mind boggling. super cool.  Loco

[starfire700]

Thanks, appreciate your comments. J

[romiin]

 Do you do video requests? James.