Lionel had so much automation that WORKED on their layouts. I was always into American Flyer that never performed as well. My head could just not get used to that center rail. HO came along and changed it all up. Doug's Hobby & Toy Land in Des Moines was our go to spot. Very much miss Doug.
I discovered trains at Sears. Lionel. But then we went to Douglas Models. After the Christmas parade. It was cold and wet. Had been snowing. All the Christmas lights were now on. They would turn them on as Santa passed. Just behind him the lights all came on. Anyway on the way back to the car we went into Douglas Models. And there was HO. And American Flyer. And yes Lionel. Anyway I got American Flyer. My brother Athern HO. (Athern was made in the basement of Douglas Models).
@@ToyManTelevision 3 rail AC HO gauge trains, Marklin is AC, Trix express until 1959 was also AC, Trix then went with 3 rail DC for their 3 rail HO trains, along with developing 2 rail DC HO and after being bought by marklin in the 90's broght back AC powered HO, also using the trix brand to make 2 rail DC versions of Marklin HO trains.
What I really love is the small children and their smiling faces, pointing fingers, and comments. After all, nearly every one of us got started this way. The future of modeling lies with these children, not with us.;-)
And… the girls are just as interested as the boys. There are different likes. Boys as always want to see ACTION! The girls like to run. The switch. All good.
My father had surgery and so he can't go on the floor to run the train under the tree. So I put the transformer on a table and now he can run his trains while not effecting his health or recovery!! He loves it!
I have thought about the idea of putting a train around the Christmas tree about 3 feet up on the Christmas tree! It would take some construction wouldn’t it? But think how cool that would look.
@@ToyManTelevision yes! But what I did was put the train on the living room floor and then ran long wires to the transformer which is on a table so my father can run the train while standing up. The train is a Lionel.
How can Lionel trains be boring! Love the Sunoco oil Derecks. First time that I have seen a sphere though. Talking about Plasticville. I am still looking for the rural train station. Just an awning with bench’s on a platform. I have been able to find some replacement parts for my depot. To many fond childhood memories. Thanks for taking us along.
@@ToyManTelevision Wow $100! You see I squeak when I walk. I wanted several passenger trains. Well I won several EBay bids. One had a car missing a truck. It took me some time to find a replacement. Of course they all have Rapido couplers but my locos have micro trains knuckle couplers. So change on end of the RPO and make a transition. I have enough cars for 2 PPR trains, LN, and Southern.
I live near Strasburg in Pennsylvania, me, my dad and mom went running around town to about 6 or so buildings that had huge layouts and then to the gorgeous museum. It was so amazing to see, most dimmed the lights too.
Anyone who had Lionel or AF trains back in the day always wanted to run them way too fast for those suicide curves. It was fun. Now we're all old geezers who can appreciate running them slower and magestically. But do we? HECK NO! Crank that throttle up!!
I had Lionel as a kid, but then graduated to HO for "realism," and eventually to "Finescale S" for (as I would see it) additional realism, plus easier math for scale conversion, plus (for me again) perfect size and heft, not to mention perfectly scale rail size. (Remember that rail and track is a model too, so I insist on prototypically scaled rail size. Nice to see you guys at the recent train show in Farmington. Love to have you guys for a visit here in Manti. Lots of "massive screwing around" here in more endeavors than model trains. Cheers!
@@ToyManTelevision You were briefly at our display at the show. Would you like to come by for more material? Plus to see my other avenues of "Massive Screwing Around," i.e., homebuilt aircraft?
I like the O scale stuff mostly because of the neat buildings they have. Ed would get out with his blow horn and give a talkin' to ya if you were that close to the tracks 😁
Hey guys hope you're having a good day, really enjoyed the show thanks for sharing yes I remember the older buildings I thought they were just plain lol 😆 take care
Well, its Sunday, let's see what we've got here! Trains, trains, trains!!! Lots of TOY TRAINS!!! I love it!!! Those classic, pre-war and post- war trains just blew my mind!!! Its episodes like this that makes me wanna go out and spend big money on trains again! Well, there goes my budget, right out the window, again!!! Everything shown in this show is just phenomenal and beautiful. I really enjoyed this episode! GREAT SHOW!!! THANKS!!! 👍😉
I sure enjoyed this layout. My Dad built a 3 level Lionel layout making it look like mountains out of cement in our basement that was started around 1958 and added on until about 1967. We had Plasticville for structures. My favorite in the video was the Santa Fe F Unit rail looking like the real Sante Fe passenger train from the day although our Santa Fe passenger trainset I think I read was a special edition with a blue stripe on the passenger cars for the 1960 Election year. I like this Santa Fe realistic passenger set more. I also saw the red Texas Special engine set remembering it from the Lionel catalog days. Of course, viewing in the dark was special. I think it came down when I started college in 1971. I never got much in to model railroading other than buying some HO for our basement with emphasis on AMTRAK, but I did ride all the AMTRAK and Canadian VIA Rail routes west of St. Louis many years later, so my Dad's Lionel layout must have rubbed off on me after all.
Great video! Thats the first time I see that dialogue presentation in a model railroading video. That s cool, You have also the perfect voices. Its a little bit like the presentations of newcastle after dark, one of my favourite channels.
This was an enjoyable video. I built two display tables similar to those that would have been in the retail/hobby stores during the 1950's. One is the traditional Lionel with as many accessories as I could fit on a 6' X 4" table using O gauge track and switches. The other table 6' X 2.5' is for the Marx trains with Marx accessories in O27. Space is tight but both tables were designed for play value. Under table storage and floor yard storage plus end shelving stores the extra cars and accessories I didn't have room for on the layouts. I also mix some Marx accessories on the Lionel table. Marx produced some great metal accessories and litho tin rolling stock.
I had the milk car. Well as I say I had American Flyer but in about 76 I started collecting Lionel. My plan was to give it to my nephew when he was old enough. I should have waited a bit longer. His mother thought trains were stupid and sold the collection for a good deal of money.
As a kid I was sure all the Santa’s were fake. Fine old men but fake. Because the REAL Santa was in the basement at Sears. Next to the train layout. With Mrs Claws. I knew because it all just fit. After all, he had all the trains. Right there.
The reason why American flyer only had two rails is because they wanted it to look more realistic, I remember a owner telling me that years ago in one of the trains shops I use to go to.
15:15: That is American Models Track. It is much more realistic than tinplate 'Flyer track, but still with rail that is way too tall to be considered "scale," and with a somewhat greater than prototype tie spacing. (Like I've heard it said, "Track is a model too! " ). American Models S scale track is now engineered for "Finescale S," but rather for "high-rail" S operations, including American Flyer. The American Models switches also have very wide flangeways to accommodate the huge "high rail" wheel flanges, and which do not conform to the NMRA-NASG "Finescale S" track and wheel standards. While the American Models track is certainly more realistic than American Flyer toy train track, those of us in "Finescale S" can spot "high-rail" track in a second. I don't have any. You can purchase flextrack and switches for "Finescale S," (typically code .100 rail or less), but I prefer to hand lay my own track and build my own switches. It is a lot of work, but the price is sure right. Just make sure you have lots and lots of "small spikes." You sure need a lot of spikes. The beauty of hand-laying your own track is that you can build precisely what you want, including unusual trackwork, also very high-number switches, which look very nice and prototypical. My lowest number switch is a #8, and that is for a spur. The others so far are #s 10, 12, and 15. The S scake switches in this video are probably about #s 2 or 3. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately), "Finescale S" track and equipment is mutually incompatible with 'Flyer and "high-rail" track and equipment. They theoretically are to the same scale (1:64), but the track and equipment is NOT interoperable. So the question is do you want to play with toy trains or have a realistic portrayal of the prototype? I'm not dissing toy trains per se, as to each his own, but I've always admired great realism in model railroading.
@@ToyManTelevision although even Marklin bit the bullet and ditched the third rail about the mid fifties, going with stud contact to be less obtrusive although functioning like a third rail. They also go with 1/87 and not 1/96 to not end up with broad gauge track. Sticking with three rail also helped bring about the demise of the original Hornby Dublo in 1964 getting stuck with vast amounts of unsold three rail stock as well as the replacement two rail system they introduced in parallel about 1958. Even the Lionel pre war OO system seemed to have moved to two rail quickly. Only the US market seems to accept this, with close to zero Lionel sales outside the US. Yet HO US products from other manufacturers sell well all around the world.
???!!! At 12:09 did my wondering eyes see a Union Pacific SD30? Will wonders never cease - I've got to get out more often. BTW, it looks good; what make is it, or is it (my guess) scratch-built?
With all due respect, Dale, rusted and looking like crap is NOT how these trains looked originally. Restoring to ORIGINAL condition is a work of love. By the way, we found a pre-WWTwo train last month. And it is now running!
No… I believe you misunderstood… Yes. At one time when these trains were new, the paint and the condition of the trains was perfect. What was being referred to here is the “patina”, or the “look” of something vintage. The train set is a bit care-worn, probably from play when the owner was a child, 50-60 years ago. To some vintage collectors… One way to destroy the value of a piece is to remove that petina! Every bit of dirt, scratches, dents and rust have meaning. If the piece is from the owners childhood (as I suspect this train is), they know how every blemish happened, and when. It reminds them of carefree play, and grand times. They wouldn’t change that for all the steel wool, soap and water, and spray paint in the world. Neither would I!
I get that. But my favorite lanterns are the most beat up ones. I have the only Ophir and Saint John lantern. I think… it’s flat. Total flattened. Run over. Left to die in the weeds for 60 years. In other words PERFECT! Well sort of. But it is what it is. And I love it. If it were mint so much the better but it’s not. But it’s a story of a failed railroad. All in one flattened bit of rust.
Many things caught my eye-z Like minds love F who doesn't ❤ covered wagons , TRUMP Train chk.and I too had (And still do but boxes got thrown away while is was gone) 3 cheers for our 1st Dale..IM STILL AN AMERICAN FLYER S.E.L.& M.E.L PILOT HAHAHA
Lionel had so much automation that WORKED on their layouts. I was always into American Flyer that never performed as well. My head could just not get used to that center rail. HO came along and changed it all up. Doug's Hobby & Toy Land in Des Moines was our go to spot. Very much miss Doug.
I discovered trains at Sears. Lionel. But then we went to Douglas Models. After the Christmas parade. It was cold and wet. Had been snowing. All the Christmas lights were now on. They would turn them on as Santa passed. Just behind him the lights all came on. Anyway on the way back to the car we went into Douglas Models. And there was HO. And American Flyer. And yes Lionel. Anyway I got American Flyer. My brother Athern HO. (Athern was made in the basement of Douglas Models).
Ps. Jack’s son is a member of this club.
You won't like Marklin or trix express HO then....
@@raymondleggs5508 ?
@@ToyManTelevision 3 rail AC HO gauge trains, Marklin is AC, Trix express until 1959 was also AC, Trix then went with 3 rail DC for their 3 rail HO trains, along with developing 2 rail DC HO and after being bought by marklin in the 90's broght back AC powered HO, also using the trix brand to make 2 rail DC versions of Marklin HO trains.
What I really love is the small children and their smiling faces, pointing fingers, and comments. After all, nearly every one of us got started this way. The future of modeling lies with these children, not with us.;-)
And… the girls are just as interested as the boys. There are different likes. Boys as always want to see ACTION! The girls like to run. The switch. All good.
Another spectacular video with great Lionel train layouts. Cool!!!!!
Thanks!!!’n
Thanks for the field trip. Love these type videos and the variety of train layouts.
Hi and thanks!!
Love the old tin plate! Lots of memories!!🚂
Thx again for a fun tour.
Thanks again and hi!
My father had surgery and so he can't go on the floor to run the train under the tree. So I put the transformer on a table and now he can run his trains while not effecting his health or recovery!! He loves it!
I have thought about the idea of putting a train around the Christmas tree about 3 feet up on the Christmas tree! It would take some construction wouldn’t it? But think how cool that would look.
@@ToyManTelevision yes! But what I did was put the train on the living room floor and then ran long wires to the transformer which is on a table so my father can run the train while standing up. The train is a Lionel.
GOOD VIDEO THANK YOU FOR SHARING THIS WITH YOUR SUBSCRIBERS THANK YOU BOTH. ☝👍👌
Thanks again Jim
All very cool, liked the flying Santa most...
Very cool layouts . thank you and have a great week
Thanks again
Great Footage always and always great and interesting places spaces and Trains. . "Happy Rails" You two and Gods Continued Blessings. GMan
How can Lionel trains be boring! Love the Sunoco oil Derecks. First time that I have seen a sphere though. Talking about Plasticville. I am still looking for the rural train station. Just an awning with bench’s on a platform. I have been able to find some replacement parts for my depot. To many fond childhood memories. Thanks for taking us along.
Saw one at a train show. $100. New in the box. Mint. Only one Ive ever seen.
@@ToyManTelevision Wow $100! You see I squeak when I walk. I wanted several passenger trains. Well I won several EBay bids. One had a car missing a truck. It took me some time to find a replacement. Of course they all have Rapido couplers but my locos have micro trains knuckle couplers. So change on end of the RPO and make a transition. I have enough cars for 2 PPR trains, LN, and Southern.
I love these trains and setups and dioramas.
Like their own little worlds. Absolutely mesmerizing.
I live near Strasburg in Pennsylvania, me, my dad and mom went running around town to about 6 or so buildings that had huge layouts and then to the gorgeous museum. It was so amazing to see, most dimmed the lights too.
Love layout lights. Steve puts scores on his structures. I’m working of lights on the garden railroad this week.
Oh my gosh this is so much fun!! Thanks for sharing this!
Thanks!!
I like the 844 big boy and the 3985 Challenger engions
Thank you nice video
Really nice layout.
Right?
Anyone who had Lionel or AF trains back in the day always wanted to run them way too fast for those suicide curves. It was fun.
Now we're all old geezers who can appreciate running them slower and magestically. But do we? HECK NO! Crank that throttle up!!
I had Lionel as a kid, but then graduated to HO for "realism," and eventually to "Finescale S" for (as I would see it) additional realism, plus easier math for scale conversion, plus (for me again) perfect size and heft, not to mention perfectly scale rail size. (Remember that rail and track is a model too, so I insist on prototypically scaled rail size.
Nice to see you guys at the recent train show in Farmington. Love to have you guys for a visit here in Manti. Lots of "massive screwing around" here in more endeavors than model trains. Cheers!
Hi again. Your show coming soon…
@@ToyManTelevision You were briefly at our display at the show. Would you like to come by for more material? Plus to see my other avenues of "Massive Screwing Around," i.e., homebuilt aircraft?
I like the O scale stuff mostly because of the neat buildings they have. Ed would get out with his blow horn and give a talkin' to ya if you were that close to the tracks 😁
He’d be nice about it but you would be told…
I also like the old K Line trains and train cars, they are compatible with lionle trains and lionle train car's
Awesome video 🚂👍🚄
Thanks again!!!
Hey guys hope you're having a good day, really enjoyed the show thanks for sharing yes I remember the older buildings I thought they were just plain lol 😆 take care
Hi gunny! Fun show. You take care too!!!
I have my American Flyer trains from 1952. My son has them now!
Cool
Well, its Sunday, let's see what we've got here! Trains, trains, trains!!! Lots of TOY TRAINS!!! I love it!!! Those classic, pre-war and post- war trains just blew my mind!!! Its episodes like this that makes me wanna go out and spend big money on trains again! Well, there goes my budget, right out the window, again!!! Everything shown in this show is just phenomenal and beautiful. I really enjoyed this episode! GREAT SHOW!!! THANKS!!! 👍😉
Hi again. We are back in the garden next Sunday. What a fun open house
I sure enjoyed this layout. My Dad built a 3 level Lionel layout making it look like mountains out of cement in our basement that was started around 1958 and added on until about 1967. We had Plasticville for structures. My favorite in the video was the Santa Fe F Unit rail looking like the real Sante Fe passenger train from the day although our Santa Fe passenger trainset I think I read was a special edition with a blue stripe on the passenger cars for the 1960 Election year. I like this Santa Fe realistic passenger set more. I also saw the red Texas Special engine set remembering it from the Lionel catalog days. Of course, viewing in the dark was special. I think it came down when I started college in 1971. I never got much in to model railroading other than buying some HO for our basement with emphasis on AMTRAK, but I did ride all the AMTRAK and Canadian VIA Rail routes west of St. Louis many years later, so my Dad's Lionel layout must have rubbed off on me after all.
Hi great story. Thanks!!!
🤗🤗🤗🤗very cool brother 👋
Great video! Thats the first time I see that dialogue presentation in a model railroading video. That s cool, You have also the perfect voices. Its a little bit like the presentations of newcastle after dark, one of my favourite channels.
Wow thanks!!!!!
This was an enjoyable video. I built two display tables similar to those that would have been in the retail/hobby stores during the 1950's. One is the traditional Lionel with as many accessories as I could fit on a 6' X 4" table using O gauge track and switches. The other table 6' X 2.5' is for the Marx trains with Marx accessories in O27. Space is tight but both tables were designed for play value. Under table storage and floor yard storage plus end shelving stores the extra cars and accessories I didn't have room for on the layouts. I also mix some Marx accessories on the Lionel table. Marx produced some great metal accessories and litho tin rolling stock.
Sounds like real fun. Thanks for the story
I just loved my loinel I had an automatic milk car that was so cool. I like watching you guys, it brings back memories of when we lived in a lowa.
I had the milk car. Well as I say I had American Flyer but in about 76 I started collecting Lionel. My plan was to give it to my nephew when he was old enough. I should have waited a bit longer. His mother thought trains were stupid and sold the collection for a good deal of money.
@@ToyManTelevision oh crap 😳
I remember the Sears Christmas layouts. Now we don't even have a Sears.
I worked for Sears for 23 years. Thank God that I still get my pension. The May Co. had the display layout in Lakewood Ca. every year.
As a kid I was sure all the Santa’s were fake. Fine old men but fake. Because the REAL Santa was in the basement at Sears. Next to the train layout. With Mrs Claws. I knew because it all just fit. After all, he had all the trains. Right there.
@@ToyManTelevision Ha!!
I liked American Flyer better than Lionel, I had both, but seeing this is fantastic!
Toy trains…. Nuff said.
Good morning and happy Sunday hello from Detroit Michigan 👋
Yo! Hi again.
The reason why American flyer only had two rails is because they wanted it to look more realistic, I remember a owner telling me that years ago in one of the trains shops I use to go to.
15:15: That is American Models Track. It is much more realistic than tinplate 'Flyer track, but still with rail that is way too tall to be considered "scale," and with a somewhat greater than prototype tie spacing. (Like I've heard it said, "Track is a model too! " ). American Models S scale track is now engineered for "Finescale S," but rather for "high-rail" S operations, including American Flyer. The American Models switches also have very wide flangeways to accommodate the huge "high rail" wheel flanges, and which do not conform to the NMRA-NASG "Finescale S" track and wheel standards. While the American Models track is certainly more realistic than American Flyer toy train track, those of us in "Finescale S" can spot "high-rail" track in a second. I don't have any.
You can purchase flextrack and switches for "Finescale S," (typically code .100 rail or less), but I prefer to hand lay my own track and build my own switches. It is a lot of work, but the price is sure right. Just make sure you have lots and lots of "small spikes." You sure need a lot of spikes. The beauty of hand-laying your own track is that you can build precisely what you want, including unusual trackwork, also very high-number switches, which look very nice and prototypical. My lowest number switch is a #8, and that is for a spur. The others so far are #s 10, 12, and 15. The S scake switches in this video are probably about #s 2 or 3.
Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately), "Finescale S" track and equipment is mutually incompatible with 'Flyer and "high-rail" track and equipment. They theoretically are to the same scale (1:64), but the track and equipment is NOT interoperable. So the question is do you want to play with toy trains or have a realistic portrayal of the prototype? I'm not dissing toy trains per se, as to each his own, but I've always admired great realism in model railroading.
Interesting how after "Turn it in to reality" is said at 11:50 there appears at 12:08 a GP30 body on SD trucks to create an SD30!
Nice spotting. NICE.
Any scope for three rail HO at 1/96 the scale? To replicate Lionel in less space.
Marklin uses three rail in HO. But the Lionel look… it’s O or nothing I’m afraid
@@ToyManTelevision although even Marklin bit the bullet and ditched the third rail about the mid fifties, going with stud contact to be less obtrusive although functioning like a third rail. They also go with 1/87 and not 1/96 to not end up with broad gauge track.
Sticking with three rail also helped bring about the demise of the original Hornby Dublo in 1964 getting stuck with vast amounts of unsold three rail stock as well as the replacement two rail system they introduced in parallel about 1958.
Even the Lionel pre war OO system seemed to have moved to two rail quickly.
Only the US market seems to accept this, with close to zero Lionel sales outside the US. Yet HO US products from other manufacturers sell well all around the world.
???!!! At 12:09 did my wondering eyes see a Union Pacific SD30? Will wonders never cease - I've got to get out more often. BTW, it looks good; what make is it, or is it (my guess) scratch-built?
It’s off the shelf!! No idea who made it….
After seeing this video I’m wondering if any on has modeled Heritage Park in Calgary Canada?
I’ll bet they have!
With all due respect, Dale, rusted and looking like crap is NOT how these trains looked originally. Restoring to ORIGINAL condition is a work of love. By the way, we found a pre-WWTwo train last month. And it is now running!
No… I believe you misunderstood… Yes. At one time when these trains were new, the paint and the condition of the trains was perfect. What was being referred to here is the “patina”, or the “look” of something vintage. The train set is a bit care-worn, probably from play when the owner was a child, 50-60 years ago. To some vintage collectors… One way to destroy the value of a piece is to remove that petina! Every bit of dirt, scratches, dents and rust have meaning. If the piece is from the owners childhood (as I suspect this train is), they know how every blemish happened, and when. It reminds them of carefree play, and grand times. They wouldn’t change that for all the steel wool, soap and water, and spray paint in the world. Neither would I!
I get that. But my favorite lanterns are the most beat up ones. I have the only Ophir and Saint John lantern. I think… it’s flat. Total flattened. Run over. Left to die in the weeds for 60 years. In other words PERFECT! Well sort of. But it is what it is. And I love it. If it were mint so much the better but it’s not. But it’s a story of a failed railroad. All in one flattened bit of rust.
Many things caught my eye-z Like minds love F who doesn't ❤ covered wagons , TRUMP Train chk.and I too had (And still do but boxes got thrown away while is was gone) 3 cheers for our 1st Dale..IM STILL AN AMERICAN FLYER S.E.L.& M.E.L PILOT HAHAHA
Trump box cars 🤢