O Model Railroad
An O model railroad just seems perfect, doesn’t it? You can hold up the trains and really take a gander at them. You require two mits to grasp it even as an adult. Wow look at all the exact details on this beautiful locomotive. You’ll never unknowingly step on this train. I don’t know about you but I could easily stare at this train for hours. Why does it seem so right? Here’s why:
Nostalgia:
Baby boomers grew up with these locomotives and had their impressions pushed into their mental framework even before they discovered a notion of their own identities. If you visited a department store during the Christmas season as a kid you probably saw one of these trains in an elaborate display. Many of us wrote these locomotives on our Christmas lists in the hope that we might wake up to their whistle on Christmas morning. And they’re also likely to be the model trains that you didn’t get because they were too pricy. For this reason they are in addition the trains that remained always in the land of the wished for. Now that you are an adult they can be your locomotives.
O toy railroads are more often than not Lionel train railroads:
It was Lionel (now Lionel LLC) that popularized these trains. Lionel is still perhaps the most well known name in the toy train business. They have weathered more ups and downs than any other locomotive maker and had more face lifts than Elizabeth Taylor’s had husbands. Lionel’s aggressive marketing in the pre-WWII era is the reason why you associate toy locomotives with holiday. Lionel took over the model training world in the pre-World War II period by savvy marketing of this kind. It was mainly because Lionel started to corner themselves at the higher strata of the market that they opened themselves up to challengers. By the sixties when model training was at an all time low in terms of American interest, Lionel’s lower cost, smaller sized competitors pushed it out of business. But Lionel has been re-invented as Lionel LLC and, though still beset by revenue difficulties, continues to be one of the major model train producers around. No other model train maker has the cachet that Lionel currently holds.
Weathering and detailing are a breeze with O scale trains:
Even though O scale requires a lot more room than HO or N, its size also offers a great number of positives. O gauge locomotives are a lot larger than HO gauge locomotives. Real world locomotives are 48 times huger than O gauge toy trains. It is a locomotive that is easy to paint, decal and weather. You don’t require fantastically fine motor skills so even the least coordinated of children or most palsied of old folks can work with these trains. Take it from me, even when I’ve had one too many lattés and my hands are shaking like leaves in a breeze I still have no problems with these locomotives. Also, because of its size, you can really see the little aspects of these locomotives. You can really personalize your model training experience with O gauge since everything is on a scale that you could do them yourself. O scales reputation is well deserved.
O scale is also a favorite for model train fans:
Fan’s of toy locomotives just love O because of its connection with Lionel trains. Many hobbyists enjoy building their own O gauge toy trains from scratch.
But O scale is just a wonder in itself. It does take up more area than other littler sorts of trains, but this sacrifice seems well worth it for most hobbyists. Given Lionel’s extensive track record it is improbable that this gauge of locomotive will go out of fashion soon. Even if all Lionel died, it is probably that enthusiasts would design a locomotive of this gauge. Just ask the rocker Neal Young who loved O scale locomotives so greatly that he was at one point part owner in Lionel and is still retained as an consultant to the company!
Here is more information on Model Train Scale. Here is a website with a free mini-course dedicated to Model Trains.
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