Toy Trains?

[Another Johnson]

It was Walt Disney’s love of live steam hobby railroading that precipitated the introduction of Chip ‘n Dale in the 1951 cartoon “Out of Scale.

I tried to link it here, but the link fails, so if you want to see it, just google Donald Duck Out of Scale and it should come up. It’s pretty cute.

 

[DonH50]

Seeing that I'm a third generation railroader (retired for the past 4 years) Model railroading is in the 'genes', given my age and arthritic hands Gauge 1(also know as G gauge) is my go-to. I operate live steam engines on my outdoor RR............

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Looks awesome! Not as viable here; we still have 3+ feet (1+ m) of snow out front...

 

[twitch]

Looks awesome! Not as viable here; we still have 3+ feet (1+ m) of snow out front...

While no where near 3' of snow, in the world of 'scale' they can handle their own !

 

[DonH50]

While no where near 3' of snow, in the world of 'scale' they can handle their own !

That's really cool! (No pun intended.) Now, I want one, thank you very little. If it would clear my walk and drive for me...

Out here, we have real trains with plows like that, and with gigantic snow throwers.

 

[twitch]

Out here, we have real trains with plows like that, and with gigantic snow throwers.

We call them 'Rotarys' , the big ones on the standard gauge RR's , the blades measure 16' in diameter. The Cumbres & Toltec narrow gauge still operates their steam powered one 'OY', check it out ............

 

[DonH50]

Rode the Cumbres & Toltec years ago. They had the rotary (I had forgotten the term, thanks) in the shed but you could see it.

Interesting factoid: My grandmother's first teaching position was in Antonito (one of the C&T's stations).

 

[twitch]

Rode the Cumbres & Toltec years ago. They had the rotary (I had forgotten the term, thanks) in the shed but you could see it.

Interesting factoid: My grandmother's first teaching position was in Antonito (one of the C&T's stations).

Love the C&T and all things narrow gauge. I've also enjoyed several trips across the 'ole D&RGW line between Chama and Antonito where dual gauge begins for journey North. Between the C&T and D&S I guess that explains why the San Juan region of the Rockies is my favorite !

 

[Tabl10s]

Tis the season. Is this hobby incompatible with audio?
I have an animated G scale Christmas train that died a few years ago. The grandson saw it at age 2, and asks for it every year. I spent this afternoon bringing it back to life. Deoxit played a major role. He’ll be excited tomorrow when he comes for our weekly Sunday night dinner.

A friend's cousin has been into the hobby for decades(also an Audiophile). When he moved from Chicago to Chico, CA and back again, it was $10k to disassemble/reassemble the set each time.

There's a large set here:

California State Railroad Museum
(916) 323-9280

https://g.co/kgs/ESHWexc

 

[Another Johnson]

Since I started this thread, I’ve pretty much gone “hog wild” expanding the model train foot print here. I’ve got a fairly large G scale layout with three power districts. It’s all indoors. The grandson loves it. The size of the g scale people and buildings make this layout a literal wonderland for his imaginary play. He is having a ball.

I’ve also added a large five power district HO layout. It is mixed, with some DCC and some analog. He is having fun there too, but DCC is really overly complicated for a 5 year old. But it’s a great playground for me. I’ve collected HO scale trains for decades. This is the first time I’ve really set up a serious layout.

The trains are like a large tank of African cichlids. Great fun to watch them in their natural habitat. Very soothing to watch, but no serious combat as can occur with the cichlids.

 

[Another Johnson]

Four months deeper in … I’ve got 7 HO districts now. The latest is based on my 2009 Roco digital start set, but greatly expanded, including incorporation of a Walthers powered turntable and roundhouse. The Roco/Walthers layout is elevated above the 6 Kato districts. The Roco is under multiMAUS control. The Kato is controlled by MRC, with the cabability to switch any Kato district to analog control when I want to run straight DC trains.

The G scale is split between ESU control and analog control, again with the purpose of allowing legacy DC locomotives to run.

The grandson still prefers G scale because the figures are closer to the size of action figures, so it is easier to play with them. I loaded passengers into the passenger cars, and his main concern was that now some of the dogs that he’d assigned owners to are waiting without care while their owners ride around the layout.

The train hobby can be expensive too, but it doesn’t begin to approach the expense of high end audio. $15k can get you a very nice train room … $15k is chump change in high end audio.

 

[Another Johnson]

As I suggested in an @Lee thread about making a $20k expenditure to upgrade, I have now added a 1.5 ton Mitsubishi minisplit to the G scale room. I’ve also ordered a fairly large air filtration system to control cigar fumes and it will be here later this week. Of course I barely scratched $6k with these upgrades.

As for the audio system, I still can’t think of an upgrade worth pursuing. I am mesmerized every time I turn it on and sit down. Maybe I’m super easy to please … but it took the best part of 50 years of upgrading to get to this point. I really feel like the audio system is “done.”