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jlong
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 Posted - October 21 2006 : 11:22:18 PM
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We are the few, the proud, the tinplate HO collectors.
I can't quite figure it out but all the new dynamite engines such as Athearn Genisis, Broadway Limited, Atlas Master, etc don't do it for me the way 60's/70's tinplate HO does. It can't be IHC or Model Power remakes. It has to be the real McCoy. Today I listened to an EMD digital sound demo at a hobby shop. It didn't hold a candle to the humming of a Tyco/Mantua diesel motor. I looked over all his Atlas and Kato stock. Nothing excited me. I then stumbled on a NOS AHM ATSF RS-2 (unpowered) and was practically estatic....all for ten bucks. It is sitting on my monitor as I type and I feel as if my life is complete. It's a thing of beauty.
Grade school memories of what we had and wonderings and yearnings of what we didn't have, have a lot to do with it I'm sure as we gazed at it all in Model Railroader ads, AHC catalogs, and the train section in Woolworths.
Maybe it's because modern manufactured trains have lost the human touch as much of the tooling and assembly is done with CNC machines and robotics. New trains are too perfect for our tastes maybe. I've spent considerable hours gazing at pics of 60's AHM steamers on ebay. They are just plain fascinating and addictive to look at. The chunky cast in accessories and piping gives them character all their own. I am not alone I see as some of these beautys closed at some hefty prices.
At this moment, my heart is pouring out to the train Gods. Those who stockpiled tinplate HO in the 60's and 70's and hardly or never ran it. I have to watch my spending but let me tell you getting a like new or mint piece is priceless. I also need to watch my foot as racing home to see if the train Gods dropped anything on my porch may get me a speeding ticket.
John Long
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Posted - October 22 2006 : 12:19:13 AM
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AMEN Brother!
Carl T. Jack of all scales,master of none.
President of the Cape James Terminal RR.
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Posted - October 22 2006 : 01:25:26 AM
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John - while I hardly pretend to qualify as a tinplate HO collector, I think we can share some common ground in the rediscovery of fantasies of our respective childhoods.
Can't tell you how often I scanned the backs of brown boxes, wondering where I could find (and how I could afford) the host of accessories listed there. For years Tyco (and the occasional Bachmann or LifeLike in stock at Toys R Us and Child World) was the only thing I could find. When I came across an old TycoScene catalog, long after the pieces were no longer readily available, I thought it was the second coming. There’s something to be said for those hand-tooled cars, lovingly crafted from hand-drawn schematics, that have stood the test of time and play for decades and counting. Yeah, there were some field steamers along the way, but there are true gems to behold too.
I won’t lie – I think my sound-equipped luggers are a marvel and I enjoy them. However, for day-to-day ops, nothing beats the pure, unadulterated growl of an Athearn, or the ozoney smell of a PowerTorque or MU-2, for true fun.
And the train gods do smile occasionally. That second blue coal hopper I got, I don’t think the box had EVER been cracked open. What a pity! It felt so right to link that guy up in a consist with its brethren. Meant to be ENJOYED, not hermetically sealed in crappy cellophane.
Model Railraoder used to say “Model Railroading is Fun” on the cover. Where has that gone? As the price and fidelity of new offerings shoot higher and higher into the rivet-counting stratosphere and beyond the reach of the next lost generation of hobbyists, there’s just so much to be said for the old soldiers brought to us by Tyco and others. I am a modeler before a collector, but unearthing these old standbys is something more modelers should admit to.
-Tony L.
Edited by - GoingInCirclez on October 22 2006 01:26:24 AM
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 Posted - October 22 2006 : 05:58:18 AM
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aaah tinplate the smell of it it the litho graph printing,my main collection is o gauge hornby from the 20s onwards,most of it starts life with me like one below,dented,rusty,etc,this one is about halfway done regarding panel beating?but thats the fun of it,to bring the dead back to life for another 50 years or more,ken  
Edited by - catfordken on October 22 2006 06:02:01 AM
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jlong
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Posted - October 22 2006 : 09:22:04 AM
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Catford, great project. I've always held a fascination for colorful european tinplate. You guys have all the great stuff let me tell you. I remember as a kid, gazing at color pics of european tinplate layouts. They were mystical and way beyond reach. European trains are as much of an artform as they are functional objects. The founder of the Lionel corporation knew this and contracted the tooling for prewar Lionel to Italy. This is why much of prewar Lionel has a european flavor to it and doesn't really follow American prototypes. It wasn't until the early 1930's when America was streamlining equipment that Lionel started tooling American prototypes.
Tony, yes, there is some real eye candy of the brown box era. the blue coal hopper you mention as well as the Planters Peanuts and Old Dutch cleanser cars come to mind. So do Espee Daylight sharks and a variety of operating accessories such as the culvert loader and stockyard.
I admit there are some current production trains that are hard to say no to. Broadway Limited RSD-15 gators and Athearn tunnel motors come to mind.
John Long
Edited by - jlong on October 22 2006 09:33:57 AM
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Posted - October 22 2006 : 09:35:35 AM
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| must admit not much tinplate i will not collect,as its very much my era,and was built to be played with,same with the dublo items of the early period,we are also lucky in that we have a few backstreet engineers who still produce spares for said items ken
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Posted - October 22 2006 : 10:10:20 AM
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Tycollectors:
I like the contradictory title of this forum topic. "Tinplate" HO has become a more generic term than its manufactory roots (apologies to Ken, whose antique tinplate hobby would be the envy of many of us who had access to his "raw material). Rather, it most nearly applies to all that "vintage" (see earlier posts for topical discussion of same) generally ready-to-run HO compelled by too-deep wheel flanges to operate on code 100 rail (or some ancient even deeper iron). There are some anomalies. Hobbyline, Varney and Athearn probably qualify (Athearn certainly in its early plastic years) insofar as they had both ready to run and kit lines, sometimes offering the same kits catalogued both ways (like Tyco/Mantua--"tinplate HO" grandaddy). Athearn's RTR line was, in fact, quite extensive and their early train set offerings are legend. Embossed litho tin is itself another anomaly as Athearn, Varney, Mantua/Tyco and others did offer magnificent (and highly recommended) painted and lithographed tin (ocassionally brass) roadstock. The six tin litho-sided Tyco reefers are arguably that company's best rolling stock offerings ever. Generally, "tinplate" HO discussion might include the legion of so-called "shake and bake" plastic kits (a few tin and tin-sided and some die-cast perhaps) and their ready to run cousins. Another benchmark is probably whether the manufacturer offered a train set line. This isn't always a clear rule of thumb. For example: is the pre-war Knapp ready-to-run Mountain, (a remarkably inexpensive offering compared to Walthers, Varney and Mantua kits) "tinplate?" It is pretty much all that line offered.
Or is Lindberg? They offered excellent scale plastic kits and two train "sets" offering the same SW1 engine for one year only.
Generally, though, the "train set" rule is applicable.
So there you have the general principles. Some collecting suggestions?
Tyco/Mantua; Hobbyline cum Lionel cum Varney cum Life Like cum Mantua cum Model Power and who knows where next; Globe/Athearn/Cox/Atlas (apologies, Athearn and Atlas snobs); Marx; Varney; Gilbert (HO spawn of Am Flyer and one of HO RTRs "fathers"); early Rivarossi and much other AHM; Aristo-Craft; Penn Line; Lindberg; Herkimer/HOTCO/OK/Crown; Revell...
Good hunting!
MagnoliaAcademy
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 Posted - October 22 2006 : 10:14:01 AM
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I agree that there is something about enjoying the '60s-'70s "HO Tinplate" offerings. That's the reason I started the TYCO site back in 2000, I couldn't believe one didn't already exist for interested parties to oggle pictures of old relics. I guess the draw is having grown up with the AHM-Bachmann-Cox-TYCO-etc. trains makes them desirable to us to this day.
The new stuff is great. I just recently picked up the Executive Series Bowser-Stewart U25B in Rock Island...and ended up digging out my old AHM U25C models for another look. So even the new pieces can lead to more fun with the old junk.
Though the "Rivet Counters" out there may rejoice that TYCO and its like basically no longer exist in today's market...I caution that the lack of TYCO is a big problem for the future of the hobby. We had better hope that Bachmann's Standard line, Walther's Trainline, and the new Atlas Trainman, among others are able to be the magnetic draw to the younger and novice modeler that TYCO once was to us.
I think it is very sad that you can't walk into Toys 'R Us, Wal-Mart, Target, Sears, K-Mart, etc. and find an aisle populated with inexpensive ready-to-run trains. In fact, I recently was looking through some AHM rolling stock and saw Sears price stickers on the boxes of some and thought how that just seems bizzare to me today...Sears having model trains??? But they did.
The majority of today's Kato-Proto-Atlas-Genesis-Tower 55 buyers were likely owners at one time of a TYCO or similar train set. TYCO was the starting point for so many and with its absence, I fear that we're not bringing in the vast numbers of future serious model railroaders needed to fuel the hobby to its best.
Tony Cook
HO-Scale Trains Resource
http://ho-scaletrains.net
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Posted - October 22 2006 : 11:02:23 AM
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Tony Cook's last post here speaks to what I regard as a agonizingly real and ever-widening bifurcation of the hobby; one that seems to parrallel changes in societal perceptions of class in this country. Remember the "rich kid" down the street with his Marklins or other fancy expensive trains? Well, as the late great middle class gets erased thru grinding attrition by those who think "meritocracy" is a dirty word (often the sons of the sons of the rich kids you hated when you grew up), we become a culture bifurcated into a few "haves" and a mass of "will never haves." HO model railroading seems destined (doomed?) to go down similar divergent paths: a lucky few "haves" (with magnificent and highly-detailed transcendentally-equipped digital-electro-mechanical wonders) and the rest--doomed to have nothing or "have craps": cheap, shoddy plastiform shadows of what our parents and grandparents called model trains. It is potentially, as Tony suggested, the death of this hobby.
I don't know whether there is a ready solution. All I know is I don't want the next generation to live out that prophetic Dickensian vignette, you all know the one: where shabby little Tiny Tim, hungry and dressed in rags, is forced to view magnificent Victorian models thru the glass of a toy shop window while snot-nosed and unappreciative rich kids play there-in with the stuff he can only dream of.
MA
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 Posted - October 22 2006 : 5:38:29 PM
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I've been saying the same thing as Tony C for quite a while now, and I couldn't agree more. It's painfully obvious to anyone who takes the time to look, that Model Railroading is a slowly-dying hobby. I don’t let that affect my own personal enjoyment of it, but it's a sobering thought nonetheless.
Sad indeed, that the fine new RTR sets from Bachmann and Athearn are relegated to Christmastime-only novelties at the major stores. Even then, most languish on the shelves until long past new years', when they can be had for amazing prices.
I vaguely recall when Trains commanded as much shelf space as Hot Wheels... and like Tony said, they were everywhere. But I think the industry and we hobbyists are to blame:
- As hinted by me several times and discussed by others, the RTR industry really shot its feet off in the 80's. CRAP CRAP CRAP in boxes. Seems when the fads of billboard fantasy cars and exciting rehashes of old products wore off and failed to finance continued ops... too many corners were cut. Of course Tyco did themselves in by going into every toy line imaginable... and seeing more profits there, left trains behind. But I don't know what Bachmann's excuse was - they were arguably even worse. And Life-Like was no better.
Give those three credit, though, for hanging on where AHM, Cox, and others failed to.
- Modelers want it all, and get it all... quickly leaving the old behind. But I am sick of having to "defend" my fascination with old RTR to the NMRA types. Rivetcounting will kill this hobby. While I reap the benefits, the fact is that tooling up proto-after-proto specific unit increases costs across the entire line. It's the self-eating snake. As MagAc said, we are approaching a caste of Haves and Have-nots.
- You can see the caste system in the pages of Model Railroader. Oh sure, like clockwork they'll trot out the "family 4x8" project in the December issue. Then it's back to the good ol' boys' club for the rest of the year. Same old cast of characters, same self-pontificating columns, same guys in the photo section month after month (winning the contests even as they have their own feature articles in the same issue), same useless product "reviews". The message they send in photos is that "If your layout doesn't look real, don't bother. And you better research your prototype for years, plan for real ops, join a SIG, and ditch that RTR crap if you want to be taken seriously. Oh, and get the second mortgage paperwork ready should you ever add up the price lists on our projects." (You ever read the bios on the featured layouts? It's always an engineer/ CEO/ lawyer/ doctor/ etc type.... where have all the blue-collar railroad archetypes gone?) Yet they rehash the same old beginners' tips issue after issue. And as they increase the costs of their rag yet again, while pushing their "e-mail newsletter" Banner Ad column every week, I realize they are doing no real favors to the hobby either - and I will not be renewing my subscription this year.
I dunno. I'm ranting too much. It's just a frustrating crossroads we find ourselves in. Mark my words, the "next generation" of Model Railroaders will be lost without ready, fun access to "stuff". I can't blame a parent for not spending the $150 retail price of a basic HO set, when kids want so much more these days. Given the lingering foul odor of inexpensive RTR of as recently as 15 and 10 years ago, even that $50 Athearn WalMart special looks suspect. "Yeah, I had all that garbage once and gave it away at a garage sale".
(OK, I really need to step away before ya'll come after me with antidepressants or something). Not sure how to close out other than, yeah - enjoy it while it lasts, and hope there's a budding young modeler / historian / collector interested in your stuff when the time comes someday...
-Tony L.
Edited by - GoingInCirclez on October 22 2006 5:43:58 PM
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Posted - October 22 2006 : 6:17:01 PM
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Tycanarchists:
If it is universally acknowledged that "tinplate HO" has merit beyond this generation of rivet counters, at least insofar as "Model Railroading is Fun" (black humor intended), then it is incumbent upon we few to assemble, collect and disseminate the message. It is also our individual and collective responsibility to build spectacular layouts, thereby evangelizing to the masses who would otherwise never know. THAT is how O tinplate experienced its rescue from societal extinction.
Work on your layout, brother... build it and they will come.
BUILD IT AND THEY WILL COME.
MagAc
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jlong
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Posted - October 22 2006 : 7:10:05 PM
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Magnolia, I picked up on "tinplate HO" on this forum as you pointed it out to me. I also noticed the term was also used by Gil Reid in the Dec 59 issue of Model Trains after you pointed it out to me.
Tony C, I agree that model railroad manufacturers have abandoned kids. Or is it kids abandoned model trains for computer games? Wally World stocks a full isle of computer games ranging from $20.00 to $75.00 and kids of all ages swarm that section. Walthers claims they bought Life Like for their slot car line and wants to take it to the mass market. I wonder if Walthers has plans to bring decent trainsets to the mass market. The $60.00 range seems about right for today's economy.
Tony L, I'm not a big fan of Model Railroader either as they are completely broken away from the toy realm of the hobby. I do like RMC's pages on vintage HO. I have several 50's issues of RMC which have lots of toy train articles of all scales.
For me, its toy all the way when it comes to layout. Golf course scenery, roadbed track, Colorful buildings, etc. A sharply painted Atlas diesel with sounds would fit the enviroment so my mind isn't completely closed.
John Long
Edited by - jlong on October 22 2006 7:21:33 PM
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Posted - October 22 2006 : 7:25:55 PM
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John:
"Model Railroading is Fun." Aint it ironic the self-proclaimed pulpit of model railroading increasingly banishes fun (and tinplate ho collecting and operation) from its "sacred" pages?
Having seen the mob scenes of young kids around toy-focussed tinplate layouts and modules at show after show, year after year. I stand by my invocation: work on that spectacular action-oriented toy-focussed fantasy-driven layout; violate all the rules of rivet-counting, ignore every axiom of modern by-the-book "serious" model railroading--build that sort of tinplate-cum-toybox confection,
build it and they will come.
MA
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jlong
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Posted - October 22 2006 : 11:54:43 PM
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quote:John:
"Model Railroading is Fun." Aint it ironic the self-proclaimed pulpit of model railroading increasingly banishes fun (and tinplate ho collecting and operation) from its "sacred" pages?
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Self Proclaimed pulpits is right. Kalmbach actually believes they, Walthers, and the NMRA "invented" scale model railroading. Here's some 200 proof BS printed in the July 85 issue of MR.
quote:AT THE THROTTLE
THE BIRTHPLACE OF MODEL RAILROADING
"I THINK it's proper to designate Milwaukee as the birthplace of the hobby of scale model railroading in North America --- if not the birthplace, certainly the city where the hobby came of age. It was here in Milwaukee that the hobby took shape, was given direction, and started to grow in the mid 1930's. It was here in Milwaukee that Bill Walthers started his company in 1932. Al Kalmbach launched his little magazine in 1933. And the members of the Milwaukee Model Railroad club called the founding convention of the National Model Railroader Association...................................
Russ Larson |
Give me a very big break here. Scale model railroading evolved before MR, Walthers, and the NMRA. To say it all started here in Sconsin is comical. These groups saw the growth of model railroading and were formed to support it. Nobody knows for sure but it most likely started in the Northeast when wealthy techies were scratchbuilding O scale steam locomotives with lathes and milling machines or bashing Lionel, Ives, and American Flyer into scale models. Evidence of this has shown up at TCA York meets as crude scale models dated well before 1933 have been shown.
John Long
Edited by - jlong on October 23 2006 07:49:50 AM
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Posted - October 23 2006 : 07:48:11 AM
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Hey Guys,
I have to say that one of the greatest things to come down the pike in some time was the creation of this TYCO Forum. In the past, I would occasionally post my "HO Tinplate" interests in others places only to see a string of MOANS, GROANS, and COMPLAINTS to follow. Finally, we have a spot to discuss our interests in "HO Tinplate" without the nonsense of Rivet Counters interference. And don't get me wrong...right now on my layout is the $160 Bowser-Stewart U25B in Rock Island and a $100-and-something Atlas Master Series SD24 in Union Pacific pulling cars from everyone from Trix and Kadee to Atlas and Branchline...so it's not all "junk" in my collection.
Someone just said that perhaps the kids left the market, not the manufacturers...that may be true. I do think though that modestly priced...somebody pegged $60 in a post above...train sets would find a home. Bachmann has them, and Walthers pretty much does too. I just wonder whether it is a lack of interest on the part of the Wal-Marts and Targets or has Bachmann and Walthers never tried to crack that nut??? I do know that guys go nuts looking for Bachmann's Large-Scale Sam's Club-Exclusive train set each year....but why doesn't that interest stretch to the other months of the year at these stores? I think there is interest...think what is needed is marketing of the product. If I could just hit those PowerBall numbers some week when it was really big, I'd put the TYCO name and new products back in stores and we'd see then. [^]
Tony Cook
HO-Scale Trains Resource
http://ho-scaletrains.net
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Posted - October 23 2006 : 12:49:21 PM
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I too am wondering if Walthers can put their distribution muscle behind a push to get more sets in stores year-round. I can't see why they would have wanted the slotcar line, though, since those are also mostly Christmastime novelties (with more to choose from, however).
You know, I feel that kids leaving manufacturers leaving kids might just be a sort of a chicken-and-egg scenario: while companies like Cox truly put some thought into their entries, the market just didn't take. I wasn't there so I don't know if it was pricing or availability or (lack of) interest, but it happened. Yet, out of a roomfull of grammar school classmates, half of whom had sets by Tyco, et al that didn't run worth a damn after a couple months... I'm one of just two who maintained an interest into High School. I wonder if the rest (and more importantly, parents), were simply just burned out on buying junk. Lord knows mine were, and you can't sell Trainscapes and accessories to someone whose train doesn't run... but it takes a sizeable investment of time and money to flip the expense ledger to where another Tyco loco would be merely "incidental" for the sake of the pike.
But you know... more I think about it, I think the railroads themselves are a big part to blame.
Forget about UP licensing fees. I'm talking about (as mentioned in my blog) railroads that mean nothing. "CSX"? "BNSF"? "CN"? Sure, that may be sensible business for shareholders, but how is a child supposed to feel any sense of romance and wonder for alphabet soup? Where is the connection to a hometown road running by the house - all those old geographic names are gone. The rainbows of billboard cars are faded and obscured by gangster graffiti*, and you have to watch trains for a long time before Chessie the Cat, CP's PacMan, and even BN's "Alligator Jaws" rekindle your imagination.
Railroads aren't newfangled anymore, so the gee-whiz factor is gone. Today's go-go-go culture sees them more as a nuisance. The railroads themselves take a posture of ultra-importnace and shoo the "terrorists" away. Small towns are left behind as unit-traffic is all that pays the bills.
So while new models are expensive, there's even less reason for kids to pine for them in spite. Kids who see opertaing tinplates of all scales have no real idea what they're seeing, or feel any connection to it. The "new young guard" of guys like me are the rare exceptions, but even I won't play to fool ad infinum. I hope to create a model railroad that my daughter can feel a connection to, rather than a collection of toys she'll never understand.
It's a vicious circle.
Edited by - GoingInCirclez on October 23 2006 12:53:28 PM
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jlong
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Posted - October 23 2006 : 1:21:42 PM
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Model trains may be more popular with kids than we think. Thomas the tank for example has a loyal following as well as the variety of wooden trains being collected by kids. As they get older, it's likely many will want an electric train.
I am happy we have this forum too as I've gotten turned off by the status quo you are expected to follow on scale model railroading forums.
John Long
Edited by - jlong on October 23 2006 1:25:10 PM
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Posted - October 23 2006 : 2:55:28 PM
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John - I suppose you're right. Really, all kids like trains at some point (personally I think Thomas is one scary mofo).
It's getting kids the chance to make some affordable lasting memories for themselves that's a challenge. At some point a 5 or 6-year old will realize that Thomas isn't real, and the real trains he sees look quite a bit different. THEN the game is on, and that's the market that's not being served too well. Once those boys and gorls are lost, there's little chance they'll pick it up on whim. And they won't be "returning" to it in their twenties and thirties and what have you.
MagAc - I hear ya, brother. I hear ya. All I can say for myself is - Stay tuned....
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Posted - October 23 2006 : 8:35:29 PM
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Circlez:
Waiting patiently...
I get tired of playing the wild-eyed, self-flagellating albino monk with the hair shirt in these forums, so I'll just thank the heavens for posts like "1976 remembered", shut up and play nice.
MagAc
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Posted - October 23 2006 : 11:16:30 PM
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quote:Circlez:
Waiting patiently...
I get tired of playing the wild-eyed, self-flagellating albino monk with the hair shirt in these forums, so I'll just thank the heavens for posts like "1976 remembered", shut up and play nice.
MagAc |
Aw, come on man! Without your scintillating testimonials, how will I ever play devil's advocate anymore? We're like the Odd Couple! [:D]
Kidding aside, in the best way, I really do enjoy your exhortations and encouraging words, and history lessons. You should know that I merely call's 'em like I see's 'em, while trying to cite evidence. Don;t take it personally... besides, despite what my wife may tell you, I never said I would love to be right all the time.
That said... I am also waiting patiently for the finishing touches to my little project here. I don't have the space to set it up fully proper, but... yeah. [}:)] You won't be disappointed. I got six pages already typed, waiting for the flora to grace it...
"Happy Rails, to you..."
-Tony L.
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Posted - October 23 2006 : 11:33:48 PM
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Circlez:
Aude aliquid dignum.
dare something worthy...
MA
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v8vega
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Posted - November 18 2010 : 12:48:24 PM
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The old Atlas track plans books had drawings of potential scenery ideas. Detailed how to wire so wiring was easy. and had a discription of the different operations that could be done. This was tinplate HO in a way. These books are worthy literally of studying. I'm heavy into O 3 rail and have HO also and the dead serious Model Railroader isent for me. I do read Model Railroader for layout ideas and construction articles.For years I was into V8 hot rods all my life, now to old, and near all of them scoff at todays kids with Honda's. I always kept a open mind. Many O 3 rail guys don't want any HO at there meets. And the serious HO guys think O isent near good enough. Model and toy trains definatly are a lot less popular in the Los Angeles area than not that many years ago. Shows now are small and few and far between. I have read on different forums that model railroading is much more popular in eastern states. My focus right now is on my O layout under constructtion and I have a HO high raiil planned and the framework done.
Dennis
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Posted - November 18 2010 : 6:53:53 PM
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I think a lot of the fun/whimsey factor has all but disappeared from the hobby - with the exception of some garden railway people, some Marx and/or pre-war tinplaters, and, of course, the fine people here. The "hobby" has almost become too serious - I've even seen people on the'net whining about how something like John Allen's masterpiece Gorre & Daphetid (link: http://gorre-and-daphetid.witt-family.com/) or the works of Malcomb Furlow aren't "acceptable" by modern "standards"!
I find myself responding to the latest and greatest from MTH/Atlas/Horizon et al with an "eh", while going ga-ga over finding a stash of Tyco or AHM at my favorite shop all the time...
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Posted - November 18 2010 : 9:19:17 PM
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Belonging to a train club has shown ME that there is still interest in trains by the younger crowd...but it's definitely being driven by Thomas, a British-based, not American, phenom. My club operates everything from '40's era steam to modern Amtrak iron, but it's only when THomas comes out of the shed do the lights in the kids eyes really light up. It's too bad there's no parallel American themed railroad show , but it is what it is. If you can hook them with Thomas, they might become more interested in others.Proving that point, some grandparents came to our open-house earlier this month, and the younger ( 5 year old ) was enthralled with me running Thomas around, but the older boy ( about 8 or 9 ) had "outgrown" Thomas ( so he said to Grandma ), but he was definitely interested in the other trains we had running around. So it's possible to get them interested in more sophisticated trains,but there really needs to be more child-friendly trains like Thomas for kids to get them back into it. Another downer is that kids "way back when" were interested in the trains of their era like the big steam engines, and streamlined diesels. Today's non-artistically designed , blah engines do nothing to inspire anyone anymore. They're efficient, but as someone said, there's no "connection" anymore. It's all about bulk traffic to squeeze the efficiency out of long-haul operations, so there's very few local operations anymore that kids can actually watch as well.
I think , if there were any new toy trains made to attract the attention of the next generation, it could be something like a Turbo train, streamlined, VERY fast ( even if unrealistically ), and have interesting accessories. Video games have taken over as a top competitor for kid's attention, and a standard boring slow train won't hold their attention long. Thomas HO gauge is VERY fast for it's size, most will outpace the professional HO engines on our layout, and guys grump about getting rear-ended by Thomas. LOL. But I'll bet that is part of the attraction of Thomas as a toy it's not a slow moving engine, he hustles around the track and boys like that. Sorry , rivit counters.  Or, maybe a revival of the Hustler type of engine, with some flamboyant paint schemes, and fun accessories, might help change things in the American market of toy trains. I think the Hustler / 44-ton engine would be a perfect candidate for countering Thomas' insidious invasion of US trackage. Much like the Beatles invaded American rock n' roll,and had Elvis pissed off. LOL. We need a counter-invasion by some Americanized rail iron that's fun, cheap, and well-made enough to withstand some punishment by the kids. A Hustler type would be the ticket, metal gear drive, almost bullet-proof. We just need a "hook" like the TV show to help promote it some.
Anyway, just my opinions on this subject , as I see how kids love THomas, so that is the way I think we could grab some back, if we "hustle" some. 
Jerry in Virginia
" When life throws you bananas...it's easy to slip up"
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