Lionel O-gauge train platform - under Christmas tree

[heat seeker]

I'm a 'Flyer man myself.....I started collecting them a few years ago, only setting up when the tree is up. Here is a quick shot from last year:



For me, dragging it out during Christmas time keeps it special for me and my 8 year old son.......

Wow, did that bring back memories! Do you have a source for the red and green switch bulbs, and the smoke capsules? I would love to get mine smoking again!

 

[Iembalm4aLiving]

Wow, did that bring back memories! Do you have a source for the red and green switch bulbs, and the smoke capsules? I would love to get mine smoking again!

For AF parts: http://www.portlines.com/

I don't think anyone makes the smoke capsules anymore, but I've got a few different "flavors" of smoke fluid from here: (They work and smell great!)

http://megasteam.com/index.html

Have fun!

 

[heat seeker]

Great, thanks for the links!

 

[begreen]

Wow, did that bring back memories! Do you have a source for the red and green switch bulbs, and the smoke capsules? I would love to get mine smoking again!

Me too. That video reminded me of the smell of that smoke. We had nifty accessories like a cattle car and cattle paddock that loaded the cows onto the car. That was my favorite. And we had a red/green sephamore too. FWIW, I am not WWI vintage, but our set was from the 50s.

 

[heat seeker]

My set is from the mid 50's, and I have the cattle car and paddock too. It was also my favorite. I had two sets, a diesel passenger set, and a steam freight set. One day I decided to put every car on the track to be pulled by the steam engine. The cars went around one end of the oval, and the little engine that could pulled hard enough to topple the cars inward off the track. I was impressed even back then!
It was also cool to darken the room to see the engine's headlight, and the lights in the passenger cars. The caboose had a funky wheel to pick up the voltage, so that the light inside flickered like a lantern would.
Now I really have to set it up this year

 

[Ashful]

Guys... this cattle car and paddock... Lionel O-gauge or AF 2-rail? I want to have a look at this.

edit: just found this (thanks Google!):

 

[heat seeker]

Mine is 2 rail AF. It has a contact strip that the cattle car contacts, and the floor of the car vibrates so the cattle "walk" in and out of the car. Pretty high tech for the times! The corral also vibrates so the cattle mill around.

 

[Ashful]

My dad had quite a setup, from when he was a kid, and I played with it in the 1970's/1980's. Unfortunately, most of the buildings and towers were broken, either in moving, storage, or by us kids. I do remember several magnetic element tracks, that would do things like automatically couple / un-couple cars, and dump a log car or a coal car. He also had a large log "mill", identical to this, which I'll bet is stored in mom's basement.

 

[fossil]

I had that log loader. Loved it.

 

[heat seeker]

Guys... this cattle car and paddock... Lionel O-gauge or AF 2-rail? I want to have a look at this.

edit: just found this (thanks Google!):
View attachment 117491

Nice!
It looks like a Lionel, my AF was quite different. It's packed away, or I'd post a pic.

 

[Ashful]

It's packed away, or I'd post a pic.

There's this thing called the internet... full of pictures.

Was this the one?

 

[heat seeker]

That's it, complete with the brown and black cattle.

 

[begreen]

Guys... this cattle car and paddock... Lionel O-gauge or AF 2-rail? I want to have a look at this.

edit: just found this (thanks Google!):
View attachment 117491

Was this the one?

AF 2 rail. That's it Joful. Boy that brings back memories. I must have spent days if not weeks playing with that.

 

[SlyFerret]

Just saw this on woot.com this morning. They're clearing out some O gauge trains (through 12/2/13).
http://www.woot.com/plus/lionel-trainditional-xmas

(For those that don't know woot.com, it is Amazon.com's flash sale site.)

-SF

 

[Ashful]

Cool! Thanks.

 

[FanMan]

When I was very young, my Dad put together a simple train setup... an inner loop of Lionel 3 rail, and an outer loop of American Flyer. Later, he pulled out an HO setup with 3 independent lines. Supposedly it was originally around the Christmas tree but I don't remember that. After we moved, and the Lionel and AF transformers had burned up, we built a larger HO setup together. Messed with it for years, then took it apart to build the "ultimate" HO layout... around which time we got into R/C airplanes, so the ultimate layout was never built. I still have all of the HO stuff, though, packed away in boxes in the attic. I did dust it off and run a loop of the HO stuff around the tree when my daughters were young, though... coal cars filled with candy and other goodies.

 

[Ashful]

Hah... I see that story over, and over, again! Mine is the same. Several small layouts as a kid and pre-teen. Decided to build the "ultimate" layout around age 14, but was distracted by girls and cars, long before it was ever finished.

 

[El Finko]

Just stumbled upon this thread.

Emphatically, I state: If you have kids... And you have trains... Put the trains around the tree.

Go do it right now.

Right now.

Bar none, my fondest childhood memories revolve around my dad and trains.