# What got you started in large scale?



## Mike Toney (Feb 25, 2009)

What got you started in large scale trains? For myself it was a combination of a few things, bad eyesite and some hints I dropped as I really wanted a set but lacked the extra$$ at the time. That gotl helped along by my Aunt and Uncle giving me a LGB starter set about the time I graduated from high school. It comes direct from Germany and from the home of LGB at that time. They picked it up on one of thier many trips there to visit his parents and family there. I used the set mostly under the familys Christmas tree, sometimes a temporary outdoor layout. That changed after getting married and getting our own place. Now with my eyesite going downhill as I get older, large scale is my primary scale with what little HO I have left in a display case on the wall. I stuck with LGB as it became my prefered brand, and while I am mostly European prototype now. I have had USA prototypes from LGB and other brands but always came back to LGB. I like the size of the trains, how quiet they can run when compared to the Lionel 3 rail stuff I mostly modeled in over the years. When I switched our overhead layout in our living room over to LGB, my wife said we were done with Lionel other than my fathers vintage set from the 40's. I am sure everybody has thier prefered brand, era ect. What got you here? Mike and Missy


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## Semper Vaporo (Jan 2, 2008)

It ultimately started in 1949 when I was 3 and a half years old and I was "scared airborne" by a steam locomotive suddenly appearing from behind the bus station, blowing its whistle and belching steam UNDER the car I was in.

Some people go bungee jumping or sky diving to get their adrenaline up... I go stand next to a Steam Locomotive!

When I found out I could actually own a real Live Steam Locomotive I considered the Ride-on scales but didn't have the room. I kept shrinking my expectations until I got to the Aster USRA Light Mikado and found that I could afford it using two charge cards and that year's tax refund.

But to SEE that engine run, I needed track and cars to pull, so I am into "large scale" as a result.

Blame it on Dad having to commute to his job in Indianapolis while we lived in Salem (100 miles apart) and we met him at the bus station in Seymour on Friday nights for his weekend with the family.


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## catherine yronwode (Oct 9, 2013)

I grew up around trains. I had had some HO experience but i waited a long time to go large scale as it is expensive. Bad eyesight and a love of gardening and no room in the house led me to large scale. I am happy i still have my health to enjoy planting gardens and running trains outdoors, which, i feel, is where they belong.


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## Mike Toney (Feb 25, 2009)

Thanks for posting Cat, I like cat have bad eyes, not as bad as hers thankfully but I have worn glasses and am bascily blind without them since I was a young child. I can go back pre large scale and I have been obsessed with trains since I was old enough to remember. I have never let it go, even during my teenage years. Cat and I share many of the same obsessions, trains, gardening ect. Hopefully she wont mind me posting this, we are both Aspies. That is someone who has Aspergers Syndrome which is a high functioning form of autism. And Aspies make awsome model railroaders! Cheers Mike


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## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

I've always been into trains but had no room for an indoor layout. Then I saw the Bachmann Climax in 2000 and I was sold. Built a small backyard layout, but then bought an Accucraft Mich-Cal #2 live steamer and never looked back. Curves on my layout were R1 - too sharp for the live steam, so I tore it out. Now I just run at various steamups (though I haven't even done that in a year). Going to the NSS next week.


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## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

I have always been into trains, all scales over the years, was doing HOn30 in the 90's, but got burned out on the crappy drives and living in a tiny apartment didn't help. I got into LS almost by accident when shortly after we bought our place in 1998, I came across an LGB set for sale cheap at hobby store that was closing. It was a standard Stainz set. I thought hard about it but I held off because I didnt want a Euro set. I have always been fascinated with LGB and with a new house the idea of an outside layout had alot of appeal. So I started looking on this newfangled thing called Ebay. I really liked the Toytrain line Porter and back then they went for cheap. So I placed a bid on one and won it! I only intended at that point to keep it be on display but one thing lead to another and before I knew it I had two Porters a Mack and a slew of Toytrain and HLW cars and a small loop of track behind the garage. I eventually had to move indoors but thats another story.


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## backyardRR (Aug 14, 2012)

As a long time Model Railroader I have had an HO layout since the first year my wife and I moved into our house nearly 40 years ago. Over the years I had expanded my gardening activities to the point where I called myself a “backyard megalomaniac” adding patios, walkways, planters, etc.  Then came retirement 2 years ago.  As a goal driven person I needed something major to hang my hat on, so to speak, during the transition to retired life. I had always looked at garden trains with envy and wondered if I could do something with them in my backyard. A Bachmann Big Hauler set, a loop of Aristo track around the patio and the rest is history.  Many wheelbarrows full of dirt and bags of paver base later, the Knackered Valley Railroad meanders through my backyard. While I only have a staging yard to complete, probably next spring, I will always be adding something year after year.


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## eheading (Jan 5, 2008)

My wife got me into large scale railroading. I had Lionel "O" gauge trains as a kid. While in high school I sold all of those and started with HO. Big mistake. I was always having conductivity problems. Got discouraged and put them into storage. While working I dabbled with "N" gauge, but had more troubles than I did with HO. When we moved here to Florida my wife kept saying "why don't you try large scale trains?" We had seen some that friends had. So I tried an Aristo starter set. ----- And the rest was history!! I, like Catherine like my trains outside and on the ground. Even at 77 I can still get up and down, so I am continuing to enjoy them there.

Ed Headington


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## kormsen (Oct 27, 2009)

i never threw away my toy soldiers. so i got a growing collection of mainly cowboys and civil war figures in scales from 1:32 to 1:25.
Christmas 69 (or was it 70?) my mother surprised me with a train to "fit" with my figures.
a 1:22.5 LGB train set.
over the years it expanded a little.


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## work4fil (Jan 4, 2008)

I always loved trains since I was in diapers. I had all of the baby scales growing up, but it was the large scale layout at the LA County fairgrounds that made me break out in a sweat. I could not figure out why, then I discovered this website.

I have not looked back, though I could always use more trains.

Fil


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

0-10 yrs Lionel... the 6-8-6 turbine and a handcar. Long freights, plus work train.
11-40 yrs HO. Son of Navy Chaplain, I was converted to HO to save on weight during moves .... I was sad when he gave the Lionel away, it was a good friend...
Living arrangements nixed big layouts On3 finescale offered satisfying dioramas...
40-54 yrs On3, had plans to take it outdoors when I bought my home. First year I witnessed a summer Monsoon wash sand over my 1 1/4" ladder work, then I looked at the fine scale flanges on my brand new K-27. I trashed 200' of trex ladder and bought a starter set...
Other than a club during high school, my trains really weren't much of a social thing. Large scale has changed that. Through this site I now have fine new friends.
John


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## Mike Toney (Feb 25, 2009)

Trains for me were a "crutch" to help with social situations. One of the struggles for someone that has Aspergers Syndrome is lack of social skills and being able to function well in a social situation. Trains were both an escape for me and a way to make friends and no be a total hermit. Love the stories so far, keep them coming! Mike


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## Randy Stone (Jan 2, 2008)

At the age of around three, my dad built a HO layout on the floor next to my bed. As long as I can remember, my dad and I would travel south to Clarksburg WV, north to Morgantown WV and 90 miles further north to Pittsburg PA to look at cars and hit all the hobby shops. Dad built a couple other nice HO layouts in the next few years and then in 1965 after my grandfather died, my grandmother gave me my late twin uncles American Flyer trains which I still have today. Being I am now renting a house with no fenced yard, I should have stuck with the American Flyer trains but after my dad passed away in 2006, I inherited his G trains and proceeded to amaze a quite large collection of locos and rolling stock. Being a former coal miner in WV, my favorite trains are coal trains and I've amazed a fleet of 70 coal hoppers with most being 2 bay MDC hoppers. B&O is my main railroad with D&RGW and Rock Island also on the roster. I have built my roster with items I liked the looks of. Rock Island RR? I really like the Red and Black with white stripes paint scheme. D&RGW? I love the Yellow Ski Train. It's the same with manufacturers. I have AML, Aristo Craft, Bachmann, Delton, LGB, Lionel, MDC/Roundhouse, Piko and USAT brand locos, frt cars and passenger cars. My Dash 9 is battery/RC while everything else is DC powered.


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## Bill C. (Jan 2, 2008)

I grew up with trains too under the influence of both my father and grandfather. Just recently I passed along my grandfather's 1923 standard gauge passenger set, originally purchased from Nicholas Smith Trains, to my oldest grandson, so the tradition continues.

I got into large scale in 1986 when I was part of a team that build a layout for a local museum. Part of it can be seen above. All my grand kids have large scale trains too.


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## BigRedOne (Dec 13, 2012)

I also left HO due to too many stoppages, having to clean track every time I wanted to run, and bits of dust getting on the track and in the locomotives. I really liked my Marklin, the wide range of prototypes offered, and fine detail. 

With large scale, I haven't had a conductivity problem or cleaned a piece of track yet. The only "problems" I've had in large scale are the tight curves and lack of DCC - both of which are solvable.


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## JackM (Jul 29, 2008)

When we were kids, mo brother and I always looked forward to the month before Xmas when Dad would bring out the 4x8 sheet of homasote that protected our ping pong table from the oval of American Flyer track, the accessories, Plasticville buildings, mirror with ice skaters, etc. And the annual trip to the local photographic store that carried Am.Fly, to add a new car to our layout.

Admittedly, we were more than a bit envious of our three cousins with a bigger, louder, flashier, and FASTER Lionel layout in their basement. Their Santa Fe A-B units were still beautiful in spite of what must've been a hundred or two trips to the concrete floor. They just picked 'em up, put 'em back on the track and proceded at full speed. But_ our trains have more realistic TWO rail track,_ we told ourselves. And our layout looked better, too.

In my 30s, I got into HO, marriage and sharing trains with my son. Early on, we had a house on about two acres (practically a ranch to a city boy like me). Everytime I had to mow the grass and/or weeds, I thought it would be cool to have a train (thinking Lionel-size) running outdoors since I had so much space. I didn't know there was such a thing as "G" scale.

Two decades (and divorces) later I buy myself a small house on 3/4 acre that was under two feet of snow, since it was January. Turned out a previous owner was "really into flowers". I knew nothing, so I pulled anything that looked ugly and crossed my fingers about what I kept and the place looks pretty decent now.
And I had some disposible income. The operative word there is "dispose".
 
JackM

Did I mention my Grandfather was an upholsterer on the Pullmans, and I grew up in Buffalo when it was a big, prosperous city - second only to Chicago for railroads.


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## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

Just something cool for the gophers to tear up instead of the lawn that I removed.

Got the gophers licked years ago.


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## SD90WLMT (Feb 16, 2010)

Did the lawn grow back.....!


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## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

SD90WLMT said:


> Did the lawn grow back.....!


 
No. Only remnant of the lawn is the bit of Bermuda grass that occasionally manifests itself in the society garlic at the very corner of the yard. I keep pulling it out and it keeps breaking off at the ground line and later shows itself in the garlic.

I controlled the gophers by removing the soil down about 8" and placing 1/2" galvanized mesh wherever there was no hardscape.


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

When I moved to Cave Creek AZ from Santa Rosa CA My nextdoor neighbor was president of a HO club. He got me to join. We when to a show at a mall in Scotsdale. We had a portable layout. They guy was a Jerk. I saw some G scale guys who had track on the floor on some astro turf They were having all kinds of fun. So I went a gave away my 8 hopper cars, caboose and engine. I went in search of G scale . I have been having fun ever since.


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## JPCaputo (Jul 26, 2009)

I finally could afford them, and was to soon have the space to get a layout going. Still working on an indoor ceiling lader system, and hopefully soon a garden with a layout as well. I grew up with HO, and N, I recently got some lionel as well, and a 3/4" lbsc rainhill protect engine.


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## ewarhol (Mar 3, 2014)

When I was around 3-4 yoa I would get up in the middle of the night to run out to Grandma and Grandpa's front porch to watch a SOO Line train pass by less than a block away. My Dad grew up in the Twin Cities area and he would take me to different train watching spots. I loved watching trains roll by. Then when I was about 5-6 yoa my Dad brought his Lionel set home from when he was a kid. I set the Lionel trains up in the basement with my Lego's and was hooked on model railroading from there. I transitioned into HO scale for 25+ years. Belonged to a HO scale club for about 15 years. That was a great time, learned lots! 

But my interest in large scale came in the summer of 1997. I just graduated from high school and my family took a vacation to Gatlinburg, TN. There I visited a hobby store. I saw a USA Trains switcher painted in the Atlantic Coast Line scheme. To this day I'm not sure if was the size of that engine or the paint scheme (closely resembled the Minnesota Vikings jersey colors) that drew me in. I purchased the engine (with help from Mom and Dad) and stared at it the whole trip home. I bought 10 feet of straight track and ran that engine back and forth. 

In our home now I had a small HO layout. After our third child was born the layout came down. I was bummed because model railroading was/is my stress reliever. One night I looked at my large scale trains that were sitting on a shelf. I thought what a perfect time to start a small and basic garden railroad for when we build on our acreage some day. Now that I've been modeling in large scale I'm hooked on the size. I've watched lots of neat videos with figure and building animation. 

I'm in my mid 30's, but someday I'll be in my 60's like my Dad. He's gone back to his original Lionel set because it's easier to handle and see. So when my wife and I build the questions is, HO scale layout inside or large scale layout inside? Leaning towards large scale for inside. Only drawback is I wish there was more modern locomotives and rolling stock, maybe someday.


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## SD90WLMT (Feb 16, 2010)

How modern are you looking for in locos Eric??

Modern cars n locos are large!!!

How large.... are ya gunna build indoors?

..just thoughts!!

Dirk


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## Conrail Mark (Feb 18, 2012)

Always loved trains but a chance encounter with a USAF guy's laptop screen saver in Iraq hooked me on 1:29 Standard Gauge. A USAT GP9 and 40ft Steel Boxcar, both in Conrail Blue, were waiting for me on my return home and that was that. 11 years and a lot of learning later I am about to commence construction of what I hope will be the next 20 years worth of railroad, set in the 80s in the CR heartlands. What a great hobby!


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## ewarhol (Mar 3, 2014)

Dirk-

- Engines... ES44 and SD70ACe

- Rolling Stock... I guess there's all the basics out there, just need to sharpen up my kit bashing skills to customize the cars.

- For indoors we'll have a large pole building with an upper level. That's where I'm thinking of building a large scale indoor layout. I know I won't be able to have as much as track, scenery, etc if I was to build in HO scale. I'm just tossing around ideas for the indoor layout.


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## SD90WLMT (Feb 16, 2010)

Yep...those two locos could be a scratch builders ...heaven or nitemare....

Go for it!!

I'm not there yet....time n bench way too full for now!! ha!!

Dirk...dream Big ..I say!!


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## Sampug394 (Dec 30, 2010)

Started with HO around 6/7 years old when my family built a layout in my bedroom for my birthday... Every time I went to my late grandfather's home in Evergreen though, I liked to run my Grandpa's LGB layout in the carpetless attic upstairs. (Tons of electric switches, two loops and reverse loops, and a hilariously tight three-track circular 'yard'. Three moguls and a 2017, two of which he converted to crude R/C, a boatload of D&RGW coaches, and a spare few freight cars. He dreamed of a garden railroad, but huge herds of elk made him resign to indoor operation instead.

Fast forward several years, I am old enough to run the whole layout on my own, and my interest in HO began to wane with my first G scale locomotive acquired around 16/17 years - A 1983 Chocolate brown 2010 Stainz:










After that, the large scale bug bit me pretty good as I steadily bought/added more track to run the stainz on at home. The stainz paid plenty of visits to my grandpa's line to shunt cars around there too. Then my mother's remarriage introduced me to my now-late Stepgrandfather, who steadily gave me the remnants of his once massive collection of G scale. Several 30' freight cars, two LGB moguls of my own, an Aster climax, and endless feet of track later, I found myself amassing an empire.

Sometime around then my great uncle gifted me his S gauge American Flyer collection, which has steadily grown among the G gauge and remains the second of my two main scale interests.










The fun part now, at 20 years, is playing with such a massive hobby in one room of a downtown Denver apartment...


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## xo18thfa (Jan 2, 2008)

Watching hours and hours and hours of Thomas the Tank Engine videos with our son


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## benshell (Oct 1, 2008)

My dad got me into HO scale at age 3 and I’ve been hooked on trains ever since (I’m 32 now). I saw an occasional garden railway in Model Railroader Magazine in the late 80’s and soon switched to Garden Railways Magazine! I got a Bachmann Big Hauler in about 1993, an Aristo-Craft starter set in about 1995, and a USA Trains F3AB set in 2003. After getting married, and buying our house in 2010, I immediately started working on a railway, and buying a lot more equipment. I still have big plans for the future but was excited to complete my 500 foot mainline just in time for the West Coast Regional Meet last month. Somedays I do look back and wish there was product availability in large scale (especially in 1:29th) like in HO or O scales, but it’s not worth going back. I love the size of our trains and I love being outdoors.


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## CliffyJ (Apr 29, 2009)

I've been a fan of Nevada silver mining history since I was a kid, and I had an HO layout in my teen years. In '08, my better half said I needed to get my mind off of work, and suggested a garden RR. And she gave me the back yard to do it. Once I put the mining history and the V&T together with that thought, it was a slam dunk.

(Ben, absolutely gorgeous river! I've never seen anything like that. I'll be your guests wanna jump in!)


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## BigRedOne (Dec 13, 2012)

Ben,

That's a lovely railway!

Do you have any more pictures, track plan?


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## SD90WLMT (Feb 16, 2010)

No..sorry.
.Ben..
Please start a layout thread ..under layouts n track n stuff.!!

But first .....how do you get the water...soooo. BLUE..

Dirk


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

Pool paint or liner?


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## SD90WLMT (Feb 16, 2010)

Any one with a queball....!

Paint..
...I do paint!!

;-)


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## pete (Jan 2, 2008)

My wife did she enjoys g scale trains as much as I do.


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## rntfrmme (May 23, 2013)

I started out very young with an American Flyer set. The layout grew over my teenage years to two steam locos and two diesels with more than a few cars. Two four by eight sheets of plywood and a lot of matchbox cars gave me a lot of joy growing up. 

Fast forward to the eighties and I got into ho for a few years, lost the room to family and kind of got out of it.

Fast forward to a couple years ago, discovered garden trains and knew that was the way to go. Been moving dirt for weeks now in preparation of laying track.

bill


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## jnic (Jan 2, 2008)

My therapist said I needed a hobby.


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## hcampbell (Jan 2, 2008)

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned, I think, Bachman's original Big Hauler set.
RC Battery Loco, flat car, gondola and caboose, cheap at Dept and toy stores.

Harvey C.


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## benshell (Oct 1, 2008)

CliffyJ said:


> (Ben, absolutely gorgeous river! I've never seen anything like that. I'll be your guests wanna jump in!)





BigRedOne said:


> Ben,
> That's a lovely railway!
> Do you have any more pictures, track plan?





SD90WLMT said:


> No..sorry.
> .Ben..
> Please start a layout thread ..under layouts n track n stuff.!!
> But first .....how do you get the water...soooo. BLUE..
> Dirk





Totalwrecker said:


> Pool paint or liner?


Thanks for the kind words and questions! You've help motivate me to start a long delayed forum topic about building my layout: http://forums.mylargescale.com/16-track-trestles-bridges-roadbed/37954-building-pacific-inland-express.html


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## Pete Chimney (Jan 12, 2008)

In 1994 I had started up again in N-scale and HO-scale trains after a 25 year hiatus from Lionel 3-rail trains. 

Then I saw an ad in Damark, a mail order catalog from Minnesota, and ordered a Big Hauler set. One set became two and then I upgraded to LGB track and added some better Bachmann locomotives. Surprisingly the two original Big Haulers still run and do not have the gear problems that many of those earlier locomotives seemed to develop.

Lately I have added 0n30 and just got back into N-scale but this time buying Kato locomotives, they run like Swiss watches. You might say I am a train scale-schizophrenic but glad to have the afflication.


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