EMD Trainmans Lionel train set

EMD trainman Nov 15, 2008

  1. EMD trainman

    EMD trainman TrainBoard Member

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    Hi to all, you might rmember me from the G scale section. To all of those die hard G scalers, please don't worry, I'll never get away from G scale.

    I started out with Lionel as a kid, just like all other boys then, I wanted a train set for Christmas. Finally in 1974 I got a starter set but can't remember what it was called, but maybe some Lionel die hard person can tell me. It came with a 0-4-0 Rock Island steam switcher which had a mechanical lever inside for foward-neutral-reverse, a green Penn Central gondolla car, a yellow Union Pacific flat bed car and a red Rock Island bobber caboose which was all 027 scale Lionel. It was added to traditionally every year, then of course the "There is no such thing of santa speech" that finally arrised. this ended up being a good thing because my parents brought me along to shop for the one Lionel toy train car to pick out. I started to pick out the heavier 0 gauge cars instead of the 027 gauge cars. Then one day in 1984 I believe, my 0-4-0 switcher came to a smoking halt and was not repairable. After alot of begging and pleading, I got a new locomotive the following year, it was a Lionel F3 Preamble Express locomotive broken from a set and again I was happy. eventaully I graduated school, went to work and started to buy trains on my own. Pretty soon I had 70 rolling stock, a SD-45 Chessie system, a F3 A-B-A Union Pacific locomotive set and a 2-4-2 Pennsylvania Railroad steam engine. Then came you have to put these toys up and be a man speach. Me & my Dad never saw eye to eye on this subject, I took all of those trains and sold them off to a collector, took the money and ran with it, eventaully ending up in the car show hobby which my Dad didn't agree with me on either, but now I was on my own.

    After many years in 1997, my dad was diagnosed with cancer, after surgery he wated to make things up and spend time together. this never happened, the cancer came back and he died in 1998. I moved back home in 1999, Mom moved out and bought another house, I was eventually sold the family home in 2000.

    Today I have a huge G scale layout, but wanted somethig different to run around that Christmas tree. Remembering the Lionel days of my youth, I bought the Lionel Polar Express set. Well, lets just say by the time I bought all of the add on passenger cars, it became more than just a around the tree train set. The Lionel Polar Express now runs around the entire sunroom I added on back in 2001. I also bought the updated Lionel Sounds tender for it which my little one loves alot, but hates the smell of the smoke. I will post pictures of this at a later date. The set will run on 036 curves with no problems

    Picture #1 is me when I was a kid, playing with my Lionel train set. Take a good look at this photo and you will see there is alot of simlarites between this picture back then and the pictures I post now in my G scale section. The black switches in the picture were from my dads old Lionel set on loan to me. I eventually got the new lionel tan switches and had to give these black ones back.

    Note: Today I have more in G scale than I ever did in 0 gauge
     

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  2. Lownen

    Lownen TrainBoard Member

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    What a great picture!

    Parent's take note... he has a siding and a spur, not just a plain old oval. He also has lots of floor space to add more track. I always tell parents, before choosing a scale for your kid's trains figure out how much space in your house you're going to allow for their layout.

    Best!
     
  3. EMD trainman

    EMD trainman TrainBoard Member

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    EMD Trainmans Lionel Polar Express Pictures part1

    I think Lionel must have made way too many of these sets, you can find them cheap still today and there are a ton of them on ebay for sale every day. I wanted a reasonable priced train set that I could put around the chrsitmas tree which I put in my sunroom. Since I have and liked the Polar Express movie, the Lionel Polar Expres was reasonably priced I got it. Then I went wild and bought every add on for this set including the updated Lionel Rail Sounds tender. Then it became more than just a train to run around the Christmas tree as I over did it again. So I added lots of track, sticking with the Lionel fast track and $150 later it now goes around the entire sunroom, well that amount included the rail sounds crossing gate, you gotta have that right? Anyway, as promised I have a few pictures to share and will even add a video later, you gotta here this rail sounds tender, it's awesome.

    Picture #1 Is the entry way to the sunroom area from the outside, you will see the track angles away from the door since the door swings inward

    Picture #2 The Polar Express runs down the entire front wall of the sunroom area behind the chairs

    Picture #3 The Polar Express goes in front of the door way and heads around the corner towards the house side of the sunroom area. This is the corner where the tree goes. Don't let the picture fool you, there is a ton of room in this area, I had a 7ft tall, 5ft around live christmas tree in there and it fit, yes I was still able to use the door freely.

    Picture #4 The Polar Express then has to go around a working real live (electric lol) fire place in fron of the main doorway into the house towards the other side of the sunroom.

    Picture #5 The Polar Express neatly goes behind the table area of the sunroom, which by the way is the best area to eat at on those summer breezy days. The Polar Express will then run along the back wall of the sunroom towards the front wall again
     

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  4. EMD trainman

    EMD trainman TrainBoard Member

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    EMD Trainmans Lionel Polar Express Pics Part2

    Here is a few more of my Lionel Polar Express in action. It was first intended to just run around the Christmas tree but ended up being bigger than that. I was always told, if you are going to do something, do it big. I guess why those BIG diesel engines I work on don't intimidate me. This is the last part for pictures, maybe when I finally get the tree up I will post more.

    Picture #1 The Polar Express rounds the other side of the sunroom back towards the front wall.

    Picture #2 The Polar Express neatly goes behind furniture which makes it out of the way in most areas. The only two trouble spots is in front of both door ways in which I made small sections of track to remove when there is alot of guests coming over.

    Picture #3 Is the Polar Express crossing the Lionel rail sounds fast track crossing gate

    Picture #4 Then it crosses back in front of the doorway again. The track section on the rug can be removed for guests coming over without having to take up the entire track in front of the doorway
     

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  5. EMD trainman

    EMD trainman TrainBoard Member

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    EMD Trainmans Polar Express video

    Here is the video I promised of my Lionel Polar Express train going around the sunroom area. Please remember to turn down your volume before playing this video, these Lionel Rail sounds tender and crossing gate are very loud, I did not enhance the sound at all. You can click on the link to go directly to You Tube and play the video or you can click on the play button in the center on the video screen. For those concerned, You Tube is a McAffee approved site. I run the rail sounds tender thru the 80 watt transformer that originally came with the set, the only disadvantage I see not to running TMCC is the sound interuption when changing from foward to reverse and you don't get the brake squeal effect.

    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9kzNImiXZ8"]www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9kzNImiXZ8[/ame]
     

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