I prefer old stuff... Anything that has magna traction. I have some inclines that tests some of my newer engines that does have traction rubbers. An incline is a good way of separating a average engine from one that pulls like a mule, like my lionel 2046. Its older than me ( I'm 64!) and is my favorite. Got it at a antique store, paid too much for it, and was missing all kinds of things. I got it repaired, and its super reliable. I left all the nicks and scratches, because I feel that it has earned its stripes. I do have all kinds of stuff, you just really never know how well one might act until you put it through its paces. Keep having fun with your hobby...
I’ve actually got at least one diesel that definitely has MagneTraction. It’s a Lionchief GP-7 and it’s probably the smoothest strongest running engine we have on the roster. Nothing stops that engine and it’s always glued to the rails!
Makes me feel a skosh better about things, I'd say about 98% of my fleet is secondhand, most of the accessories too. Every time I see a Lionel catalog, I'm always the gladder to get 'em preloved.
Older stuff was built better. I stopped buying new trains about 2015. I did buy the Southern Pacific version of your 2-8-0 Brand new in 2000. It has a puffing smoke unit, not a fan driven one. Mine has to run quite a long time before it starts smoking. Great video!
Since everything here is secondhand I’ve found varying degrees of “quality issues” but much of it seems to come down to how it was cared for previously.
Great hints, I'm really curious how much you paid for that big boy! Do you have any photos what it looked like when you got it. One other place I've had success buying used is the OGR forum, what's nice there is you can see if they have sold other stuff and if people have had issues. Also, one other hint in general is try to negotiate the price, most sellers will be willing to give a little on the price to make a deal.
You're right! However if it's something you still want to do, secondhand deals can really save you some money which can either keep your overall cost down or even enable you to purchase more than if you had just bought things brand new. A brand-new Lionchief Dockside Switcher is about $300 but you can find larger more robust engines for the same price used. Or you can buy a used Dockside like I did at about half the cost... and mine even came with some little mine cars!
HO Scale trains are usually a bit cheaper in my experience, but I haven't been in the hobby for years so I'm not sure if that's still the case. They also take up less space.
@@BoardGamesBricksHobbies excellent point. I had originally wanted to do HO because they’re “hot wheels size” but I wanted something my young son could play with. The smaller parts and fragile nature (at least the ones I’ve seen) of HO was too risky so we went for the more rugged semi scale O Gauge stuff.
The way the drawbar is built is really clever. Makes it way more durable and I wish it was like that on most models. Even though I’ve never had a drawbar snap on any of my locomotives.
Yessir! This one is a LionMaster, so they did some semi-scale witchcraft to make em go around O-36 turns. Check out our Roster video to see em in action!
I prefer old stuff... Anything that has magna traction. I have some inclines that tests some of my newer engines that does have traction rubbers. An incline is a good way of separating a average engine from one that pulls like a mule, like my lionel 2046. Its older than me ( I'm 64!) and is my favorite. Got it at a antique store, paid too much for it, and was missing all kinds of things. I got it repaired, and its super reliable. I left all the nicks and scratches, because I feel that it has earned its stripes. I do have all kinds of stuff, you just really never know how well one might act until you put it through its paces. Keep having fun with your hobby...
I’ve actually got at least one diesel that definitely has MagneTraction. It’s a Lionchief GP-7 and it’s probably the smoothest strongest running engine we have on the roster. Nothing stops that engine and it’s always glued to the rails!
Makes me feel a skosh better about things, I'd say about 98% of my fleet is secondhand, most of the accessories too.
Every time I see a Lionel catalog, I'm always the gladder to get 'em preloved.
Older stuff was built better. I stopped buying new trains about 2015. I did buy the Southern Pacific version of your 2-8-0 Brand new in 2000. It has a puffing smoke unit, not a fan driven one. Mine has to run quite a long time before it starts smoking. Great video!
Since everything here is secondhand I’ve found varying degrees of “quality issues” but much of it seems to come down to how it was cared for previously.
Great hints, I'm really curious how much you paid for that big boy! Do you have any photos what it looked like when you got it. One other place I've had success buying used is the OGR forum, what's nice there is you can see if they have sold other stuff and if people have had issues. Also, one other hint in general is try to negotiate the price, most sellers will be willing to give a little on the price to make a deal.
In my experience, model railroading is expensive even when it is secondhand.
You're right! However if it's something you still want to do, secondhand deals can really save you some money which can either keep your overall cost down or even enable you to purchase more than if you had just bought things brand new. A brand-new Lionchief Dockside Switcher is about $300 but you can find larger more robust engines for the same price used. Or you can buy a used Dockside like I did at about half the cost... and mine even came with some little mine cars!
HO Scale trains are usually a bit cheaper in my experience, but I haven't been in the hobby for years so I'm not sure if that's still the case. They also take up less space.
@@BoardGamesBricksHobbies excellent point. I had originally wanted to do HO because they’re “hot wheels size” but I wanted something my young son could play with. The smaller parts and fragile nature (at least the ones I’ve seen) of HO was too risky so we went for the more rugged semi scale O Gauge stuff.
The way the drawbar is built is really clever. Makes it way more durable and I wish it was like that on most models. Even though I’ve never had a drawbar snap on any of my locomotives.
Great video Mike with a lot of tips and good information. Thanks for putting this together and sharing.
Great tips , great idea for a video .
Glad you liked it!
WHAT!!! The big boy can negotiate 048 curves?😮
Yessir! This one is a LionMaster, so they did some semi-scale witchcraft to make em go around O-36 turns. Check out our Roster video to see em in action!
Good info
I have always looked up the model trains I'm interested in buying