| An O toy railroad just seems right, doesn't it? | | | | around. No other toy locomotive producer has the |
| You can hold up the locomotives and really take a | | | | cachet that Lionel currently has. |
| look at them. You need two hands to grasp it | | | | O gauge is just a neat scale to work with: |
| even as an adult. You also can really see the | | | | Although O gauge needs a lot more room than |
| detail. This is not one of those tiny little trains you | | | | HO or N, its size also adds a large number of |
| need to go get your microscope for. I don't know | | | | positives. O gauge toy railroads are not as large |
| about you but I could just stare at it for hours. | | | | as the German g gauge that appeals to |
| Why does it seem so perfect? Here's why: | | | | out-doorsy enthusiasts. O gauge is one 48th the |
| These are the trains of your childhood: | | | | size of actual trains. You don't need tiny hands or |
| Baby boomers grew up with these locomotives | | | | precise motor skills to color and decal O gauge |
| and had their impressions pushed into their minds | | | | trains. O scale locomotives are ideal for those of |
| even before they developed a notion of their | | | | us who don't have particularly matured fine motor |
| own identities. They're the toy locomotives from | | | | skills. Trust me, even when I've had one too |
| the holiday displays you remember as a kid. Many | | | | many lattes and my fingers are trembling like |
| of us placed these trains on our Christmas lists in | | | | leaves in a breeze I still have no problems with |
| the hope that we might wake up to their whistle | | | | these locomotives. Because these are such big |
| on Christmas morning. And they're also likely to | | | | trains people will actually notice your artistic |
| be the model locomotives that you didn't get | | | | efforts. You can really individualize your toy |
| because they were too pricey. They are part of | | | | training experience with O scale since everything |
| the imagined world where all our most outlandish | | | | is on a scale that you could do them from |
| desires came true. Now that you are an adult | | | | scratch. There is just a lot more that you can do |
| they can be your locomotives. | | | | with an O scale toy railroad. |
| Lionel: | | | | Collectors idealize O gauge because of its varied |
| It was Lionel (now Lionel LLC) that popularized | | | | history: |
| these locomotives. Lionel is still perhaps the most | | | | Largely because of Lionel's long history in |
| positively associated name in the toy train | | | | American toy training O gauge is one of the |
| business. They have weathered more adversity | | | | favorite collector's items. Classic Lionel locomotives |
| than any other train manufacturer and had more | | | | of days gone past often fetch high prices on |
| face lifts than Elizabeth Taylor's had husbands. | | | | e-bay and many model locomotive enthusiasts like |
| The reason why you associate toy locomotives | | | | to collect Lionel trains from different decades so |
| with Christmas is because of an advertising | | | | that they can have a sort of vibrant history of |
| campaign pursued by Lionel in the 1930's. Lionel | | | | the development of model trains. |
| took over the toy training world in the pre-World | | | | Even if this were a brand new scale with no |
| War II period by savvy marketing of this kind. It | | | | following, it would soon find hobbyists exclusively |
| was only during the baby boom after the | | | | because it just feels like the exact right size for a |
| veterans came back that competitors like | | | | model locomotive. It really is the ideal scale for a |
| Bachmann started displacing Lionel by marketing | | | | toy locomotive and it is well worth the extra |
| smaller locomotives at budget prices. By the | | | | space that it takes up. Given Lionel's extensive |
| sixties when model training was at an all time low | | | | track record it is improbable that this gauge of |
| in terms of American interest, Lionel's bargain | | | | train will go out of fashion soon. Even if all Lionel |
| based, littler sized challengers drove it out of | | | | vanished, it is likely that forward thinking model |
| business. But Lionel has been re-invented as Lionel | | | | train makers would design a locomotive of this |
| LLC and, though still plagued by financial woes, is | | | | scale. So what are you waiting for, begin your O |
| still one of the central toy locomotive makers | | | | scale model locomotive railroad today! |