Why Do You Collect The Trains You Do?

I thought this would make a good thread idea!
I started liking Thomas when I was about 2, I had just been givin the Thomas And The Magic Railroad VHS, and I was just in love with it! I was going through Wal-Mart, I had gone through the toys, and there it was! A Tomy Thomas Starter Set! I got it, and set it up on a old table in the upstairs guest room with my dad and mom. I loved it! It was the coal and water loader set if I recall! I stayed up there for hours at a time! A week later, my granny showed up at our house with a few surprises for me! She and my parents came up to my room, with 3 strange boxes wrapped in Thomas wrapping paper. Curiously, I opened the smallest one, it was Tomy Percy with 2 trucks! I jumped for joy! I opened the second one, and found James with some cars as well! The last one was huge to me at the time, I opened it to find the Thomas and Bertie Race set! I was so happy! This started it all! I spent a lot of time in that room trying to combine the tracks, mainly because I was very young and didn't really understand the main points yet! My mom and dad helped me, and eventually I had a much larger set than before! I always got new sets or trains to add on, and espicially loved Christmas! So did the layout, LOL. By the time I was 7, I had a set that reached from the top table to the huge area in my room, where it ran in a spiral and a large area where I made yards and sheds. I loved it! That's when Trackmaster came! I was very skeptical at first, and didn't really think I would like it. Well, every time I went to my granny's, I got a new train or maybe a small set to add on to my set. I had to go there for the weekend. I arrived, said hi to my granny and bye to my parents, and as they left, my granny told me to look in me and my sisters extra room that they had for us whenever we went there, I went in to find the James at Boulder Moutain Loop set, with a face changing james! I opened it up and was shocked at how the set was! It was so fun! It came with adapters to tomy track, and I curiously combined the 2, I had started making huge sets revolving around it! From then on, I collected tomy and trackmaster. Eventually, tomy thomas died off in the USA, and I was left with trackmaster, and since then have loved them and collected them! How did you're guy's love for collecting trains start?

[HankAmericanEngine]

I quite fancy the idea of having this as a thread myself Trackmaster-Rail-Yard.

Well, my collecting days were very far and young, predating even HiT Toys TrackMaster line; I had been a big fan of Wooden Railway growing up, and that collection is fairly large if I do say so myself. I remember my first actual additions to my TAKARA TOMY Plarail/TrackMaster collection were a TOMY USA(Plarail equivalent) Harvey, Emily, Murdoch, Arthur, Skarloey, Neville, and a rare TOMY UK Oliver; Arthur and Murdoch have survived the remarkable test of time, being a few of the oldest engines in my Sudrian fleet at 10 years old this very year! Unfortunately, Harvey, Emily, and Skarloey did not fare so well with the tests of time; both found parts failing, particularly the motors, and this was before I had ever discovered replaceable couplings on eBay. My first Oliver also suffered a fairly nasty fate at the hands of a careless neighbour asking to take a look at the engine; that prompted me to quickly purchase another to replace him before it was too late. As for Neville, he's still around without his face as an original character of my own known as Stephen the Q1; remarkably, he's still one of the fastest and strongest engines in my fleet to this day, being 10 years old.

I think my collection really began to take of in early or mid 2007 when TOMY USA was being replaced with HiT Toys TrackMaster; the very first HiT Toys "engine" I ever added was Hector with the maroon branch line coach, and the stock standard Thomas. That was very early 2007, and I had not taken much of an interest in the product line until I had stumbled across Season 12's episode, "Heave-Ho, Thomas!" which brought about one of my most favourite engines and characters to this day-- it's really a no-brainer that it was Hank; that sparked my interest in collecting all Hank the American Engine paraphernalia at that very instant after watching the episode he came in. His TrackMaster model came to me in November of 2009 as a birthday present from my father when he went on a business trip; that set off the large spark to my collecting when I discovered the Scottish Twins were being released in addition to engines previously available in the U.K. I worked hard to add engines that were readily available, including rolling stock from their "Truck and Track" packs; I purchased one of each first before taking a massive interest in the Sodor Power Plant Trucks and Track pack. I've bought about 7 or 8 of those already simply for the rolling stock.

It was at that time that early 2010 found HiT Toys being slowly replaced with Fisher-Price TrackMaster, and I had thought I would lose an interest in collecting as Fisher-Price was now taking over; with new movies, and new characters, there were new models to collect of standard gauge engines, and how could I resist? I had begun an interest in the Plarail Thomas & Friends range around the same time, and had begun to purchase the Plarail engines to replace some of the lower quality Fisher-Price TrackMaster engine counterparts, which had met their fate on eBay.com. Even so, some of Fisher-Price's engines left me very impressed, such as their first Ferdinand model; it's probably one reason that 5 minute and some odd second review has the most hits on my channel.

As the years slowly went by, I think it was mid-2012 or early 2013 that I began an interest in the Plarail range of real life engines; the first ones to come to me were the DD14 and DE10 following a 50 year of Plarail special set. GerisPlarail1 and I have that Maintenance of Way train repair set, so I think he knows what I'm talking about; the AmTrak F7 EMD A-Unit with its coaches came sometime after that train set. Shortly after those two, the DD14 and DE10, came the C57; courtesy of ucwepn's unboxing and review video, I had been "persuaded" to purchase the beautiful lady new in box after seeing just how gorgeous it really is running along the line. Can't say I'm struggling to keep it in its box and not display it with one of my other engines right now.

Although my collection is predominantly Thomas & Friends engines, standard gauge, I have enjoyed bringing in real life engines and rolling stock to the collection; not only that, but I know a lot of my subscribers enjoy seeing my collection and having their questions answered in reviews regarding the topic under my inspection. I've collected for years now, and don't think I'll stop; I've plans to build a layout when I've a place to call my own and, of course, I'll film on it to my heart's content just for the fun of it! Nothing's more beautiful than seeing your engines trundling, snorting, or simply dancing down the line with whatever is in tow behind them; that, and some of them are simply just beautiful or gorgeous all on their own as well!

I thought this would make a good thread idea!
I started liking Thomas when I was about 2, I had just been givin the Thomas And The Magic Railroad VHS, and I was just in love with it! I was going through Wal-Mart, I had gone through the toys, and there it was! A Tomy Thomas Starter Set! I got it, and set it up on a old table in the upstairs guest room with my dad and mom. I loved it! It was the coal and water loader set if I recall! I stayed up there for hours at a time! A week later, my granny showed up at our house with a few surprises for me! She and my parents came up to my room, with 3 strange boxes wrapped in Thomas wrapping paper. Curiously, I opened the smallest one, it was Tomy Percy with 2 trucks! I jumped for joy! I opened the second one, and found James with some cars as well! The last one was huge to me at the time, I opened it to find the Thomas and Bertie Race set! I was so happy! This started it all! I spent a lot of time in that room trying to combine the tracks, mainly because I was very young and didn't really understand the main points yet! My mom and dad helped me, and eventually I had a much larger set than before! I always got new sets or trains to add on, and espicially loved Christmas! So did the layout, LOL. By the time I was 7, I had a set that reached from the top table to the huge area in my room, where it ran in a spiral and a large area where I made yards and sheds. I loved it! That's when Trackmaster came! I was very skeptical at first, and didn't really think I would like it. Well, every time I went to my granny's, I got a new train or maybe a small set to add on to my set. I had to go there for the weekend. I arrived, said hi to my granny and bye to my parents, and as they left, my granny told me to look in me and my sisters extra room that they had for us whenever we went there, I went in to find the James at Boulder Moutain Loop set, with a face changing james! I opened it up and was shocked at how the set was! It was so fun! It came with adapters to tomy track, and I curiously combined the 2, I had started making huge sets revolving around it! From then on, I collected tomy and trackmaster. Eventually, tomy thomas died off in the USA, and I was left with trackmaster, and since then have loved them and collected them! How did you're guy's love for collecting trains start?

I quite fancy the idea of having this as a thread myself Trackmaster-Rail-Yard.

Well, my collecting days were very far and young, predating even HiT Toys TrackMaster line; I had been a big fan of Wooden Railway growing up, and that collection is fairly large if I do say so myself. I remember my first actual additions to my TAKARA TOMY Plarail/TrackMaster collection were a TOMY USA(Plarail equivalent) Harvey, Emily, Murdoch, Arthur, Skarloey, Neville, and a rare TOMY UK Oliver; Arthur and Murdoch have survived the remarkable test of time, being a few of the oldest engines in my Sudrian fleet at 10 years old this very year! Unfortunately, Harvey, Emily, and Skarloey did not fare so well with the tests of time; both found parts failing, particularly the motors, and this was before I had ever discovered replaceable couplings on eBay. My first Oliver also suffered a fairly nasty fate at the hands of a careless neighbour asking to take a look at the engine; that prompted me to quickly purchase another to replace him before it was too late. As for Neville, he's still around without his face as an original character of my own known as Stephen the Q1; remarkably, he's still one of the fastest and strongest engines in my fleet to this day, being 10 years old.

I think my collection really began to take of in early or mid 2007 when TOMY USA was being replaced with HiT Toys TrackMaster; the very first HiT Toys "engine" I ever added was Hector with the maroon branch line coach, and the stock standard Thomas. That was very early 2007, and I had not taken much of an interest in the product line until I had stumbled across Season 12's episode, "Heave-Ho, Thomas!" which brought about one of my most favourite engines and characters to this day-- it's really a no-brainer that it was Hank; that sparked my interest in collecting all Hank the American Engine paraphernalia at that very instant after watching the episode he came in. His TrackMaster model came to me in November of 2009 as a birthday present from my father when he went on a business trip; that set off the large spark to my collecting when I discovered the Scottish Twins were being released in addition to engines previously available in the U.K. I worked hard to add engines that were readily available, including rolling stock from their "Truck and Track" packs; I purchased one of each first before taking a massive interest in the Sodor Power Plant Trucks and Track pack. I've bought about 7 or 8 of those already simply for the rolling stock.

It was at that time that early 2010 found HiT Toys being slowly replaced with Fisher-Price TrackMaster, and I had thought I would lose an interest in collecting as Fisher-Price was now taking over; with new movies, and new characters, there were new models to collect of standard gauge engines, and how could I resist? I had begun an interest in the Plarail Thomas & Friends range around the same time, and had begun to purchase the Plarail engines to replace some of the lower quality Fisher-Price TrackMaster engine counterparts, which had met their fate on eBay.com. Even so, some of Fisher-Price's engines left me very impressed, such as their first Ferdinand model; it's probably one reason that 5 minute and some odd second review has the most hits on my channel.

As the years slowly went by, I think it was mid-2012 or early 2013 that I began an interest in the Plarail range of real life engines; the first ones to come to me were the DD14 and DE10 following a 50 year of Plarail special set. GerisPlarail1 and I have that Maintenance of Way train repair set, so I think he knows what I'm talking about; the AmTrak F7 EMD A-Unit with its coaches came sometime after that train set. Shortly after those two, the DD14 and DE10, came the C57; courtesy of ucwepn's unboxing and review video, I had been "persuaded" to purchase the beautiful lady new in box after seeing just how gorgeous it really is running along the line. Can't say I'm struggling to keep it in its box and not display it with one of my other engines right now.

Although my collection is predominantly Thomas & Friends engines, standard gauge, I have enjoyed bringing in real life engines and rolling stock to the collection; not only that, but I know a lot of my subscribers enjoy seeing my collection and having their questions answered in reviews regarding the topic under my inspection. I've collected for years now, and don't think I'll stop; I've plans to build a layout when I've a place to call my own and, of course, I'll film on it to my heart's content just for the fun of it! Nothing's more beautiful than seeing your engines trundling, snorting, or simply dancing down the line with whatever is in tow behind them; that, and some of them are simply just beautiful or gorgeous all on their own as well!

I thought this would make a good thread idea!
I started liking Thomas when I was about 2, I had just been givin the Thomas And The Magic Railroad VHS, and I was just in love with it! I was going through Wal-Mart, I had gone through the toys, and there it was! A Tomy Thomas Starter Set! I got it, and set it up on a old table in the upstairs guest room with my dad and mom. I loved it! It was the coal and water loader set if I recall! I stayed up there for hours at a time! A week later, my granny showed up at our house with a few surprises for me! She and my parents came up to my room, with 3 strange boxes wrapped in Thomas wrapping paper. Curiously, I opened the smallest one, it was Tomy Percy with 2 trucks! I jumped for joy! I opened the second one, and found James with some cars as well! The last one was huge to me at the time, I opened it to find the Thomas and Bertie Race set! I was so happy! This started it all! I spent a lot of time in that room trying to combine the tracks, mainly because I was very young and didn't really understand the main points yet! My mom and dad helped me, and eventually I had a much larger set than before! I always got new sets or trains to add on, and espicially loved Christmas! So did the layout, LOL. By the time I was 7, I had a set that reached from the top table to the huge area in my room, where it ran in a spiral and a large area where I made yards and sheds. I loved it! That's when Trackmaster came! I was very skeptical at first, and didn't really think I would like it. Well, every time I went to my granny's, I got a new train or maybe a small set to add on to my set. I had to go there for the weekend. I arrived, said hi to my granny and bye to my parents, and as they left, my granny told me to look in me and my sisters extra room that they had for us whenever we went there, I went in to find the James at Boulder Moutain Loop set, with a face changing james! I opened it up and was shocked at how the set was! It was so fun! It came with adapters to tomy track, and I curiously combined the 2, I had started making huge sets revolving around it! From then on, I collected tomy and trackmaster. Eventually, tomy thomas died off in the USA, and I was left with trackmaster, and since then have loved them and collected them! How did you're guy's love for collecting trains start?

Nice story dude! I agree with thomas collecting, and how some don't survive the test of time and how some trains just die off, nice story my friend!

[HankAmericanEngine]

Nice story dude! I agree with a lot of the tomy trains just dying off, I had slot like that, but still, nice story my friend!
[/quote]

Thank you very much; it's still going on right now as we speak.

Nice story dude! I agree with a lot of the tomy trains just dying off, I had slot like that, but still, nice story my friend!

Thank you very much; it's still going on right now as we speak.
[/quote]

Mine as well my friend, mine as well

Until last year I wasn't into any Tomy/Plarail trains. I'm mostly into LEGO and wargaming but had been slowly collecting all the Duplo Thomas trains for my then-2-year-old son. Still looking for Duplo Stanley....

Last summer I came across a box at my favorite Salvation Army store. It was a Big Plastic tub with a fish market stamp, but it was in the toy section where I go to look for LEGO and the cheap and broken toys that I can convert into wargames terrain. I opened it up and it was a big box of blue track and a bunch of Thomas engines and track.

I thought it would be the perfect way for my son to have a Thomas Train at my Dad's house so I bought it and was quickly impressed by the balance the system had between toy and model railroad. It reminded me alot of LEGO in it's design and I began to acquire lots from craigslist and before I knew it I had a large amount at my home and my Dad's place, and in the process I'd acquired enough other product to have take-n-play at both of his grandma's home and Trackmaster at his other grandfather's place. Still, it's the Tomy/Plarail stuff that I am most charmed by and I continue to acquire it whenever I can. What started as some trains for my son has developed into a good size layout in and attic bedroom.

I'm not so much a collector as a hobbyist, and this is very much a side hobby for me, so in answer to the original quesiton, I collect the trains I do for the purposes of the layout. Except for the occasional online buy, I've been building my collection via resale bargains, at a local train store that occasionally has used Tomy and mostly improvise the rest. I've been looking for a new LEGO project and I think my next project will be LEGO buildings in Plarail scale, which will likely result in acquiring a few shinkansen and commuter trains. I've also acquired a fair number of duplicates, so a few Thomas engines will definitely get defaced and repainted.

I started collecting Tomy/Plarail/Trackmaster after my son (then about 2.5 years old) received a hand-me-down set from his older cousins. I liked it, so started searching eBay and google for info on other trains. I discovered that some trains are rare/special and that there is a collector base around these trains. For my sons 3rd birthday I had bought a heap of stuff on eBay and filled our living room with tracks and trains for him to wake up to.

We had lots of doubles and spares from the lots I bought so they were sold to fund new purchases. This went well, so I bought bulk lots to resell and fund more purchases to build our collection. Over the next year I steadily bought characters we didn't have until I had one version of each character available. I'm not to bothered by only collecting Plarail or Trackmaster, instead I'll collect any type if I like it and they're stored together. I do however, primarily collect just trains (and carriages) and not play sets so much, although we do have a few.

More recently and as my sons interest in Thomas eased I've looked more at the Plarail 'real trains' side of collecting. Collecting the more rare trains looked like a daunting task with the high prices on eBay. I discovered Yahoo Japan and can now buy trains with a high eBay price for much more reasonable prices.

I'm not a collector of perfect condition boxed trains. I quite like the history that is behind the bumps and scratches. Sure it's nice to have some perfect trains but I don't mind a few bumps. Also I'm happy to repair/fix a train if I get a bargain buy.

Lastly, I'm a tinkerer by nature so have a few trains that have been modified with faster motors, Remote Control internals, custom paint and custom characters. Haven't done this for a while now because my son doesn't get the same joy from it. He's moved on to lego. :-)

I got into TrackMaster/Plarail trains like this.

My grandma and I went to Wal-Mart and somehow ended up in the toy section where she told me I could get a train. I chose Spencer because he looked like a good choice and I pushed him around on the floor, not having any track. A few days later we got a Bachmann set, but I preferred Spencer.

A few weeks later I went to stay at her house again and we went to Walmart where I got TrackMaster Duke, who I still have today, albeit in pieces because I took him apart

For my birthday, my mom got me the deluxe track pack by TrackMaster and from my grandma W, I got TrackMaster Bash and Stanley, and from my grandma K, I got Percy and the Search Cars.
This happened in 2010, and for those who are wondering about the 2001 in my username, that is the year I was born. Over the time I have had 6 Thomas', all of which are dead, and still need to be replaced.

(Edited out the surnames)

[Super]

Thats a neat story Trainman2001, thanks for sharing it with us.

Thank you Super, and thank you for the other thing you did too.