Nickodell
Donation Time
Hi, Tom. Strasburg is about an hour's drive from me, right in the middle of the Pennsylvania Dutch Country (if you saw the Harrison Ford movie Witness, it was filmed in the same area).
That said, I have to admit that I HATE Lionel trains, and always have. I am a model train buff, and have an extensive HO layout in my basement, featuring both US and British engines and rolling stock (the British 00 Gauge is the same as the US HO), with wireless remote control. IMHO, a model train should look like a real one. The Lionel layouts with the third rail in the middle look phoney, and many of the classic trains that people rave about and spend ludicrous money on at sales don't look a bit authentic. And the bent tin models from the 1920s and 1930s, with paint missing, that go for thousands and thousands, because the are "rare" make me want to heave.
Of course, that's just my opinion. I could be wrong.
P.S. The reason for the third rail was to allow trains to operate in different directions on the same track, which you couldn't do with the conventional 2-rail system where one is + and the other -. Remote control, with a module in each loco, eliminates that. You can operate more than one train on the same length of 2-rail track, and even in opposite directions. Instead of varying the track voltage, as in the old days, the track remains at a constant 12v, and each loco picks up what it needs according to what is demanded by the remote control for that loco.
That said, I have to admit that I HATE Lionel trains, and always have. I am a model train buff, and have an extensive HO layout in my basement, featuring both US and British engines and rolling stock (the British 00 Gauge is the same as the US HO), with wireless remote control. IMHO, a model train should look like a real one. The Lionel layouts with the third rail in the middle look phoney, and many of the classic trains that people rave about and spend ludicrous money on at sales don't look a bit authentic. And the bent tin models from the 1920s and 1930s, with paint missing, that go for thousands and thousands, because the are "rare" make me want to heave.
Of course, that's just my opinion. I could be wrong.
P.S. The reason for the third rail was to allow trains to operate in different directions on the same track, which you couldn't do with the conventional 2-rail system where one is + and the other -. Remote control, with a module in each loco, eliminates that. You can operate more than one train on the same length of 2-rail track, and even in opposite directions. Instead of varying the track voltage, as in the old days, the track remains at a constant 12v, and each loco picks up what it needs according to what is demanded by the remote control for that loco.
