Blokes will be boys

Been a railway modeller since 1982. Have built 10 exhibition layouts, currently exhibiting three of them, one American prototype in HO scale (3.5mm to the foot) set in 1959, one German, also HO, set in 2000 and a UK one in OO (4mm scale) set in 1980s that consists of 3 boxfiles joined together, all fully scenicked. There is another UK one under development. And I don't model steam engines. It's diesels for me not kettles as they are known in some parts of the hobby.

Incidentally, if all you know about model railways is your old Hornby train set, these days it's a whole new world!

Like Alan I have a box of Scalextric stashed away but not sure what to do with it. I have grandaughters but one is interested in trains (she's 4) and other in things pink <sigh> (she's nearly 6).

steve

I bought a scalextric for my grandson last Xmas, brought back many happy memories, as he is only four, I ended up racing my son in law....

Must say it was great fun....not sure if I would be any good after a few drinks....

I still have my old Scalextric in the loft. I set it up for my two daughters occasionally on a horrible winters day.

I also have a large amount of Playmobil  train set, the older electric type made by LGB (g gauge garden railway stuff) and the kids love that. 

I had a lovely Marklin train set when I was young and without knowing my parents sent the train set to my cousin because he was worse off then me.  It was shock deprivation for sake of charity.  It would of been nice if my consent was sought, I probably would of said no.

Romi posted:

I had a lovely Marklin train set when I was young and without knowing my parents sent the train set to my cousin because he was worse off then me.  It was shock deprivation for sake of charity.  It would of been nice if my consent was sought, I probably would of said no.

Have you considered taking retrospective legal action?....

I recently (and sadly) got rid of a bunch of HO stuff from the 70s (Rivarossi and Lionel from the 60s). As Paper Plane says, and as I discovered selling it, it is a whole new computerized world in model railroading. Just got to where I needed to get rid of stuff, and had to admit to myself that my dream of having another layout was just not going to happen in the time allotted me on this planet - I did love doing it though in the past, and never miss a chance to see a layout.

Would love to go see that huge one in Hamburg, Germany. I could probably spend most of a day there.

I priced the Lionel stuff too low - it didn't last 3 minutes on evilbay - but it was OK - I'd been dragging it around for over 30 years...

I had a Trix? underground set, for a while but mum gave it away (with my Fort) before we moved from Hounslow to Crawley. 

One of the youth clubs I went to decided to build a slot car racing track, so we built a 85' 4 lane track, it became quite addictive.

A little later my car club East Grinstead MC collect a few Scalextric sets and we would have have monthly "race" sessions,

I did try railway modelling again in my 20's. I tried N gauge to get a larger layout/ square foot. Ultimately a failure as my talent fell way short of my ability to model scenery and buildings. I really admire the realism that some   people can achieve.

Surely these activities are for grandchildren of all sexes? 

Got my son an SCX digital race set and that's a lot of fun.

If anyone does play on the scalextric with the grandchildren it's good to make sure you win, it teaches them valuable life lessons....

wenger2015 posted:

If anyone does play on the scalextric with the grandchildren it's good to make sure you win, it teaches them valuable life lessons....

and of course remind them that being allowed to play with it at all is a privilege, with accompanying responsibilities on the individual, and not a right....

Norton posted:

wenger2015 posted:

If anyone does play on the scalextric with the grandchildren it's good to make sure you win, it teaches them valuable life lessons....

and of course remind them that being allowed to play with it at all is a privilege, with accompanying responsibilities on the individual, and not a right....

Absolutely,  well said...

My (late) dad used to work next to the then Mini-Models factory which, AFAIK, produced Scalextric (before the days of Triang and Hornby ownership). He told me a story that when it snowed one day, footprints were found leading up to the fence line around the building, the assumption being that some workers were 'sharing' product by throwing it over the fence. 

All I know is we had quite a few vehicles (not just cars) and he wired lights in to many of them and we ran them in the dark. I will never forget putting a motorcycle sidecar on the track and pushing the hand-control and it just sat there smoking, with the tell-tale odour of a burning motor.

The kit still emerges every now and again, mainly for the younger-ones. I moved to purchasing Ninco cars and track (in the early noughties) as the cars were better and track converters enabled connection to the full-size Scalextric format. IME, adults are far worse drivers than the young'uns, as the former don't appreciate their lack of talent in to corners.