StephenRKass

January 5th, 2016 at 10:50 PM ^

I actually saw a Michigan 027 Lionel set several years ago. If you search on e-bay, you can find cars (box car, gondola, caboose), but they seem ridiculously overpriced. Keep on looking, unless money is no object.

Joined: 07/15/2008

MGoPoints: 23001

Michigan4Harbaugh

January 5th, 2016 at 11:40 PM ^

If I recall correctly, the poster had put a link up for this train, but said that it was not the one that he was looking for. He was looking for a different train. Still a very neat addition that I would not mind having!

Joined: 01/20/2015

MGoPoints: 4252

Former_DC_Buck

January 6th, 2016 at 10:45 AM ^

I did see someone selling the box for almost $60.  My 4 year old saw the OSU version of the train the OP mentioned in the alumni magazine and wanted it.  But he is 4, I'm not bying HO for him, even though he is 10 times more gentle with toys than his older brother was at the same age.  I have bunch of O gauge items, so while HO is nicer if you are really interested in more realistic looking environments, I have neither the time nor the spare money to do it properly.

The 4 year old has a bunch of wooden Thomas trains that are his and hand me downs from his older brother.  I found an OSU version of this which he was happy with for Christmas.  They can be purchased here.  For those of you with kids with Thomas trains, you know they put the name on the bottom, like James, Percy, etc.  The OSU one, is of course, Brutus.  Not sure what if any name they put under yours.  Jackhammer would be a good choice.


Joined: 12/01/2013

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The Mad Hatter

January 6th, 2016 at 11:28 AM ^

I too have a 4 year old boy that is completely obsessed with trains.  You're lucky your boy has hand me downs as the new Thomas trains are of a much lower quality than the older ones (the company was sold a few years back).

A couple of years ago I bought a huge collection from someone on Craigslist.  Tons of track, trains (wood and battery operated plastic), buildings, and accessories.  I paid $150 and the collection would have easily cost 10x that if purchased new.

The moral of the story is, don't buy new trains unless it's something you really want.  It's all Chinese made crap now and there's a huge secondary market for old made in the US Lionel trains.

Joined: 02/17/2015

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Former_DC_Buck

January 6th, 2016 at 8:04 PM ^

My older son, who is 12, finally started noticing the prices on cars, like $110 for a Polar Express Passenger Car. He finally gets why I was so insistent on being gentle with them. Agree on the Thomas stuff. Buying bulk LEGOs online also a good way to go if you want to build stuff and not make models. I find it interesting that LEGO let them make the movie the way they did because it was somewhat an indictment of their current business model of making model kits. Funny story though, we have a big wooden Thomas table my friend gave me when he moved from WV to FL. His youngest son was about 5 at the time, should have loved Thomas. But my friend was the living inspiration of the Will Ferrel character and he had glued all of the teack to the table when his older son played with it because he got tired of putting it together. Then wondered why neither son had much interest in it after that.

Joined: 12/01/2013

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SchembechlerDisciple

January 6th, 2016 at 7:40 AM ^

Regarding the set that StephenR showed above: My wife bought this exact set for my birthday a number of years back. The kids and I get it out each year for a couple of weeks at Christmas. One of my favorite gifts of all time. It's very old timey, but putting the iPhones down and playing with it is a real joy.

Joined: 11/27/2011

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