A romaticized toy that must be accurately rated in the middle. Lots of time and investment that may or may not appeal to a new generation of kids with zero literacy and the attention span of a ferret on a double-espresso.

I had a Lionel train set back when I was 4 years old. A Christmas gift, it was hastily opened and pieced together on the floor of my bedroom (you had to use a pair of needle-nose pliers to press the track's metal connectors together to make the whole thing run, and it took 45 minutes to complete). Assembled, it wasn't exactly impressive (just a great big oval, die-cast puller with about six plastic hook-on cars behind it, some side buildings and a crossing sign or two), but it was an imaginative sight for a small boy of four and my first "grown-up" toy. Turned out to be my LAST train set (after watching it go 'round and 'round for awhile, I went back out into the living room to play with all my other toys; I hadn't realized I'd left the train on, and the transformer burned up; my Dad was furious, my Mom cried the rest of the day, and I never got another train set for the remainder of my childhood). I'm no psychologist, but maybe that's why I can't stand getting stopped in traffic by a train (or why I keep hitting my father in the head with rolled-up Amtrak schedules).

these are so cool when they are all set up with station and trees and etc... i would like one to play with now

I had a train set once. I had so much track that it took up the entire back porch. (A pretty big porch)

When I were a lad I had a fantastic train set and the engine puffed out real smoke. Every night, Mum had to lay back down every piece of track exactly as it was set out across the floor when she wanted to clean up! (She did have two boys, a brother and an enthusiastic husband.) Wonder if the missus would be prepared to do that?