Which Hornby Set - Starting a collection for 1 year old

JunkBot said:
These guys have taken it to the extreme.

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McKinley Railway

McKinley Railway is my lifelong dream to create a model railway that is both challenging and inspiring. The Time Machine concept allows prototypical trains to run in a near true representation of formations applicable between 1956 and 1975. Join me as this layout builds into, what I hope will be...
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What I love about Mckinley is the automation and technology such as RFID in freight wagons.
 
sparton_SPA said:
My son is 1 year at the end of the year. I wanted to get something that we can add to as he grows up and will still be interesting for him into his older years.
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Is he even into trains right now?
I've found kids often change interests more often than they change their socks.

sparton_SPA said:
One idea I have, is to buy the fundamentals of a Hornby train set, then each year we can buy him a Loco or specific track to add to the collection.
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Don't bother.
Even if he's 100% into it forever, you'll both get so far but then find yourselves struggling to track down some of the more elusive parts that are essential for the collection.
One day he'll be phoning every single shop in the Yellow Pages, trying to find the one place that still has an R186 Signal Box.

Blackvault said:
But I would say any hobby could be seen as "sad" by today's young/youth. If it doesn't involve iPads and TikTok I'm sure kids aren't interested.
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People told me the same thing about letting my eldest watch crappy 80s cartoons like He-Man, She-Ra and Thundercats... Not only am I frequently woken in the morning by shouts of, "BY THE POWER OF GREYSKULL", but she's gotten loads of her schoolfriends into it as well. When I go to pick her up, I see them all in the playground pretending to be Cheetara, Lion-O, Panthro and so on.
 
sparton_SPA said:
Happy weekend all - when is Summer starting?

My son is 1 year at the end of the year. I wanted to get something that we can add to as he grows up and will still be interesting for him into his older years.

One idea I have, is to buy the fundamentals of a Hornby train set, then each year we can buy him a Loco or specific track to add to the collection.

However, I am a complete novice and no idea where to start. I think there is different size gauges of track/locos, but would like to go for the one that will be the most common to buy parts and trains for.

Any pointers would help me greatly.
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As someone who had quite nice (very middle class) presents but those presents were often bought as things I my step dad hoped I'd like/he liked I wouldn't go overboard.


I was a bit older, but my step dad would often but presents for him. Like fishing gear even though I hated it. We went once. Later on golf clubs. A full set. I'd never liked golf. Used once.
A scalextric set. Used once.


Even recently as an adult, asked the gf if I'd like a drone or a gopro. She said a gopro. He won't use a drone. Got me a drone anyway. . Used a couple of times (it was a cheapish one) and I bought myself a gopro a few months later.


Definitely not saying don't try new stuff at a young age. But I just wouldn't go overboard
 
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I think most parents like to live through their kids in some way. My dad made a table that took up half my bedroom. Had the grass, buildings and everything. All glued on. I remember the buildings would come flat pack and my dad would sit on the kitchen table on a weekend building them up for me. My mum would go clothes shopping on a Sunday and my dad would take me to the model shop.

I lost interest in my early teens and was far more in to my Nintendo 64 so it got sold to a old chap.

My son has tool boxes full of Lego passed down from our daughter but I built the majority of those sets!
 
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I've an old Hornby Mechano Dublo set somewhere, I recently found the bag full of the tinplate track, I just have to find all the engines, Carriages and power supply/speed controllers now!, My grandson is train mad at the moment, It's going to his house!
 
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adam cool dude said:
I think most parents like to live through their kids in some way. My dad made a table that took up half my bedroom. Had the grass, buildings and everything. All glued on. I remember the buildings would come flat pack and my dad would sit on the kitchen table on a weekend building them up for me. My mum would go clothes shopping on a Sunday and my dad would take me to the model shop.

I lost interest in my early teens and was far more in to my Nintendo 64 so it got sold to a old chap.

My son has tool boxes full of Lego passed down from our daughter but I built the majority of those sets!
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I thought that's what kids were for, give us adults opportunity to be kids again..
 
Just a heads up, Hornby have their Black Friday sale on. Some really good deals on the cheaper starter sets.

OK they don't have the best locomotives, but it's a good starting point, especially for kids.

It's ideal for me as my son asked for a set, and I was reluctant to spend £120ish on a set containing a very basic loco, but at £70 it's not a bad shout.

Cheers
 
Crizzy said:
Just a heads up, Hornby have their Black Friday sale on. Some really good deals on the cheaper starter sets.

OK they don't have the best locomotives, but it's a good starting point, especially for kids.

It's ideal for me as my son asked for a set, and I was reluctant to spend £120ish on a set containing a very basic loco, but at £70 it's not a bad shout.

Cheers
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Def on the right track there!
 
Crizzy said:
Just a heads up, Hornby have their Black Friday sale on. Some really good deals on the cheaper starter sets.

OK they don't have the best locomotives, but it's a good starting point, especially for kids.

It's ideal for me as my son asked for a set, and I was reluctant to spend £120ish on a set containing a very basic loco, but at £70 it's not a bad shout.

Cheers
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Whilst there are some good savings there, the problem with all of their sets is that the included controllers are garbage which is a tragedy considering they bought H&M so long ago.

Do yourself a favour and either build your own using a cheap PWM controller (£5 off eBay) or buy something decent to replace it (Gaugemaster Combi or something like the KATO SX, both available cheaply on eBay).

Whilst I'm at it, I'd argue the Japanese N gauge sets (Kato or Tomix) are better value, even imported from Japan. The track in particular is much better than what you get with Hornby, although obviously a smaller scale than OO and the locos are lightyears ahead of Hornby and even Bachmann in terms of quality even at the cheaper end. Kato make a few sets with UK outline rolling stock now too.

This is my current N gauge layout under construction -

 
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Johnny 7 said:
I've an old Hornby Mechano Dublo set somewhere, I recently found the bag full of the tinplate track, I just have to find all the engines, Carriages and power supply/speed controllers now!, My grandson is train mad at the moment, It's going to his house!
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If its a genuine tinplate dublo in good nick its probably worth a few bob tbh
 
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