Backyard train

[Racket_Man]

I remember this from very early in my childhood (like at the age of 5 or so).

I was watching an episode of AMerican Restoration on the History channel the other day. one of the recent segments was about the shop restoring a backyard train set.

http://www.history.com/shows/america...isodes#slide-4

I remember in my early youth that someone in my area did HAVE one of these setups in their back yard. alias that era is gone as the person's yard was cut by 75% when they built the interstate highway through that area (the yard is now the base for a walking bridge over the interstate)

but I got to thinking and wondered if they were still being offered for sale.

first an doi-it-yourself article from 1956 detailing a kit for and plans for a layout (build the track yourself) for less than $500

http://www.vintageprojects.com/kids/train.pdf

then a sales video from a contemporary company that still makes them.
http://www.vintageprojects.com/kids/train.pdf

looking on Wikipedia and Google I see there is a whole hobbyist community out
there

man I thought these things went out of fashion back in the 60's

[csquared]

The FIL always wanted to build one. He still trying to figure out how to make it steam powered.

[wolfie]

The FIL always wanted to build one. He still trying to figure out how to make it steam powered.

Has he checked out this site? I've only got a yellow belt in Google-fu, but this came up on the first page. Under "resources" (column on left side), "Live steam railroads" gives a list of live steam clubs.