[krupan]

“ But LEGO trains are not model trains (my goodness), they're toy trains - a completely and unrespectable thing.”

I love this condescending sounding distinction, it’s actually very accurate! When I was 12 or 13 I had an uncle that was into model railroading and I thought it looked so fun and cool! Then I started looking into it more and it’s not really (at least to me at that age) because it’s not a toy you take out of the box and play with a 100 different ways. You build a very static and detailed landscape, put your rails down, start the train up, and just sit back and look at it. Where’s the fun in that?

I just got a Lego train set for me and my kids and we’ve already built several different ways, crashed the train and rebuilt parts of multiple tiles, discovered you can program it with the new PoweredUp system, put mini figures on the roof of the cars, etc.

[bombcar]

Model trains descended from toy trains at some point, but the hobby definitely split off decades ago.

What people forget is that the new blood in the hobby comes from the young blood and trying to keep them out doesn't help.

[xattt]

Not only can you change the track around easily, my kids have proven again and again that the track is not necessary and that the train can keep going (and going and going…) without the track.

[stevage]

Yeah, the idea of building a train layout, and then being...stuck with it for 20 years doesn't appeal to me at all.