Imagine how wonderful your child’s Christmas will be when he or she runs down the stairs early on Christmas morning and sees a new model railway ready and waiting under the tree. I still remember the excitement I felt on Christmas morning when I received my first N scale train. I was only 11 or 12 years old, but that day remains one of my most vivid Christmas memories. That model train became one of my favorite toys and it was the beginning of my love for model trains. It’s not unusual for holiday train sets to spark a lifelong love of model trains, but even when they don’t, they make great gifts for kids.
You may be wondering how to choose Christmas train sets, or indeed how to choose them for birthday gifts. In my opinion, the age of the child is one of the most important factors. Christmas train sets that are big, sturdy, and simple work best for four- or five-year-old boys and girls. Kids that age won’t appreciate expensive, highly detailed Christmas train sets for what they are, and even if they’re played with for the first few months, they can be completely forgotten about in less than a year. Also, younger children tend to be more careless and rough with their toys than older children. The Fisher-Price® Thomas the Tank Train Set is sturdy and entertaining, perfect for toddlers that age. If your son likes that set and is still interested in model trains, he can always get you a more “legitimate” train set in the future.
Children who are at least eight years old and have some potential interest in model railways may appreciate the games in more detail than younger children might. But even if my nine-year-old showed a serious interest in model trains, he probably wouldn’t buy the most expensive train set he could afford. I remember when he was a child. I must have had about ten hobbies he was “seriously” interested in, including model trains. I stuck with model railways, but what is “serious” to a young child is something that can also be easily forgotten in a couple of months. If your child happens to develop a long-term interest in model railroading, a cheaper set will work well for your design. Of course, you don’t want to go too cheap when you’re shopping for Christmas train sets, because you don’t want your child to get frustrated if his train doesn’t do what he’s supposed to. At the very least, the wheels on the engine of the train set you buy should be metal. The “Atlas Trainman®” line of model trains is available in N or HO scale, and provides a good level of detail and quality at a reasonable price.
Scale is another thing to consider when shopping for Christmas train sets. If your child develops a serious interest in model trains, he’ll want to build a layout, and he’ll have to find the space. An O scale train set is one of the larger sizes and it can be hard to find enough space for an O scale layout. This is one of several reasons why N and HO scale trains are so popular – they provide the kind of detail railway modellers appreciate, but its size is much easier to manage. If you and your child decide to build a realistic N or HO scale train layout, you won’t have to worry about the layout taking up a large part of your home.
