Children of all ages seem to enjoy playing with trains, but may adults do as well. They may not be playing with them though as much as they are collecting them. There are true train collectors and then there are those who want to simply make a fun hobby out of it. Many of them in either category or current railway workers or they have since retired from the profession.

There are many great layouts you can create as a hobby for your train. With a flat piece of board that is as large as you would like, you can transform it into your own train area. There are train kits that contain smaller scale boxcars, engines, cabooses, train stations, tunnels, and tracks. You can also buy individual pieces in order to personalize your train collection. Many of the tracks even come with controllers so you can switch the tracks and have more than one train on it.

Some of the older Santa Fe train pieces are worth a large amount of money today. This is because it was one of the largest railway companies for decades. In recent years it has merged with Burlington Northern to become Burlington Northern Santa Fe. The pieces of equipment for collecting that say Santa Fe on the sides of them are collectibles that continue to increase in value.

Many of the older collectible trains from the late 1800’s and early 1900’s are extremely valuable. The majority of them are in various train museums all over the world. These early collectibles are quite heavy because they were made from iron. After those came trains made from wood. The majority of the collectible trains offered today are made from various types of durable plastic.

There are two types of gauging used for the tracks with collectible trains. If you are planning to buy separate pieces you really need to make sure you get the right gauge of equipment or it won’t work on the tracks. Your two choices are O or S scaled items. O scale items measure the distance between the outer two rails of the track. The S scale items measure the distance from the two outer rails so it is slightly larger.

Lionel Model Trains continues to be the biggest manufacturer of collectible trains today. Their hottest seller right now is the Harry Potter train that takes him and the other students to their school at the beginning of each movie. The Hogwarts Express is anticipated to sell more than the record holding Polar Express from 2004.

Whether you collect trains just to have or you use them to indulge in one of your favorite hobbies, they are delightful to have. The cost of collectible trains depends on where you purchase them and the condition they are in. You can get new pieces from many retailers but the older items you will have to purchase online, at yard sales, and even from antique stores. You may want to check with your father or grandfather though as there is a good chance they may have a box or two of them stored in the attic or the garage.

If you have old collectible trains in your home, you may want to find out what they are worth. You may be sitting on a goldmine that is just packed up in a box somewhere. There are some collectors out there looking for rare train collectibles as well as museums who are always looking for more materials to add to their displays.