The
Guide To:
Expanding Your Lionel Starter Set
A starter set is the best way to start with the train hobby. Everything you need to get going is included, it’s reliable, and setup is usually very easy. But after a little while, you will likely want your train to do more, and you’ll start thinking along these lines:
--It sure would be neat if it did more than run in a circle.
--I wish I had some more cars to put behind the engine.
--I need a station for the train to stop at.
--Heck, watching one train run is great, I’ll bet TWO would be even more fun!
If you have a starter set and have had thoughts like this, you’re not alone. For many first-time train buyers, once the initial excitement of setting up the train and watching it run has passed, the desire to make it ‘do’ more usually begins.
Fortunately, in the early 21st century it is easier to expand your starter set than ever before. Lionel and other train manufacturers have worked hard to make adding to a set easy, affordable, and fun. Here at Trainz, we carry all of the products you will need to go from a starter set to a miniature railroad empire.
So let’s get started!
Expanding the basic oval from the set is the quickest way to add more interest to your trains. By creating alternate routes, more complex loops, and storage tracks, your trains will suddenly be even more interesting to watch and they will begin providing you the feeling that they are going somewhere and that you are running a small railroad.
Today Lionel includes the same basic track oval in all starter sets—8 36-inch diameter curve sections, 3 10” straight track sections, and 1 10” straight terminal section, which create this layout:
Until recently, to add to this layout, you would need to buy separate straight, curved, and other track sections and ‘wing it’ in creating a larger setup. But Lionel now produces four Track Expansion Sets, which expand this basic loop into something more exciting.
There is the 12030 Figure-8 set, which along with the track included in your set makes your layout into this:
Figure-8s are great because they create a crossing, giving the appearance of a railroad junction, they break up the oval, and the parts to create them are relatively cheap.
If you want a spur track to store an extra car or two, Lionel makes another expansion set [#12044] that does just that:
Note that this set includes one ‘switch’ which is the track section that makes the track diverge onto two separate routes. This set also includes an uncoupling track section, which will disconnect cars from one another at the touch of a button, and a bumper, which keeps cars from rolling off the end of the track.
With two switches, you can create an alternative route for your trains. Lionel makes two expansion sets for this purpose. The smaller of the two is #12028, which turns your oval into this:
There is also the larger 12031 plan, which has a couple extra straight track pieces included, creating this:
Even better, one or more of the expansion sets can be combined to create even more interesting track layouts. Here are a couple examples:
Sets 12030, 12044, and 12031 combined
Sets 12028 and 12031 combined
Set 12031 and two 12030 sets combined
As you can see, with a bit of experimentation and imagination, numerous different track layouts can be created.
And of course, individual Fastrack sections are also available. Please see our article on Fastrack here for more information.
Adding more freight or passenger cars [also known as rolling stock] to your set is another way to quickly expand your railroad. Lionel makes a seemingly infinite number of cars to in a variety of colors, types, and road names. But it is important to take a close look at the cars to make sure that they are a good match for your set.
Although all Lionel cars operate on O Gauge track, the bodies of the cars are made in two slightly different sizes. The first is the traditional or classic size, which are the cars that match starter sets. They run on O Gauge track, but they are not exact O Scale cars. This means that they are not exact 1:48 replicas of the real thing but instead are selectively compressed to negotiate the tight turns of regular Lionel track.
The other type of cars are the Scale cars, which are exact or near-exact replicas of actual freight cars. Many will still run on the track in your starter set, but because they are scale sized, the bodies of these cars may be slightly wider and longer than those in your set. The two types of cars will connect together just fine, but when side-by-side in a train, they may look a bit odd.
As an example, look at these two cars closely:
While both are gondola cars and run on O Gauge track, note how the car on the left is much longer than the one on the right. The car on the left is scale, and the one on the right is the classic, underscale size.
Fortunately, there is an easy way to tell these cars apart, and the key is the numbers Lionel assigns to them. Scale cars almost always have the number ‘7’ as the second digit in their number [17623, 27241, etc]. Classic cars have a 5 or 6 as their second digit [25051, 16686, etc]. If the second digit is ‘9’, it could be either, so be careful when considering one of them.
Starter set locomotives can pull up to 12 cars easily, and most can handle up to 20, so building a longer train will not harm your engine. However, if you begin adding more than 1 or 2 cars, be sure to get some extra track, or your longer train will be ‘chasing its tail’ very quickly.
Part 3: Accessories
Besides the train and track, accessories provide a lot of fun and animation to any setup. Accessories often interact with the train, such as a crossing gate that lowers as the train passes. Many load and unload freight from specially designed cars as well.
Some great beginner accessories are the #12052 Fastrack Highway Signal set, which is a set of highway signals that blink as the train goes by. It also has an optional bell sound that can be turned on and off.
Another classic is the Automatic Gateman. As the train goes by, the door to the shed opens and a figure pops out, and once the train has passed the figure re-enters the building and the door shuts. Part of the Lionel line since the 1930s, the gateman today is offered not only with a regular railroad-type figure, but also in versions with Santa Claus and a nutcracker figure for the Christmas season.
There are also numerous ‘static’ accessories that do not operate but add visual interest to your layout, such as the #24219 girder bridge. If you want a station for your trains to stop at, there are both station platforms [#24159] as well as full sized stations [#14257]. Both are lighted. And of course, Lionel also makes lots of figures to populate your town.
Part 4: Extra Power
The transformer included with your starter set should be adequate to handle a modest expansion of your train set discussed above. However, if you begin to add lighted cars, or more than a couple accessories, you may find that your train will not run as fast, or that it will shut off entirely. This is because the demands for power are becoming more than your transformer can handle.
If this happens, you will need another transformer to share the load. Good choices are the Lionel 32923 Accessory Transformer, or another 80-watt transformer like the one included in your set, #14198. If you plan to add a second loop for another train in the near future, the 14198 would be a wise investment.
If you add a lot of track and find that your train slows down as it gets farther from your transformer, you will need to run jumper wires to the opposite side of your track layout. Just get a Lionel #12053 Accessory wire set and enough extra wire to connect from the wire set back to your transformer [speaker wire works well]. Just connect the jumper wires to the same connections on the back of your transformer as your original connections, and make sure that the wires are not crossed. This will solve the slowdown problem.
Part 5: More Information
Trainz carries a variety of books that build upon the information listed above. Here are a few:
--The Lionel Fastrack Book, by Robert Schleicher. Great for learning all you will ever want to know about Lionel’s track system.
--The O Gauge Railroading Primer, by Christopher Ritchie. Lots of good information for building any size O Gauge layout
--Build a Better Toy Train Layout, by John Grams and Dick Christianson. Lots of good tips for building a layout from two of the most experienced people in the hobby.
--Toy Train Collecting and Operating, by John Grams. Not really a how-to-build-a-layout book, but it is a good general introduction to the hobby full of interesting stuff.
Have fun!