Battery-operated kids train runs on Lionel FasTrack: Want to share your love of toy trains or even your layout without fear of little ones harming your prized possessions? Look for near-O gauge trains that may be compatible with O-gauge track.
My kids received this battery-powered Caterpillar Construction Express train set that their older cousins had outgrown. They loved playing with it on the kitchen floor, but even there the all-plastic track would easily come apart. I had to resort to using rubber bands to keep the track sections together, which is a decidedly not kid friendly solution.
Then I had an epiphany: the train might work on O-gauge track — and it did! It did not like the Lionel FasTrack O-36 curves that came with a Lionel starter set, but it worked fine with the larger FasTrack O-48 curves, and even turnouts, on the City Terminal & Transfer project railroad [see “Build This Toy Train Layout,” September 2018].
Specifically, the lead truck does not pivot enough to make the tighter curves, however, without any turnouts or crossings it’s still able to navigate the simple loop with just the lead truck derailed. (I have not tested it on tubular track of any make.)
Only the rear truck is powered and it’s equipped with rubber traction tires. One note of caution is in order, however. The locomotive is especially tall and just barely cleared the layout’s tunnels that are otherwise able to accommodate bilevel Amtrak Superliner passenger cars and enclosed auto racks.
There are multiple versions of this train marketed with the same name, and I can’t attest to the compatibility of all. However, the version that comes with the four-wheel tipping freight car is compatible. The locomotive is marked “Toy State Industrial Ltd” on the bottom. [This set is similar in design to brands like New Bright and others. -Ed.]
So, the next time you’re browsing flea markets and garage sales, keep an eye out for some kid-friendly trains that could run on your layout. You may even want to keep a short section of O-gauge track in your back pocket just to be sure.
I have a similar story of my own.
Due to a long and complex story that I won’t go into, I had acquired a battery powered “North Pole Express”-an 0-6-0, a four-wheeled tender, and two dome cars. Quite some time later, I was looking for a tool and I found that thing instead. So, I decided to see if it would work on O scale track. It did! Then I looked at the one-piece knuckle-style coupler. Turns out that it can couple to any coupler except for prewar Lionel (not counting hook and loop)!