I had HO trains on two different layouts, from the time I was 8 years old till I got out of HS and my parents moved. My dad had Lionel Tinplate that we ran at Christmas. I had an uncle and cousin that were into trains , he had Flyer.
My best buddy was not as into trains as I was but be liked them enough to hang out and watch me run them. We both loved Aurora HO race cars though and had several floor tracks over the years. We would race each other and always fight over who got the outside lane. We'd try and have right and left turns so it would even out. If you could win from the inside lane you were king for the day! When the AFX cars came out we were in heaven. We used to tweak them to see how fast they would go.
Yea- the bell still rings for me. My buddy? don't know- we've lost touch over the years.
Bob
