This thread has been a real eye-opener.
I was born in 1953 and played with Lionel trains as a kid (and still do). I always assumed trains were still something most kids my age had (along with an Erector set and a Gilbert chemistry set). But as I think back on it, I can't remember even one of my friends who was into trains. A few had gotten starter sets, but they never played with them. One kid had his dad's AF set but he only took it out of the box only once.
I grew up in Morristown, N.J., about 30 minutes from the Hillside factory, and I can't remember even one train shop in town. There was a general-purpose toy store that stocked a few Lionel trains and some Plasticville, and the early big-box stores carried Lionel trains but only at Christmas. I can't remember any store that sold AF.
From this thread, I get the sense the experience of other posters in my age group was similar. I wonder if Lionel itself saw this handwriting on the wall.
