I was in Vietnam in 1969. I started with Lionel in the 1950s but switched to HO at about 1956. I was strongly influenced by John Allen and his G&D HO model railroad. I wanted a realistic model railroad. I was not involved with model trains from the late 60s to the early 90s as I built my career, got married, except as a collector.
I collected HO trains until I saw the first TMCC equipped Lionel engines in the 1990s. This was before HO DCC was well established. None of the HO DCC engines in the early 90s had sound or whistles, etc. I switched to O 3-rail and have been doing that ever since. I also have a small collection of HO and O 2-rail.
If today's sound, smoke and light features had been available in HO in the early 90s, I would probably still be mostly an HO modeler. I am very happy with Lionel's Legacy and TMCC. I haven't been very lucky getting MTH DCS to work well. This is probably because no one else in the SF Bay Area that I know runs DCS. I think that I know most of the 3-rail O modelers in this area. NH Joe
