A few comments from an older man.
First and I think most important, O scale modeling is for real modelers who love detail. You can put details on an O gauge car or locomotive that few have the dexterity to do in HO. I love operating at the O scale club in Gardner MA.
But O gauge toy trains are on a different planet from O scale. I love old O gauge trains, especially prewar. I buy, clean, repair sell and collect them. But that's another world from the HO model railroad club where I am a member who delights in reproducing actual railroad operations in 1955.
BTW, I'm 81
Malcolm Laughlin