Our house was one of the few I remember that did not have a train set - for the tree at Christmas, and for playing with in general. My folks just were not "into" some things, electric trains being one. I have dabbled in them since I grew up, and tried to interest my kids, but they didn't seem to care much whether the train was there or not. Maybe some thing are in the genes. I do have an old American Flyer set that I saved from the dump, and some HO pieces, but nothing that is serviceable at this time.