Model Road Sets

[Mergingtraffic]

You've heard of Model Train Sets...but what about model road sets?  Since we are affectionatley called road geeks, just wondering does anybody have a model road set?

I used to have one, I would buy all the HO Scale highway scenes (signs, street lights, traffic lights, stores etc) from the railroad sets and make my own model road set.  This was back in the early 90s, I wonder if they have more "realistic" stuff nowadays. 

I always wanted a HO Scale highway flyover but i don't think that was ever made.  There were flyover railroad bridges but not highway bridges.

[kurumi]

Just for fun: the I-84/I-691 interchange extends 1.04 miles along I-84. In HO scale that would be more than 63 feet. Hope you've got a big basement...

[cjk374]

www.blairline.com sells realistic highway signs.  Rix Products has a highway overpass and other road-related items (I can't seem to find their website). 

[PAHighways]

You've heard of Model Train Sets...but what about model road sets?  Since we are affectionatley called road geeks, just wondering does anybody have a model road set?

Yes

[Interstate Trav]

they have model road sets?  where can you find these?

[cjk374]

Those US-1 trucking set commercials brought back some fond memories of my childhood. (sighs)  

[myosh_tino]

Those US-1 trucking set commercials brought back some fond memories of my childhood. (sighs)  

Me too!  See my post in the topic linked to by PAHighways

[Brandon]

Those US-1 trucking set commercials brought back some fond memories of my childhood. (sighs)   

I still have it here in the basement in a couple of boxes.  It's complete with its own big green signage.  Of course, it's fun to mix it with the model RR sets I have and the Legos (Lego bricks make great HO scale model building material IMHO).

[RoadWarrior56]

As a kid in the mid 1960's, I had a couple of Kenner Bridge and Turnpike building sets.  I would run matchbox and other small model cars on them.  A bit later, I had an Aurora Model Motoring HO Race Car set.  I had hours of play and fond memories of both.

[njroadhorse]

As a kid in the mid 1960's, I had a couple of Kenner Bridge and Turnpike building sets.  I would run matchbox and other small model cars on them.  A bit later, I had an Aurora Model Motoring HO Race Car set.  I had hours of play and fond memories of both.

I always wanted one of those.  My grandparents had the the skyscraper set from when some of my uncles were younger, but I could never find the Bridge and Turnpike one, and six year old me thought that they still made them

[RoadWarrior56]

I remember seeing updated versions of the Kenner sets in the 1980's in Toys R Us after I had a child of my own, but I don't think they have been made since then, although I don't know for sure.

I will have to say, the Kenner sets (I had two of them) were one of my favorite toys of all time.  They did have little pieces included that would now probably be considered "dangerous" for children by the government and other PC institutions.

[2Co5_14]

I also got one of the Kenner Girder & Panel Bridge sets in the early 80's (still have it). They were a great way to build truss, cantilever, and suspension bridges using the actual structural principles.  They also had cool roadway pieces, realistic signs, and streetlights.  They were scaled for Matchbox or Hot Wheels cars, but I squeezed my Lego cars (barely!)onto those bridges. I had so much fun with it that one of my parent's friends gave me an extra (used) bridge set, along with a skyscraper set! 

Recently I've been doing Ebay searches for Girder & Panel and I saw some even older "Bridge & Turnpike" sets from the 60's that had more types of roadway pieces to be able to build highway interchanges. I've been tempted to get one of them but they don't come along very often, and they're really expensive as vintage toys. 

There is one company that recently got the rights to start manufacturing & selling the Girder & Panel sets again:
http://www.bridgestreettoys.com/index.html
Their bridge sets are modeled more closely with the original sets than the ones I have.

[thenetwork]

I had gotten a Corgi Town Center set in my waning years of my pre-high school days.  It was mostly a styrofoam-like set with separate buildings and connectable roadbeds.  I got it out of the Sears catalog. 

Prior to that, my grandfather worked at a bank and he would get me boxes of old IBM punchcards.  I used the blank/back side and create my own signs, roadbeds & buildings.

I think my parents threw all of that stuff out before I went to college, but they kept most of the Hot Wheels & Matchbox tracks.

[Truvelo]

Has anyone heard of a modular toy kerbing/sidewalk system produced by a French company called Majorette? I used to have some as a kid. It consists of molded plastic sidewalk with kerb edging in pieces about 4 inches long. They clip together to make streets. There's also corner versions for side roads. Each section has tiny holes where things like traffic lights, signs, fire hydrants and streetlights can be placed. The traffic lights have a tubular center with printed on colored dots to represent each phase and these are changed by turning the top.

I had it back in the 80's so I'm not sure if it's still produced.

[Brian556]

I still have one of those Majorette sets. It was an Auto Service garage. My aunt still has some of these, too.