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I became involved with American Flyer trains vis a vis my brother.  Our
Dad brought home a Flying Freighter set one year (Baldwin loco).  He
probably bought it at Murphy's 5 & 10 cent store or Sears.  They
immediately put up a 4X8 layout.  I watched and was hooked.  Later, my brother
got a Royal Blue and some other steamer that smoked and a seemingly
endless supply of track.  Our house was a flat and you could walk a
circuitous route around the whole inside.  We had track all around.  It ran
under the couch, around an endtable, under a chair or two, through
'tunnels' made from couch cushions, branched, crossed-over, trestled, etc.
It made stops at all our Plasticville buildings.  Our parents were very
tolerant of the track everywhere!  The fun was setting it up, then
watching it disappear through-out the house.  We set up ambushes for the
dog.  We would set up track in the morning and take it down at night -
what fun!  I have a Royal Blue now and it is magic to me, still.  When I
run one of the steamers I have, the smell of the smoke takes me back to
an earlier, innocent time.