Mathers and Talbot looked to be around 13 years old in this episode. Can you imagine how much they probably hated doing the "woo-woo", "toot-toot" scene at their age?

However, I can see a couple of kids at that age re-discovering playing with kid toys. I'm not sure I can see a kid going off the deep end like Beaver did, though. Granted, he was probably more mad about Wally breaking his promise than losing the trains, but "going ape" and reverting to locking himself in the bathroom? Kind of extreme.

Also, he wants electric trains for his birthday (although he later changes his mind). Didn't he just have a birthday a few episodes ago?

When I was little, a friend and I played Star Wars a lot, figures, play sets, ships, etc. As we got older we got away from doing that, then when we were 13 we wanted to recapture the fun of playing that. Wasn't the same, and we did feel silly trying to act like they were fighting with light sabers, and making sounds for the ships. haha

I didn't lock myself in the bathroom afterwards, though I can see a 13 year old locking themselves in a bathroom, just not over something like that.

On a Suite Life Of Zack and Cody episode, as he stormed from the room, Cody shouted, "puberty stinks!"

Being at that awkward age is difficult.

Torgo, your post also matches up with Beaver's Old Buddy. Hopefully your friend wasn't the dork that Jackie Waters was.

Yes! Beaver's Old Buddy very much reminded me of my friend, thankfully my friend wasn't like Jackie Waters, and we're still friends.

I would give a whole lot to just play for an afternoon with some of my old toys. Now that I’m having my second childhood as Wally mentions. That episode when Beaver discovers his old teddy bear, Billy, was spot on. How he goes to great lengths to find his buddy. I wish I could get back my old friend, a stuffed gingerbread man that was so soft. Unfortunately I know he was thrown away but have photos of him always with me. If I carried it around they’d throw a net over me.

I used to have a Raggedy Andy, and a stuffed beaver (the animal not the Theodore), most of my toys are gone, still have all of my Star Wars figures and a couple of the ships. But all the rest of the toys are no more.

Though I did keep a stuffed gorilla that I got when I was about 9, I kept him on a shelf, so he stayed in good condition, then when my daughter was around 5 I gave it to her, and like me she's kept good care of it, and when she was packing at the end of last summer to head off to her second year of college, she took it with her. Made me feel good.:)

The gorilla looks like this-

...That episode when Beaver discovers his old teddy bear, Billy, was spot on. How he goes to great lengths to find his buddy...

I didn't like how Ward and Wally treated Beaver in that episode.

To June's credit she cleaned him up for Beaver.

I didn't like how Ward and Wally treated Beaver in that episode.

To June's credit she cleaned him up for Beaver.

Same, Beaver was still at an age where kids still slept with their teddy bears/security blankets/etc

I used to have a Raggedy Andy, and a stuffed beaver (the animal not the Theodore), most of my toys are gone, still have all of my Star Wars figures and a couple of the ships. But all the rest of the toys are no more.

Though I did keep a stuffed gorilla that I got when I was about 9, I kept him on a shelf, so he stayed in good condition, then when my daughter was around 5 I gave it to her, and like me she's kept good care of it, and when she was packing at the end of last summer to head off to her second year of college, she took it with her. Made me feel good.:)

The gorilla looks like this-

That gorilla is fabulous. I’d take him with me too. Wish I knew how to post a pic of my Dargie. Once I misplaced him and my grandmother bought me another gingerbread man and it wasn’t Dargie. I just thought of that memory.

When cleaning out a basement closet, I came across MY old electric trains recently...unlike June, they didn't hit me on the head.

Yeah, cool gorilla...all I had was a teddy bear with an eye missing...pretty typical.

I tried to find the pic I took of the gorilla sitting on my daughter's luggage, but I couldn't.

My dad was into the electric trains, he still has the ones he had had since he was a kid, and the ones he had collected over the years. The house we lived in when I was growing up he had a lay out all set up in our basement family room.

Easily the coolest thing I had as a kid was the race track in my room. My dad built it on a large board that was attached to the wall, then when you used it you brought it down over the bed. The cars were Hot Wheel size.

Ah, should never be an age limit. Maybe..other limits...

Now that was something missing from Beaver's Electric Trains--Beaver blowing up a trestle!

Who can forget Gomez and his trains. Must have cost a fortune blowing up the trestle all the time but he could afford it.

A little late to the discussion so maybe you all can help me out.

Beaver's trains were stored and unused for 2 years in the basement. June promises to give them to a younger boy without asking Beaver if that's okay with him. If that's how it went down then I think it was wrong for them to have made a promise, then they gave Beaver a guilt trip for acting childish for wanting to keep his trains. Later he asks Ward for a new bicycle and is reminded that it costs a lot of money. Maybe, he should have sold or traded his trains for a bike (used one).

One other point: That steam engine had a hard time pulling two freight cars and a caboose. It was meant as a starter set, but the two freight cars were from the higher quality line and sold separately. The accessories were likely sold separately and I would guess the overall value to be around 75 dollars.

Added: Forgot to ask if there were previous episodes of Beaver playing with trains?

They did ask him, but playing with the trains, with Gilbert, made him change his mind. Beaver was really showing off his 'tween immaturity in this episode.

No other examples of him playing with the train, nor any other mention of the Badsens, or their kid, Jimmy, nor his sister, Georgia.

Right if Ward needed the money he could have sold the train set. I didn’t realize Ward said a bicycle was expensive. Hey when Beaver won the sports car in Beaver’s Big Contest Ward sold it for $3500 or more and supposedly put the money in Beaver’s bank account. Ward was willing to take some of the money and buy him a bike. He could afford a great bike for him.

Every train set needed a large base to run the train or a table. It was over both beds in the boys’ room. Did Georgia Batson have to carry that large cardboard base home too?

At that age me and the gang had blank guns. They looked like 38's. We ran around the neighborhood shooting each other. We didn't feel foolish at all

Do you remember the “h-o” series of model trains? They were smaller than the standard-sized line of Lionel trains.

Since this was during the Cold War, Lionel had an “h-o” freight car, that was a disguised US military freight car, which housed a guided nuclear missile, which fired out of the car after hitting a release on the train track.

The only trouble was, that if you happened to be leaning over the freight car when it “launched” the missile, you could accidentally “shoot your eye out” just like Ralphie almost did with his Red Ryder toy Winchester rifle in “A Christmas Story.”

Do you remember the “h-o” series of model trains? They were smaller than the standard-sized line of Lionel trains.

Since this was during the Cold War, Lionel had an “h-o” freight car, that was a disguised US military freight car, which housed a guided nuclear missile, which fired out of the car after hitting a release on the train track.

The only trouble was, that if you happened to be leaning over the freight car when it “launched” the missile, you could accidentally “shoot your eye out” just like Ralphie almost did with his Red Ryder toy Winchester rifle in “A Christmas Story.”

Yes, I remember the h-o trains.

At that age me and the gang had blank guns. They looked like 38's. We ran around the neighborhood shooting each other. We didn't feel foolish at all

We had cap guns, where you bought a little roll of red mini-explosives. The moms of today would have a coronary over those.

I wonder if Soprano family soldier Bobby Bacala was a big fan of LITB when he was a young kid? Since Bobby was a model train enthusiast as a forty-something man, I think Bobby could probably empathize with Beaver’s reluctance to give up his beloved train set.

And, as we saw in the penultimate episode of “The Sopranos,” Bobby departed this mortal coil, almost fittingly, by being gunned down by two ruthless hit men as Bobby was about to purchase a rare model train set for several thousand dollars at an upscale hobby store.

Arrivederci, Bobby!