As anybody ever just give you trains?

No one's ever given me anything.  LOL  However, I have given trains away.  I gave my childhood Lionel set to my cousin many years ago when I got into 2 rail O scale.  It was in excellent shape and ran great.   Boy,  how I regret it now.  I think he would give them back if I asked but I don't want to be an Indian giver.  No offense to Indians.

 

Rick

That's what started me in this hobby. My great uncle gave me his late son's Lionel trains when I was ten years old. It's been a great journey ever since.

These trains were given to me by a guy I work with...

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6RBz9GZY3I

 

I put a new motor on his lawn tractor and it was a PITA so when he paid me for the job he also gave me this box of miss matched trains,they belong to a uncle and he had no interest in them.

Why yes...Santa.
Other than that, no.

A former colleague gave me two Marx sets, and another former colleague left me his 1956 catalogue 2338 set and other train items.

A ZW with a broken handle. They thought it was junk. I told them handles were available, they weren't train people. Works fine.$12 new handle= $12 ZW  

About a year ago, a friend who knew I was into trains gave me a Lionel set his parents gave him that they bought from Western Auto. It had a 2018 steamer, and 4 nine inch freight cars. Except for the missing log load, it is in great shape, and even came in the original box. Years ago, my aunt gave me my cousin's 624 NW2 switcher after the rest of his trains were stolen from the apartment's communal storage area. She declared him too old to have trains anymore anyway.

My cousin, who has no interest in trains and never did, gave me his childhood Lionel set.  It's a 2037 with tender, a 6464 boxcar, a couple of military cars and a KW transformer.  It was all in perfect condition, so I'm not sure he ever really ran any of it.

I've received a lot of free O gauge trains over the years. 

When I had our hobby shop back in 1988 or so a fella came in and asked if I wanted a trunk of old Lionel Trains. I was just getting started in trains at the time and knew next to nothing about postwar Lionel having had Gilbert Flyer as a young lad. I said 'Sure' and he came back the next day with two metal foot lockers of stuff - No 2032 UP Alcos, a small steamer (No ?) and a dozen common freight cars. There was some other peripheral things like 027 track, some buildings, a 1033 transformer and the like.

I asked him what he wanted for it as I truly had no idea and he replied "I don't know. I'm going out of town for a few weeks and will stop back in again." He never did and no one knew who he was...

 

We had a neighbor at the time (a high-powered attorney) who told me that he had some trains in his attic from when he was a kid that he would like me to see. Several years passed and we couldn't get together. A few weeks after I closed the shop I was now home on a Saturday (a first!) and he called over "You want to look at my trains?"

He hauled about 4 or 5 cardboard boxes down from his attic and we spread out a whole lot of very nice Gilbert American Flyer stuff. Several (5 or 6) operating accessories, water towers, light towers, (no Gabe), a Union Terminal and about 15 - 20 cars , all freight. The olnly engine was a common No 295 New Haven Pacific and the motorized handcar.

He thought he remembered having a few more engines and a diesel but had no idea what had become of them. I tried to buy everything but he insisted on giving it all to us!  What a haul...   

 

Deals like this still don't make up for the $50K we lost when we closed the shop after 6 or 7 years of not making a wage!

My Grandparents gave me several sets for Christmas. They also gave me my Uncle's Marx Monon set, my Uncle's Lionel 202 set, my Grandpa's Lionel 265E freight set, and my Grandpa's 52 Fire Car and Radar Car. All this stuff runs, and except for the 265E set, it is all in about C-8+ condition

 

My elderly neighbor called me one time, and told me she needed help in her attic. When I got up there, she told me to get all those boxes out of here. They were filled with early S American Flyer! She had three sets, but one of her relatives wanted an engine for on a shelf, so he kept the 312. I got two 290's, tons of cars and accessories including station, water tower, block signals, circus flatcar with truck and cages, 654 pullman coaches, plasticville, and other stuff. Here is a picture (besides the ZW):

 

 

As for did it run well......after some basic cleaning, lets just say they ran...until I hit a switch set the wrong way and derailed the one. I have it apart right in front of me to fix it. The other one will be next, as it needs a good going through as well. Oh well, that's part of the fun.

Yes, almost 20 years ago, I got a phone call out of the blue. Total stranger said she didn't want these trains, and she would leave them on the porch for me. Went over and picked them up, never saw her to say thanks.

 

A few real goodies in there. Postwar ballast tamper in the box. But the real jewel was the 6414 Auto loader with the 4 cheap plastic cars (all unbroken). I had never seen those cars before, and it took me a while to figure out what I had.

I havent been it this hobby long enough to get any..but id been in racing r/c boats for years and gotten free boats and parts..I dont know how you guys are,,But we help our fellow boater out even give the shirt off our backs to help another member in need out or when there down and out...even at the races if his boat engine blew up or wrecks his boat at the races..

Not long ago I was asked to come and tune up a former customer's layout and engines.  I do this for him every so often as he has his layout on his bedroom floor and it gets battered about by the maid cleaning.  This las time as payment he gave me the Lionel WM #6 3 truck shay.

I haven't but forum member "Catch 22" had a bunch of them given to him by a neighbor!

.....

Dennis

I had a 2020 set from 1946 my dad gave me when I was a kid (in 1970). Never knew how to maintain them or even how to wire up the switches. Years later I bough some trains and accessories at a garage sale and asked someone at work who collects Lionel how to clean them up and how to get the missing parts. I went to his house were we took an engine apart, cleaned it, found what parts were missing from a big book that has instructions and exploded views of all the Lionel stuff, and ordered the parts from a local dealer. What a guy. He knew how to get someone started in the hobby.

 

A week later he called and told me he had some old trains he got and didn't have the time to work on. There was a 726 work train set, a 2330 with 2 Madison cars, and a 2343 Santa Fe A-A with a B unit. The cars were in rough shape but I was able to get everything working. He also gave me some accessories like the AF Union station and shed.

Needless to say, he got me hooked.

Back in the late 60's I was given a Lionel 736 and rolling stock in trade for mowing a lawn. And then just this past year my sister's neighbor was moving from his home into a retirement community and in payment of helping him tear down his table I got all of his trains which included Lionel sets and MTH PS1 engines.

Santa clause 

As you get older and have been into trains all your life you take on the local name of da' 'train guy'.  As such I seem to be the clearing house for all things trains as people clean out their garages or attics (no basements here).  Most is HO, some O, mostly toy junk and once or twice a piece of brass or two.  I graciously accept what they give me and try to recycle what I can.  I have managed to get a few pieces to run again and I have made a train set or two with a few added in pieces for Christmas gifts that the local church gave to some deserving folks.  So yes I have received some trains.  Russ

Our neighbor gave me her family's Lionel OO set. Told the story of how her parents had it set up for a Christmas party on December 7, 1941. Packed it up after that and never got it out again.  Lubed it and replaced the engine tether which had dried out and that thing runs like a top, though I wish I could find more of the track with the Bakelite roadbed.  I've offered to set it up under her tree at Chiristmas every year since and she's never taken me up on it.

  

 

Aawhile back, another former forum member sent me a box of track, accessories, and a box car he no longer had any use for (all good for my son's then Push/Pull layout). And, a few years ago, my brother sent along his wife's grandfather's PW set, with the original receipt (loooong story).

 

More recently, a friend and neighbor who does estate sales dropped off a cheapo gas station set that was left over from an estate sale.  Runs like crap but my 7yo was thrilled!

 

redrockbill

I got a 1960 uncataloged Sears set from the father in law.  It needed some work but it was all there, even had the original boxes but years of basement storage did a number on them.  It looks great running with my repop 59 santa fe 027 set.

My father in law gave me all of his trains. 2333 Santa Fe with b unit, aluminum passenger cars, 725 set, coal loader, milk cars, plastic vile village Barclays lead figures and his zw. That is when the collecting began.

About 20 years ago, my childhood barber gave my father a Lionel 1655 steam engine to send to me.  He'd found it at a yard sale and, remembering that I liked and collected trains, had bought it for me.  It was missing the tender and wouldn't run, but I was able to rectify both issues and still have the engine.  It even got in some time around the Christmas tree this past year.

I've also had co-workers who found Lionel rolling stock at garage and yard sales that they have bought and given to me.  None of this stuff has ever been particularly collectible, but I've always appreciated their thoughtfulness.

Curt

My dad gave me his boyhood set when I was a little kid and we often set it up at Christmas time until march.  Lots of fond memories together and I still have that set operating on my layout and sometimes around our tree. 

 

Santa had brought me and my brother a few Marx wind up sets over the years that didn't survive like the Lionels which were always cared for. 

 

I have had friends tell me people gave them trains out of the blue, but that never happened to me (at least not yet).  Also, I have never just walked into an estate sale, garage sale, train show and just suddenly found a box of trains under some table either for some ridiculous price.

 

I do know it happens though...

 

 

 

Yes, my father when I was 8 years old Christmas 1938.

A little old lady in my church gave me a CA-boose. It was a PRR wrapped in a plain wrapper that had the words "I love trains too!" inscribed on the side.

 

Some fellow teachers knew I was in to trains and gave me some 0 scale trees that they were discarding.

I went to Radio Shack last year to grab some wire and the salesman asked me what it was for.  I told him my model railroad layout, and another customer interjected.  He told me he had a few boxes of HO trains in his car and he just wanted to get rid of them.  He walked them to my car and loaded them into my trunk and told me to enjoy.

 

I got home and sifted through the boxes and found a pre-war o gauge tinplate set.  It was in terrible shape, along with most of the HO items, but it was still cool as it was completely unexpected.

When I was 10 years old we lived in a half double house.  The neighbors were a couple with no kids.  The neighbor gave me his postwar trains , accessories, plasticville, etc one Christmas season and helped me build a 4x8 layout.  I was hooked from them on.  Each christmas they would buy me a new piece for the layout.  Their generosity and kindness stuck with me.  A few summers ago the wife was diagnosed with cancer.   I went back home to thank them for the trains so many years ago.  She died shortly thereafter.  So now occasionally I will give trains away to a young person who may not have the finances to purchase them but really has an enthusiasm for the hobby.  Yes it costs me money, but comon guys, we all have so many trains.  The joy it gives a young person is priceless.  I have given away a couple of legacy engines, and even a legacy set.  I hope some day they do the same.  

My mother and father gave us three boys trains for christmas. I  have given sets to several kids that I thought would like them and gave a set to a neighbor who expressed an interest. I was told that one kid really liked the trains but his parents thought the best place for them was in a box in the closet. I was disapointed but maybe the kid will follow through with his interest some day.

 

Paul Goodness

Wow that hudson steam locomotive is pulling a nice train.I am suprised by that its length.Wow that smoke unit works pretty good to.Puffs of smoke that hang over the train a bit.

A few years ago I gave away some of my ho trains.At a toy give away around christmas time.It was locomotive and some boxcars.The locomotive was athren so it was a good puller.This was when I was into ho trains.Any way I hope some kid got some joy out off it.

Hi have had some AF, Lionel and Ho.  given to me from guys at work time to time.

 Most people at work know that I collect trains. two old sets that were given to me

 were in fair shape little cleaning and were good to go.  Most of the ho that have been given to me were beat bad.

 Have gotten some out of trash throught the years. best was  Lionel NH little joe.

 

  

Old colleague gave me his Dad's PW set. In a box where the mouse turds out numbered the trains about 100,000 to 1...

When I fist got back into trains in the early 70's I ran adds in the Penny Saver give away paper. Collecting was not the big deal it later became. A number of people just gave me Lionel sets. One was a 736 Berkshire set. Just before we moved here a older couple from across the street came over to say good by. They knew I liked trains and had a box for me. Turned out to be a very collectable space set. They wouldn't take any money for it. Don 

A colleague of mine, on his last day of work before he began his retirement, left a box on my desk containing his original 726 Berkshire. We had spoken many times about my hobby and he had told me that he had a Lionel Train when he was a boy. Well, I guess he wanted it to have a good home!

Beyond the Christmas presents, a guy who worked in another building on a large

facility heard I was into trains and said he had a neighbor who had a Marx set for sale, and gave me the address.  I went out to the trailer park and met the lady, and found she had a mint in the box Marx six inch prewar mixed train (freight and

passenger cars).  She said her uncle had passed away and she found it in the estate.  I am not into six inch, but made her an offer which she refused, and told me to take the set.  I objected and told her that, at the time, it was worth probably so much, but she said no, and to take it.  I thanked her, and did.

Due to the way I obtained the set, I have kept it as the representive six inch set

in my collection.

I helped move some items for an old lady friend of my grandma. We started talking about hobbies and I had mentioned trains. She said that her son left some old trains a long time ago and she wanted to get rid of them to make space on a shelf. It turned out to be a major score. When I opened the box there was a set of postwar Santa Fe 2353 A-B-A units. There was also a TW transformer and some o gauge track. There were some slight scratches on the paint but they were in great shape. I offered her some money but she would not accept.

Thanks to Sharon at Olsen's Train Parts I replaced the pickup rollers, brushes and armature. I cleaned out the drive train and relubed the gears. Now they run like new. The track was original o gauge with "LIONEL NY" stamped on the ties. I donated the track to a school and I had the transformer rebuilt for $35.00.

I was looking for a reasonably priced set of postwar F3s for 20 years. I finally found them. It pays to be nice to old ladies.

Bit of a long story.

TCA Western has put on the Holiday Festival of Trains at the Nixon Library a number of time. A few years ago I was there helping out and a docent came over and said someone wanted to be shown around. I agreed to do it and was introduced to an older gentleman who said he would appreciate a tour and description of what he was seeing. Very nice and polite man, I spent an hour or so showing him around and explaining things. When he'd get tired, we would just sit and chat. We came to a cube shaped display case that contained a boxed AF Zephyr set. He was obviously excited by this one. I told him one of these was on my gotta have list, but a bit pricey for me. He then said he had one as a kid. Anyway, he had a great time and was very appreciative of all the time I spent with him. A year or so later, I got a call from our TCA div president that someone had contacted the Nixon Library trying to find the young man that had helped him out and he was thinking it was me. He gave me the mans contact info and I got a hold of him.  He wanted to meet with me again. I met him in Irvine and we had a long chat again, then he told me he wanted me to have his Zephyr. His kids had no interest in it other than the monetary value. He said there is one condition, I should make a donation in his name to the youth group of his church for whatever I felt I could give. He gave me the church info and then handed me the set, in the poor but original box. By this time my finances were better, so my check was for a reasonable amount. I call it the set that found me. It's first up in this video.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoX7fGcYZ-U

 

Steve

Steve, that's great story.

 

In 1998 I was visiting in the old neighborhood back east where I grew up as a kid, which our family had left 30 years previous. I looked up an old friend of my deceased brother and we enjoyed discussing old times. Then he gifted me some 1931 Lionel trains which had originally belonged to my father. We had given him the old prewar trains back in the early 1960's because we had "better" HO trains at that time. He had taken good care of them. I rate that as the best gift I have ever received, and it was my start in O-gauge.

 

When I visited him again in 2011, he gifted me his other Lionel train items, primarily a 1954-55 Lionel set #1513 items and a KW transformer.

 

 

My father's 1931 Lionel train, which was out of the family for 35 years. Matches #181 outfit.

 

The tank car is not original but otherwise this is a Lionel 1513 set from 1954-55