Do You Associate Certain Trains With The Previous Owner?

Definitely. For me it's my JAD Standard Gauge Hiawatha. Back in the late 70's I visited the home and collection of Bob Hornish with my Dad, and he had a SG Hiawatha running on the layout. I'd never seen one before, and never forgot it. About 10 years ago I introduced myself to Bob at York,  and he said, "I remember you--you visited my home with your Dad." I asked him if he still had the SG Hiawatha, and to my surprise he said, "Yes I do. It's for sale if you want it." We worked out a deal, and that train is now part of my collection. I think of Bob every time I see it. So, I'm not just the proud owner of a JAD Hiawatha, but I own the very same one I saw as a kid 35 years ago.

In a different way, yeah. I buy postwar, often on the auction sites or shows. As such, I've rarely met the previous owner. However, I also know these were toys for some happy kid back in the 50s/60s, and I like to think they'd be their train is still being enjoyed. I think about the Christmas morning they unwrapped it for the first time, setting up the track, and watching it run in amazement.

Maybe my scenarios are completely incorrect, but it also provides some perspective into the meaning of the hobby and the way joy is passed down and shared.

the first train show I went to, I spotted a Prewar gondola. nothing special. Dad had passed his trains onto me by this time, and he had a few Prewar pieces I was wanting to add to. The gentleman selling the gondola only wanted $10 for it. He was a great guy, and I always looked for him first at the show, and he always had a Prewar piece for me at a great price.

The only trains/accessories I've ever had that I associated with a previous owner were a 2505W Virginian Rectifier set from 1958 and a ZW transformer I purchased from an elderly gentleman who originally bought them for his son. A rather sad story - he said he wanted to sell them to "somebody who cared about them" since his son was basically a derelict and would eventually want to sell them to buy weed. I hope his son turned his life around, but at least the trains didn't end up in a pawn shop. 

You did OK with that deal. I like the prewar 600/2600 series cars better than the larger cars. Some years ago when I was attending the York shows regularly there was a husband and wife who sold prewar only and they always had their stuff reasonably priced... and they were nice folks too. I bought several cars and an engine from them.

Not really. Never think about who may have enjoyed it previously. When I get something used, it's still new to me!

Just about everything I have was purchased new, they make me think of MTH and Lionel.

I have a lot of old secondhand trains and many have associations with the people or situations where I acquired them. It gives them more character to know something about the history behind them.

Yes.  I had a bunch of mint PW engines purchased from a charter member of TCA who became a friend years ago.  Subsequently sold them but I always think of him when I get my PW from my childhood out at Christmas time.

I'll also remember a neighbor from years ago who gave me a box of old trains that turned out to be LIONEL's first PW set.  Still have them.

I have my dad's '46 2020 turbine and some early postwar cars that obviously are associated with him.

I have had the good fortune to acquire some of my postwar trains from my cousins, and I still have them, so I do think of them when I enjoy those items.

There are a few pieces I purchased from another collector in my hometown. Every time I see him he asks if I still have his 646!

Can't remember that far back.

I associate them all with the former owners, if a story came with the train, more so.

In a slightly different interpretation of your inquiry:

One of the coolest boys in my 50's era childhood neighborhood had an ABBA Santa Fe train, and that engine was one of the reasons he was considered so cool. Other reasons were his GG1, his ZW, and a load of switches and a cross-track he roared his trains through at the fastest speeds possible without them flying off his layout (nobody else had one of those either.) To this day, I can hear those trains rumble.

I never did get a GG1, and tried to have a Lionel Santa Fe, a few years ago, but it would only struggle and wiggle in-place when powered-up, so it got returned to my LHS. That was the end of that nostalgic desire. But I still remember the cool ABBA and its boy from my childhood. (P.S. His Lionel ABBA always ran.)

FrankM.

I sure do I have a family that I see every year at a local railroad hobby show. The mom and dad saw I was in my BSA uniform several years ago. My troop helped with the set up and take down of the show. Their son is a fellow Eagle Scout, they were my second family my Railroad family haha.  Every year they asked me how I was doing and how my work on a becoming a Eagle Scout. They kept pushing me and it helped a lot I would buy a few HO Tyco cars and a locomotive. The family always give me a  Scout discount. Until I got my Eagle rank The husband always gives me a Eagle Scout Discount now every year. However, this past year since switching to O Gauge I have began to get rid 95% my Ho Scale stuff. I have chosen to keep my favorite RR cars I got from them. This past year I also met a friend at the local show he had a well used 2018 for me I just have to get some replacement parts and the engine will join my small fleet.

Yes - the Lionel 2321 DL&W TrainMaster has the strongest association.  Some years ago I contacted a childhood friend to ask if he still had any of the trains he and his brother had run on their large layout.  He sold me a couple boxes of stuff.  I called to tell him I had found a nice N5C caboose that he didn't know was in one box, and that I owed him $10 more.  In return, he let me have the 2321 for 2/3 of its value at the time, saying he knew that I would keep it, and not sell it.

That reminds me...
My dad bought a 2321 in the early '70's from a gentleman heavy in the local TCA/train scene.  A few years later, we met "Gayland", who would become one of our dearest friends and who was also a train freak.  The first time we invited him to the house, he saw the 2321 and just said:  "That's mine."  He told us what to look for inside the shell and, sure enough, it really was his from when he was a kid.  He told us that, in a moment of utter stupidity, he sold it - actually, the entire, original freight set - to the fellow WE bought it from (who ended up opening a successful train shop in town).  Anyway, he was okay with it, because he loved us, knew where the engine was and that it was safe - but didn't love that the set had been parted out.  

Gayland and dad are long passed.  I still have the engine and always will.  It's up there in importance with my first trains.  (There was a thread recently asking if anyone got more emotional as they got older... yes, absolutely.)

I always think of my parents when I even think of my Lionel Scout or Texas Special sets.

Norm

A Proto 2.0 Railking RFP Berk from a family member of deceased Charter Member of the SD3R. It was his favorite Railroad, and now it is starting to become mine. 27 Boxcars, 7 K-Line Circus cars, and a Railking Cab Forward from my friend Sam in the live steam club

My jump start into O-gauge came at age 8 in the form of a laundry hamper full of early postwar lionel trains and accessories (all in original boxes too!) from my dad's second cousin.  I had only met him once or twice, and my father always said he was a bit strange.  He was an only child who had been adopted by my dad's relatives and he would disappear for years on end and when he was at home, he was a bit of a recluse.  I remember going to his house with my dad once to help move some furniture; all the blinds were closed and there were very few lights on.  He died maybe 10 years after I met him.  I'm sorry to say I don't really think of him as I knew so little of him firsthand.  But I am thankful to him that I got my start in O-gauge with such a great collection, and I have never broken up the collection even though there's one or two pieces I'm not overly fond of.

I got my first HO set at age 3 as a gift from my maternal grandparents and over the years my paternal grandmother gave me some nicer HO engines.  I sold a majority of my HO trains when I was a teenager to focus on O-gauge, but I kept the original set and those nicer engines as well as some buildings my father and I made together.  So I'll count that.