Do You Have Your First Set Of Trains ?

No. Me and my brother got it for Christmas in 1963 and lost it in the flood of 64 that next sprint. It was a Marx from Sears sold under the Allstate name. I was 4 and my brother was 9. Never had another one until 4 years ago but I always remembered that train.

Yes but no. I was given a 2572 B&M Freight set, slightly used. I ended up selling that set in 1988. Moved into a place had no room for my collection of trains, and it was all I could afford at that time. I have replaced that set about 7 years ago with even better cars than I had, The missile launching car didn't have the missiles or brakes wheels. Mine does, Didn't have the parts to the exploding boxcar, security car missing guns and searchlight cover, satellite launching car missing the mechanics and satellite, and the subcar missing the submarine and the wires that held it on the car. Yes it was missing stuff but back then it didn't matter to a 9 year old. 

I still have my Hornby #31 clockwork set, just like in this picture, but with a much scrappier box. The bar across the straight track at the bottom of the pic is the sliding tab to engage the locomotive brake.

Yup from Christmas 1960. It was a used 1951 (5108W) AF set but I never knew, or cared. There are two more cars not pictured. It was run until it broke in 1967. Repairing toys was never a priority in our family. Thanks to Adrian at Chesterfield Hobbies, it was finally repaired in 2007. The 40 years it spent wrapped in newspaper in a cardboard box down in the basement didn't seem to hurt it too much. At least it didn't get thrown away. I'm grateful for that.

Sorry for the poor pics, all I had available.

Yes... no.... yes.....    My older brother and I shared an O gauge Kusan (two rail) from 1956;  1960 I got my own Lionel Scout set with 246, 1130T, 6014 red Bosco, 6042, 6404 flat with brown auto, and 6017 red caboose.  Remember playing with the brown auto... wish I still had it.  Sold all my trains, Lionel and Marx sets with LOTS of track and switches, tele poles, buildings, trestle, etc. to cousin in Louisiana ($100) when I graduated from high school.  Then, in 1979, cousin gave me ALL the trains back (never really played with them, stay in boxes in attic) as he grew older and I  and wife had first child.  Now, the trains my father and I collected, starting 1975, he passed in 1978, are on shelves and run on layout, along with past 40 yrs collecting and the memories.  

Jesse    TCA

I have become the family train repository. I have my first train - not sure if it was a set or if it was cobbled together by my parents. I do know that it was bought in a great toy store called Thrift Town on Nostrand Avenue in Brooklyn. It was headed up by a Pennsy 637 2-6-4. Being it was the early 60's (I think '62), it came with some military cars; an exploding boxcar and a rocket launcher (it fired these round things that, if you were EXTREMELY accurate, would blow up,the boxcar). It also had a boat on a flat car that had a plastic L-shaped nozzle coming out the back. If I remember correctly, it came with instructions on making some "propellant" to make it go. I still have the bottle with a few pellets.

I also have my brothers set - probably a couple of years older than mine. It is headed up by a 621 NJ Central switcher. My brother's idea of trains is to place the two most expensive engines I have on the same track facing each other and floor them - I try and keep him out of the train room!!!

Finally, I inherited my aunt and uncle's trains. Technically, they were my cousin's, but I was always told he just got to watch. One of the sets is headed up by a New Haven 2350 EP-5. 

There are no boxes for mine or my brother's sets, but most of my cousin's still have the original boxes.

Unfortunately or maybe actually fortunately have two pieces that "Santa" brought the Christmas of 1947.

A 2025.

And a metal Lionel X2458 double door auto box car.

Better than nothing, especially since these were from the very first trains.

Ron

Yes, received in 1957 or 58. A Lionel 665 Hudson and tender, with the auto loader car, the Alcoa aluminum covered hopper, the wrecking crane(red and black), and a grey DL&W work caboose. O gauge track with 2 manual switches to create a layout with a passing siding. Finally, an LW transformer. the set is stores currently with the rest of my collection while I am in the process of moving my layout the a different room in the house.

Sure do. I was too little to understand how it worked and ended up seriously damaging it beyond repair (I was 5 after all).

Thankfully, it wasn't anything worth huge amounts of money but it still to this day my one and only MTH steamer. The set was a Pennsy 2-8-0 with baby madisons and Proto 2.0.

Yes, I and my brother still have our first train sets that Santa Claus brought us for Christmas in 1956. My brother’s  was the box  cab electric loco 520 loco and set with Baby Ruth box car, short gondola, and caboose. Mine was the 1615 0-4-0 switcher work train set with wheel car, crane, and work caboose. I still have it and still love it. It’s displayed on a shelf, and still runs. 

My brother and I received a Märklin electric train around 1957. The locomotive ran for years but when it gave up it received a special livery and a place in the glass case with a sign "first loco":

Regards

Fred

Partially. My first set was a Texas Special Alco AA pulling a series of freight cars, set #1599 from 1958. My dad eventually traded in the alcos for a 2243 Santa Fe set so I had to purchase a pair to complete the set. Unfortunately my dad never kept boxes. 

I also received the 6464-325 B&O Sentinel box car for my following birthday which launched me into collecting 6464's in my adult years. Again no box kept.

Regards,

Steve

Hobbit posted:

Partially. My first set was a Texas Special Alco AA pulling a series of freight cars, set #1599 from 1958. My dad eventually traded in the alcos for a 2243 Santa Fe set so I had to purchase a pair to complete the set. Unfortunately my dad never kept boxes. 

I also received the 6464-325 B&O Sentinel box car for my following birthday which launched me into collecting 6464's in my adult years. Again no box kept.

 

Regards,

Steve

That's a nice 6464 boxcar. How many do you have now? I just started collecting them. I have a C-9 6464-225 with original box and a  C-8 6464-900 so far.

This is My first train, a Marx wind up set. It still sits proudly in my office

You bet! And I still get it out and run it. This shot is from Christmas several years ago.

Chris

LVHR

A "first train" I do wish I had was a Marklin steam engine/cars in HO. Horne's in Pgh. was selling them and my wife wanted a Xmas train. This was 1962. Each year I added track, cars and switches until we had a nice layout. It even survived our house fire in 1985. Nice running train, really liked it. I made a big mistake giving it to my younger son who somehow managed to lose it. I think in one of his divorce moves. That Marklin was a nice train, I would like another.

Nope.  Was an American Flyer passenger set with the green New Haven cars and a 295 Pacific up front.  Parents gave it away when I ran off to join the Rock'n'Roll circus.  Had an "Air Chime Whistle," possibly the worst sounding toy train whistle ever made.

Pete

I sure do!  It's the Lionel Amtrak Lake Shore Limited set from the 1970's.  When my family had a hobby shop, we hardly carried Lionel in sets, more locos, rolling stock and track separately.  We did do train meets all over the place, and I think it was at Westover Country Club we did a show and a fellow had a stack of Lionel sets, all brand new.  My dad liked the Chesapeake Flyer one since it had the die-cast metal loco and I liked the Lake Shore, because it was Amtrak and familiar to me.

So my dad bought both and they still both run beautifully!  We also keep them in the original boxes!

Yep, they were the 1951 1119 Scout freight outfit headed by the 1110 Steam engine and the 1950 1463W Prairie Three Car Freight Set outfit headed by the 2036 steam engine with an extra automatic milk car. They were originally bought for my uncle by my Mom and Dad for his birthday and he gave them to me for one of mine.

Mike

Yes, Christmas 1949

Short Answer: Yes and No.

Long Answer:

My very first electric train was a Lionel Amtrak 0-27 set, circa 1995.

As I recall, it was a loop of 027 track, three streamlined cars and a powered/dummy Alco FA combo. I destroyed that set on Christmas day - literally. I had a ball going full throttle around the 027 curves and launching it off the table my father built. O Gauge Amtrak sets played a big part in my O Gauge hobby....more on this later.

I had various other O Gauge sets such as the Lionel Safari set (wasn't a big fan), and various "Flyer" sets with the Lionel 4-4-2. I don't remember which sets they were but I DO remember the last one I got was the "Santa Fe Special" set which was the top of the line set for circa 1997 - had the 4-4-2, air whistle tender, flat car with semi truck, log dump car, auto loader, 6464 box car, lighted caboose, big figure-8 track, etc. I saw one at York for $100, new in box. I stood there and said "if I don't buy this, I'll regret it for a long time". I didn't buy it and have indeed regretted it ever since!

The last "big" O Gauge set was the top set MTH put out around 1998 - the Genesis Superliner Amtrak train. A starter set with the Genesis diesel, 4 Superliner passenger cars, lots of track and PS1. I remember how amazing PS1 was at the time. My father's office was near the LHS at the time and would regularly buy lots of additional track. We had one heck of a "carpet central" on the basement floor. I thought this set was the greatest thing in the world and literally ran the wheels off of it. I LOVED the Genesis engine.

Around this time, an interest in N scale and HO - more affordable for a kid like me at the time got my interest. The O Gauge trains were packed away.

We purchased a large, completed HO layout and dozens of engines and cars. I was out of O Gauge for good with no trains. N scale was put aside and it looked like I was staying in HO going forward, There was just too much invested in it to switch scales again and go back to O Gauge.

At the same time as the HO collection grew, I was gifted with a train I have always loved - an LGB. I have always loved LGB and only have one set. It is on display and just takes up too much room. I've thought about getting a few more LGB pieces for around the Christmas tree but the size and cost makes it very hard to justify for a few hours use each year.

Resulting family BS saw nearly all trains - and the HO layout lost. I was able to "rescue" many of the HO engines and LGB set. Nothing else. No layout was built, no place to run them with the local club shutting down as well.

I got out of trains for a bit. I still enjoyed them but had no layout, no place to run.

Christmas 2004 found a Lionel Pennsy Flyer set under the tree, a gift from my Mother. Still no permanent layout, it was set up on the basement floor until a basic, but more permanent layout could be put together a few years later. That set got me back into O Gauge and still runs on my permanent layout.

Following the Pennsy Flyer, an MTH F3 diesel Freight with PS2. Since Christmas 2004, 40 more O Gauge locomotives have joined my collection. I'm back in O Gauge and here to stay. On display, in my train room, are many of those old N and HO locomotives, most "under glass" and haven't be run in years. Occasionally, the desire is there but I just don't do it. Same for the LGB. As with many of the early O Gauge engines, N and HO, they were gifts from my parents. They are not for sale and never will be. Times got a bit tough a few years ago, and I sold a few engines that were gifts from my mother. I have regretted that decision and have made it a point to replace them but it just isn't the same anymore. 

I also have a permanent layout at home and while I don't run the trains often, I do run them. For 11 years, I was a member of the National Capital Trackers. I left the club in 2016 to pursue other interests. Nothing "happened", I just wanted to do something else in my life - non-train related. As a result, I'm one of the newest "probies" at the Volunteer Fire Department.

Just last weekend, I re-purchased that MTH Railking Amtrak Genesis, this time with PS3 and the more modern Amtrak paint scheme. It is on the layout now and joins an MTH Premier AEM7 and Railking Scale Dash 8 pulling my Amtrak train whenever the urge is there. I didn't need that Genesis, but something just felt "right" having that Genesis back in my collection.

Nope,

Sold my SuperO layout back in the 80's when I thought Lionel would soon be dead and I needed to pay college.   Post war736 berk, 773 hudson, NYC F3, BM GP9, all the rolling stock, accessories.  While I miss the Ozone smell I like my modern trains better.  No regrets

Santa brought it Christmas 58.....and it still runs like the day I got it!

Peter

Sadly no.  I traded all my trains for my first hydroplane.  However I did a nostalgic replacement of my pre war scale Hudson with a new MTH Hudson, my Madison cars with a GGD PRR set.  Also Replaced all my freight cars with the same livery but scale stand ins. 

After visiting the Philadelphia 0 scale club in the old B & O passenger terminal I could no longer stand my AF sized lionels.

Santa brought an American Flyer 310 K5 freight set in 1949. Still have it.

Was always glad Santa liked the 2 rail trains...

Yes, my identical twin brother and I received the K-Line K-1702 Great Northern Flyer set for Christmas in 1989, IIRC. I got the set's GN MP-15, the NP boxcar, the GN hopper, and the GN caboose that came with the set. My brother got the set's D&RGW gondola, SP stock car, a Lionel ATSF U36B, and a K-Line Pennsy caboose.

I regularly use the MP-15 and GN hopper on my layout, and the set's accessories make up some of the scenery. The GN caboose and the set's K-950 20 watt AC transformer are used annually under our Christmas tree. The NP boxcar, however, is boxed away. It is just too small to fit in with the rest of my rolling stock. My brother still has all of his pieces, but uses only the ATSF U36B as part of an all-ATSF work train that runs during Advent and Christmastide under his tree.

Sadly no. It was stolen by some "friends" of mine I tried to help. It was a 1451 WS set bought from Western Auto. Actually it was my late fathers, and it was mint.

Clarence Siman posted:

Sadly no. It was stolen by some "friends" of mine I tried to help. It was a 1451 WS set bought from Western Auto. Actually it was my late fathers, and it was mint.

That's a pity.  No good deed goes unpunished.  

SJC posted:

Short Answer: Yes and No.

 

Around this time, an interest in N scale and HO - more affordable for a kid like me at the time got my interest. The O Gauge trains were packed away.

We purchased a large, completed HO layout and dozens of engines and cars. I was out of O Gauge for good with no trains. N scale was put aside and it looked like I was staying in HO going forward, There was just too much invested in it to switch scales again and go back to O Gauge.

At the same time as the HO collection grew, I was gifted with a train I have always loved - an LGB. I have always loved LGB and only have one set. It is on display and just takes up too much room. I've thought about getting a few more LGB pieces for around the Christmas tree but the size and cost makes it very hard to justify for a few hours use each year.

Resulting family BS saw nearly all trains - and the HO layout lost. I was able to "rescue" many of the HO engines and LGB set. Nothing else. No layout was built, no place to run them with the local club shutting down as well.

 

I have read many of these type topics before, thinking I had never been given a train.  I bought my first one when I was about 12.  How dull my memory is.  I had an Internet pen pal who was enamored by the Bachmann HO Shay, which that common interest is how we got together over the miles.  As his health deteriorated, he lost his ability to even put the engines on the track.  He told me he was giving all his trains to his nephew.  I told him I thought that was excellent.  He told me he had 21 of the Bachmann HO Shays, not to mention many other steam engines.  Here one day there was a box at our door containing 6 of the Shays!  I was floored!!  He said they were in good hands, and I should do with them what I wanted. 

By this time, I was having trouble handling HO trains myself, second bout of carpal tunnel and arthritis, plus poor eyesight.  I had bought an On30 locomotive and a couple cars and an O gauge building kit.  After he passed on at age 59, the Shays just sat.  I had decided to go O gauge Hi-rail and had sold the On30 equipment.  Both daughters were in college, and while they both received academic scholarships, and had applied for loans, we were hard pressed to meet other financial needs; laptop computer, arts materials, etc.  I sold all 6 Shays to meet college needs.  Now I wish I had kept one Shay as a memento to the man whose wife wrote me thanking me for being a faithful pen pal for 11 years.

Yes, Lionel Oga. set 11530 MPC 1966. Grandpop bought all the grandchildren train sets when we were born. Doesn't get much run time now. Like someone here said before, the diesel engine won't hardly pull its own shadow. Has largely been replaced by my Lionel 6220.

Yes still have it Santa Fe Silver Chief Set (top shelf)was a Christmas present in 1953 as part of a promise my uncle made that if I walked before Christmas he would buy the biggest and best Lionel Train Set available in 1953 and I did 2 weeks before Christmas and it took me almost 60 years but now I have the complete set to include both baggage cars and a B Unit and it still runs like a champ. Mostly sits on a shelf under glass now with most all on my Post War pieces.

          yes, this HO Santa Fe engine and four passenger cars at 1 year old, 1965....

Yes, my uncle's 2025 set from 1947, along with a 97 coal loader. Received in in 1976 when I turned 10 since I was the first nephew (he had a daughter). 

Yes and no

The first set was a Hafner wind up, that I combined with my brother's Marx Canadian Pacific and played with on the sidewalk in the summer. I have a replacement set, but the original survives only in pictures and my memories.

My first electric train is an American flyer 372 GP-7 with freight cars and an auto unloading car. I still have that, in the box, as well as some duplicates to play with. Santa brought that for Christmas of 1955, four days after I turned 7 years old.

In 1960, I received a Franklin Frontiersman passenger set with figure eight trestle set. Still have that in its original box as well as some duplicates.

Train Nut posted:

Yes and no. I do have the first set I owned.   It's just not the one that was mine. I got rid of it when I got older and just had to repurchase it a few years ago.   For the memories and nostalgia.  It just so happens it's the same set above in Jeffpo's set above...   A Lionel O27 Southern!

Cool!    I see a set for sale every now and then.

Mine was a low end set, a pre war 1684 with the 2689T coffin tender with a tin 1679 Baby Ruth boxcar, a 1680 Sunoco tank car and a 1682 caboose.  I still have it and it still runs well.  My father pulled the set out of the neighbor's trash, had it serviced, and gave it to me for Christmas when I was 5.

I love this thread! I do not have my first train - a Tyco HO Burlington passenger train from the early 1970s - but I have my dad's first train: a 248 and his R transformer. I sold all my HO to get into N years ago, then sold the N to get into O and have 'churned' my O trains over the years as I've changed my layout theme - but I still have the 248 and its two cars. . .

No, Sadly that train set is long gone. My first set was a wind up train at the age of about 9 months. I do remember it threw sparks going around the track. My mom has a picture of me with it laying on the floor at my grandparents. I'm going to try and get it from her before she passes. Then it was a Marx set my brother and I got from a neighbor. After that, I was into N-Scale and I was promised my Dads American Flyer 4-8-4 set when I was older. I got that about 8 years ago finally. I sold the N-Scale set due to aging eyes. I am now doing the PE and my Cheesie Steam Special.

No, I had a Marx 027 battery powered steam engine and some cars on a figure 8.