First love. Have we lost it?

Wow. Looked at another post and how similar the sentiments.

Both are fantastic, but the old trains will always bring great memories of our past to our minds.  The memories are awakened and it is very comforting.   They are connected to simpler times, family, friends, easier times, and wonderful Christmas holidays.  I love my newest SD60-E because I see them rolling through, and its freshly new.  But the memories tied to less realistic toy trains of the past are priceless.

Yep.   Nothing like running a good ole post-war or pre-war consist!  They will always have a place in the hobby and our hearts.

-Greg

Those memories are lasting in my mind. I remember those times vividly. More than my present sessions, for certain. Though I am now a 3RS fellow, the memories remain.

Scrappy

A first love is only lost when we allow it to be that way. My layouts are on the Cajon Division NMRA layout tours this week and I have had only a few visitors and that is fine with me even though I had to take some vacation days to tidy up the layouts and the house. Since my wife was unexpectedly cleared to go back to work several months ago after Stage 3 breast cancer things have been hectic at best. I agree there are time when it is easy to forget why we got our love for trains. My wife suffers exhaustion spells and since she has to work not only for the obvious financial reason but it also makes her feel better about herself being a nurse. 

I thought she might have lost her love for trains but then we redid the living portable for Halloween and she giggled and then remembered why she likes the trains. She has spent the past week moving people and things around and it makes her happy. 

The same applied for me with organizing trains and cleaning thins up. I realized that I have enough trains for my mood swings from Tinplate to Postwar to Modern and command control. When I am not in the mood for one style of train I just think about what I have not played with in a while. I find it and then just take a moment to think about how it relaxes me and how I feel childishly giddy about actually owning it and being able to play with this train that I only could dream of having as a little boy. I remember going to bed at night with my parents not having much of anything and dreaming my room full of toy cars and trains. Yes, often times I awoke to realize it was just a dream.....and now it is not. 

I remind myself of that almost everyday that a little boy can live his dream and relive the good things in life if only he is willing to pause, look, and remember.

Captaincog posted:

A first love is only lost when we allow it to be that way. My layouts are on the Cajon Division NMRA layout tours this week and I have had only a few visitors and that is fine with me even though I had to take some vacation days to tidy up the layouts and the house. Since my wife was unexpectedly cleared to go back to work several months ago after Stage 3 breast cancer things have been hectic at best. I agree there are time when it is easy to forget why we got our love for trains. My wife suffers exhaustion spells and since she has to work not only for the obvious financial reason but it also makes her feel better about herself being a nurse. 

I thought she might have lost her love for trains but then we redid the living portable for Halloween and she giggled and then remembered why she likes the trains. She has spent the past week moving people and things around and it makes her happy. 

The same applied for me with organizing trains and cleaning thins up. I realized that I have enough trains for my mood swings from Tinplate to Postwar to Modern and command control. When I am not in the mood for one style of train I just think about what I have not played with in a while. I find it and then just take a moment to think about how it relaxes me and how I feel childishly giddy about actually owning it and being able to play with this train that I only could dream of having as a little boy. I remember going to bed at night with my parents not having much of anything and dreaming my room full of toy cars and trains. Yes, often times I awoke to realize it was just a dream.....and now it is not. 

I remind myself of that almost everyday that a little boy can live his dream and relive the good things in life if only he is willing to pause, look, and remember.

Thanks for your post. My wife is also a breast cancer survivor. We all can focus on the positives and looking back on our childhoods hopefully are pleasant memories. I took time to say a prayers for your family. Lot of parallels here as my wife is a retired nurse practitioner.

My PW trains are why I'm still in this hobby.  The sound of the buzzing e-unit and the growling F3's, the smell of ozone and smoke pellets and the memories of Christmas gardens past keeps this 73 yr old guy going.

No.  We have not lost it.  Nor will we ever. 

Our first trains evoke memories that cannot be erased.  Never will be erased.

59 years and counting...

George

I remember all those years ago of Christmas and Lionel trains. It was a time of magic and fun.

My parents were poor but everything they had they gave to us kids, they instilled the love of family, God and Lionel trains. 

My parents and my brothers are gone now but I will never forget them for the fun, the memories and my love of model trains. 

The postwar trains definitely bring back memories, but now days, I am fiercely drawn to their reliability and repairability.  When I was a kid they always worked first time every time.   I wouldn't have stuck with them otherwise.  I like things to work a very high percentage of the time.  Sure I like to tinker and repair, but at my choosing and my time. 

Reminds me of my previous Honda lawnmower I had for 20+years.  It started first pull every time (2 pulls needed on the first use of the year).  Now I have a new improved one that I have to 1) remove the air filter, 2) tilt on its side, 3) pour gas directly into the carb, 4) re-install air filter, 5) pull 5 -10 times and then it always starts.   If it cools off when you take a break for lunch, then you have to pour gas in again.

How can anyone not remember their childhood trains?? My whole life revolved about trains in one form or another. From the PRSL running in an out of Atlantic City in the 50's, to the Lionel's running around at Christmas time. My parents went to great lengths to set up a Christmas garden every year, until I got old enough to do it myself. I evolved, over the years, from Lionel to more realistic HO and then to Oscale two-rail. Always trying to duplicate in miniature what I saw in real life. I still do. 

Over all these years however, I always set up the post war Lionel's that my folks gave me. Every Christmas the magic from my childhood is recreated on the original platform that dad built along with the control panel and wiring from 60+ years ago. The locomotives, cars and building are still the same, but the track plan changes every year. The memories of those times are always strong and vivid. I hope my grandkid's memories are as lasting as mine.

Thanks for letting me share.

Buzz

I don't know, I had a Lionel cheap-ish O27 set as a little kid (I think I was 5 at the time) and I still have the 0-4-0 locomotive from that set. I guess it'd still run if I had some 3-rail track for it.

But it was a loop on the dining room floor linoleum. It was fun as a kid, but it was just a loop and I had to take it apart soon enough.

I have so much more fun on my On30 layout, which is the primary fixture in the room it's in. Every loco has sound, the scenery is in place, and the trains actually go somewhere.

Sure, it was fun as a kid, but these are the prime model train years for me, the ones I'm living as I type this.

I wax nostalgic often and remember in the 1950's  traveling on highways that always paralleled train tracks while I searched for the headlight of an oncoming train in the distance.

Sitting in my layout room brings back these days. And even now, sitting by busy tracks gives me the same peace and contentment as lazing at the beach.

As a relative newbie to the modeling aspect I have never experienced the sight, sound, and feel of neither early nor post war trains, though I have a few of the latter, but am mostly content with the more modern stuff that I have.

What is it about a 60 year old plus locomotive that still runs like a Swiss watch with just a little maintenance?

I grew up loving trains, planes and race cars. Fortunately I still pursue them all.

But, the best of all is a loving wife who understands.

Lenny the Lion posted:

What is it about a 60 year old plus locomotive that still runs like a Swiss watch with just a little maintenance?

I have a Lionel bump n' go trolley that my trains store techie recommended over of the modern stuff. It looks a little "toylike" but it works great.

Great thread !! More of these, please !! 

Buzz5495 posted:

How can anyone not remember their childhood trains?? My whole life revolved about trains in one form or another. From the PRSL running in an out of Atlantic City in the 50's, to the Lionel's running around at Christmas time. My parents went to great lengths to set up a Christmas garden every year, until I got old enough to do it myself. I evolved, over the years, from Lionel to more realistic HO and then to Oscale two-rail. Always trying to duplicate in miniature what I saw in real life. I still do. 

Over all these years however, I always set up the post war Lionel's that my folks gave me. Every Christmas the magic from my childhood is recreated on the original platform that dad built along with the control panel and wiring from 60+ years ago. The locomotives, cars and building are still the same, but the track plan changes every year. The memories of those times are always strong and vivid. I hope my grandkid's memories are as lasting as mine.

Thanks for letting me share.

Buzz

Buzz,  Having been around engines for the last 40 yrs, and having a great friend in the lawn mower business, I'd say there is something wrong with the carburation system (float, metering screw etc.).  You'd be further ahead by taking it in and having it looked over.  No manufacturer puts out equipment that would behave in that manner from the get go.  Typically bad gas from the previous year left standing over the winter in the bowl will cause it to turn into a shellac.  Also using lower grade fuels will cause the same issue.  Use Mobil or Shell and you will be way ahead in maintaining a well running lawn mower.

As for our first loves (trains in this case), indeed they are a comfort to us especially when there may be stress in our lives.  I still have my original American flyer and when I hold it, it brings back the memories of me setting it up in the living room and my parents looking on.   I lost my mother at an early age and it helps me to recall the image of them standing together over the layout.  Interesting how it all works.

Regarding lawn mower type engines: when they started putting alcohol in gasoline, my machines started having problems with parts like fuel lines decaying. I switched to using alcohol free premium gasoline, and have not had a problem since.

Note that not all brands of premium are alcohol free.

I also have not had an issue with using fuel that was stored off season in my unheated shed as long as 9 months or more.

I have worked on auto and lawn mower engines for decades, and hated those little one cylinder magneto yank your arm off  engines as long. Now l have a real battery start riding mower. This replaced a rope start small rider that l installed an electric, house current, drill powered starter attachment that started it when it did not want to...after l could no longer get parts for the rubber clutch in the kit.

About 7 years ago I needed a new mower, and was drawn to the Honda name. After 2 summers of problems with it, I put the mower in permanent storage. However, we have a 17 year-old Acura (made by Honda) that is still going strong. Maybe they should stick with cars.