Happy Mother's Day Train Poll

My original train set was discarded. We had broken the drawbar, and my uncle's fix didn't last. (Never occurred to anybody that replacements were available from Lionel).

We lived in a relatively small apartment, and there was no room for broken toys.

I don't recall mom ever throwing any trains away, but dad did. The whistle on a tender stopped working, so he threw it out. This didn't make sense, since he was a maintenance mechanic at our family dairy. 

Don

After being conscripted into the Army, my first leave home Mom told me she had given my rail chief cars and steam & diesel engines to the neighbor to make wind driven whirligigs from the gears, he distributed the cars and structures to his grandchildren.

Thanks, Mom...by the time I presented her with a grandson, I had 3x as many trains as before.

How about we celebrate all of the moms and wives that support our hobby. I've been lucky enough to have had a great mom, and great wife who both put up with mine and my dads love of the hobby!!

PLUS 1

Told my wife we can do ANYTHING she wants today... Her reply, "Let's ride the Strasburg Railroad".  God I love her.

Ron

Good time to say, Happy Mothers Day to all Mothers out there.

Quite the contrary. Elizabeth was the primary bread winner and worked hard to support her family. She had to struggle to make sure her kids had presents for all appropriate holidays and birthdays. She said she wished she could have afforded to buy the boys a train set.

We both know you had the best intentions with this subject matter, but in her case, it hit a nerve the wrong way.

In any event, Happy Mother's Day to you Mom and Wife.

Luckily my mom doesn't throw out anything. My first set was stored in there basement for 20 plus years and **** near forgot about it until my son Christopher and "Thomas the Tank Engine" came along and that was about 1993. Been back in the hobby fully engaged since then.

Just spoke to Mom 5 minutes ago

My mom, rest her sole, was the one who got me started in model railroading by purchasing my first train around 1955-1956.

Adding to my previous post, at some point, the draw bar must have broken on the tender my dad eventually threw away, but he did make a new draw bar, which was barely noticeable. 

To the credit of both mom and dad, they supported the train hobby all six children shared.

Don

My Mom never disposed of any of my toys. She made me clean it up and to get rid of what I did not want, still have my trains and some of my other toys.

Thank You Mom and Happy Mothers Day, Rest in peace.

Not only did she not throw them out, she also didn't let my youngest brother demolish them like he did with my model ships and airplanes. It must have been a demolition derby out by the lake.

Trains remained in their boxes where they belonged.

Stopped by the cemetery after church this morning. Should have thanked her for this.

I'll begin this tale by saying in no way can I or do I blame my mother for making one of the great train related mistakes of all time because she was simply in way over her head.  Let me explain, My father was severely wounded during WW II and died of his wounds at the tender age of 33 in 1953.  My mother at age 29 was in essence a war time widow with three little children to raise which was more than a handful. 

In any event, my paternal Grandfather was an engineer on the old Baltimore and Ohio railroad so consequently my Dad grew up loving trains.  In the late 1940s before he passed he purchased an original Lionel 5x9 O Gauge Display layout from a hobby shop in northeast Philadelphia.  I remember just about everything about that layout.  It was completely pre-wired with boulevard lamps, semaphore, an operating milk car and an automatic gateman.  The roadways were crisply painted in white bordered by perfectly manicured green dyed sawdust which adhered remarkably well to the layout.  The layout was powered by a KW transformer.  Curiously, the Lionel Set which ran on that layout was an 027 Gauge 1423W Freight set headed up by a die cast 1655 2-4-2 Columbia style steam locomotive.  Our layout was set up only at Christmas time with the layout placed under the tree.  Of course, running the trains on a well lit layout at night in a darkened room with only the tree lights on was nothing short of magical.  The entire scene is indelibly etched in my memory. 

For several years after my Dad died my brother, sister and I pestered my mother to set the layout up so we could run our lionel set at Christmas but no matter how hard she tried she was unable to correctly hook up the transformer to get the engine to run.  I can remember her manipulating the wires in every possible sequence but it was all to no avail.  Apparently, there were no instructions and the electrical connections were beyond her capability.  My Mom so busy raising three children and working a full time job she  simply did not have the time nor the money to have someone come in determine why the trains would not run.  So, the layout and trains sat dormant from 1953 to 1959. 

In May of 1959 we moved from Philadelphia back to Martinsburg, West Virginia which was where my mother and father were both raised.  I can remember my mother trying to decide whether to take the layout, transformer and trains with us to West Virgina.  She told us she planned to put the layout in the trash because it was just to big to take to West Virgina and she was concerned about the cost of the move since we weren't actually rolling in dough.  Since the trains didn't seem to work anyway it and the transformer would simply be excess baggage.  We didn't object but I did ask if it would be OK if we took the trains with us since it might be possible to get them fixed someday.  She agreed.  So that beautiful layout which was still in pretty much pristine condition was unceremoniously dispatched to the trash heap.  I managed to rescue the semaphore and Gateman along with the entire freight set. 

Ironically, in 1960 while running my deceased Grandfather's trains I decided to see if I could get the little 1655 to run.  By then I had learned how to hook up a transformer and knew something about how to maintain an engine.  As it turned out all the engine needed was a little lubrication and it ran as smooth as silk.  I remember thinking at the time that the transformer no doubt had worked as well but my Mom had been baffled by electricity and the mechanics of a Lionel train set.  She certainly can not be faulted for that, after all how many 29 year old women in 1953 knew how to hook up a train set and operate a complex layout with accessories.  I still have that entire 1423W set to this day and it still runs perfectly and even the engine's tinplate tender still whistles albeit a tad raspy.  

It wasn't until many years later that I became aware of the incredible monetary value of original lionel Display Layouts.  Regardless of the monetary value the sentimental value of that layout to me would have been priceless if it had survived.   Over the years I have thought many times about that layout and the decision my Mom had to make to leave it behind.  Despite the fact that at the time it was basically a 5x9 piece of framed out plywood with no apparent monetary value I remember she actually wrestled with the problem of leaving it.  I'm quite sure she realized she was leaving a cherished memory behind.  To be sure I do miss that layout but I miss my Mom a heck of a lot more.  She passed away two years ago at the ripe old age of 91.  Happy Mother's Day Mom. 

My Mom was the greatest. She took me to train stores all over Long Island even though she was very ill. (She passed when I was 16.) She advised me on many purchases and encouraged my creativity, even if that meant covering her basement floor with plaster of paris and lichen. 

Shortly after my Mom died, I met the woman who twelve years later would become my wife, mother of our daughter, and my number one encouragement in the hobby for the last 25 years. Two generations of Mom's and two great supporters of my hobby. What more could I ask for.

All the best,

Miketg

My folks gave away all my toys EXCEPT for my trains and Tom Swift books. At least they stayed untouched.

When I went off to college, Fall 1973,  My Lionel trains were boxed up down in the basement.   At some time while I was away, I was talking to my folks on the phone.  They said that they were cleaning out the basement and they were going to give my trains away.  I said NO - I wanted to keep them - But they gave them to the Church for someone else to have.  I hope whoever that kid was appreciated them.  The items I miss the most was a Minuteman Missile Car and a Bascule Bridge.  Lucky for me I had a second box that had 2 Locomotives  610 Erie Switcher and a 2337 Wabash GP7 and a 154 crossing signal that Survived.  Over the past 30 years I have rebuilt my Lionel collection.    

Love you Mom - Happy Mothers Day

Never a chance in my house as my father was a model railroad nut as much as I was. My two older brothers where kinda but not like Dad and I where. But because of room and all I ended up selling them all in 87 but have bought the important ones back and many others. ( ie replacement of original set) 

My parents never threw any trains away.  I not only still have my original Lionel locomotives, cars and accessories from the Fifties, but also my father's #252 passenger set and my mother's #1700 Lionel streamliner.

Trains were never considered disposable items in my family.