How many of us are 2nd generation toy/model train enthusiasts?

My Dad got me started with my  first HO layout when I was 8 years old. It was a 4X8 board with a 5 track yard off on a "L". Could run two trains simultaneously. Went from that to 8X12 in my teens. He had Lionel Tinplates when he was a kid. They are still packed away in my parents attic. Trains were (and still are) under the Christmas tree every year. If I wasn't playing with them, I had Aurora HO race cars to entertain myself.

Oh yea- we went OUTSIDE and played with our friends too!

My 12 year old son has a passing interest. He will watch me run them and will attempt it on his own occasionally. More interested in video games and his phone though. When we grew up, trains were our video games so I am not sure if later generations will keep the hobby going in huge numbers.

Count me as a 2nd generation train guy.

My dad did outside third rail O gauge and then HO.

I grew up working/playing with his 12 x 14 HO layout.

Lots of fond memories.

I display his post-war Lionel in my office.

Unfortunately, my 3 sons don't have much interest.

My Dad got me started in the hobby. He used to set up layouts for my cousins right after the second world War. He had a real good eye for layout composition, and as an electrical engineer his wiring was second to none. Before my older brother was born, he bought some Lionel trains from my uncle and that is when things really took off.

Miketg

My Mother actual got me started. She bought me a Lionel Train Set for my second birthday (a #1666 scout set) and set up a Christmas Garden every year that featured the train set and lots of Plasticville. I remember the enthusiasm on Christmas eve to see and play with that train set on Christmas morning. I stayed with the hobby all my life.

Dad was a fisherman growing up in Italy never went to HS but bought me a set for Christmas in early 60s so i'm first generation.

My dad wanted a Lionel train when he was a boy but they couldn't afford it. He enjoyed the trains with me and we built an 8x8 layout in the basement when I was about 9. He always had an interest in it but never pursued it as a hobby like I do, so I'm sort of a second generation train guy.

I guess I am 3rd generation.  While my father and grandfather weren't as much into it as I am, they always had layouts set up under the Christmas Tree (and occasionally, my grandfather would set up a temporary floor loop in the basement for a little running enjoyment).

I still have my grandfather's first Lionel set (1087W) which he gave to me for Christmas in 1974.  I also still have his 773 Hudson set.

My father taught me how to run and care for the trains, and from 1975-1977, be bought us 3 new sets of trains which my brother and I still have.

Both of them loved trains, steam in particular, and they passed it on to me.

Andy

My Dad didn't have any trains.   So I'm first generation.   I was born with the train bug!   Or my 1st train toys triggered the fascination.  Mattel, MPC, HO, N then back to O.   Dad was involved in building the Lionel MPC and HO layouts with me.   My son is now 14.  He has always enjoyed trains. Currently likes video games a bit more. 

I'm 2nd generation. I got my first set when I was about 8 months old. It was a wind up engine that threw sparks when it went around the track.  Mom has slide pictures of me laying in front of it watching it go around the track.  Dad had an American Flyer 4-8-4 freight set that he would occasionally set up and let my brother and me play with. Then it was on to N-Scale in my pre-teen and up years until my eyesight started to give way. I got my dads A.F. about 15 years ago finally. I enjoy reliving my childhood all over again with it. I recently got hooked on the 3 railers with the P.E. I bought for Christmas.

My father Paul Bidonde was a toy train collector, so I am a second generation toy train enthusiast. 

My Dad never had his own trains, but bought me my first Lionel set in 1955. I know he liked trains, however. One of his childhood friends had a large basement standard gauge layout....he mentioned it often.  Unfortunately, his friend was in the 8th Air Force and was lost when his B-17 went down during a raid. That was a terrible loss for that family and for my Dad as well. I asked, but my Dad never heard what became of the trains.

Also, he took me and my brother on our first train excursion...a day trip on the CB&Q Zephyr equipment from Chicago to Galena and Dubuque, in 1958 or so. I clearly remember sitting in a dome and watching the signals go from green to red on the after-dark return to Chicago. That is one of my earliest "train memories" (aside from riding the L and C&NW commuter trains).

I'm a third generation railroad / model railroad enthusiast.  My Grandfather got his first trains around 1938 at age 18.  It was Lionel tinplate O.  After he was discharged from service in WWII in 1946, he started buying HO trains from Gilbert's hobby shop in Gettysburg, PA.  My three uncles all took on the hobby.  I got my first train set at age 7 (HO) and a few pieces over the years until my dad and I built (he-built, I watched and learned a lot), a 16x24 HO layout in the attic of the house I grew up in.  4 mainlines, two classification yards of 6 tracks and 12 tracks and I could run 100 car freight trains with ease.  The reason I came to O was because my father and my uncle were my TCA sponsors and I saw my first nearly scale O locomotive and I was sold on the size around 2002.  My 7 year old daughter is interested, but I need to spend more time encouraging that interest.  My 18 and 21 year old daughters look at me strange.  

What has kept the passion for the hobby alive in my family has been the sight of and riding real trains.  The Western Maryland went through the center of Waynesboro, PA and my Grandfather and Uncles all watched the steam locomotives come through town as well as road trips to the Horseshoe Curve in the early to mid 50's. 

I am a third generation model train hobbyist.  My Grandfather on my Mom's side of the family used to hop freight trains on the old Norfolk and Western's Shenandoah Valley Branch line which ran right through his home town of Rileyville, Virginia circa 1910 to 1920.  The engineers on this run got to know him so well they eventually invited him up into the cab for the ride.  Can you picture that today?    He didn't get his first model trains until 1958 and 1959 after he lost both of his legs to diabetes.  He and I used to run those sets a lot during the Christmas holidays.  I still have both of his sets, one lionel and the other Marx, which still run very well to this day.

My Dad who passed in 1953 from wounds received in Italy and France during World War II purchased  Lionel set 1423W in 1948 along with a classic Lionel built display layout from a hobby shop in northeast Philadelphia.  I can remember with remarkable clarity my father running his set under the tree with all of the lights out in the living room save those of the tree.  My brother, sister and I were completely mesmerized.  I still savor the distinct pine fragrance of our tree along with the pungent aroma of ozone as the little 2-4-2 engine whizzed by whistling on those tight 031 curves.  I still have that set to this day and like my Grandfather's sets it runs as crisply today as it did back in the late 1940s and early 1950s.   Unfortunately the classic display layout was put on the trash heap in the spring of 1959 when we moved from Philly to Martinsburg, West Virginia.  It was still in great shape but my mom thought it was large and unwieldy  and didn't think we would have room for it in our new house.  That, and the fact that neither she, my brother or I could get the train to run or knew how to hook up the big KW transformer we had.  So it ended up in the trash.  Boy, do I wish I had that layout today.  Thank God we saved the engine because all it needed was a little bit of routine maintenance.  For the life of me I don't know what became of the KW transformer.     

I know full well how fortunate I was and still am to have had my Father and Grandfather introduce me to this hobby.  I never lost my love of trains although it took me quite a while to learn my way around the insides of a die cast metal engine and whistle tender but I am so glad I stuck with it.  It may sound corny but at times when I'm in the layout room running trains sometimes I feel they are with me.  Thanks, Dad and Granddad.  

Second generation. When my parents attended the 1968 TCA convention in Cleveland, my mother was pregnant with me. And the rest is history. 

John

I am a 2nd generation modeler.  My dad got his start in N scal  in the mid 1960's.  He also had a Lionel set he received, but ended up sticking with the the N stuff.  Growing up as a kid, I remember my dad working on his N scale layout in our basement.

I was into N scale for a short while, but soon discovered his old Lionel postwar set which got me hooked in O gauge!  My dad was gracious enough to tear his N scale layout down so that we could build an O gauge layout.  We worked on this on and off until I went to college.  

Count me as a 2nd generation train guy. My dad did not model but he made sure we had trains and never quit buying, So my brother, sister and I all had trains after he passed. It took me years but I always knew I would get around to a layout in retirement. So I think the 3 year old grand son will be third generation.

My Dad and his Brother were BIG into trains. More on the collector side. Also, they came from a train family. Their Uncle worked and retired on the Penn RR. So it's in our blood. 

I am hoping that my Son or my grandson will carry the torch. 

I'm 2nd gen!  My dad had an American Flyer layout my entire childhood.   When I moved out of the house he built O-Gauge layout.   I was taking him to train shows as I liked to look at the trains.  Eventually I got the bug.   I started to buy trains but only ran them at Christmas.   My trains started to take up too much room under the tree and I finally built a layout in the basement.  

My father was a train lover and where I got it from. both my brothers as they got older lost the interest. My father still would buy trains right up to when he had a stroke and had to goto a nursing home. I never lost the interest. Had to let them go at one time because of room and finances but I'm back and probably worst than I was before lol.  

Country Joe posted:

My dad wanted a Lionel train when he was a boy but they couldn't afford it. He enjoyed the trains with me and we built an 8x8 layout in the basement when I was about 9. He always had an interest in it but never pursued it as a hobby like I do, so I'm sort of a second generation train guy.

Same as me.  My mom says my dad was determined that his kids would have a train.  We had a 4x8 layout for Christmas time only.

Dad and I started with a 4x6 HO layout the rolled under the bed. 5 cars and an Athearn Hustler.

Dick

I'm a third generation train guy. My grandfather would be the first generation who started with a Marx M-10000 set gifted to him by his uncle in 1934. In 1954 he began to expand with Lionel and did so with my dad (second generation) until the late 60's. At that time he sold the majority of his Lionel while he believed he could still get something for it as the company was on the verge of disappearing. He used the money from that to start an HO layout in his attic starting in the early 70's and is still there today. Unfortunately due to many reasons including age and a loss of interest that layout is in the process of being dismantled and the contents being sold off. My dad and grandfather got me into trains at a young age with the wooden Thomas trains and the HO layout. In 2010 I received a Polar Express set for Christmas and that really got the ball rolling for me. In the seven years since I've expanded my collection into two specific eras, modern command control and postwar. I began with modern conventional trains and eventually moved up to DCS in the last few years. After completing a 12'x8' table for the modern equipment I began to turn to my attention to acquiring postwar pieces, specifically what my grandfather had in an attempt to recreate some old memories. Using what few pieces my grandfather did not sell and had packed in the attic along with information gathered from him and my dad I pinpointed 1954 as the year most of his Lionel equipment was purchased. Unfortunately there were no known pictures of what he had so I had to work with decades old memories and catalogs from the time. After a few years I believe to have pieced together most of what he had and a little bit more! Also during that time my grandfather gave me his Marx set that I referred to earlier after I had got it running for him while visiting one time and is now displayed as the centerpiece of my collection. I know from my time on this forum I am not in the main demographic, I am 21. However I am very strongly interested in this hobby and continue to learn new things about it and while pursuing additional pieces to add to my collection. In the process of acquiring postwar pieces I've also learned a great deal in regards to mechanical and electrical engineering and can repair or refurbish the vast majority of the older equipment I come across. This hobby has certainly made a profound impact in my life and I wouldn't have it any other way!

I am technically a fourth-generation model train enthusiast. The first train in the family was a Lionel set in 1947, purchased by my great-grandfather for my grandfather. My Grandpa was never much into trains but he has mentioned that that Great-Grandpa played with the set quite a bit. I'm not sure how my Dad got into the hobby (I suspect that the grandparents bought him a train set), but one way or another he ended up modeling HO and was pretty serious about it with a large basement layout. Although Dad got sick and passed away a few years after I was born, my mother set up his trains around the Christmas tree every year and encouraged my siblings and I to get involved in the hobby. I was originally into HO but my Grandpa introduced me to the old Lionel about ten years ago and from there, I've been steadily involved with O gauge.

Interesting to see how similar the model train origins are-- parents or grandparents got us started. Wasn't there a famous train enthusiast who said, "It's not the trains we want, it's our fathers' arm around us"?

Zach K posted:

I'm a third generation train guy. My grandfather would be the first generation who started with a Marx M-10000 set gifted to him by his uncle in 1934. In 1954 he began to expand with Lionel and did so with my dad (second generation) until the late 60's. At that time he sold the majority of his Lionel while he believed he could still get something for it as the company was on the verge of disappearing. He used the money from that to start an HO layout in his attic starting in the early 70's and is still there today. Unfortunately due to many reasons including age and a loss of interest that layout is in the process of being dismantled and the contents being sold off. My dad and grandfather got me into trains at a young age with the wooden Thomas trains and the HO layout. In 2010 I received a Polar Express set for Christmas and that really got the ball rolling for me. In the seven years since I've expanded my collection into two specific eras, modern command control and postwar. I began with modern conventional trains and eventually moved up to DCS in the last few years. After completing a 12'x8' table for the modern equipment I began to turn to my attention to acquiring postwar pieces, specifically what my grandfather had in an attempt to recreate some old memories. Using what few pieces my grandfather did not sell and had packed in the attic along with information gathered from him and my dad I pinpointed 1954 as the year most of his Lionel equipment was purchased. Unfortunately there were no known pictures of what he had so I had to work with decades old memories and catalogs from the time. After a few years I believe to have pieced together most of what he had and a little bit more! Also during that time my grandfather gave me his Marx set that I referred to earlier after I had got it running for him while visiting one time and is now displayed as the centerpiece of my collection. I know from my time on this forum I am not in the main demographic, I am 21. However I am very strongly interested in this hobby and continue to learn new things about it and while pursuing additional pieces to add to my collection. In the process of acquiring postwar pieces I've also learned a great deal in regards to mechanical and electrical engineering and can repair or refurbish the vast majority of the older equipment I come across. This hobby has certainly made a profound impact in my life and I wouldn't have it any other way!

Hey Zack, good to see someone else from my age bracket in the hobby (I'm 25.) Your response reminded me of something... I also had the wooden Thomas toys when I was very young, mostly Brio with a few Thomas pieces. I actually remember pouring over the Brio catalogs for hours and building room-filling layouts with that wooden track. I remember having the big plastic bridges, trestle sets and one battery-powered engine that I was always running. That kept me entertained for quite some time when I was a little kid.

My Grandfather purchased a Lionel O gauge set in 1938 when my dad was born.  My dad got his second set for Christmas in 1952.  I have pictures of the 8'x8' layout he built when he was 14/15.

I never remember seeing my Grandfather take any interest in the trains.  So I am not sure if that 1938 set was to celebrate my dad's birth or something else.

My dad was never into the trains like I am.  Each year he visits at Christmas and likes to see his old 671rr running around the tree though.

So that makes me either a second or third generation model train guy.  I am working on the 4th and 5th...

Tony

Hey Zack, good to see someone else from my age bracket in the hobby (I'm 25.) Your response reminded me of something... I also had the wooden Thomas toys when I was very young, mostly Brio with a few Thomas pieces. I actually remember pouring over the Brio catalogs for hours and building room-filling layouts with that wooden track. I remember having the big plastic bridges, trestle sets and one battery-powered engine that I was always running. That kept me entertained for quite some time when I was a little kid.

You guys are about the same age as my two sons. They also had a nice set of Brio trains. We'd visit our local train shop almost every week. They had a Brio table out for visiting kids. My kids would play with the Brio, while I visited with the owner. Once in a while I might even buy an "O" gauge train item. Every week we'd buy something Brio.

I firmly believe that Brio trains are much better than anything electric for the younger set.
(The battery powered loco wasn't out yet.)

Trainguy Ken posted:

I am technically a fourth-generation model train enthusiast. The first train in the family was a Lionel set in 1947, purchased by my great-grandfather for my grandfather. My Grandpa was never much into trains but he has mentioned that that Great-Grandpa played with the set quite a bit. I'm not sure how my Dad got into the hobby (I suspect that the grandparents bought him a train set), but one way or another he ended up modeling HO and was pretty serious about it with a large basement layout. Although Dad got sick and passed away a few years after I was born, my mother set up his trains around the Christmas tree every year and encouraged my siblings and I to get involved in the hobby. I was originally into HO but my Grandpa introduced me to the old Lionel about ten years ago and from there, I've been steadily involved with O gauge.

Interesting to see how similar the model train origins are-- parents or grandparents got us started. Wasn't there a famous train enthusiast who said, "It's not the trains we want, it's our fathers' arm around us"?

I believe it was the wife of Ron Hollander the author of ALL ABOARD who made that statement.

In a round about way I am 2nd generation.  My dad and older brother had American Flyer trains that they ran a lot.  However, my dad left us when I was 4 so I did not get the bug from him.  My brother later traded in all his AF trains for a single brass HO Atlantic and a few cars and track; he always said that was one of his biggest mistakes.  After a few years he sold them to help with the family financials.

When my brother had his son, he got into N gauge trains.  Then all of a sudden he was very much into pre-war Marx and became a leading expert in Marx for TTOS.  It was fun visiting him and running his Marx sets, but I was not interested enough to buy my own.

Then I met my future wife's father, an avid HO enthusiast concentrating on the PRR.  He had a basement layout, and I guess you can say we bonded running his trains.  When he moved to a house with a larger basement, he switched to O gauge because they were easier to handle.  I helped him build his new layout.  One thing led to another and now I'm working on my own layout.

So I guess I got my bug from my dad through my brother and from my father-in-law.  However, I didn't really catch it until my 40s when command control and better sound systems started to appear. 

Interesting to see how similar the model train origins are-- parents or grandparents got us started. Wasn't there a famous train enthusiast who said, "It's not the trains we want, it's our fathers' arm around us"?

I believe it was the wife of Ron Hollander the author of ALL ABOARD who made that statement.

I've heard the statement. Don't know who originally made it.

I am certain this is true for some, perhaps many, people who are into trains.
There are also many for which it's not true.

The person posting about his parents giving up their tables at York is probably what made me think about multi-generational train families.

In my original post, I commented that I cannot think of any train folks that I know whose adult children are into trains. I have thought of one person since.
How about the folks participating here? Anybody have adult children who are into trains?

Nope, I'm a "one off". Like many here, my father couldn't afford such things. My children were exposed to trains through me, but never caught the bug.

Skipped a generation,  Grandfather on my mom side had them (did never meet him or the trains though).

I don't know if my Dad ever had Trains, but he did think little boys should have them. He wasn't really the type to hang out in the basement building a layout, and I had never seen one, so my own Lionel set never went beyond a loop of track on the floor. He gave each grandson a train for his first Christmas. He was long gone before my boys were born, but my mother kept up the tradition. I was messing around with HO for a couple of years before my first was born, but I told my Mom to stick with Lionel anyway. I was determined to make sure that set did not disappear the way all of my nephews' trains had, so I built our Christmas tree layout to create a tradition. When my second boy was born and got his Lionel set, I took down my HO to make room for it. So, indirectly, my Dad is responsible for my Lionel habit.

Definitely 2nd generation!  My dad was an engineer for the Wabash and then the N & W.  Uncles and cousin were railroad men also.  Everyone in the neighborhood was a railroad man too.  Dad also an auctioneer - used to bring trains home for me to play with for a week and then sell them at the Thurs night auction.   One time he brought home a State set.  Ran real well on the living room floor.  Wish I had that one now!  My own collection started real early  - with an Erie Alco in 1953.  

BTW, still have that Erie Alco!

Definitely second generation.  Dad started it.

I consider myself a second-generation model railroader. My father liked trains but never had a layout of his own. He used to take me to watch trains in Sunnyside Yard and airplanes at LaGuardia Field. He and my grandfather bought me a Lionel steamer in 1949 or '50, then a Santa Fe F3 A-B-A freight set later on. As apartment dwellers in New York City we never had room for a layout, but Dad built me a 4x8 train table in the basement when we moved to Long Island in 1953. I worked on the layout until I was about 12 or 13 years old, then changed it to HO and gave away the Lionel trains... How I wish I had them now. My Dad bought the trains for me but I think they were for him too! Especially that Santa Fe diesel!

MELGAR

I'll claim 2nd generation.  My earliest Christmas memories are about Dad retrieving HIS Lionel train from the attic to set up around the balsam tree.  I'm going to say he was a toy train enthusiast because his 366W set (I still have it!) was given to him by his parents around 1935....and that would make Dad 27 years young on that Christmas morning!!!  I still marvel at the fact that he (newly hired into an insurance company investment department) received such a gift at his age and from his hard-working parents (launderers) in the midst of some of the toughest times for our country.   

Anyhow, from those memories....and yearly train trips to visit Mom's relatives about 1,000 miles way...came my life-long passion.  Both Mom and Dad stoked the fires, so to speak.  Ah, the tales, the trains, the layout accommodations in a fairly small house, the visits to train displays (e.g., Roadside America) and railroad yards (Washington Terminal.....D.C.) to simply watch trains, big and little.  Visits to hobby shops, department store displays in the toy department and HUGE corner windows, a growing library (still have it!) of bedtime train stories, collections of cereal box railroad this-and-that (metal emblems, cardboard cut-out things, etc., etc.,etc.

Wooden push trains, electric trains, StromBecker model display trains, wind-up trains, diecast metal push toy trains,.......

After 72 years, the hobby has an iron grip on me...and my 'new' wife (20th Anniversary coming this year!)!! 

Life is good.

KD

I guess I am the 1st generation. My parents bought me my 1st sets in the 50s.

My son had interest up till middle school.....then school, video games, sports & girls took over.

Peter

Sorry for posting late, I had to dig up a photo for this thread, Anyway...

Oh yes, I am a 2nd generation train guy, big time. I grew up with a basement layout my dad built. I remember he had a Lionel Western Pacific F3 and a 2020 turbine. The layout was made with Super O track. I don’t remember many accessories but he did have a 3662 milk car (he was a milkman by trade). I still have his old type V and 1033 transformers. I have photos of Christmas layouts he had set up when our family lived in an upstairs apartment before we moved into the house I grew up in. I certainly credit my dad with getting me hooked on trains. Sadly He had to sell his trains because of financial concerns when he went on medical disability.

 It did not end with my dad, however. On my dad’s side of the family, we had a Christmas tradition where on the Sunday between Christmas and New Years, we would visit each of my dad’s brothers and sisters families. Each of my uncles that we visited (there were three) had a Christmas layout.

 It was a sort of contest between my cousins and me on who could come up with the best layout.

All had Lionel equipment and some HO. My uncle Bill had a Lionel Erie 2032 Alco AA. That Loco ran as smooth as glass. My uncle Tom had a Lionel 665 Hudson that I always liked any my uncle Jim had a LIonel 400/404 B&O Budd car set.

 By this time I had taken over the train empire from my dad and my contribution was Lionel 736, a couple of 2018’s, a Santa Fe 218 ALco AA and a 1668 prewar Torpedo.

 All of my family were huge influences in my trainaholic addiction. I didn’t get serious until I discovered Model Railroader in High School in 1978 and O gauge Railroading, “The 2 and 3 Rail Journal” in 1994.

Here a some photos I scanned, that show one of my layouts when I was a lad, Circa 1978...