Today I was looking through junk boxes at a local hobby shop and came across my first lionel train engine. It was a 1065 UP Alco FA. This one was the bottom of the lionel line, no reverse, no magnetraction, no cab window, no under frame fuel tank, but it tugged at my heart strings so I brought it home. It runs much better than I remembered and is in excellent shape.
Anyone else have or found their first Lionel engine?
Rolland
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I bought a 2018 2-6-4 with my paper route money, I did receive for x-mas a 1666 Penn Central set back in 1971 and still have it. Also still hav
e the receipt for my 2018.
Hi, I still have my 1941 Lionel 2-4-2 Columbia. It's model 229.
Dick
My first train was a 2353 ABA freight set. I don't have the same one but have acquired all of the components. It's just as much fun now as it was in 1953 when I was 6 years old.
My nephews have custody of my first 242 Scout. Found another one a few years back, fixed it up, and, well...
Still have them, 681 Turbine w/ Pennsy whistle tender, green 6464 RI Boxcar, sunoco 2 dome tanker, black 3461 operating log car, orange cattle car with PITA corral (even back then), and Pennsy N5 "New York Zone" hack. MUCH, MUCH, MUCH more has followed!
Direct from the Lionel 1949 catalog ... O Gauge Set #2141WS. Still have the set - and the 671 still runs.
Bought for me by my aunt and uncle.
Lionel 1519 WS Greenball Express Freight Set: 2065 steamer and coffin style tender with whistle, operating milk car and platform, green operating log dump car and black bin, red NY Central gondola, yellow NY Central stock car, Tuscan Red Lionel Lines illuminated caboose with round portals, 027 track and pair of switches, and small transformer. Arnold
All my Postwar was hand me down from my older cousin. In about 1960 I received his 682, the auto transport car, the milk car and the barrel car. I still have them, and I still run them. :-)
Good old #1 arrived on Christmas 1951 - still going strong.
Lionel Freight set #1423W which my Dad purchased in 1948. The set is headed up by a 1655 2-4-2 "Columbia style" die cast steam locomotive and its 6654W tinplate tender along with its three associated freight cars which are all in superb condition. The engine still runs great and the whistle tender still works although a tad raspy. I have the set box and all of the set's component boxes. Great memories.
@RLaHaie posted:This one was the bottom of the lionel line, no reverse, no magnetraction, no cab window, no under frame fuel tank, but it tugged at my heart strings so I brought it home.
Wow I thought my mid 2010s conventional was short on details and features. Mine would be a vision line in your day 
While I now have a legacy engine that gets most of my attention, there is something special about the first loco that gets you into the hobby.
My first Lionel cars from the mid-1950s are all still running on my layout; I call them my "Westfield [NJ] Trains." Unfortunately the #2035 steam engine did not survive the decades. Last year I was given a large set of Lionel trains of the same era from my cousins, including a beautiful #2055 steam engine. Here a couple of photos. Rick
Today I dug out the two cars which were part of my first Lionel train consist. This is a bottom of the line set circa 1961. All cars have archbar trucks with fixed couplers on both ends. The set came in a white box with an oval of 027 track and a 35 watt transformer. Now that I have all of the components of the set I guess the search will be on for a set box to keep them in!
Rolland
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