my first lionel was a 1999 NYC flyer set with railsounds a gift from my wife of 30 years. I still have
it ,what was your first LIONEL and do you still have it? lets see pictures ?
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My first Lionel was The New Englander Set in 1980.
Yes, I still have it...
My first set was a Lionel Cannonball Express. My Grandpa gave it to me for Christmas in 1990. I still have the cars, but the locomotive didn't fare as well.
Mine was the almost identical NYC Flyer set from 2001, 6-31914. It's was a gift from my wife, so yes I still have it. One of the few mostly plastic sets I have.
Steve
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My first set is the "Rock Island Line", received Christmas of 1976, containing what is probably the only AC-motored version of this MPC-originated locomotive.
The loco has already gone through a metal pinion gear and maybe a couple of sets of brushes. Now it needs to be re-drivered--the driver gears have deep grooves worn in the teeth and the plastic spur gear between them slips (oddly enough this gear shows no wear). Fortunately I have some postwar wheelsets that I'm waiting to visit a repair shop that has the proper wheel puller + press to replace them. I did buy another example of the above loco, ostensibly to strip it of its wheels, but I found the wheel centers to be plastic. Mine are metal all the way through.
In the course of looking for parts donors for this particular loco, I also came up with a Black Cave Flyer consist (which I did dream of getting during the '80s),
and the "Super El Cheapo" version, the "Working-on-the-Railroad" set engine that was so cheesy it had plastic drivers and sliding contacts for the outer rails:
I don't have the proper two-axle tender for this one. I almost bought one from a dealer at Allentown, but passed it up for some odd reason (it was only $5). He may still have it.
Eventually all of these will be restored to operation, though.
---PCJ
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My first ever Lionel set was this one my wife gave me as a wedding present - the NYC GP-9 TMCC set.
I remember the guy at Hazlet Train in Menlo Park Mall doing a demo on the new (at the time) TMCC with the rail sounds and was impressed. I think it was - and still is a cool set.
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My first set, from 1950, for my second Christmas. Dad said it wa $60. I still have it.
