Nostalgia

Here's a team track of Nostalgia:

Arnold D. Cribari posted:

Here's a team track of Nostalgia:

 

Those coal dump cars are adjacent to the clothes dryer, so if anyone in my family complains about all my trains, I can dump coal on their clothes.

Apollo flight controllers, listen up, give me a go, no go, for launch . . .

Launch control, this is Houston, we are go for launch . . .

For us Baby Boomers, the nostalgic pull of Lionel trains is so strong. My parents got me my first Lionel set for Christmas in 1956. I can still remember the lineup and how excited I was (2016 steam engine, red Baby Ruth box car, silver tanker, black gondola, maroon caboose, and 1033 transformer). I can't think of any other toy I had that I played with as intensely and for as long a time.  I had no idea that that was the beginning of a life-time fascination with Lionel.

Christmas was always the big train holiday. My parents would usually get me a few trains, nothing extravagant but a new engine or a freight car or two or maybe a couple of Plasticville buildings. What a thrill to tear off the wrapping paper and see the distinctive Lionel box underneath. Two Guys, one of the early big-box stores, stocked trains only for Christmas. On December 26, every train they had left was 50% off. I'd take whatever cash I had gotten for Christmas and persuade my mother to drive me down there to pick over the unsold trains. I'd be there when the doors opened. 

We had a spare bedroom, and my parents let me use it as a train room. I had the standard 4x8 plywood on saw horses built by my cousin. I even had a closet with shelves to store the trains I wasn't using. I thought I was big time, but that room was small and could fit only a 4x8 board. Still, I had more fun than should be legal with the little world I built on that 32 square feet. 

I, for one, have greatly enjoyed reading all of the replies in this Post, most of which are very heart warming. There are numerous reasons for this, but I will focus here on one of those reasons that I find particularly moving.

We treasure our very first trains, many of which were gifts from dear loved ones. Some of us are lucky enough to still have those first trains. We can see, smell, hear and touch those trains, which brought so much joy and happiness to our loved ones as well as us many years ago when we old timers were children. 

I like the fact that my parents' hands and my hands touched these same trains, oiled them, greased them, put smoke pellets in them, ran them and derailed them.  I remain connected to my parents for many reasons, including these trains.

And we old timers enjoy these same trains throughout our lives and share them with our children and grandchildren. As a result, the same joy and happiness transcends time, extending for decades, maybe for a century, down through the generations. 

I think there is a powerful spiritual dimension to this.

Both of my parents loved Lionel trains. My mother forbade me from trading or selling them when I was a child in the 1950s and 1960s, because she believed they were a very good investment that will always grow in value. Funny thing is, even though she passed away in 1991, I still, to this very date, never sold any of my trains, mainly because I am so sentimentally attached to all of them.

Well, for me, if you consider all aspects of "investment" in its totality (financial, joy and happiness, connection, etc.), my mom was correct.  The trains she bought for me when I was a child, and that I bought for myself as an adult, turned out to be a great investment, and, LOL, I am glad I have never sold any of them!

Arnold

I was just leaving through a toy train magazine and saw the expression "A lifetime investment in happiness."

So true.

Nostalgia & K Line

Super smooth K Line Hudson & tender pulling 1954 freight set:

I was feeling nostalgic remembering an HO train set my Dad purchased for my brothers and I when we were boys. We had a Lionel 736 with streamlined passenger cars, but that only came out at Christmas time.  But we were wanting something to run year round.  So off to the store we went.  It was the mid ‘70’s, and the Bicentennial celebration was in full swing, so it was an easy choice in deciding on a set.

This set became our first permanent layout and led to hours of fun together in building and operating a layout that was more than a circle of track around the Christmas tree. Time passed, and we eventually transitioned into Lionel O gauge. We built a permanent layout and began running and operating Lionel, and the HO layout eventually went away.

All these years later, I recalled that set again and began to research it online.  The real surprise, however, was the realization that it could be recreated in Lionel O gauge!  So I began watching and searching online to purchase each piece over the past few months.  I received the final piece yesterday, so here is the final roster:

Each piece is made by Lionel, even the Sea Land container on the flat car.  Other than the Burlington gondola and the container, all were produced by Lionel in the 70’s, adding to the nostalgia.

It was a fun train to collect and assemble and sure brings back fond memories of fun times with my Father and brothers as I watch it travel around my layout.