Remember

Credit my father for getting me started with a Lionel 736 Berkshire Freight set around the Christmas tree in 1953 and eventually a platform and full train layout two years later.

Also, credit my maternal grandfather, the retired Pennsylvania Railroad freight conductor with 42 years of railroad service who instilled my lifelong passion for the railroad. I still miss them both, greatly.

It seems like just about every Christmas season someone introduces a thread regarding memories of their Dads, Granddads and trains at Christmas time and I'm glad they do because I love reading all of the nostalgic responses.  I also enjoy recounting my own Christmas memories of my father because they are just about the only ones I have of him.  My Dad died at the tender age of 33 in 1953 from complications from the wounds he received in World II.  I was five years old at the time.   Although most of memories I have of him are quite hazy my Christmas memories are clear and crisp.  In 1948 my Dad purchased a used Lionel display layout from a local hobby store somewhere on Frankford Avenue in northeast Philadelphia.  It was a beautiful O gauge layout that was completely pre-wired with boulevard lamps, an automatic semaphore, operating gateman and an operating milk car.  The streets were painted white while the grass plots were made of green dyed sawdust.  A large Lionel KW transformer provided the power for the layout.   When he bought the layout he also purchased  Lionel Freight set 1423W which consisted of a die cast 1655  2-4-2 "Columbia" style steam engine with a working headlight and accompanied by a tinplate whistle tender and three freight cars.  

Every year from 1948 to 1952 he would set up the platform in our living room and situate our all natural tree in the middle of the layout with the trains running just below it.  Every night before my brother sister and  I  went to bed he would turn off all the lights in the living room save the tree lights and the platform lights.  The scene was magical.  Then he would let the little 1655 strut its stuff.   I can distinctly recall watching that engine at eye level as it would tear around the tight curves with its headlight glowing in the dark and it's  haunting whistle blowing as the train circled the layout.  All of this of course was accompanied by the pungent odor of ozone produced by the engine and whistle tender along with the sweet pine fragrance of our Christmas tree.  The sights, sounds and smells of those evenings are firmly embedded in my memory and I will never forget them.  I still have that little freight set with its set box and accompanying component boxes.  The engine still runs exceptionally well and while the whistle tender is a tad raspy it still sounds great to me.   During the Christmas holidays I still take this set out and run it around our tree with all of the room lights off save the Christmas Tree and layout lights.   It's a trip back in time and there are occasions I almost feel my Dad is watching.  Truly warm and lasting memories.

OKHIKER, thanks for sharing your story. I’m sure your area of the city was booming with model train activity. I grew up in north Philly so Frankford Avenue was a whole new world.

That has to have been difficult but what a beautiful memory and tradition. Turning out the room lights and lighting up the platform was, and still is, my favorite thing.
Jay

I owe it all to my father (initially) and subsequently to both my father and mother. My dad ignited the spark in around 1950, and kept it going until 1965, when he passed away at too young an age. My mother then picked up the torch and kept it burning for a good number of years until she passed in '93. I think most who know me would agree that they did a pretty darn good job!

Like so many of my generation (I was a post war baby, born in 1947) our fathers were interested in trains, and probably told our mothers that the trains were "for the boy." That line is probably used today. There is no other excuse for my mother letting my father spend money on trains...we were dirt poor! I never had a bathroom or a toilet until 2nd grade, when we moved out of the grandparents and had our "own" house - it was really the bank's!

Sometime in the couple of years after I was born, he bought some used train stuff from a friend. Had a 225E and a 1947 GG1 with it...I still have both today. Eventually came, the unloading milk car, the auto unload coal car and a coal loader (shown in the picture) which might have been American Flyer, switches and the usual train stuff.

The funny thing was I never saw any of it put up! I mean, we went to bed at the 8 to 10 time that kids do, and nothing - no trains, board, tree, presents - nothing was there! Then 5 AM we get up (parents hated that) an lo and behold, there was a fully decorated tree, presents, and.......a fully done 4'x8' train garden (we called them gardens!) with everything you would want. The picture below shows little of what it really was - and that is a shame, because it was really something!

The board had the oval of track, with 2 switches that allowed an inside passing track, which would allow the log car to dump logs on one side, and the coal cars to dump coal on the other side. After dumping a run was made and eventually, the log loader spit them back, onto the car.

But the neat thing was, the town. This was the early '50's mind you, and on the board was a village of paper and plastic houses, roads, cars, signs, telephone poles, trees, people, lit towers - and the likes of which kids like us had never seen. Yes,  there were crossing gates....that lowered when the train came by! Later I learned, done by wiring a rail that had pins pulled from either end, and used to complete a "circuit" (whatever that was) to "fire" the gate! Good God, who was this man who did this....in one night!? It HAD to be SANTA!!

A really neat thing was, one side of the KW transformer ran the trains, while the other side, ran the lights! What lights? Why the light that had been cut from a tree string, and had the two wires pushed through a hole in the plywood top held by the 2x4's, where it was wired up to that transformer. Then, a house (it had a hole in the base to allow this) was placed over the bulb and socket, which made the house go from daytime (not lit) to nighttime (dimming would simulate dusk to dawn by TURNING A TRANSFORMER KNOB - again, was this man a genius or what?) by varying the transformer voltage.

Wow! Who could NOT marvel at what Santa had done!! Others were impressed, but not my father!

I thought "How can he not appreciate all this work that Santa did, why did he look so sleepy, and seem so disinterested?" Oh ye of little knowledge! I and my sisters had no idea, the parents worked all night on tree and trains, just so our little butts had a good Christmas. Great Christmas memories. And this was at my grandparents, and later at our house. "Santa" always managed a train garden!

I have no idea when the "magic" stopped for trains and other things.  I know the train garden was erected by Santa until about 1957 or so, about when I was 10 years old. Typical life intervened, divorces happen and life goes on. But when I was old enough, maybe about that time, I put up trains for Christmas and my sisters until perhaps college. Later, Mike (MTH)  and his train wonders, got me back into trains sometime in the early '90's.

Wow, seems like it all was 100 years ago, but this time of year, the memories come flooding back, train gardens get put up by Fire Houses, libraries, other civic organizations, and by many families. Many here spend time on trains year round, and good for them, but for many others, Christmas equals trains, or vice versa, and the old interests are rekindled.

Both my parents are dead, but my 50 year old son puts a loop of track around his tree for the grandson and granddaughter (this year he bought a mail unloading car...that is not working correctly right out of the box) but he has a Polar set and a freight set he swaps in and out.

The 11 year old granddaughter really enjoys the trains, but the 19 year old grandson in college now (about the time my interest faded back then) is not that interested..........yet. He was a big train nut when little, and I think that fuse can easily be relit in the future.

I hope so, anyway. I have a lot of stuff he can "play" with. Hope this was not too long! Thanks for the memories, blame "ThatGuy" above in the first post. Anyone else care to add thoughts? Merry Christmas, keep your rails polished. Greg (note coal loader below)

I got the next-to-the-bottom set in the 1962 catalog.  Probably would have received the least-expensive set, but my parents wanted to get me one with a steam engine.  Didn't understand until much later why I didn't get a diesel passenger set or at least a steamer that had smoke and a whistle.  It took many years to grasp what a sacrifice that $20 was for my mom and dad.  When I read stories about the boys who received a diecast steamer, lots of accessories, or a streamlined passenger set, I always hope that they appreciate how fortunate and privileged they were (and still are). 

I still have the set, and it still gets an occasional lap.

My dear old dad got me the Lionel 2026 freight set in 1948. I was only two and he and his brother-in-law played with that set the first couple of years. Each year dad would add to the train layout under the Christmas tree. One year it was switch tracks, some years it was additional plasticville.  My first grandson has the 2026 set and of course it's still runs.

I have tons of train related memories. I grew up in/around Buffalo NY in the 80’s-90’s. I think my dad and I chased every steam locomotive that came around. I couldn’t tell you engine numbers or road names from memory (gaps are filled with historical accounts). I do remember climbing all over the Pennsy I1 Decapod in Hamburg. Every time we went out to eat at a restaurant that was near a railroad my parents would always ask for a table where I could see the tracks and hope for a passing train…

I also remember at least one year where my dad built a simple Tyco-style HO layout (4x8 I think) with a Christmas tree stand buried in a mountain in the middle that we set up in the living room for the Christmas season. All of his HO stuff perished at my hands… wasn’t super valuable, but it would be neat if some of it survived. Oh well…

I suppose I should share an O gauge related memory to fit the forum. I distinctly remember playing with a Lionel train as a kid that I now know was my grandfather’s tinplate passenger set and has been passed down from generation to generation. Thankfully I didn’t destroy that one, I still have it and it still runs! It does have quite a few battle scars though, most of which are probably from me… It will be passed down to my son someday…

FYI Dad’s still around and doing well, will be getting together with my parents for Christmas…

I've posted this on the pages on this forum numerous times, but I always enjoy sharing it.  I am 3rd generation model railroader.  My grandfather collected prewar Lionel prior to being drafted into WWII.  He had a late 30's freight set and a few miscellaneous cars.  Whe he was discharged he was introduced to HO trains at Gilberts Hobby Shop in Gettysburg, PA.  From 1947 on he collected HO trains.  He was never much of an operator and I remember seeing all the trains on dispaly on the various shelves in his basement.  He also had a few shelves in his workshop where various Globe, Ulrich, Mantua, Varney, and OK cars lived in their boxes.  He made sure that my father and my two uncles received Lionel sets in the 1950's. My aunt who is much younger than my uncles finally got her set in the 1980s when she pointed out that she never got a train set while her brothers did.

My oldest uncle and my father are very serious collectors of vintage HO and in more recent years American Flyer.  They both signed my TCA application for membership.  I'm not sure how many members were sponsored by direct family.  It is ironic as I wrote the motion for TCA national to eliminate the two-signature rule on an application around 2011.

As a child we occasionally ran my father's UP passenger set around the tree.  I have been off and on with running a train around my tree, but for the last three years I have been running standard gauge trains and have enjoyed how much they add to my holiday spirit.  It's been a very busy end of the year both professionally and personally and I'm embarrassed to admit that my train is still not set up for this year.  I am hoping to get to it this weekend if I get a break from work.  However, here is a photo from last year's setup.

My children are either grown or in the case of the youngest, a teenager.  They support my interest in the hobby but don't have any interest themselves.  Maybe one day grandchildren might have an interest, but I need my older children to have an interest in having their own children first!

Like POTRZBE, it's my Dad who started it all for me with a 2026, probably in 1952, when I was 5. And yes, it still works like a dream and puffs O rings!!

Happy Holidays to all!

Michael

Here is my father, brother, one my sisters and myself.  Dad got us off to a good start.

Marty, your old man did well by you 3!  Also, I have this on my webpage, if anyone has a use for it, feel free. I have no idea where I got it. Merry Christmas to all, Greg

  Marty E.....     Your picture is wonderful, my Dads was smaller but we enjoyed it.     But a  service tech for the local gas co  would scratch his  head if he needed to remove the meter.....   Can't walk on the layout.     Merry Christmas all   Rick

Enjoyed reading all these posts. Thank you for sharing. Around my tree, I'm running the 1932 Winner Lines and 1940 Lionel former Ives trains that belonged to my Dad, as well as a 1940 semi-scale set I purchased from a family friend who was given it in 1941. I don't think I quite capture the magic I felt as a child, but then, the semi-scale set was a dream back then, now a reality with 6 instead of 2 freight cars, and the same is true for my large basement layout--20x25 plus a 4x16 terminal yard. It's more than I ever dreamed of having as a child.

I never saw any trains my father's father owned, but I remember my dad telling me about him building a switching layout of wood, where the "rails" ran inside the wheels and the flanges ran on the baseboard. Totally from scratch. Don't know what happened to the trains than ran on it or the layout

My other grandfather was big into AF in the 1950s. He gave my sister a Marx set when she turned one, but passed away when I was but 6 weeks old. Most of his trains were destroyed in a flood. I have a handful of his cars--all that is left.

Both my sons own trains, but don't put them up. I have three grandsons by them. We'll see...

Every year my grandfather would set up my dad's old Marx set.  It ran around the tree, past plasticville houses and a church, through a tunnel, and over a girder bridge (which sat on the floor).  I eventually ended up with the set.  It's currently on a Christmas display  with ceramic buildings (unfortunately it doesn't run very well, so it is sitting at the station while a trolley runs around the town).

Here is a picture of my father and one of my best friends  . It was my father that got into trains. Dad chose American Flyer because it ran on two rails.

@Retlaw if it runs at all, there are probably only two things potentially wrong--lack of lubrication and/or poor contact. If you have not already done so, I suggest cleaning all the loco wheels and pickups, and lubricating the motor shaft bearings and other moving parts--and make sure your track is clean and clear of rust. You may be very pleasantly surprised. Once the loco works, clean the wheels and lube the axles of the rest of the train.

First Christmas without my Dad.  He passed in late October.  I opened this morning the last Lionel rolling stock he purchased for me just a few days before he left us suddenly.  Gifted myself the car I picked up for his Christmas at York, exactly one week before his passing.

He hooked me in 1976 with a Lionel set under the tree.  I was 9 years old.  Fortunately he did the same with my son at a similar age, so we can continue to enjoy the hobby together and continue the tradition he started.

@jstraw124 posted:

First Christmas without my Dad.  He passed in late October.  I opened this morning the last Lionel rolling stock he purchased for me just a few days before he left us suddenly.  Gifted myself the car I picked up for his Christmas at York, exactly one week before his passing.

He hooked me in 1976 with a Lionel set under the tree.  I was 9 years old.  Fortunately he did the same with my son at a similar age, so we can continue to enjoy the hobby together and continue the tradition he started.

It must have been a hard Christmas for you.  It's great that you have another generation you can pass this hobby onto though so there is so much to be thankful for in that.

The good memories help to momentarily take your mind off of the grief. It’s a good tradition and additional memories and stories that will carry on.

@jstraw124 posted:

First Christmas without my Dad.  He passed in late October.  I opened this morning the last Lionel rolling stock he purchased for me just a few days before he left us suddenly.  Gifted myself the car I picked up for his Christmas at York, exactly one week before his passing.

He hooked me in 1976 with a Lionel set under the tree.  I was 9 years old.  Fortunately he did the same with my son at a similar age, so we can continue to enjoy the hobby together and continue the tradition he started.

@jstraw124

Remembering and focusing on the good times with a loved one who is no longer with us is the greatest tribute to his/her life and love that you can give! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you. Stay strong. Your father will be proud of you.