Remembering those who gave us trains

Chipset,

I could not have said it better.

My father got me a real GG-1 at Penn Station.

He worked n for the NYC Transit Authority and routinely took me tomPenn Station where he had the engineers of the GG-1's take me up into the cab. Who could forget that?

 

Then, in 1952, my parents bought me a Lionel outfit with a 2025 steamer still wrapped in its original paper 62 years later.

 

Scrapiron Scher

Mom bought all my early trains. From my first train a Lionel starter set to the last train Mom bought me a Revell N scale Alco set in 11969.

 Still have it.......

Trains were the least of things she did.....but still happy she did.

Great sentiment in this thread!  For me it was my dad and fortunately he's still with me!

 

--Greg

My Grandpa bought or gave me a good chunk of what I have today, including his first set. That sounds really sentimental, but he hated that set, saying that the Lionel Commodore Vanderbilt did not look like a real engine!

My parents got me a Lionel Nickle plate RR set from J.C. Penny in 1972 .

I kept that set until 2005 . I Gave the set to a young man that broke his. He has a learning challenge of some type . His grandma (my neighbor) says he still enjoys it! 

 

 

My mom. A lionel Scout starter set.

My parents gave me and my brother our first Lionel, a 2036 set assembled at Goldblatts.

 

My grandparents, wooden and wind-up trains.

 

There's plenty of blame to go around!

 

Rusty

Thanks Santa…and Thanks Mom and Dad for reminding me to leave Santa some cookies and hot cocoa.

Happy Holidays Everyone…

K.C.

That would be the Lionel X600 set I rec'd in 61 or 62 from Rose & Joe, my grandparents!!

 

Christmas 1952 brought me and my brother a Marx 3/16 scale set form Mom & Dad.  Both parents and the train are gone, but those childhood Christmas Memories, will live on forever

Thanks Mom & Dad, forever missed

Mike

This is me in 1962 with some inventory. I was laying down some new 027 track I had just received from Madison Hardware.

My grandfather started me in trains in the mid 80's.  I was about 8 years old at the time.  He had his wood shop class at the school he taught at build me a 5x9 table that I have had every since.  It is actually used on my current layout, but I have expanded it. 

 

I still have my original train and my uncles post war TW transformer.  I wish I had some photos of me and him with the train.   Unfortunately he passed just several years after he retired.  

 

 

I love those old photographs!

That is some serious Lionel equipment there barrister!

While my parents gave me a Lionel set for Christmas in 1947, I always thank my late German Grandfather for teaching me that a village/Putz belongs under a tree. His did not have trains, but it made an impression on me. Now I have 2 trees, both with a "village" and trains. He also taught me how to decorate a tree (don't just do the surface...decorate DEEP).

I have both my father and Grandfather to thank for instilling me with a deep and never ending love of toy trains.  I inherited their sets after they both passed away when I was a very young boy.  My dad passed away in 1953 at the tender age of 33 from wounds he received during World War ll and my grandfather died in 1960.  They both had Lionel freight sets which they allowed me to run despite the fact I was just a little tike.  I inherited those sets and they still run perfectly to this day.  They have a place of distinction in my train room and I make sure that every Christmas they get some run time under the tree.  When I do run them its a trip back in time.   

It was my father who got me into trains back in the day. (Well, im only 31 now so not too far back) He had all postwar stuff. My father and I unfortunatly no longer speak, and I never did get anything from his collection handed down to me simply because thats just the way he was.

 

I did however inherit a ZW transformer from my grandfather on my mothers side of the family when he passed away. It is my greastest treasure I think. I only run trains durring the holiday season but my grandfather's ZW has a special spot in my bedroom where it is always displayed.  I love seeing it every day. It just oozes with nostalgia.

 

What sucked me into this thread was when the OP said "pick it up, smell it" OH THAT SMELL. I purchased my own 2025 about 3 years ago and that smell was the same! All those post war engines smell the same...  Like heaven.....I bought my self some original Lionel smoke pellets to go with it. Oh the smell of that smoke. Its burned into my brain for life. Its something that I will never forget to the day I die.

My father was the one responsible. 1958 was the key year, with the VGN Rectifier, the N&W with the culverts and a ZW. Other trains came before and after.

Got my first set for Christmas in 1956…2265WS Berkshire Freight Set. Thanks to Mom and Dad.

It was set up with my Dad's Red Comet set on the living room rug in 56 and on a 4' x 7' plywood board in 57.

 

 

Then in 1959 I asked for and received  the 2528WS General Set.

 

I was a very lucky kid!

 

Found this photo of my Dad taken in 1955. I was only 2 years old and he set up the Lionel Train Set he had as a boy, a Red Comet from the mid 1930's.

 My Dad Christmas of 75' ,a Lionel blue Santa Fe 8351.

 

 I still have my train set,but lost my Dad 6 years ago March 

My grandfather got me my 1st train for Christmas in the early to mid 80s.  It's an old Marx locomotive and plastic cars.  I literally drove it into the ground.  I had broken most of the plastic couplers on the cars (we were using pipe cleaners or string from axle to axle to keep them together by this point) when the locomotive finally stopped moving.  After a move and a number of years in the garage, it was found again when cleaning out the garage to make room to fit a car.  I grabbed it before it could get reboxed and tried it out.  It ran a bit, but after a while quit again.  Years later I took it to my LHS and had them work on it.  It now runs, mostly backwards, and I bought some tin Marx cars from eBay.  I get it out and run it every once in a while until it gets too hot to touch.  The sight, sounds, and smell I will always enjoy.

 

Neighbor gave the train to me.  My father built the buildings from scrap wood, card board, etc..

 

I had to research to figure out exactly when our parents bought the train set for me and my brother. Near as I can figure, it was Christmas of 1981.

 

It was a Lionel Union Pacific Thunder Freight set. $178 and change, plus tax, plus a pair of switches, was a good chunk of change in 1981. I'm sure they sacrificed a bit to afford it.

 

The old dog is still running today on the same layout, with some upgrades.

All, nice pics!

By the way Pete, after seeing your layout I can tell what you are thinking about in that picture!

"To weather or not to weather......"

I already posted my story on that subject:

 

https://ogrforum.com/t...open-letter-to-santa

 

 

Thanx for posting the topic, Chipset.  I certainly remember my Dad, who, during the depths of the depression, thought his son should have and electric train.  Money being as tight as it was, he bought me a Marx Commodore Vanderbilt freight set and my Mother's Uncle Max made me a little but lighted wooden station out of packing case wood.  I was enthralled and it started a lifetime interest and hobby of trains, railroading and model railroads for me.

 

Thanx, Dad, for this wonderful memory!

 

Paul Fischer

those are the best Trains! the ones that come from

loved ones and people we know.

Just finished cleaning up and oiling/lubing and fixing

a transformer for a fellow train guy that received them from

a relative.

Lionel 2055 and transformer 1033.

they both run great now!

 

side note on the transformer, If you don't know or

aren't sure about fixing transformer. Leave it to the pro's.

My friend tried to fix this transformer on his own, and almost

could have been dissasterous(sp). he tried to wire nut the

cord inside the shell. The cord was still frayed and cracked

and had bare wires. I replaced the cord. Its once again safe

for years of toy train operation

My Great Uncle gave my family a '71 Lionel  Allegheny in the early 90s, from his collection. We used it every Christmas until I was 14 when my dad got tired of trying to set it up. I wasn't about to let the tradition die, and I've been carrying that flag ever since.

Chipset,

    My O gauge trains are some of my most treasured memories, my Grandfather

started both my father and myself with our O Gauge Train tradition when we were quite young, I still own both the original Lionel, Williams and now the new MTH Repros.

PCRR/Dave

Mom and Dad: a Lionel 19244 scout set, Christmas 1966.  I was 4.  The next Christmas, I asked for a train that "has a light and goes backward".  This was my B&O 624 44 tonner.  I still have both.

 

Dad passed in 1986, my mom has become so tiny and frail.  These little toys are priceless...

Nostalgia!  My mother and paternal grandfather got together in 1947 to give me a

#25000 Marx set mounted on a large, thin plywood sheet, bordered by maybe 3/4"

bracing all the way around.  Unfortunately, my still missed grandfather passed away

just after I got out of school.  He, a farmer, always wanted to see the rich farmland

of the Willamette Valley, that he had heard of from a neighbor.  My immediate

family was making trips west starting in 1955.  With that travel experience, and the

rewards I have gotten from his gift of a toy train, I still regret that he did not live until I could have taken him to see the Valley.  It would be small payback for what he did for me and my family (I did get to give something back to my mother).

Wow, Long ways back for me.

Early 60's not sure of exact dates. Dad put a loop under the Tree Christmas Eve after we went to bed.

A Lionel Scout set, never saw a box.

Later we got the Santa Fe warbonnet A-A pair, more cars, lots of track and a BIG transformer.

Funny part, Dad never could get them to run, but my brother and I had no trouble with it. Dad never did get electrical stuff figured out.

I will miss him forever.

My Pop got me started w/ his 2533W Great Northern set from 1959.  I have a ton of Christmas memories of that set going around a loop of super O track under the tree The set is proudly displayed in my train room & we make sure to run it each Christmas Eve  & day

For Christmas my dad bought my first starter set in 1977, the Lionel Rock Island Line. It was a very basic set.  The next year he bought me the Lionel Southern Crescent Hudson with passenger cars.  This set was known for the “Mighty Sound of Steam.”  I still have both sets, but rarely run them.

My memories of trains with my dad also come shortly before he passed away.  A year half ago, I took my Dad my to a local Ace Hardware store to show him the Lionel Milwaukee Road, S-3, 261.  My dad was a Milwaukee Road fan and loved toy trains.  He did not purchase the engine that day nor did I expect he would.  Little did I know at the time this would be my last time out with my dad. My dad went in the hospital a few weeks later.  As I was with him in the ER, he talked to me about having the Lionel 261 as part of my collection and wanted to get it for me.  That was my last conversation with my dad before he passed away.  A few months later, Nov 2012, I went back to the Ace Hardware store on Black Friday and purchased the engine in remembrance of my dad.  This year I added the matching passenger cars to go along with my 261.  I enjoy running the set on my Christmas Layout.  It is a very beautiful set. When I run it, I have many special memories of my dad and his love for toy trains.  Ken

For Christmas, 1953, my Dad spent $70.00 for a 4 car freight set with a 3-unit Santa Fe F3, and another 49.50 for a ZW transformer.  He owned a die casting business and paid himself $80 per week.

Here is my father, Christmas 1955, enabling me:

 

 

That looks about like the same set that I received for Christmas back in the early 60's!! Some distant relation gave it to me but I can't remember who they were and any family members that did know them has passed.   

well my grandpa the big lionel man got me started at age 3...all his lionel trains going around the christmas tree..my two favs he let me run was the prr 2020 turbine and santa fe war bonet..first train was bought by my granda who worked at marx toys in Girard PA..Marx 666 set at age5..then at age 7 grandpa=lionel man made me a train board for my first ho tyco spirit of 76 train set..the grandparents I was talking about are my moms parents..mom was the only child..and grandpa wanted a son..I guess I became the son...wished he was still alive..he was drop his jaws seeing how high tech these trains has gotton..To let you know grandma brought home alot of toys from marx's..i guess the perks of working there plus being one of those kids to get to tryout experimental toys..wished id still had them..

          My First Christmas Train

 

Asleep in my warm bed, I heard a noise from out front of my upstairs bedroom.

 

It sounded like metal being drug across the roof and than happily I heard a voice sing out:

"Merry Christmas To All and To All a Good Night!".

 

Drifting back into a deep slumber then to awake to CHRISTMAS MORNING 1950 !!!

Ahhhh...making my way downstairs hoping...hoping..What??? Could it really be what I saw? A Lionel steam engine, and Lionel Lines lettering on what was a tender behind it.

Then there was a silver tank car with the words Sunoco on it's side, followed by a gondola with the letters NYC and finally a beautiful red caboose. I remember standing in awe and slowly sat down to what I was to learn later was something called a Transformer. This device had two handles...one black and one orange. I looked around and suddenly my dear Mother and Father appeared.

 

"Bernard, turn the black handle just a little" my father said. As I did a light came on in the locomotive and it began to move forward pulling the rolling stock behind it across gleaming metal track.

 

"Bernard, now push the orange handle" dad said. A loud Whooo-oooo-ooo came from

somewhere in the tender as the train now picked up speed and raced around the room.

 

That was my first train and an experience I re-live yearly.