So, what were you playing with that Christmas morning???

Can't remember the year, (1958,59???) but it was one with of the combined Kenner Girder and Panel/Bridges and Turnpike sets.

Rusty

Never got a train for Christmas.

But I did get a Submarine Hunter game similar to the Ideal Jet Fighter game you showed. Not sure if it was made by Ideal or not.

I seemed to always get a LOAD of Civil War or WW2 army men play set. I had a "pantload" of them I'd set em up and knock em down with marbles (when was the last time you saw a kid playing with either?).

Ah, the good old days, no worries, no stress.

Well, besides the train set in 57, I don't remember much. Maybe this is all I got

Fort Apache
Mr. Machine
Kenner Girder set
Bonanza Action Figures Action Figure Commercial
GI Joe
Eldon Race car set (times are a changin)
Porter Chemistry set


What is scary is that is all I can remember.

But I do remember having this on my list every year until 1998

rat

Some of the Christmas toys and gifts that I received between 1948 and 1962 that I can remember are:
Erector Set.
Gilbert Microscope set.
Slinky.
Sled.
A bird that had rubber suction cups for feet that would climb my parents walls.
Firetrucks.
A musical wind up box that played "Pop Goes The Wessel". At the end of the song a clown would come out of the box.
A tin two story gas station (parking garge) It has a elevator for taking the cars to the second floor.
Block City.
American Bricks.
View Master.
Tinker Toys.
Lincoln Logs.
A tin cat holding a red wooden ball between its front paws. When you would pull its tail down and let loose, it would roll across the floor.
Parker Brothers games.
A red die-cast tow truck.
Some kind of a tin wind up road scene were cars went around.
Electric football game.
Walkie Talkies.
A lighted world globe. The oceans were black.
A cap gun and holster set.
Bell Telephone tool belt.
Bell Telephone truck that you controlled with a hand held conroller that took batteries.
A Emerson turquoise transistor radio.
A bazooka air gun. It would shoot out a red plactic ball.
A tan cocker spaniel piggy bank. The dog is laying down.
A gold chrome plated plastic trumpet.
A light blue tin Air Force box truck.
A blue football helmet with a yellow stripe.
A basketball and hoop. My first basketball had like a small indentation of a dog.
A shooting gallery. It came with a stand holding I believe five different kind of birds. They were made out of cardboard. It came with a small air rifle that you would load a cork into it and then shoot at the birds. When you hit a bird it would turn upside down. On the back of each bird there was a number indicating how many points you got for hitting it.
A tin baseball game with a wooden bat and marble. The base of the game had holes in it indicating single,double,triple,home run and out.
A clown pedaling a single wheel cycle across a piece of wire or string. I remember you had to install balancing poles in its arms.
A lithographed flashlight with a siren in the bottom.

None of the above mentioned toys ever meant as much to me as my American Flyer Trains.
Thank you Mom and Dad.

P.S. Sorry, I can't remember what I received in 1946 and 1947.

circa 1947 I think. Scale Hudson and a string of Madison cars on an 0-72 loop on the dining room floor with the dining room table disassembled thru January.

Had the old hook and hood couplers. What was the run period of those couplers??

Jim, Did that gas station have a manual plunger that you pushed down to raise the lift? I think you and I had the same toy assortment.

My dad's main toy was his Bell and Howell 8mm camera with the clamp on flood lights. How many times can you watch a train go around a circle?? He filmed it in 50' lots!

Tom Tee,
Yes it did.

Christmas morning, 1951, at the controls of my new KW and new 736 Berkshire set:



Really.... I was happy! But, I smile a lot more now while I'm running my trains.

Can't remember at all what else was under the tree that year. But, at the time, I don't think I noticed anything but that train!

Jim

The year I got my first Lionel set (Cannonball Express) from my grandpa, I also got a Tyco # 7438 Dual Turbo Train racing set. It was a neat toy, but it didn't capture my imagination like the Lionel.

Here's a photo of the Steve Canyon fighter jet helmet. 1959



And I remember getting the Marx, Blue and Gray Battle Set from my Grandparents to go along with the General Set.

While I still have all my trains from my childhood, I did not receive any for Christmas. They were all used pre-war tinplate.

One of my all time favorites was the Keystone service station.

Does anyone recognize what the construction set is in the second picture ??
Robert

MoPac,
Do you remember the color of your steam shovel. Was it orange or light blue?

I never received a train for Christmas(never asked for one), but I did buy one when I was seven with money I saved.

Tonka trucks were some of my favorite Christmas toys to play with. One year, I got a huge tanker truck that was yellow with a red cab. I use to sit on the tanker and place my feet on the cab and ride it down the sloped driveway. I had that until my early teens.

I was born in '72 so when Stars Wars came out in '77 those were the toys that me and my friends got for Christmas. Me and my two best friends played Star Wars all the time. Latter, Transformers were the must have toys for me and my buddies.

Even with those cool toys, my favorite memories of my youth were of me and my older brother playing with the little green Army Men. Many times we would get a new bag of Army Men to add to our pile. We would spend hours in the back yard setting up all these figures and playing war by throwing little stones at each others men...last one standing wins...good times.

My best memories are the trains I've gotten, and maybe the workbench I use to work on them.

This year I have a NYC RR lantern coming that I picked out in April (what a long wait) when we were in Strasburg PA. Can't wait to get that back.

quote:

MoPac,
Do you remember the color of your steam shovel. Was it orange or light blue?

Jim, I was thinking the steam shovel was black. But I did not remember playing with it very much. My guess would be that most all the items I received came from either Montgomery Wards or Western Auto.

As I recall Monky Wards had a large train layout. When you got in line to see Santa there was an elf (usually a woman) that asked your name. When you walked up to Santa he knew your name. We just knew he was the REAL deal.

Robert

MRS. Beasley. I loved that doll!

Christsmas morning 1956 and 1958. The some shots of 59 and early 60s.





I'm sure about 56 (Marx Monon set) & 58 NH F3 freight). The layout with the Aquarium Car and 3361 lumber Car is 1959. The last layout shot is the 60s and is the year the Reconnaissance Copter Car came out.

Peter

Marx NYC wind-up with tender, boxcar, gondola and caboose w/metal tunnel. Christmas 1938. An Uncle brazed and filed the broken spring several times before I retired it. MY younger Brother got it out while I was in Korea and took it to the sandpile.
I was suprised to get anything at Christmas since my Dad, a Carpenter,was working maybe two weeks a month building barns, remodeling for a MD and back to farming on the side. Dad being a practical type, I also received a Bluegrass claw hammer, Stanley framing square,a Lufkin folding ruler and a book on how to layout and cut rafters, stair treads,etc.

Although I pursued the electrical trade post Navy, while married and in College years later, I survived $-wise on part time house framing for a contractor who I had showed how to cut hip and valley rafters as well as patterned and cut his stair treads.[on weekends he kept me busy doing all of his folow-up on new homes--yeah,quality control after the sale ].

Top-of-the-line 2343 Santa Fe passenger set. A truly wonderful gift, and more than I deserved, but it cemented what would become a lifelong love for toy and model trains.

In the years preceding that great gift, I enjoyed many hours playing with a tinplate Lionel set that actually belonged to my older sister (although she had absolutely zero interest in it). I claimed it as my own each Christmas season, and had a great time arranging a miniature village and just lying on the floor letting my imagination run wild. Enduring memories that are with me to this day.

Christmas morning 1965



I was a little bored with this initial offering but I received some accessories through the years and stuck with the hobby !!!

quote:

Originally posted by Jumijo:
MRS. Beasley. I loved that doll!

ME TOO JIM !!! I had the later more cooler/hipper version that came out in the late 70s !!!

Hornby OO gauge HST Intercity 125 set (Lionel was only seen in Sears wishbooks )
Meccano 3000 set (awesome and I still have it in the loft)
Lincoln logs (Again still have them) M&D had my cousins in the States send these over.

Best memories are food parcels from relatives in the States. Hershey bars, Lifesavers,
Candy Canes, Kool Aid etc.

Nick

My first train set was a Lionel #41. It was used, however, new to me. I still have this set. When the day comes, hopefully my grandchildren will love it as much as I. Happy holiday season to all...God Bless.....

quote:

Originally posted by Putnam Division:
Christsmas morning 1956 and 1958. The some shots of 59 and early 60s.

I'm sure about 56 (Marx Monon set) & 58 NH F3 freight). The layout with the Aquarium Car and 3361 lumber Car is 1959. The last layout shot is the 60s and is the year the Reconnaissance Copter Car came out.

Peter

\

That is some wonderful video Peter, I can clearly can see you had and have a loving family there they were all great times in those days.
I did not have any of my own trains they belonged to my father and I could not touch them till I was much older.( I sure fixed that problem now) I had some favorites, An official Rin Tin Tin rifle and my Mattel fanner double six shooter set with holster with the green stickum caps. That is when I got the cops and robbers bug.
My wife the shrink tells me it is not healthy to dwell to much in the past, I do not know maybe she is right, she is most of the time, but there are times I would love to rewind it back to them times for a little while. I think that is why I love these type treads.

I got my first train for Christmas '74, and from '75 to '77 (or '76 to '78), my dad bought us a new Lionel set each year starting with the NYC Empire State Express freight set, then following with the Southern Crescent and Blue Comet sets. The toys I remember include many different Star Wars toys, Legos (before all the cool licensed theme sets), the Atari 2600, Six Million Dollar Man toys, Play Doh, Lincoln Logs, Tinker Toys and a host of generic type toys. Thinking back, we had it pretty good back then.

Andy

My first Lionel train in 1958 a santa fe diesel switcher cannot remember the engine number but it was black and nice to me. mom couldn't buy cars so had a 10' long oval a blinking cross buck and a metal bridge.
following year a box car oil tanker and a lighted caboose.

same year received a sawed off shotgun that shot hard plastic bullets I think it was for a show named Johnny Reb anyone remember it during the 1950's or is the name wrong?
at any rate it shot one bullet and jammed mom took back but store had none left.

thanks for the walk down memory lane. $oo

A Gilbert chemistry set back when they packed mercury in them and showed you really neat experiments. I generated toxic chlorine gas when I distilled Clorox and almost took out my aging grandfather when he came into the cellar. Good times.

At Christmas 1951, my folks got me my first Lionel set - a 681 turbine and 4 or 5 freight cars. I was three months short of being four years old at the time. The thing that amazes me today when thinking about that, is that they also gave me a ZW transformer and trusted me with it!



Ron

Wow, this one was special for me. It was 1960 or '61 I'm guessing, and my dad spent the better part of the wee hours on Christmas Eve night and into the morning setting up trains in the basement for us with HIS old trains from the 30's and early 40s. Very hazy about the trains but there was a steam loco and assorted rolling stock. Green Pullman cars, yellow gondolas, and some of those old style log dump cars.

Also had the log loader, magnetic crane and the tin whistle house which we proceeded to wear out.

A big revelation for my brother (and sister) and I as we trooped down the stairs to see "the big surprise."

Have to say, love all the pictures that folks still have from the old days. Very cool.

My first Christmas train was Lionel's first issue in 1945 after the war. It is engine #224, with the cars as illustrated Lionel's books. I was running it last night. A 66 year-old quiet, smooth engine with no e-unit buzz, on a Lionel postwar Z transformer. However, it doesn't run or sound well on my other tracks powered by present day MTH and Lionel chopped sine wave transformers.

per RonS's picture,

Finding where the REAL tinsel fell onto the track and shorted it out.

Dave

Man, you guys were spoiled. I had Playskool trains and Plasticville buildings. Marx Ft Apache was one indulgence from, I think, my grandmother.

Great home movies Peter! Did your Dad have the camera with the blinding lights? Love the Super O layout!

Over the years I got Tonka Trucks, Kenner Girder set, Lincoln Logs, a wooden version of LEGO blocks that had a brick pattern on the edges, Erector set, Gilbert Chemistry set, Aurora H0 slotcars, Remco Science Kits - does anyone remember those? There was a kit for building a crystal radio, another for an electric motor, still more for experiments with magnets, pulleys and gears, and a telegraph key that had a choice of light or buzzer. Thinking back, those science kits were probably the toys I played with most during the rest of the year. Oh, yeah, I also got stuff for the trains - Plasticville and new operating cars and accessories. Of course, THAT all got carefully put away until NEXT Christmas.

As much as I asked Santa for an Lionel electric train, never got one at Christmas. Birthdays seemed to be my thing for that. I did get some accessories or individual pieces later like a graduated trestle set or the 8471 PRR NW-2. In later years I remember getting 14 N scale cars stuffed in my stocking I remember getting all of the great boyhood toys - Legos, Lincoln Logs, and Tonka/Ertl trucks (especially the large construction toys). My favorite was one of the Kenner Girder & Panel sets - both the skyscraper and the bridge sets.

Peter

Not many pictures of the train--here is my grandfather trying to get the Tyco to work.


Here I am emptying out my stocking that same Christmas.

Scott Smith

I'm surprised no one has said a baseball glove, a bicycle, a scooter, a fishing pole or a dog.

quote:

Originally posted by RonS:
At Christmas 1951, my folks got me my first Lionel set - a 681 turbine and 4 or 5 freight cars. I was three months short of being four years old at the time. The thing that amazes me today when thinking about that, is that they also gave me a ZW transformer and trusted me with it!
Ron

Every pre-school age child should be entrusted with a transformer heavy enough to perform small welding jobs. It builds responsibility and character. I think back in the day when we were kids we had a bit more common sense than a lotta kids have nowadays, because our parents taught us more life skills stuff. Like how to safely plug an electrical cord into a wall socket and unplug same when you were done.

American Flyer S-gauge freight set.... smoke, lights, and a whistle!

I do not remember playing wirh anything else on Christmas because the Lionel train was the best!

Lionel Berk freight set and a 2343 passenger train. They were the nucleus of my lifetime interest in trains.