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

I got my first train set Christmas of 69. I was 10 .It was an Atlas N gauge set.
Montgomery Ward had a whole section of Atlas stuff.We got the usual erector set, Lincoln logs,flexible flyer,Tonka trucks , matchbox cars and Hot Wheels,and an Aurora slot car set.
My brother had American flyer so I was a little bummed when he'd run his stuff as mine looked so little .He quit playing with his at about 12 or 13 but I never did and would get a little something train related every year.

One of my best "Gets" was something you couldn't be without when I was a kid - mode 1 in the transportation department a brand new Hercules 10 speed.I put baskets on the sides and front because at 12 I was carrying the Washington Post and if you've ever carried the Post on Sunday mourning from a bike then you know why.

David

quote:

Originally posted by Putnam Division:
Christsmas morning 1956 and 1958.

Peter, this is awesome that you have a video along with the memories of Christmas morning.
Thanks for sharing it with us.

quote:

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

You're right about that. Santa brought me my Lionel 2026 and a low-end set in 1951, and it was up and running (gaining a few more cars and accessories every year) until I left home in 1969.

I can certainly remember some of the other presents I got in other years (my Gilbert Moonscope telescope (which started a lifelong interest in amateur astronomy); my first sleeping bag (I used it so long that it finally wore out completely in 1976) and my first bike. But through it all there is only one constant, and that is my train set, chugging faithfully along under the Christmas tree.

After being married for a few years, I returned to my parents' attic and retrieved the old 2026. The locomotive and cars were dirty from long neglect, but after cleaning and lubricating, they looked as good as new.

There are a lot more stablemates in the Lionel roundhouse these days, but the 2026 is still running -- and better than it did when new (I've learned a lot about maintenance in the years since 1951).

So yeah, the train set is still the greatest Christmas present I ever received, and the one I remember the most. Thanks, Mom and Dad.

Although I didn't get one, did any of you get that vibrating football game? I remember my cousins having it.



That and the Battleship game.



I did get the "Rifleman" rifle and nearly polked my own eye out spinning it like Chuck Connors!



And there was a gun belt with a revolver and a belt buckle that had a deringer that popped out and shot when you stuck out your stomach! Caps of course.

One of my brothers got that vibrating football game. I don't remember if it worked well or not? From what I can remember, the field vibrated, while the plastic players, riding on a base, with four thin posts/legs, moved about the field.

There was no real control, just mayhem, with players vibrating about in all directions. The game should have been called earthquake.


Kane

Kane,

YES that is my recollection as well! Complete Mayhem!

quote:

One of my brothers got that vibrating football game. I don't remember if it worked well or not? From what I can remember, the field vibrated, while the plastic players, riding on a base, with four thin posts/legs, moved about the field.

There was no real control, just mayhem, with players vibrating about in all directions. The game should have been called earthquake.

You noticed that, too? One of my friends had one of those, and I never could figure out what the point of it was supposed to be. With the power on, the little plastic players would just wander all over the place. One of the players, as I recall, had a spring-loaded arm, that would launch a tiny felt football down the field, but it's not as if any of the other figures would try to grab it or make a touchdown.

After watching the mob meander all over the vibrating field for an hour or so, I'm pretty sure my friend put it back in the box, where it stayed.

The one I received had metal players. A blue team and a silver team. The pieces that worked the best I would mark with a felt tip pen. I made them the runners.

I forgot about that buckle we got one too along with the Red Ryder BB gun .There wasn't a blue J with any sense for 20 miles in our town

David

I not only got a vibrating football table, but also one of those hockey tables with the twirling sticks that poked out the ends.

Also had the belt buckle gun, I think it was either from a Paladin or Bat Masterson set. Mine broke though and when the gun came out it flew off the buckle and onto the ground

Do they even make metal toys like those anymore??? I guess it's all left up to the die cast trains now

I showed this before, but I figure this thread calls for an encore.

From circa 1955:



I think the name was SPACE CRUISER

Bob:

Not sure if you are familiar with the TV program American Restoration, but I saw an episode within the past week or two where they restored one of these for the folks on Pawn Star. I believe someone on the show said one of these in excellent shape, such as the one that had been restored, was worth around $4,000.

Curt

Curt,

I found a few on the internet, but never saw any prices.

$4000 sounds like a lot, but that's a whole lotta metal on that thing and in top shape I'm sure they get it.

Then again, my first new car (1970 Opel GT) was only $3600 and didn't have much more metal on it than that spaceship.

I have no recollection of what happened to it, we may have driven it down the ditch bank of the new house we moved into after we moved from the house in the photo.

other then the trains, it was two things my first aquarium when i was around 13, a 29 gallon dad bought used i had till i graduated and left for the army gave it to a friend. thanks to that tank i now have a 55 gallon a 75 gallon, and a 125 gallon up and running with more tanks in the garage!
next up was my first car my parents always said they would never buy us cars but i got one on christmas 1986! a 78 ford pinto! kinda scared dad when i started talking about putting a 302 in it!
Dave

Bat Masterson sounds right Bob.

Anybody get one of these?

Can't recall most of the presents specifically.
Often it was new boots or levi's and a couple nice shirts.
Once it was a complete Lionel train (scout) with track and a small transformer.
Every few years we would get train items, A new Transformer or some cars.
But I do recall the Christmas of 1968!!
1 present for all 4 kids.
But it was a brand new SNOWMOBILE!!!!!
A 12 HP Ski Doo Elan. That made us the envy of half the town.
We wore out 2 tracks, a set of bogie wheels, and rebuilt the engine once over the years. We had the frame welded together twice when it broke from Jumping it over things.
It would go anywhere as long as there was snow.
We finally hauled the rusted carcass to the landfill 5 years ago, after dad passed away.
The following year each of us got a full super insulated snowmobiling suit.
I still have it but I've grown too large for it now.

At one point we had enough track to run a loop around the outside of the house and still build a small yard. All manual switches, but fun to operate.
We still only had the scout steamer, a AA set of Santa Fe warbonnets and a dozen or so freight cars. But we had a massive track set and a big enough transformer to run the train around the loop as long as we put the lockon at the bottom of the uphill leg of the loop around the house.
2 years ago I bought myself the Crane car I always wanted.

OK Jim how about this?

I remember getting one of these babies one Christmas too.

NYC Fan,
Didn't that Duncan Yo Yo have ball bearings in it? I had two Duncan Yo Yo's. One was a pink Butterfly Yo Yo and the other one was just like the one you pictured except mind was orange.

I don't remember the Satellight Launcher you pictured.

While my first train set arrived for Christmas '57, led by the trusty 2037, I have a recollection of also getting an air rifle. I was seven years old and that, as we were often told, was the 'age of reason'...a time when we were supposed to become 'responsible.' OK, so I missed by a few decades.

What about the ships made by Remco.....
Fighting Lady
Big Caesar
Mighty Matilda
I had them all....

Peter

Putnam Division,
Didn't that company make a big army tank? I seem to remember the advertisements for one.

This is a really nice thread! I got my Lionel train in 1959. It was a 2037 engine set and included the Alaska 6464 boxcar! Here is a picture of me at 4 years old, so I seriously doubt that the train was for just for me, since my dad built a 4x8 layout that included a trestle set. You can see several plasticville buildings on the floor, a box for the a trestle bridge, and the track is in the Libby's box; I don't remember what happened to the set box, I seem to recall one, but don't know what happened to it, but the trains all survived! It doesen't appear that I was very interested in the stuff, the TV must have had something very interesting on...

All in all, very fond memories of mom and dad who are long gone. Many thanks to those of you who have shared your pictures.

Brewman 1973,
School house, motel and T.V. station. That's three very hard to find pieces of plasticville. Hope you still have them. I believe the bridge you have is a Marx. I had a silver one. Nice bridge.

Here are a few things that my parents saved in the attic....AH..Christmas sure was fun!! By the way, my first train was a Marx set...it is in the train room now!!

Great thread!
Alan

quote:

Originally posted by Alentown:
While my first train set arrived for Christmas '57, led by the trusty 2037,

Same here Chuck..same engine, although I think mine may have been Christmas '58.

I had gotten an A.H.M. HO santafe e 7 aa freight set when I was 5. I fell asleep watching it go around. Speaking of TYCO my brother recived a chattanooga choo choo set a few years earlier. This was the worst attempt at HO scale steam ever, the tender was powered and it pushed the locomotive,it ran horribly. Ironically I saw one sealed on ebay, I thought for sure the ones that hadn't been used would have been thrown away by now

This is (one of) the amazing things about Christmas, the way it evoked some of your most powerful childhood memories. I can remember seeing this funny-looking Joe Palooka punching bad under the tree...



This Big Bruiser tow truck was magical to me, becuase the winch actually worked!! (as far as I remember!!)



and I can remember this tractor trailer so well because it was all metal!! It seemed indestructable to me and was a lot of fun!



- Mike

Great thread.

I had forgotten about the Daisy air rifle, REMCO toys, the Marx Dick Tracy squad car, the IDEAL pay phone, and the Mickey Mouse projector that took batteries with no stores open on Christmas to sell them, of course. My friends and I had every cap gun ever made (without the nanny state inspired orange cork!). No one turned in to a serial killer or malcontent. Just the opposite. With one exception, all my school chums, guys and gals, turned in to productive American tax payers.

Anybody remember the Johnny Reb cannon?

rat

One year when I was about 10, around 1963, I got the USMC Monkey Division Bazooka Set. It came with the Bazooka and Shells, a Helmet and a Camo Poncho.



Here's the Mighty Matilda Peter,



And Pallie, here's the Johnny Reb Cannom

hmmm I must have gotten the rare version. Mine had an eyetalian flag.

rat

Another Christmas favorite...from double oh rat




rat

Oh, yes - - I remember these three clearly.

When I was five, Santa Claus brought me a Space Station. It was made of gray sheet metal, appropriately painted with details, and had a ‘fence’ that consisted of several segments that interlocked. It also had astronauts, vehicles, a ‘satellite’ launcher (wind-up type) and a couple of aliens with pointed noses and big ears.

When I was six, I got the first train of my own. It was a Marx with F3’s (probably), orange in color, with four cars. The only one I can remember clearly was a yellow ‘Wabash’ gondola. Now I could add my train to the floor-layout that my Dad set up every year with my older brothers’ trains.

When I was seven, the gift was an Erector set, a number 7-1/2. I built every item in the manual, back-to-back, and then started my own creations. We did not have a lot of money, so every operating accessory I had for the train I built with the Erector set. Good old days in Havana in 1950, ’51, and ’52.

BTW, I didn’t get my first real Lionel until I was eight, as a birthday present from a ‘well-to-do’ relative.

Alex

Seeing the bazooka reminded me of one of my childhood neighbors.

This guys dad was a Colonel in the Army Reserves. One day we went in their attic and found enough army gear to outfit a 10-man squad! We had M1 ammo belts, backpacks, canteens, helmets, shovels, fist aid kits, even some rations. We were "loaded for bear" when we played army.

Can you see kids doing that now? The local SWAT would be on them in no time.

Bob,

I still have a collection of World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War, Desert Storm and Desert Shield USMC Helmets!

Well I got stuck with a Sears Allstate Marx 666 set with butterfly couplers
and a figure eight track with piers. All was not a complete loss as the
steamer had a terrific smoke unit, which worked even better with 3 in 1
oil. The track curves were also 034, which was second only to Super 0 for
radii at the time. In 1964, I'd get a set of 2023 Yellow UP Alcos, and
things would be OK from then on.

Couple of my favorites I remember....

My dad brought me to Nicholas Smith when I was a kid. They where located in center city Philadelphia at the time. That was before our brilliant city counsel drove most of our small businesses out to the suburbs. But again I digress, after seeing what the trains I wonted cost we ended up at a cut rate store and I got the Lionel LV 44 Tonner set.
I think it was around 1959, so it was a left over from the 1957 catalog, it did not smoke but it was better then nothing.

My dad had a 4 X 8 platform set up in the living room for me. We placed a couple of plastic ville buildings and a bunch of those paper houses you could by at the hardware store at Christmas on it. He also put black roofing felt cut in strips as streets down. Boy, it looked beautiful to me and I thought my dad was a genious how he put it all together for me.

I remember that I could see it from the top of the stairs and I loved having that as the first thing that hit my eyes in the morning.
Like I said it did not smoke but it did have a horn and boy did my brothers and I work that horn day in and day out. I think we over did it because the following Christmas my mother made my father set it up in the basement.

In any case, that was a very happy Christmas for me. Over the next few years the platform got a little larger. we added switches and more buildings. I think dad enjoyed it as much as did but he took ill and passed away a few years later. But, those memories will stay with me as long as I live.

we got quite a few nice toys in the 1960's,but the one i remember was a 6 wheel crane [tonka] with a clamshell bucket on the boom. saw one of these at the medina train show not too long ago, priced at $450 .also had 3 of the semi truck ,these were all metal,very well made toys.sure wish i had all the toys in their orig. boxes now.trainwise, i got an uncle's lionel1655 scout steamer and a #617 santa fe switcher later on. -jim