Toy Train Names in the 1950's

Charlie,

  My dad built me a plywood layout top and I was off and running. As a little kid, the nearby aluminum flashlight sometimes caused some amazing sparking, ahem, accidentally!

Tom

My adventure in 3 rail was different than most.

My first actual electric train was a simple little Marx HO set received for Christmas in 1958. (I think). It did not survive the rambunctious ways of this 6 year old: By summer of '59 it was played to death.

It wasn't until about late 1959 or sometime in 1960 that friends of the family gave me their son's train set he had outgrown. (He was heading off to college as I recall?)

It was a little Marx 999 litho set w/8 wheel cars.

I couldn't play that set to death! I had a lot of fun with that little set. That little Marx train ran for hours upon hours and smashed through whatever was placed in front of it with nary a dent!

My little Marx set was the closest I came to owning "Lionel".

Ironically, Lionel was what I was wanting for my train set of 1958, but neither me, or for sure my parents, knew what they were doing with model trains so I ended up with an HO Marx set! Well... to my young eyes the engine in the Sears catalog picture LOOKED like those "Santa Fe" Lionel engines! (Hey, I was just learning to read!) SO, mom and dad ordered the train set I indicated... only to learn upon opening it that it was an "HO" train. Surprise!

For Christmas of 1962, I received another new train set: An HO scale Lindberg Lines set. THAT Lindberg Lines Christmas gift set the hook in me for HO, and it wasn't until 1990s and I was in my 40s that I had any desire to revisit 3 rail. (Which I did with a vengeance!)

Here's a nigh-exact replica of my little Marx set that I purchased some years ago for Christmas Tree use:

The boxed set...

And here it is serving Christmas duty...

And here's a replica set that I have to replace my Lindberg Lines 1962 Christmas set...

Sadly, only ONE piece of rolling stock from my original Lindberg Lines set has survived the 64 years since receiving my original set. (Three cars had survived up until a move, when two disappeared!)

Anyway, here's my surviving Lindberg Lines boxcar that has survived all these decades...

The above Lindberg Lines C&NW boxcar has seen service on ALL of my HO layouts that I've built since 1962! (Five layouts.) It is seen in the above pic in service on my current HO layout.

Model trains have essentially been a life long interest that eventually led to earning a railroad retirement!

Andre

Andre

I enjoyed hearing about you getting the little Marx 999 electric train set and having a ball with it.  Those Marx 999 engines just keep on going.  I still enjoy running my Marx 999 freight set even after 70 plus years.

Also enjoyed seeing the photos of the Marx 999 boxed set.

Charlie

Great stories guys...here is my first "layout" around the Christmas tree in 1947.  Since I was only 3 I only got to run it under "supervision" but it grew into a long love affair with Lionel and then pretty much the toy train hobby. This was the relatively new Lionel PRR Steam Turbine and was a work train with crane and work caboose with a searchlight.   I am nearly 80 now but still mess with "toy" trains.  I just got a new Menards PRR F-3 with a remote control...man is it cool!  P.S. I also have a number of Marx loco's and cars, especially 999's and I agree they run forever!

Best Wishes, Don

@Choo Choo Charlie posted:

Andre

I enjoyed hearing about you getting the little Marx 999 electric train set and having a ball with it.  Those Marx 999 engines just keep on going.  I still enjoy running my Marx 999 freight set even after 70 plus years.

Also enjoyed seeing the photos of the Marx 999 boxed set.

Charlie

Hi Charlie!

Yes, those little 999's are nigh indestructible. I'm told by those much more knowledgeable about Marx that my 25225 set is a late 1940s product. It ran right out of the box!

However, I spent some time taking it apart and cleaning the brushes, armature contacts, wheels, slider, etc. The little engine cleaned up pretty good!

I haven't set up the set in a while, but I'm sure it will run, and run perfectly, when I do.

Andre

My first "train" was an F3 AA or AB that originated, if I recall correctly,  as an animal crackers box! First real train set was the 2035 set offered in 1950.

Hal

My first train set was a Lionel 520 set with an extra Gulf tank car which I got for Christmas 1956 when I was 3 years old. A modest 3’x4’ platform with an oval of 027 track and some Plasticville and my dad must have picked up a junk Lionel tender and hung it in underneath the plywood platform so I had a steam whistle. After Christmas he moved the little layout upstairs to my bedroom along the wall alongside my bed. For my birthday I was given a Kusan Canonball set and I would have the 520 push the diesel around the oval with the cars behind.