Whats your first train?

Lionel Chessie Freight Set was my first train in O gauge.

Mark,

It is not, its the same number Lionel 6-8463, but the used one I bought and fixed up was supposed to be a dummy for my original.  It just so happened that I could fix it, so I did.  Now I have two!

 

**Edit:

 

After a lot of online research, I found the very first set I ever got.  Here is a picture of one that I found online.  Looks like its from '94

 

 

I'd love to say mine was something cool, but it was a Bachmann Big Hauler "Blue Comet" set.

A Lionel scout set around 1956-1957. Catalog advertisement attached

Mike,

now you have two!  That's good news!  You did a nice job on that one you salvaged!

Earlier I posted about my first set which was an HO set and then my first o gauge train.  But recently I was racking my brain and remembered 2 operating toy trains that gave me hours of enjoyment as a toddler.  Actually, some of my earliest memories are of these trains.  Thanks to google, i've rediscovered these trains.

1986 Disneyland playset: train which went in a cloverleaf pattern and in each loop it activated a ride/amusement as it went by

 

1988 Playskool Express: large (well large to a 3 year old, I'm not sure how big it really was) frieght train with plastic track that included switches and crossovers.  There was even an accessory that loaded large pipes into a gondola from a truck, or vice versa (the pics I found didn't show it in action.

 

so, those are my first trains. and thinking about all the "action" those sets had, is probably why even now, I always feel the need to add in a switch or operating accessory to my layouts, I was never satisfied with a simple loop

My first train set was a Wabash F3 (#2367) with passenger cars that I received from my parents when I was 2.  I got it back about 3-4 years ago and had it recently cleaned up and oiled and she remarkably runs amongst the fastest of my F3 collection.  I have also added on an newer shell and 3 more aluminum passenger cars. She was the train that throughout my military career, my family and recreation time and other experiences that would not go away, and I've started on a nice collection of post war F3's, modern day Legacy diesels and Steam Locos that probably would not have gotten started if not for the Wabash F3, number 2367.

Tyco HO early 70s

maint, loved that picture - could've been my house.

 

First "train" I can remember was a little windup Micky Mouse thing, probably made by Marx. It had an engine and three cars with one set of wheels on the engine and one set on the middle car. The wheels were built a bit out of kilter so it would wiggle it's way in a circle around the kitchen floor. Doesn't sound like much, but that's how I got interested in trains.

 

In the early 60's I received a set for Christmas - Lionel, I think. A simple oval of track and transformer that emitted a very unique aroma. Never have seen one that looks quite like I remember it, keeping in mind my memory of the thing is rather fuzzy because I never did use it much.

 

Much later I was involved in HO, belonging to a club in Las Vegas for quite awhile. 

 

These days, I just like to see the things run. I don't consider myself a modeler by any stretch of the imagination. I just like the sound and the motion - quite soothing, to tell the truth

My first Train Set was a Marx Freight NW Switcher Set that Santa left

under the Christams Tree in 1954.  I can not tell you how much a 7 year

old kid loved that train set, but I am sure many here can relate.

 

My brother now has it, and it still runs, just a little 3 in 1 Oil and off it

goes.  My brother will be placing this set under the tree by the 10th of

December.  He always calls me and says, "can you believe it? with the

original transformer it still runs".

 

Yes, I can believe it.  Great Topic.

 

Many thanks,

 

Billy C

My first trains I can remember were an HO Santa Fe F-Unit and a Santa Fe steamer, though I haven't seen them in ages, lost relics at my parents house.

 

My first O-gauge train, was a MTH N&W passenger set, which also still resides at my parents house. This was bought one weekend with Dad, at Dutchess Train and Hobby (no longer in business). I remember us looking through the sets and even though Dad kept trying to steer towards a Pennsy or NYC freight set, we ended up bring home that passenger set.

 

The first O-gauge train I purchased, was my MTH NYO&W NW2. It was a present to myself for graduating college. I bought it at the Old and Weary Car Shop  in Tappan, NY right before Christmas and was very disappointed when I got home and it would make some noise, but wouldn't run. I took it back, only to have the owner scratching his head. A quick call from him to MTH fixed it all, the battery was drained and needed to be charged.

As I posted back in September I got a PRR turbine, milk car and etc. Was done in Gene's hobby shop in Kearney looking around and asked what happened to the couple of turbines be had for sale. Said take a look down here--a 1952 671 turbine set with all the boxes, shipping box and all in great conditon. My wonderful wife called him and purchase it for me for Christmas.

Its going to be a real time trip when I open it and set it up. I'll have to lie on the carpet with my eyes by the track as we all used to and let my imagination go.

Best Christmas present ever.

Scotie

American Flyer, Reading Lines 302 • Now doing shelf duty in the train room.

 

  Click photo to enlarge. 

Two rail Lionel OO Hudsons with Lionel and Scalecraft freight and Pullmans. Track was hand laid brass rail on True Scale wood roadbed.

My first train was not constrained by rails nor powered by a transformer. This train was powered by three D batteries. It featured a "Clang-Clang Bell", a "Flashing Boiler", and the wonder of "Mystery Action".

 

Behold my Silver Mountain.

 

When I was about 7 my dad brought home a used Lionel O27 set and an O shortly after. But, somehow I lost my way and ended up playing with HO. Fortunately, I found my way back to O.

A postwar Lionel 671. I had to fix the E-unit, but otherwise it runs fine!!!

Keith-

 

When I was your age, I had never even seen a 671 Turbine up close, even though I am 50 years old now........LOL!  I did not know that they existed back then. The Lionel in my house back then was My Broadway Limited from 1974, My Father's 1688 freight set from 1939 & my older brother's 1061 set from 1965. ( Sans the engine as he broke it taking it apart as a kid)

My dad always yells at me when I take an engine apart because he is afraid I'll break it, so I just do it when he isn't around. LOL!

I remember my grandparents had one of these or similer when I was younger. I think they gave it away a few years ago.

 

My dad doesn't actually yell at me; he encourages me. But he didn't ever have trains when he was a kid, so he is inexperienced with them. I have always taken things apart. I kinda just teach myself to fix them.

That's the best way to learn -- as long as you can put them back together just as well as you take them apart.

 

A few years ago, I restored Dad's old Lionel 252 that had never run in my lifetime.  Unfortunately, Dad had passed on some time previous, so I never got to show it to him.

 

hello marshelangelo..........

 

I MUST agree about the Lionel classic F-3's being the fastest diesel.  I had #2383 freight set from 1965 and sadly none of the made it today in my hands but I bought new in the box #18117 F-3 ABA set and rebuild it to the 2383 specs (metal gears and postwar brush plates).  This engine # 200 is the fastest diesel I ever had as I had a race between the Williams GP-9 and F-3 at 12 volts using the Z-4000,the Lionel F-3 WINs every time by just the engine itself and then I keep adding cars to slow it down to match the GP-9's speed.  By the time I added 2 non-powered "A""B" units and 6 cars plus a caboose, it will still beat the GP-9 !!!.  I took the GP-9 apart to find out why it is slow but it is in perfect mechanical condition so I accept it as a slow turkey.  I have a lot of respect for the Lionel F-3 now.  I take very good care of mine the #18117 F-3's.  The armatures itself of the Lionel F-3's are just as big as the whole can motor of the Williams GP-9's perhaps maybe that's why?

 

the woman who loves the S.F.5011,2678,2003,200

Tiffany

When I was about 2 1/2 years old, my father took me into a coffee shop with him.  Next door was a hardware store.  The place had a train display set up for Christmas.  I stood there and watched it go around and around.  A week or so later when my father passed that place, I would simply say "Train, Daddy."  He took his paycheck for that week and bought me a train, apologizing to my mother that he simply couldn't resist seeing how enraptured I was over it.  It was a Lionel 675 Prairie engine and tender with operating milk car and dump car, tank car, and caboose.  That was 1949, and I still have it and its transformer with all original boxes and track.  Each year my folks would augment the layout with more track, accessories, rolling stock, etc with my father making a larger platform to accommodate its growth.  As much as I marvel at the new technology today, I have an emotional attachment to the older trains just from my old 675 and the memory of the sacrifice my father made to get it for me--that is irreplaceable!

       
       


To be sure I don't screw anything up, I use a my Greenberg book on exploded diagrams of engines.

P.S. I'm really sorry about your dad.

Keys 6700, you are not unusual in dismantling a train.  The first thing my older cousin did when he got a toy was to take it apart just to see how it worked.  Today, he can fix trains, washing machines, lawn mowers--just about anything!  That natural curiosity is something that cannot be taught--it's inspirational.  When he was in high school, the teachers back then encouraged him to go to college to study engineering.  Unfortunately, in those days, college was out of the question for him for a variety of reasons, but his curiosity continued and he was able to parlay fixing things into extra money.  A person I know is employed by NASA as a scientist.  He tells me that today NASA looks for engineers who are not just theoretical but rather have actual experience with tools and the construction of things.  Boeing, the aircraft builder, uses the knowledge of the people who actually build the planes to work with the engineers to refine and correct systems that have been created.  Keep learning, Keys.  Not only may you secure a job with your talent, but you will carry it with you personally as you go through life to enrich it long after you've retired.  Best wishes!

Thanks for the advice, GG-1 fan!

And that makes a lot of sense. Ever since I have known how to use a screwdriver, I have taken things apart. I've always wanted to be an engineer (mechanical), as well.

And I credit all of my family for helping me learn all this. (Especially my great-grandfather who has always taught me about electronics and how things work; he was an electrical engineer at Westinghouse)

December, 1950, Lionel Set 1475WS bought at Madison Hardware for me by my Uncle Frank. I was one month short of three. At $67.50, it represented over a week's pay for him. My Grandfather provided a 4 by 6 sheet of plywood painted green and for many years, we ran that set at Christmas time. I still have it and run it with my grandchildren. I was lucky enough over the past few years to find and purchase two more 1475WS sets. 

 

I have a large collection of post war Lionel that I run on my 1950s style layout. None more special than that first set.

December 25, 1955. I was 5 years old. My parents gave me a Lionel 1527 outfit for Christmas. This was a fairly inexpensive, basic, 027 set, offered in 1955. It was purchased from the Bennett Bros. Bluebook catalog, that Dad always brought home from work, each Christmas season.

 I still have the complete set, less boxes. It still runs fine. That started my lifelong model train hobby.

Jeff

Mine first trains were a 671 and a 2338 GP. Still have them.

Noisy, and obnoxious fun. My Grandpa had one to give littler kids something closer to them to watch. But of course we played with it too.

  

 Keys, I understand totally. Long before I was in school, they had to lock the toolbox. I was younger, too young to reason with, and was taking all the door knobs off the doors.

 Locks seldom stopped me after a while(thanks Gramps). My "talents" in the home got stifled by Mom till I fixed her record player while she was at work (4th-5th). You seem respectful, like you at least try to listen, that makes you very smart in my eyes. But never let anyone tell you you're wrong, or cant, when you know you're right, and can. Just quietly find the path to your goal, that steps the lightest, on the least amount of toes. IE. take knobs off your own closet, leave the bathroom door alone, and quietly improve yourself, till you can prove yourself .  

 

Oh...   

 

 My Adriatic, bought for me before I was born. But not what I played solo with first. This was too heavy. A blue plastic Army A unit, and Army missle launching engines and their sets were light enough to lift easy. As were the fire rescue engine, gang car, and ambulance (inspection car) All of which I broke after a few years.

 With shelf after shelf to choose from, Gramps would always ask what steamer I wanted to own eventually. The Turbine was always where I pointed. "All those extra wheels make it look heavy, and tough Gramps".

 

I got my first train at Christmas 1943, it was made of wood and it may have been a pull train, but it was great toy for a three year old boy.  We moved to a farm inside a small city and put the train inside the milk house.  I didn't have room for the train on the floor and lost interest of playing of the train.  No big deal as the Santa Fe ran a lot of trains each day during the war years and I lived just a 1\4 mile North of the tracks.  The milk house caught fire and no more wood train.  I wish I had that  train today?  Any way, I grew older and have played with all of the large stuff.  May you get a Wood Train at Christmas.

Al

Al, got me thinking. Grandpa liked to carve, and make folk art. He made some steam sets with checkers for wheels, one Christmas. A perfect companion for blocks. Brio has nothing on his sets. I think a few still exist in family curio cabinets. All the younger kids got a set. I had these Fisher Price toys. Some wood. My train for "the Little People" was opposite in color to the one in the photo. It had a yellow cab & white pilot. And engineer. I think it came in a circus set, had a merri go round and swings. A fair maybe?

 

I  remember actually unwrapping all the toys below too. My versions all had some wood. And then there were Tinker toys, Lincoln logs, wood boats, puzzles, gift boxes, and Christmas decorations all wood.

 

 

Do you have a recent side view of the engine?  I'm curious!

Hu, the pulp wood loaded flat car in this set was my vary first HO frieght car. I started with an N gauge dummy engine with a man who would pop out if you pushed a button.

Lionel pennsylvania flyer set 0-8-0.

OK, if we're going to include Fisher-Price and such trains, I had one like the engine at the top. It came with a gondola car and a caboose with magnets for couplers. It was a favorite of mine. But the real mostest favorite was the Child Guidance trains I had before the Tyco set. lol

 

http://weewonderfuls.typepad.c...giant_child_gui.html

 If I would have found operating ho accessories earlier in life, I may have put up with the " operating issues" I had with off the shelf ho Tycos.(I loved the slot cars & RR X-ing idea!)

 I still have a Tyco Canadiana "pile of leafs" (w/many maple leafs). They were always static accessories at our stores.