Who Believes In Santa Clause AND Why ? What was the First Train He Gave You?

Yes Virginia there is a Santa Claus, he lives in each one of us. I believe!!

 

my first train set in in 1952 was a Lionel 2018 steam engine and a few cars like the orange baby ruth, black Lionel gondola, Sunoco tank car and the red Lionel lines caboose. 

Rio Grande 2379 set with Super-O track, Christmas 1961.  Since then no more trains, i've been on my own. me and Santa need to talk.   I figure that if I am bad enough maybe I'll get a bag of coal for my steamers.

 

Ho Ho Ho, oops wrong scale,  O  O  O

 

 

2379 was a pretty nice set to get.

 

 

Bob C.

I believe in Santa Claus: "Yes, Virginia . . . " and all that.  Santa truly does exist in all of us. 

 

I got my first train, an Marx RTR set, from Christmas at age 5.58 - Christmas 1955.  It had an 0-4-0 loco I think - whatever it was originally after a few years played with by an active five year old, old photos confirm it was an 0-4-0, however it started out.  My Dad set it up in the basement on a 4 x 8 p,lywood layout with a cardboard tunnel and a couple of accessories and over time . . . 

 

But, as far as I know, toy trains were always there in the house, from the day I arrived.  I have a photo of me watching my Dad's pre-war Marx set about age 3, and I don't recall at the first time I saw a toy train: they were just there, always.

I absolutely believe!  Here is my actual letter to Santa when I was 6 years old.

 

 

 

Santa really came through.  I received the cataloged No. 665 freight set from 1957: 665LTS 4-6-4 locomotive and tender, Alcoa 4-bay covered hopper (the catalog shows an N&W hopper but I got an Alcoa), extension searchlight car, red wreck crane and gray DL&W work caboose.  The transformer Santa brought was a HUGE HEAVY KW with giant handles to run the train.  Christmas doesn't get any better than that.

 

I still have that set and will never sell it.

 

 

Santa never game me a train.  Not even an engine, a car or an operating accessory.  Did get some custom made trees one year from my wife.

 

For some reason Christmas has not brought train related gifts.  When I got them it was usually as birthday presents.  My Lionel train set arrived on my sixth birthday.  My wife got me a loco as a birthday present when we were dating, my father gave me a Williams brass loco on my birthday the year he died, and I've gotten odd cars and accessories as birthday presents in other years.  Not sure why it never happened on Christmas. 

 

For me the Christmas-train tie in has always just been the train running around the tree.  It was magical when I was 3 and it still is.

First one I remember was one of those Cragston switchers.  It had the stamped lithograph track about 2 foot long.  I remember a Burlington  Northern Ho set and a Lionel Lehigh Valley set.   Now Santa brings me whatever I want any time of the year!

 

Summer is gone and other than some small work on my big cars, I'm back to playing with trains for the winter!!

 

I believe!  1952 brought me and my brother a Marx tin set.

It the magic of Christmas that still lives on

 

Mike P

Now who does not hear this bell? WE do!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

My parents had been married 10 years before they had me, and had accumulated many Christmas decorations, including a real red leather "mail box" harness that had bells on it.

It actually looked like a "Reindeer Harness", especially to a 6 year old....

Well, one day I discovered this 16 year old artifact, complete with 16 years of weathered leather, faded and oxidized bells, etc. in a old forgotten box of Christmas decorations.

I thought it was "actually" one of Santa's reindeer harnesses and ran up stairs to declare its authenticity to my parents, as well as the neighborhood kids.

To this day, I swear it was REAL...Oh yeah, I forgot the train related story!

My very large family from cousins up to grand parents were in my Grandmothers "Ozone Park Queens" basement one Christmas eve with 4 large tables set up end to end, and when dinner came my cousins and I refused to eat our fish (Italian Christmas Eve Tradition), so we all ended up getting "coal and wood"...

Well, my 2 cousins were crying...but NOT ME!

I stood up on a chair with a piece of wood and coal in each hand, happy as a clam and declared 'This is sooooo cool, I can use these in my Lionel Locomotives!'

My entire family had a laughing cow so huge they were still talking about this 40 years later...I ended up getting a Lionel Scout freight set vintage 1965 to add to my Lionel collection, and I still have it in original box to this day!

 

A set of these when I was about 4 years old.

 

 

 

 

 

And they were the most magical toys I could ever imagine owning.  The feeling I had when these boxes came down from the attic every Christmas season, and when I had the opportunity to remove the cars and place them on the track one by one…it was pure joy!  Maybe one of the reasons I love trains today…it's one of those links that transports you back to a time of innocence and wonder.

 

As for "do I believe? "  Sure.  I'm grateful to the Eastern Division of the TCA, because the anticipation of walking through those doors Thursday at noon is the closest thing to the excitement of standing at the top of the stairs Christmas morning wondering what's under the tree!

 

- Mike

I received this Santa Fe freight set (2227W) for Christmas, 1954. I still have it, of course. Santa Claus exists for me; I hope he does for every kid.(Photo by El Cajon Yacht Club, on Flikr.)

Santa, along with the Big Guy up yonder, has always been good to me.  I'm very blessed in a good number of ways.  I believe in both of those fellows!    

Santa brought me a Lionel 2026 freight set for Christmas™ 1948.  Still have it and it still runs well. 

Certainly Santa exists!  He brought me a 2026 Lionel freight set for Christmas, 1951.  And as proof, I still have it!

 

Course I believe,,,,,,,He brought me my 736 set in '50.

 

Always been good to me,,,,,,,,,,,,,,except when I asked for a sister,,,,,,,,,,,,told me in a note under the tree,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,I already had 2 bros and I needed no more people,,,,,,,,,,,,,b rought me a couple pair of 022's instead.

 

Rod

Well said Allan. 

BTW, I think you might be in "cahoots" with Santa...as the more I read your editorials and OGR, the more money I spend on trains, that Santa makes!

Very true indeed!

I heard the bell, along with my two bothers, in 1954 when we received a 736 set from our two uncles. I've been blessed in many ways since then & I haven't forgotten.

 

 

Joe B.

I just tell my grandkids the same thing I told my kids, "Kids that believe in Santa get more stuff than kids that don't". Also, "Santa can't be at all the malls or other places because he is too busy. All those "Santas" you see are just guys dressed like him, for the fun of it. HOWEVER, once in a while the REAL Santa will take ones place. I'm pretty sure we saw the real one at Wannamakers in Wilmington, Delaware in 1978. Since then, who knows?".

Don't forget guys, if you have a picture of yourself when you were a kid at Christmas please send a good Jpeg so I can include it in this years Christmas Forum Video. Send to 

Journey Films <jrnyfilms@comcast.net>

Send date and your name. Thanks Don

Believe?  What's to believe?  Santa Claus is a fact!

Santa brought my 1st Lionel train set back 1977...

Ken

When I was four, before the extinction of the dinosaurs, Santa bought me my Father's 1917 version of a Lionel Standard Gauge passenger train.

When I was eight, and agnostic about Santa, he bought me a Lionel 671 set. Best. Christmas.ever!

We were living in the Territory of Alaska in 1953 when Santa brought me my first Lionel set.  We must have been one of Santa's first stops, considering our proximity to the North Pole.  

Santa knew my Grandfather ran the family railroads, so I normally didn't get trains from him(Santa). But I remember brainstorming that Santa Fe red War Bonnets must logically be Santa's trains for him to restock from between cities. Cool, pretty, fast, and red. Yep, got Santa's name right there. But what does Fe mean? Is it German?(I thought Santa was German). What kind of train is that again? Oh, so its Santa's car-body F unit, Fe must mean F in German.. No?.. What does it mean?.. Where is Santa Fe? Is it too hot for reindeer? Is it named after St Nick? It stopped where? But that doesn't make sense!... Yep, once the thought hit, the questions flowed non-stop, and were not limited in imaginative logic as my mind tried to defend and justify the time constraints one would be under, and how to do it . I "figured it out" soon after . Just believe .

 

Various Christmases, and birthdays(near each other), I do remember opening the wrapping paper on some better PW cars given to me, but not the event date, for sure I would have to think that out. But I remember opening my favorites- the Wells Fargo gunfighter car, missile launcher, vertical rocket launching car, the Gantry and rocket launcher set, an LW, a KW, a 1033, and once, definitely Christmas eve, my fully repaired 2037, and whistle tender, got returned to me. The repair was my gift, Ill never forget getting it back because it was earned by proving I was responsible enough to have it again. Of those mentioned, only the LW, KW, and vertical launcher are not around, and the loss of them wasn't my fault .   

Good reply, Adriatic.

 

Bob C.

Thank you Bob.

Adriatic, I will lend my voice in praise of your story. This was very enjoyable reading this morning. And may I be the first to wish you and your family a Very Merry Christmas.

Sure enough I Believe, Santa brought me a Lionel 2025 with three Madison cars Christmas 1947.  And he followed up Christmas 1948 with the Lionel Electronic set.

 

Still have the 2025.

PRRronbh:

 

How was that electronic set to operate. I would like to learn more.

 

Bob C.

My first train was the Lionel Allegheny Mighty sounds of Steam. I still have it and always will!

 

Of course my whole family believes in Santa, It,s just some times I get a little aggravated with him for the considerable dent he make in my wallet.

I believe that Santa Claus is in each of us.  As for me Santa delivered a 1055 Texas Special set in 1961 and a year later he brought me an LW transformer and the 2359 B&M GP-9.

 

Another train set appeared in 2006 from Santa for my son when he delivered the 3524 Southwest Diesel Freight.

 

Yep, I still hear the bell.

Wow...
I got that very same set Christmas of 1976.

And I still have it


Still have the box, though sadly it's not in very good condition (hey, I was only 8 when I got the set--who would've guessed I'd still have it almost four decades later?)--only the top is really intact--one end of the lid went missing many years ago.

Now that I look at the two photos, it appears this set had a variation or two, since my set pictured the train with a Penn Central gondola in place of the boxcar in the top photo.

On your loco, were the driver centers plastic inserts inside a hollow metal wheel, or cast metal all the way through? When I went looking for donors to replace the drivers on mine (I wore out the driver gears), I came across an identical 8601 0-4-0 loco, but with plastic driver centers.

---PCJ

Of course there is a Santa Claus!  He brought me a Lionel 1527 set led by a 1615 steam switcher in 1955 and this year he is bringing me a set of Erie F-3's. 

And I still have that 1955 train set and run it around one of our Christmas trees each Christmas season.

Curt

1. Yes, Saint Nickolas is quite real
2. Unconditional love is as real as it gets
3. In 1960 my American Flyer Santa Fe Passenger 

YES I hear the bell.  With my Tinnitus, I hear "the bell" 24/7!!! 

 

Gilly

 

 

Ditto, Gilly!  I, too, hear the "perpetual bell."

I remember my Dad getting off a troop train at Ft Snelling in Minnesota, in August of 1945,  after 4 years of combat. My aunt tells me I was very disappointed that he didn't bring me a train. DAH  The Christmas of 45 there was a AF 565 under the tree that belonged to a friend of my dad's that didn't come back.  Dad had told friends he was looking for a  train set but in 45 new train sets didn't show up at our local hardware store so the family who had the 565 gave it to us.  That train set was special to both my dad and I and we ran it and ran it. Still have it today and it still runs. Lots of Christmas memories.