After my first train set – what?

I spent several paragraphs in my previous blog post reminiscing about something nearly all of you can relate to: my very first electric train set. As you will recall, I was thinking back a few weeks ago to the cool yet not cold evening in December of 1956 when I unwrapped a Lionel no. 1561WS/710 O-27 gauge freight outfit.

I was only five years old, barely a few months into kindergarten in Los Angeles. Yet I was the proud owner of a magical little steam engine and tender. My no. 2065 had a powerful headlight and could puff smoke like crazy. Its whistle was loud enough to drive my big sister and our cat slightly bonkers!

What a toy!

As important to me were the four freight cars that came with my outfit. Each of them offered its own kind of fun, from the canisters packed inside the no. 6562-25 gondola to the metal wheels perched on the tray of the no. 6262 wheel car to the pair of miniature trailers riding on the no. 6430 flatcar. Lots of fun!

Best of all in my opinion almost 60 years ago and today was the no. 3424 Wabash brakeman car. Sheer genius on the part of designers at Lionel to create an operating model with a vertical figure that dropped down flat on the roof and then rose up again as though responding to the miniature telltales placed by the track.

Of course, like every youngster who ever got a train set, I quickly began imagining how I could add to my tiny rail empire. The brilliant minds at Lionel could have predicted my reaction because with my set came a brand-new catalog.

I must have spent every day between Chanukah and my next birthday the following summer paging through that four-color “wish book.” I felt driven to choose the next addition or two to the Carp Central – and do so by January!

Like so many of you, I carried out serious debates in my head about why a new boxcar made more sense than a hopper or a tank car. Then I would change my mind and decide that another operating car made the most sense. Until I shifted again and opted for something else, like a stockcar with opening doors.

Everything seemed set, and I was probably telling my folks and grandmas what I wanted several months ahead of the day I would turn six. Or so I thought. Then I started paying more attention to the section in the back of the consumer catalog where Lionel illustrated and described its amazing accessories.

So what if I couldn’t read yet. Who needed words when the beautiful illustrations of freight loaders, signals, and more were there! I remember carefully studying every incredible item. Now I was absolutely certain my next addition would be an accessory. How many of you felt the same way with your trains?

Well, that is just what happened. I set my sights on one of the classic operating accessories from the postwar period, and Mom and Dad came through for me. However, my choice might surprise you because it wasn’t an obvious one.

Not a crossing gate or even the automatic gateman. Those little pieces promised reliable and entertaining activity. But I knew even before hitting six that the amount of action a highway signal or moving figure offered really would not be enough to satisfy me. Sorry, Lionel, but it would take more to hook this Carp!

I had my eyes on a spectacular freight loader that combined automatic action from a transformer with a special piece of rolling stock. Yes, I was greedy enough to want two models inside one box. That way, I would have more to play with and extend my only train (asking for a second set never entered my brain).

My pick was the no. 352 icing depot. That accessory, cataloged between 1955 and 1957, came with a plastic structure on which a figure appeared to push blocks of ice into the opening hatch of a unique refrigerator car (no. 6352).

Lionel's 352 icing depot

Once I started playing with my 352, I realized I could load it electrically or manually. Needless to say, I had a ball doing both. Then I would couple my locomotive and tender to the Pacific Fruit Express reefer, which I pretended was packed with oranges from California, for its next journey to a market faraway.

Since then, as Classic Toy Trains readers know, I have researched and written about the development of the 352 and its companion freight car. What I have learned was the basis of an article in the special-interest publication we published in 2014: Lionel Trains: Accessories (still available at 1-800-533-6644).

To be honest, choosing the icing depot turned out to have been pretty smart for a kid yet to enter first grade. The 352 delivered tons of play value, and the car impressed my buddies on the block, who were building their own Lionel and American Flyer rosters, though with different locomotives and models.

Okay – how did you add to your initial set? Which freight or passenger car or accessory did you get after that first train? Let’s hear about your experiences and the decisions you made to enhance your very first O or S gauge railroad.