The Zen of Post War Trains

[jscola30]

Did allota reflecting tonight....thought you might be interested in why a youngin' like me would collect old trains....

So tonight, I decided to run some of my postwar Lionel trains (a baby Hudson, a 2-6-4 and the baby Dreyfuss 2-6-4). As the trains ran around the rounded square of my layout, I began to think of one of the reasons I enjoy running old toy trains so much. I think of their histories, not just what year they were made or how many were made, but I thought about the family that owned this train before me. How many miles of tubular track did this engine ply before me? How many Lincoln logs or building blocks did it carry in hopper cars and gons or imaginary passengers in coaches? How long did these trains sit not being run? How staged and unstage derailments have they been through? I often think about their contemporary counterparts, and how some of them may have spent decades before running again. How many people did these trains make happy?

                The oldest datable engine I have is the #221 from 1947 (I have a Marx engine that’s probably older). In 1947 when this early postwar engine was coming off the assembly lines, steam locomotives were still on American railroads, though the real Dreyfus had by then disappeared from the New York Central.  I put it on the tracks, had some trouble starting, then the wheels turned forward, slipping, just like a real steam locomotive in 1947. Then VAVOOOM, it was off and running, pulling its crack train of blue tinplate coaches, bounding past Marx telephone poles and Marx railroad crossings and under Marx semaphores, circling the town of Plasticville. As they tiny juggernaut hurtles in clock wise direction, I imagine myself on Amtrak, racing down the North East Corridor to New York City, and I think that maybe this train’s prior owner did the same while watching it. The #221’s unrealistic speed could probably give chase to a scaled down Metro North M7 or even Acela.

These trains have history, as old as their full-sized contemporaries.

That said, I do enjoy trains of other eras. I own several modern-era Lionel, K-Line, and Williams by Bachmann trains and I very much enjoy those and have made new memories with them. And, maybe not as much as in the 50s, but these modern era Lionel trains are doing the same jobs as their post-war fathers. Today, Thomas is pulling Troublesome Trucks full of Legos, the Polar Express is going to an imaginary North Pole, and yes there are still Pennsylvania, Santa Fe, and New York Central trains plowing the carpets and layouts of homes today. Don’t believe me, go to Youtube. But they don’t have the history of postwar trains….at least not yet.

 

[dsmith]

I share your feelings about old postwar Lionel Trains. Whenever I pick up a junker engine or rolling stock at a train show, I also wonder who's life was made happy in the past or who's layout did this run on perhaps 50 or more years ago or sitting for years forgotten in a box in the attic. I love to fix up old engines, rolling stock or accessories, bring them back to life and give them a renewed life into the future.

[Dave632]

Nostalgia is a key factor in running old trains.

I still have my first locomotive and old 2026 that is still original except I changed the motor to one that has magnetraction. Saved the original motor that still runs fine.

My sons enjoyed it and now the grandsons still run it occasionally but they like the newer ones with all the bells,  whistles, smoke, from several places, and crew talk better.

[arkady]

jscola30

... In 1947 when this early postwar engine was coming off the assembly lines, steam locomotives were still on American railroads...

...These trains have history, as old as their full-sized contemporaries.

Ordinary miniature trains are models of history.  Postwar (and prewar) trains are history.

[Firelock76]

jscola, I know how you feel, I know JUST how you feel.

From where I'm sitting now I can see two antique muskets over my fireplace.  One, a Brown Bess flintlock built in 1779, the other a US Model 1816 pecussion conversion.  One from the Revolution, one from the time of the Civil War.  If those muskets could talk! 

Actually, they do.  They still go "BOOM!"

That's the talking, the speaking...well, you just have to put your hands on 'em and let the imagination go.

And arkady's right, postwar and preway trains ARE history.  History that still earns it keep if you treat them right.

[8ntruck]

Thoughts about my recent purchase fit right into this thread. I just picked up a box of old Lionel parts at my local hobby shop for a good price. A quick look in the box while I was at the store revealed a 226E shell, a 225 shell, a 6 wheeled motor and a bunch of odds and ends. When I got it home, I was thinking about the story behind these pieces as I explored the contents of the box in detail. It was obviously somebody else's project, as there were 95% of the parts needed to re-assemble the 226E. How did it come to be in pieces? What prevented the previous owner(s?) from finishing the project? How should I write the next chapter in its history? I do know that my chapter will be a happy one - I'm going to get it running again.

[David Barker]

A great thread, very interesting.