I got my own first engine when I was 4 at Christmas 1957. It was the 627 44-tonner set. I still have it and run it in my rotation. I still have Dad's trains: the 675 and the Lackawanna trainmaster and they get run also.
Belated Bob!
Jack
IF IT WON'T COME LOOSE BY TAPPING ON IT, DON'T TRY TO FORCE IT. USE A BIGGER HAMMER.
Submarine cars?! I'll have to keep an eye out for those. I had wanted to be a Nuc officer on subs back in my younger days. Somehow I ended up enlisting as a reservist in the Seabees and did 6 1/2 years. But I still have a fascination for submarines. I like the sub/train combination.
Funny that you mention some of those units. I have been looking into both the Navy Yard switcher and the Army switcher. Might have to just get both eventually
As of yet I have no rolling stock other than the few 4 wheel tinplate cars of the old Japanese set, and they have a funny coupler that I've never seen before. The 2026 might be traveling light for a bit. I've told myself I need to sell some of the anitque radios to fund the trains. I've managed to repair and clean a few switches that I recently acquired w/ a bunch of track. I have some parts coming from Brasseur so hopefully I may get to set something up this next time I am back home.
Bob
Tucson, AZ (aka the Ol' Pueblo)
Home of the Mt. Graham & Arizona Eastern Boiler Shops
Bob, sounds like you need some submarine cars and if you have the same history as me, you might like the reactor and all the navy and AEC stuff Lionel has put out over the years...
I started out w/ an HO Tyco set from the early 70's. Dad and I got into it and we started to set up a decent sized layout, which was interesting as he was in the military and it had to be able to move. I had always admired my brother's hand me down American Flyer set though. In 1979 we came back from Germany and were visiting my grandmother in Maine for the summer. She got out the Lionel 258 set and said I could have it. Once side was fairly corroded as it had got wet or something. On the other end of the summer (and country, in CA) we went to stay at my other grandparents. My grandfather was a train nut and encouraged it in anyone who displayed interest. He had given my brother the American Flyer. He helped my get the 258 running again and clean and repaint it. It was desperately in need of new wheels though. Since the track for the set was gone he gave me an O-gauge set he picked up while in Japan during the occupation after WWII. Must have been one of the first trains produced after the war. This also gave me a train that I could run. Once I got the O-gauge my interest in HO slowly subsided. I managed at one point in my early teens to order a new set of wheels from Madison Hardware in NY (are they still around?), but it wasn't 'til I was in college that I found a repair place that could fix the problem of the wheels slipping on the new axles.
Now fast forward about 20 years. Last year I went to my grandmothers funeral, the same that had originally given me the 258. I had mentioned the train to one of my cousins who has since had children of her own. I was leery of given it to my brother's kids as they had destroyed the old HO set I had given them pretty rapidly and didn't seem that interested anyway. She thought her girls would like it so I told her I would send it along. I was kind of appropriate anyway as the train was bought originally in 1929 by a railroad man for his only daughter. She had passed it on to my dad and his brothers. Seems like we are carrying on the tradition. Taking the 258 out of wraps brought back all kinds of memories. I still have the Japanese set, but I realized it would feel kind on lonely w/o an O-gauge steam engine around. So my first postwar Lionel was a 2026 that I got just a few weeks ago. In my spare time at work (we live on site) I cleaned it up and made a few necessary repairs. Hard to describe the feeling as it rolled up and down the bench fully assembled for the first time. I remember getting nervous for a brief second when I first saw smoke coming out of the engine, and then I laughed and realized it was supposed to do that.
It's funny as I am recapturing memories, but also making new ones at the same time. This was a part of my youth but something I never developed as much as I would have liked. Plus I grew up w/ tinplate that I loved, but never really experienced the fun of post war era trains. I also finally have the space and time to make a home for a permanent layout. It's also amazing to come back to this after the start of the internet.
P.S. the next special moment will be getting the whistling tender to make some noise, the 258 never did that either!
For me it was summer of 1997 and I was turning 7 years old so my mom dad and gradma went to the Hobby shop and that is were I saw my first Lionel Train set. The set contained a Steam Locomotive,flat car,box car and Cabbose.It came with regular Lionel track and a Transformer.we got the set home and set it up and I sat there and ran it for hours and hours my parents said I was falling asleep watching it run and the next day I ran it for Hours and hours again.Form that moment on I knew I was hooked!!!!!
My first train set was a Marx. The set is now 53 years old and it works just as good as it did when it was new.
Celebrating 18 years on the CTT Forum.
Buckeye Riveter......... OTTS Charter Member, a Roseyville Raider and a member of the CTT Forum since 2004..
Jelloway Creek, OH - ELV 1,100 - Home of the Baltimore, Ohio & Wabash RR
TCA 09-64284
Are you composing your post elsewhere like in MS Word and then pasting it here?
What a story! Thanks.
arkady I remember it clearly. It was Christmas, 1951. My father was a college student on the GI BIll, I was three years old, and we were seriously broke. Money was tight, in a way that most people today don't even understand. There was a hardware store not far from the university town where we were living, and I remember Dad taking me there one weekend afternoon. They were a Lionel dealership with an operating layout, and I was fascinated. I'd never seen or imagined such a thing in my life. That Christmas, my first Lionel locomotive appeared under the tree. For some reason I still can't explain, I couldn't see it, and my parents had to keep pointing it out to me before I realized it was there. Maybe I just couldn't believe it. It was a Lionel 2026, part of the #1500 set, which had three low-end cars and a #1033 transformer. It was catalogued at $19.95, but somehow Dad got it for $12.95. Maybe it was a showroom demonstrator; I never asked. But I know that even that $12.95 had to be payed off in weekly increments. Dad graduated, got a job in another town, and we moved. And the train moved with us. Dad built a nice 4x8 raised platform for its 027 track. New equipment appeared each Christmas, which was the only time the trains were out -- there just wasn't room for a permanent layout in our apartment. I loved that set, and all the accessories and rolling stock that followed. Like so many other people here, I was infected by the HO bug in the early Sixties, and by the time I got married in 1969, the Lionel hadn't seen the light of day in years. Then in the mid-Seventies, I came in contact with some Lionel collectors, and my interest in my old equipment revived. I got it from my parents' attic, cleaned it up, lubed it properly, dug out the crud from hundreds of smoke pellets, and put it on a loop of track. Although I'd used those trains hard, I was never a destructive kid, and everything was still dirty but in fine original condition. I started collecting equipment that I could afford on my limited budget -- but this was the Seventies, so I managed to get some pretty desirable pieces without spending a lot. I'm still collecting, but now I'm buying Fastrack for the tinplate layout I'm planning for after my retirement. Along with its brothers, the 2026 is still waiting patiently to go back into service, this time at the head of a string of NYC 027 passenger cars I bought for it back in the Eighties. Most recently, I finished getting the #1700 Lionel streamliner that my mother and her sisters had as kids back in running order, and it made its first passenger run in over 60 years just yesterday. I've done some scale modeling along the way, but the tinplate trains are the ones that most consistently hold my interest, combining as they do historical interest and operating fun. My father died four years ago. But I hope he knows just what a good investment that #1500 set was, and how much I've enjoyed it and its companions. Thanks, Dad. Oh yeah, and I also collect antique military rifles. There seems to be a considerable overlap between shooters and model-train hobbyists. PS: Why does this board keep stripping out my paragraph breaks and mushing everything into a single long paragraph?
I remember it clearly. It was Christmas, 1951. My father was a college student on the GI BIll, I was three years old, and we were seriously broke. Money was tight, in a way that most people today don't even understand.
There was a hardware store not far from the university town where we were living, and I remember Dad taking me there one weekend afternoon. They were a Lionel dealership with an operating layout, and I was fascinated. I'd never seen or imagined such a thing in my life. That Christmas, my first Lionel locomotive appeared under the tree. For some reason I still can't explain, I couldn't see it, and my parents had to keep pointing it out to me before I realized it was there. Maybe I just couldn't believe it.
It was a Lionel 2026, part of the #1500 set, which had three low-end cars and a #1033 transformer. It was catalogued at $19.95, but somehow Dad got it for $12.95. Maybe it was a showroom demonstrator; I never asked. But I know that even that $12.95 had to be payed off in weekly increments. Dad graduated, got a job in another town, and we moved. And the train moved with us. Dad built a nice 4x8 raised platform for its 027 track. New equipment appeared each Christmas, which was the only time the trains were out -- there just wasn't room for a permanent layout in our apartment. I loved that set, and all the accessories and rolling stock that followed.
Like so many other people here, I was infected by the HO bug in the early Sixties, and by the time I got married in 1969, the Lionel hadn't seen the light of day in years. Then in the mid-Seventies, I came in contact with some Lionel collectors, and my interest in my old equipment revived. I got it from my parents' attic, cleaned it up, lubed it properly, dug out the crud from hundreds of smoke pellets, and put it on a loop of track. Although I'd used those trains hard, I was never a destructive kid, and everything was still dirty but in fine original condition. I started collecting equipment that I could afford on my limited budget -- but this was the Seventies, so I managed to get some pretty desirable pieces without spending a lot.
I'm still collecting, but now I'm buying Fastrack for the tinplate layout I'm planning for after my retirement. Along with its brothers, the 2026 is still waiting patiently to go back into service, this time at the head of a string of NYC 027 passenger cars I bought for it back in the Eighties. Most recently, I finished getting the #1700 Lionel streamliner that my mother and her sisters had as kids back in running order, and it made its first passenger run in over 60 years just yesterday. I've done some scale modeling along the way, but the tinplate trains are the ones that most consistently hold my interest, combining as they do historical interest and operating fun.
My father died four years ago. But I hope he knows just what a good investment that #1500 set was, and how much I've enjoyed it and its companions. Thanks, Dad. Oh yeah, and I also collect antique military rifles. There seems to be a considerable overlap between shooters and model-train hobbyists.
PS: Why does this board keep stripping out my paragraph breaks and mushing everything into a single long paragraph?
There.....how's that? Are you composing your post elsewhere like in MS Word and then pasting it here? You are not alone. Another is having the paragraph break issue too.
Texas Pete American Flyer 290 Pacific "with smoke, choo choo, and air chime whistle."
There is no digital sound system that comes close to the sweet sound of AF mechanical choo choo. The best there is....period, end of story.
Ollie......I think it's only proper that you return the exceptional thoughtfulness your wife expressed toward you this past Christmas and return the favor. What train stuff do you think you she would like? On a more serious note, I'd look for some lighted ceramic Christmas village pieces for under the tree. My wife likes how they ratchet up the fun decorations in the house and look good with the trains. While the scales don't necessarily match, the concept makes up for it: the winter scene in 1940s small town America.. Guests go gaga over this combo too. And the youngsters especially. Give all credit to the wife when the compliments flow. This thing has to be strategically nurtured! Jack
I think she might like the Santa Fe El Capitan or Super Chief....at a reasonanble price.
In all seriousness, my original plan for my layout is to do N scale and she is serious about helping me with it. After getting my first Lionel I'm now debating whether or not I want to scracth that and go with O Gauge.
I would put up a village but our cat likes to destroy things. I have to put a box over my railway crossing and I also had to take down the tressel.
RockIsland52Texas Pete......do you still have the set?
Texas Pete......do you still have the set?
Nope. Left it behind when I moved out "on my own." I think my folks gave my Flyer stuff to a kid whose parents couldn't afford such a luxury. IOW put it to good use, in my opinion.
"You can’t study the darkness by flooding it with light." - Edward Abbey -
ACF1001,
A friend of mine made the mistake of buying N gauge train sets, one each, for his two sons who were five and six years old at the time. Need I say more?
Two Guys From Harrison, New Jersey, how many stores did they have and were they all in N.J.
Two friends of mine in the mid to late sixties, brothers to each other, had gone to the Two Guys store in Harrison, which was going out of business, without telling me, and bought up a lot of Lionel O and O27 gauge trains, which were brandee new and without any defects, for a song. Was I ticked off, because I was just recently out of the U.S. Navy,had a job,single at the time and they knew that I liked trains, as well, as they did.
I would have gladly bought new/older, more trains instead of wasting my money on unimportant things.
Take Care,
Ralph
lionel2,
My wife bought me a #2046 steam engine, second hand, in the early '70's and with it a #2466WX tender, but someone took out the whistling unit.
I now have a correct #2046W whistling tender to go with the engine and the #2466WX tender now has a whistling unit, as should have been, plus grab rails, (one each at the four corners and two for the front steps), installed by me, thanks to Jeff Kane, of The Train Tender in N.Y., the rails put the finishing touches on the tender.
I still have that work horse 2046 and I still love it, it was my Christmas train set, untill the Christmas of 2007 when, ordered by my daughter and her family, Santa brought me a Lionel North Pole Central Lines train set with FasTrack and it is now my new and permanent Christmas train set for around the Christmas tree.
Enjoy your 2046, as you already know, it gives plenty of pleasure and trouble free operation.
It's a strong hauler and with it's puffing smoke, headlight, Magne-Traction and three position E-unit you can't go wrong.
The 2046 is another Lionel Classic.
ollie68 Well my first set was an HO scale Tyco Alco Action Freight from 1969-1970. And over the years I've collected other HO sets as well as a few N scale ones. I usually set them up on the dining room table or on the floor and run them. However, I never had a Lionel set and I've always wanted one. Once I left home and got on my own the train phase kinda left me and I didn't run my trains as much as I used to. But 7 years ago I found out we had a train show that came to our city once a year and I got hooked back on trains and would bring out my N scale sets to run around the Christmas trees during the holiday season. This Christmas my wife suprised me with the Lionel Polar Express, we happened to be out shopping and saw one on display and I commented on how that would be neat to have. So she purchased it for me. I've been having a blast with it and added the other 5 cars to set over the past few months.
Well my first set was an HO scale Tyco Alco Action Freight from 1969-1970. And over the years I've collected other HO sets as well as a few N scale ones. I usually set them up on the dining room table or on the floor and run them.
However, I never had a Lionel set and I've always wanted one. Once I left home and got on my own the train phase kinda left me and I didn't run my trains as much as I used to. But 7 years ago I found out we had a train show that came to our city once a year and I got hooked back on trains and would bring out my N scale sets to run around the Christmas trees during the holiday season.
This Christmas my wife suprised me with the Lionel Polar Express, we happened to be out shopping and saw one on display and I commented on how that would be neat to have. So she purchased it for me. I've been having a blast with it and added the other 5 cars to set over the past few months.
Ollie......I think it's only proper that you return the exceptional thoughtfulness your wife expressed toward you this past Christmas and return the favor. What train stuff do you think you she would like? On a more serious note, I'd look for some lighted ceramic Christmas village pieces for under the tree. My wife likes how they ratchet up the fun decorations in the house and look good with the trains. While the scales don't necessarily match, the concept makes up for it: the winter scene in 1940s small town America.. Guests go gaga over this combo too. And the youngsters especially. Give all credit to the wife when the compliments flow. This thing has to be strategically nurtured!
I still have my first Lionel Engine, #2046, as well as my first KW transformer and track, even my first lockon. Still have all the cars that I bought with that engine. Thanks.
Great story, Ralph. How many guys swapping stories of their first trains still have them? Suspect most do, as some have noted. I wonder if Chief got a prenup with a train clause this time around.
My love for trains started when I was young and able to realize about real trains, my father's trains and an uncle, who gave my father the set, who used to scratch build all sorts of models and made them realistic.
My uncle once sold a scratch built set to a movie co. in the late '40's, or '51, or '52, he asked what was to become of them, the reply was; "A scene with an explosion of a bridge, with the set going over at the moment of detonation."
One Sat. morning, since my brother was five and I was six and we behaved, our father took us to where he worked in Brooklyn, N.Y. to get some business papers, see a storefront train display and the B.E.D.T. waterfront railway, it's gone by now, then when we got home our father set-up his Lionel '027" gauge pre-war tin plate set for all of us to enjoy.
My father's set consist of a #1664E 2-4-2 Columbia Scout locomotive, (not the shrouded streamlined one), a box type tender and both motive units are of a beautiful gun metal grey with 'New York Central' on the tender's sides and the locomotive, though a '027', puts some postwar 'O' guage engines to shame. This 1664E from a slow start moves effortlessly smooth in forward and reverse. Even after time has past and without an overhaul this engine performs as described above. The loco. has a headlight, forward, neutral and reverse, no smoke, green forward marker jewels and ornamental bell and whistle, this is when Lionel put craftmanship, as well, as workmanship into their products, no matter how inexpensive. A 'Baby Ruth' box, a 'Sunoco' tank and a red,(Western railway- off center cupola type), cab. finish this set.
Then, for Christmas of 1950 my brother and I, he age six and I age seven, both received from Santa, ordered by two of our mother's sisters, a Lionel 'Electric' Scout set #1461S with Magne-Traction, smoke and with foward and reverse, compared to our Louis Marx wind-up sets, these Lionels were real, grown-up, trains to us.
The rest is history, because I have an understanding wife who enjoys trains and buys me goodies and puts up with my desire for trains and non-sense.
My father bought my first toy train set for me shortly after I turned 9. It was in 1973 and the set was Lionel's Southern Express purchased from Two Guys department store (Totowa, NJ location). This was as a result of nearly destroying an N-Scale collection (never mix small trains with clumsy little hands) and my father in between various colorful expletives telling me to never touch them again. Some of first lessons I learned was never mix an AC transformer with a DC motor ( from an Erector set ) and keep smaller and lighter O-27 cars behind the larger standard O counterparts.
A few years later, the Lionel and the N-Scale were used as trade in material for a growing HO scale empire. Today, I am trying to track down that MPC era set. That is my first toy train story and I am stuck with it.
XMAS 63 I recieved a 628 NP 44 tonner set, my brother a no 44 US army set, and a 4x8 platform with track screwed down. Dad bought it all from a collector/dealer who dealt out of his basement. It all got pretty trashed over the years. We got HO in XMAS 67. I remember rattle canning My 44 tonner green after the BN merger.
Christmas 54 Santa left me a Lionel 2055 freight set. Is till have it all including track, transformer and owners manual. Had boxes but ex-wife destroyed them [one reason she is ex, she didn't like trains or layout]. As far as guns and fishing gear, my Dad did not hunt or fish. I worked in tobacco for Dad and tenant farmer on our farm all one summer when I was 12 to buy Remington 870 12 gauge shotgun. Still have it and use it. Been reblued twice [wore bluing off], refinished stock 5 times [myself] and have added two barrels [last has changable chokes]. Fired thousands of shells through it. At 8, my Aunt and Uncle [who fished] gave me a kid's fishing rod and reel. Think my Mom gave it to a younger male cousin since I had upgraded a lot on my own.
God bless TCA 05-58541 Benefactor Member of the NRA, Member of the American Legion, Retired Boss Hog of Roseyville , KC&D Qualified
wyomingscoutJust a follow-up; I was thinking about this while horseback today. I have three Lionel sets and a 20 gauge shotgun from Christmases as a kid. The only old Christmas/birthday gifts I still have. I bet most 40+ year old gifts fall into these two categories: fine firearms and ELECTRIC TRAINS! Still love and use them all.
Just a follow-up; I was thinking about this while horseback today. I have three Lionel sets and a 20 gauge shotgun from Christmases as a kid. The only old Christmas/birthday gifts I still have.
I bet most 40+ year old gifts fall into these two categories: fine firearms and ELECTRIC TRAINS!
Still love and use them all.
My JC Higgins 20 gauge single shot I got for Christmas is long gone but I still have my JC Higgins .22 single shot. I also have my dad's Savage Model 29a .22 pump and it still works like a charm. My brother has his old Winchester Model 94 25.35 with an octagon barrel. The original Lionel 2046 I got for Christmas in 1950 is still running like a top after all these years along with all the cars and accessories that came with the set.
Mike
Well, really my 1st toy train engine was a lionel 2026 my grandpa showed my. he said he found it in his absement and he knew I liked trains so he let my play with it whenever I came there. that was 1997 and I was 3. fastworward to christmas of 2002. I was 7 and fo the past 4 years i'd ask everybirthday and christmas for a lionel train set but my parents didnt think I would be ready till I was 7. I was so happy that morning. took the instructions out of the box and started reading, by the time he finished I already had the trains up and running. of course my grandpa taught me how to wire everything when I was 5 . THe set was an NYC flyer with railsounds. I was amazed with the railsounds, I was used to postwar locomotives. it was amazing. the engine isnt old at all so of course it runs great still.
"No childhood should be without a train!"
Christmas of 1954 when I was nearly 4, I awoke to discover Santa had left my first electric train......he even took the time to set it up under the tree. Lionel 2031 Rock Island FA1 AA deisels with three 242X silver passenger cars. A basement permanent 2 loop layout construction project was soon to follow. And more Lionel each Christmas thereafter. These ran about 20 years before the layout was dismantled and the trains stored away.
It wasn't until I was pushing 40 that I pulled the trains out of nearly 2 decades of storage to resurrect the Christmas layout tradition, and another 10 years before I started to read up on what I had.
Much to my surprise, I discovered that the 2031s were manufactured in 1952, the 3 window 2046 Hudson in 1950, and the UP 2023 Anniversry Alcos in 1950 as well. Apparently my father Santa literally counted his chickens before they were hatched and started setting aside trains for me before I was even born. My father worked 7 days a week, but he always found the time to spend with me playing with the trains in the basement. The memories are still with me though my parents are not.
So are the trains. As RT so aptly said, countless Christmas and birthday presents have come and gone, but these trains are all still soldiering on.....except for a 1615 switcher that needs some right side drive rods.
Toy trains may be a hobby for some, but to others they are far more than that. For me, memories and tradition ride the rails along with the fun. Maybe that's why some like me have such a strong preference for a specific train period, like Postwar.
BTW RT......got my first rifle at age 8 and my first shotgun at 12.
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