During the early 1900's my Grandfather worked for the Northern Pacific RR laying track through the Northwest then he transfered to the Northern Pacific coal mines. My Uncle was a section foreman for the Northern Pacific RR. As a youngster in the fifties & sixties my Dad and I would catch the east bound Northern Pacific local in Kanasket, Washington that travelled up to Stampede Pass. We would get off at Lester in the Cascades and fish the Green River then catch the west bound local in the afternoon back to Kanasket. Since we did this quite often I did not give it much thought about taking the train to go fishing in the Cascade Mountains.
Bill T.
I am #6 out of 7 kids, the third of 4 boys. Each boy received a Lionel set at some point in his childhood. We gave our parents 12 grandchildren, 9 of those were boys, and each boy received a Lionel set for his first Christmas. Out of those 13 trains, only the two given to my boys are still being used. The others did the obligatory lap around at Christmas, maybe came out another season or two, and disappeared. My boys aren't as interested as I'd like, but they do run them once in a while, and I hope to get them involved in some scenery after the first of the year. I sure wish I could recover some of those missing trains, especially the two that came before I was born, but that ain't gonna happen.
I am the oldest of five, 3 sisters and a brother. I am the only one with trains although my middle sister likes them also. Lately I've been teaching her the differences in trains and how to tell the manufacturers as she likes to cruise flea markets and antique stores.
My girlfriend loves trains, growing up with her dad, with his brothers and father being enthusists.
I'm putting together an Amtrack passenger train and and a freight consist pulled by a steamer for my grandkids. We'll see if their interests are sparked.
My dad liked trains, but never had any till his first daughter, my half sister, bought him a scout set for Christmas sometime around 1965. Seeing as how he was born in 1902, 63 years before he got his first "toy train" was a long time to wait! My Brother came along in 1968 and I followed in 1969. So of course we got that set from Santa for many years before it's "newness" wore off and we were old enough to know that Santa kept delivering the same present!
On mom's side I have an uncle, by marriage, who grew up with an American Flyer set and I've always enjoyed seeing his train run every Christmas. There are reports that one of my mother's brothers had a set back in the 50's. I did find one blurry photo when we were cleaning out my grandparent's house that does show a table with what may be a Marx set on it, but it's hard to tell. My uncle John bought trains for his son as did my uncle Pat for his 2 kids. My cousin Sandy's son has gotten into trains in recent years and I'm sure they'll be by after Thanksgiving to see the craziness I do! For another cousin's son I custom restored a Marx clockwork set a couple of years ago.
We've always had trains in the family, but I got the lion's share of the railroad blood!
Becky
Trains, trains, wonderful trains. The more you get, the more you toot!
Well my dad had the American Flyer trains after he came back from WWII and would set up a carpet central through out the year for my older sister and me. He bought me a Franklin Train set in 1959 and gave me all that he had in 1960. My sister wasn't too much into trains but today she has a Lionel O scale Hogwarts express for under the Christmas Tree. My son has Flyer wide gauge and European HO. My nephews had some HO when they were younger.
My grandfather would pull his car over to the side of the road along the C&NW, get me out of the car at the sound of a distant whistle....and the two of us would watch a roll by of what would be steam's twilight on that road and of course I would furiously wave at the crew. The sound, the hard exhaust, the smell of coal smoke, the reciprocating rods, the firebox glowing..the sheer power..was indelibly tattooed in my brain...I lived down the street from the CNS&M and hung out, peppering the crew resting on outside benches, between runs, with questions and those were some patient, nice fellows. My Dad liked AF and I had a Marx set when I was four, then onto AF and my grandfather gave me a HO layout when AF went out of business..but I never lost that postwar love of Lionel, AF, and Marx..it took my retirement to return to my "roots"..My other family members think it's some genetic quirk...My wife is supportive and bemused.
Nothing is more fairly distributed than common sense: no one thinks he needs more of it than he already has.
I've got a few family members that work for a railroad, my brother being one of them. The railroad's safety program allows them to accumulate points (by working safely) and then using those points to "buy" items. Every year they had a few HO train items, by Athearn. My brother got two sets one year, one for me and one for him. Each set included a GP38, a gondola, and a caboose. The set for me was my Christmas present that year.
Anyhow a month or so after he got them, he went to putting the engine together, and couldn't figure out how to put the window glass in. He brought it over, and I showed him how to remove the body from the frame. He looked at what was inside, and said "that don't look anything like a prime mover!". I explained to him that that was a can motor and if you put the engine on a set of tracks and applied voltage it would run.
Anyhow, a few months later, I was telling a train buddy about this, and he said he wanted one of those safety prize engines. So I arranged for him to give my brother an oval of track and a transformer in trade for an engine. This guy had another friend that made my brother the same deal.
In the meantime, my brother had been "buying" every train offering available, to the tune of about a 1/2 dozen engines, 20 cars or so, and a few caboose. I gave him a sheet of plywood, a pile of 2x4s, and some nails for his birthday one year to build a table for all the trains. Our mother gave him a few switches and buildings for his birthday or Christmas.
So he's now got a 4x8 layout with 2 ovals of track, 2 transformers, and all the rolling stock he can run, and all he had to do for it was work safe
J White
My father and mother both had Lionel tinplate layouts as kids (I have their equipment now, fully restored to running order). We always had a Christmas layout when I was a kid, but there was never room for anything permanent.
My sister likes toy trains, but doesn't run them. However, her husband has been bitten by the PW collecting bug, and is currently accumulating rolling stock. So there may be hope for him yet.
As for me, I've been collecting PW Lionel (and a bit of modern rolling stock) for years, but I've only had an actual layout since I retired.
Well I'm the oldest of three (I have a younger brother and sister), my grandpa got me into the hobby and he's still into it with a large G scale collection. My dad got me my first Lionel set and I've stuck with O gauge. My dad is supportive of the hobby, but he's not truly into it like I am. My younger brother has a couple Lionel sets and likes the hobby, but his focus is mainly on Legos and other things that look interesting to him such as toy soldiers and recently tin toys.
I'm the youngest of 3 boys no girls my father loved to watch trains and take us to like strausburg and things like that I use to love and sit ( actually still do ) and count the cars on a train going by. my older 2 brothers both have stated they would like to do a train layout again sometimes but that as far as it has gone. The oldest has an engine from around 1970 UP about foot long in ho I'm not even sure who made it lol as he has always kept it packed away and 3 metal UP passenger cars I believe a baggage and to coaches from the mid 60's same story always kept it packed up only remember them being run once or twice and that was by my father back in the early 70's.
Life's hard, even harder if your stupid John Wayne
http://rtssite.shutterfly.com/
I'm the youngest of 6 boys & no girls. My next older brother likes trains & has N scale he gets out to run now and then. My mom as a young girl enjoyed walking down to the train station to see the steam engines come in to town but she never went as far as railfanning or having model trains.
Modeling the "Fargo Area Rapid Transit" in O scale 3 rail.
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