55 years later...

[Jim Duda]

[spankybird]

My first train – 1949

January 2003
tom

[ChiefEagles]

Christmas 1952 Thanks to Santa Still going strong.

[dougdagrump]

I'm gonna have to educate myself so I can start posting some of my own stuff.
It ain't quite 55 yet but would my Wabash, #2337, GP-7 from 1958 qualify? [:)]

[Big_Boy_4005]

I hate to say it guys, but I wasn't born until the 60's. Call me a deprived child, but I was never given a Lionel train set. It wasn't that my family couldn't afford one, more that there wasn't much to choose from during the late 60's.

My father grew up in poverty, he knew little of toys, and much of work. He is pretty much unchanged to this day, though money is no longer an issue.

I ended up adopting trains from other people, including the unused and unloved Burlington GP-7 set, from the son of the people across the street.

By the way Frank, I love those CN diesels behind the steamer. That's much more to my style and taste.[swg]

[spankybird]

Doug, here is a link to help you post your pics

http://www.trains.com/community/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=20382

tom

[ChiefEagles]

Elliot, the QT is they [CN UBoats custom painted by me] are being quitely being converted to DCS PS2. Two will have the motors [two cans each] and the dummy in the middle will have the boards. Work been delayed but hope to have them by the first of the year.



Here they are running in conventional before conversion was started. One of the powered units is remaining conventional [for right now]. Surprisingly, with added weight in fuel tank and inside shell, it pulls great by its self.

[Buckeye Riveter]

Many of you have seen my smiling face as shown below at age 4 with my fist train. It was a Marx. My father had passed away and I was living with my grandparents and my grandfather got me the train and my grandmother got me the hat, coat and pants that I wore all the time.

but look closely at that train. There is an engine, a hopper and, a tank car in the photo. Where is the tender? As a 4 year old I ran the train a little too fast and it fell on the floor breaking the coupler completely off, but I still played with it.

Now almost 50 years later, the litte engine still runs and I replaced the tender with an orginal Marx. It has never been "serviced".

I finally got a Lionel when I was 11. Still have it. Still runs.

[daan]

Weel, 55 years ago I still was somewhere between the stars.. I got my first train ste when I was 7 years old, it was a Lima Train Grande Vitesse (TGV) in h0 and that was in 1981.. Since then I converted scale a few times between postwar european 0 gauge, N gauge even LGB and eventually ended in 0 gauge american trains...

[Buckeye Riveter]

Daan, what is the difference between European O gauge and the American O gauge?

[lionelsoni]

If I may answer, see http://rail.felgall.com/scale.htm

Note that 1 1/4 inches is 31.75 millimeters, or 32 millimeters for all practical purposes.

[spankybird]

Bob,

That’s a great site,

It also shows how diecast cars are referred to at 1/43 because most were made in England (Corgi) and is considered ‘O’ scale.

[Anonymous]

Those of you who have been posting pictures have been showing postwar trains for then and modern trains for now, but for me it would be the exact oposite. My first electric train was a Playmobil G scale set that I got when I was four. I then went on to HO. I then discovered O gauge when I got a Marx set at age 10 and later Lionel at age 12 and then things just snowballed! I still have HO, but it's prewar and postwar O and S gauge that I am really into.

[daan]

Between the European and American 0 gauge there is not a big difference in distance between the tracks (I use prewar 0gauge european for Lionel) but in construction of the engines and cars. The European models are completely out of proportions, are non prototipical and use simple motors with only forwards and backwards handoperated switching devices. They don't have e-units, don't have smoke, don't have operating couplers, magnetraction, sound, horns, whistles or whatever else. Besides that, spare parts are not available and the time they spend derailing themselves is almost double the time they drive on the tracks.
It's nicer to have those as static models..