I for one remember those cereal boxes. In the mid-50s those would be served at a roadside stop on trips to visit my grandparents. My dad and my youngest uncle got a Lionel set for me at age 1 and they enjoyed it a bunch. Dad would take my brother and I on railfan trips around the Detroit area on Sundays to give our mom a break. So I'm a little of both but modeling gets most of my attention these days.
My Dad has never been much of a model railroader, but a lifelong rail fan. When I was a little toddler, he used to take me to the train station on weekends. Steam was still king, then, and seeing one of the new Diesel or electric engines was considered a lucky day!
So I started out as a rail fan, but "graduated" to model railroading at the age of 7, 57 years ago.
Happy times!
Ulrich (aka The Tin Man)
"You´re never too old for a happy childhood!"
My dad told me that I loved watching real trains when I was 3-4 years old. He said I was just mesmorized by them moving around. From watching the real thing while really small to loving the hobby.
steve-in-kvilleI was told over on the other forum that every railfan eventually discovers the hobby of modeling.
That's bollocks. I know several railfan friends that have zero model interest at all.
Chris van der Heide
My Algoma Central Railway Modeling Blog
cv_acr steve-in-kville I was told over on the other forum that every railfan eventually discovers the hobby of modeling. That's bollocks. I know several railfan friends that have zero model interest at all.
steve-in-kville I was told over on the other forum that every railfan eventually discovers the hobby of modeling.
I agree, and I know lots of modelers with little or no interest in "railfanning".
Here is a theory, at least half, and maybe more like 2/3 to 3/4 of model railroaders have a primary interest in trains for eras other than present day.
Their modeling is "historical" by nature. Watching modern trains in real life today has little or no connection to modeling 1954 as it is in my case.
Not to say they can't also be interested in present day railroading, but clearly one hobby does require the other.
Sheldon
For me, it was a love for watching trains early on due to my step-grandfather working for the Wabash/N&W/NS and hearing stories from a great-uncle who worked for the UP in Wyoming. I received a trainset for Christmas when I was five but didn't really get in model trains until junior high.
I have to agree with Sheldon on the eras. I have very few locomotives that could still be found on today's railroads. I still will stop for any train I see and like to take drives to see various railroading spots, but I guess I understand how people before me felt: All diesels now look the same! I know there are differences and I think I can tell the difference between a GE and an EMD (or whatever the companies are now called). But I did like seeing the different locomotives before comfort cabs and SD70's and so on. I'm sure a good part of that is nostalgia but again, it's just me and my opinion!
steve-in-kvilleI actually meant for you as an individual. I edited my post to clarify. I am rather new to the hobby. Took my first real train ride this past summer and have been fascinated since. I do some track-side watching at least once a week. My children are showing interest in model trains, hence my entrance into the hobby.
I saw and was conscious of toy trains long before I saw real trains. I was probably 2 when I got my first toy trains. That wasn't a hard answer.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
In my case I would say it was the real trains first. My mum and my grandfather had both worked for the LMS in clerical capacities, so there was some family connection. As a child in the 1950s and '60s we would travel by train to visit my grandparents in the north west of England, which was one of the last bastions of steam right up to its final withdrawal in 1968. One of my vivid early memories is the sound of a steam loco safety valve blowing off in the dark and smoky confines of the old Euston Station - I'd like to think I can remember the famous Doric arch in the station as well, but that might be wishful thinking. I had an uncle who was a draughtsman at the Vulcan works, and after hours he would let me climb over the locos under construction (no "elf and safe tea" regulations in those days). By that time Vulcan had ceased building steam locos, but many of the diesels I climbed on were for export to Africa and I probably saw the same ones in action later in life.
I was a teenager before I got seriously involved model railways, joining the Ilford and West Essex Model Railway Society (the third oldest model railway club in the country), which I could get to by train using my free school travel pass, and which was on land rented from British Rail and which could be accessed by walking off the end of the platform and squeezing between the track and the bridge - again no health and safety concerns then.
When I moved to Africa after university my railway activities, both full scale and model, were put on hold, although I still collected odd bits and pieces which would be eventually be used in modelling. I got back into real life railways about 25 years ago when I spent a year in UK and began training as a volunteer steam locomotive fireman on the preserved Dean Forest Railway, and then in South Africa where I qualified as a mainline fireman and depot driver (shedman in local terminology, maybe hostler in USA?) Back in Kenya, I now volunteer at the railway museum in Nairobi, and help to operate the steam locos on the rare occasion when they are in steam.
I got back into model railways after more than 40 years when we moved to a new house in the Kenyan bush two and a half years ago, and she who must be obeyed allowed me to start building a model railway in an outbuilding (actually a forty foot shipping container). It's an African profile layout, in OO/HO scale.