My younger brother got a train set when I was probably 10 and I used it more than he did. Eventually it got kicked around until I saw another train set in a store and told mother I wanted it (this was 10 years ago) and I got it for Christmas. Some remains from both sets, and I have grown it ever since.
Now I make more informed decisions on what I am buying for my layout especially if it's a loco or something else of that nature so I don't end up with more inexpensive Life Like or Bachmann models. Back in the day tho they were the bomb diggity. Good memories.
Modeling the N&W freelanced at the height of their steam era in HO.
Daniel G.
Mine was back in 1989 when I decided to get back into the hobby, and went to Toys R Us on 1960 and 249 in west Houston and bought a Life Like set for about $50.00 that included a Santa Fe GP-38, four cars, a caboose, track and transformer as well as a couple of buildings, trees, signs and telephone poles. That was nineteen years and many thousands of dollars ago...
Tracklayer
My first toy train was one of those baterey powered ones that goes around the x-mas tree, I got that when I was 6 for x-mas. But my first model train I got when I was about 7 1/2, it was a ROCO starter set, it had an engine and several cars all of which were European, a loop of track and a powerpack, me and my mom got it at a rummage sale with a bunch of other stuff for $5 for the hole pile of other stuff including my train set, then the only coupler on the engine was broken so we took it in to a hobby shop to get it fixed and paid just over $4 to have a new one ordered.
Of course I still have it and I hope I always will, hopefully some day when I have my own house with my own layout, and Im haveing an op sessions Ill be running it along with my BNSF stack trains
Lots of interesting stories here.
Joe
pcarrell wrote:what was your first model railroad related purchase? ... do you still have it, or any pictures of it?
It was a Bachmann U28B in SCL Bi-Centenial paint scheme. At the same time I purchased a 40' box car painted BN. The BN scheme was still fairly new on models at the time. It was the first N-scale thing I had ever seen that came with Kadee (now Microtrains) couplers from the factory. It was also like 3x times the price of a normal N-scale box car.
I know I still have the locomotive. I am not so certain about the box car. I did a mass sale of N-scale equipment when I gave up trying to model in two scales at the same time.
The first thing that was "handed down to me" was the ever seemingly popular Tyco Spirit of '76 Bi-centennial set. Seems like a lot of us started there, or at least owned that set.
The first thing that I saved up for and purchased on my own was a Mantua Penn Central GP-20. I still remember the feeling of going to Dickey's Hobby Shop on my bike and picking that thing up. I was on top of the world, especially since it was the first MRR item that I ever had that was new in the box. If I remember correctly that was a fairly stout little locomotive. I know I put it through it's paces and it survived. Unfortunately, it went away somewhere along the way. I had a fair amount of Tyco, Bachmann, Life Like, and Mantua stuff. Once I found Athearn, the rest was garbage to me. At that age I had no sense of the value it may have held for me in the future (not fiscal, but emotional value). Oh well, live and learn.......
JimRCGMO wrote: And it's long gone - my last couple of years of high school I went to a military school out of town, and then went away for college after that), and my parents sold the house and moved into a townhouse apt. (no, they did tell me where they'd moved, PC! ).
And it's long gone - my last couple of years of high school I went to a military school out of town, and then went away for college after that), and my parents sold the house and moved into a townhouse apt. (no, they did tell me where they'd moved, PC! ).
You anticipated my next question...........
My first self-bought mrr item was when I was 13yrs old: an Athearn HO GP-7 in GN paint, which I promptly repainted into C&O with a set of Champ decals (my #2 purchase). I had received a Tyco train set for Christmas ~ a month earlier, 2 F7 A-units in C&O paint with 5 frieght cars and a caboose.
All of these are long gone...
-Ken in Maryland (B&O modeler, former CSX modeler)
pcarrell wrote:We all started out somewhere in the hobby. My question to you is, what was your first model railroad related purchase (besides a magazine)?As a side note, do you still have it, or any pictures of it?
We all started out somewhere in the hobby.
My question to you is, what was your first model railroad related purchase (besides a magazine)?
As a side note, do you still have it, or any pictures of it?
Although I know my folks had some 3-rail O scale stuff when I was really small, the earliest I can recall getting for myself would've been an AT&SF switcher, likely a Revell (or a set with the Revell switcher in it). If memory serves me right, it was like an SW7 (might've been called an SW1500 back then, like Athearn did for a while).
And it's long gone - my last couple of years of high school I went to a military school out of town, and then went away for college after that), and my parents sold the house and moved into a townhouse apt. (no, they did tell me where they'd moved, PC! ). The layout and the upright piano in the basement got left.
Jim in Cape Girardeau
Glad you all are enjoying the stroll down memory lane.
I just got to thinking about the question when I stumbled on an old ad for the trainset that was to become my first and I thought it might be a fun question for everyone.
So far, the answers have been great!
I don't think I ever personally bought anything for my original Lionels. I was just a kid, and everything had to be a gift from my parents.
Once I switched over to HO in the early 1960's, I bought an Athearn set - a rubber-band drive GP-9, a Katy stock car, a gon, a TOFC set, a caboose and a couple of other cars. I've still got them all, but the engine is now a dummy.
Those were all in boxes until a few years ago, when I pulled them out and started working to restore them. My first purchase was a set of rubber bands from Athearn for that old engine. It never did work well, but it started a good relationship with my LHS.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Wow! That's stretching the ol' memory cells.... My first scale model railroading purchase was in 1955 (or '56) - three boxes of Kix cereal! General Mills had a promotion where if you sent in 3 Kix box tops and $3, you got a Varney dummy F3, and 3 freight cars: an outside-braced box car, a 40' gondola, and a caboose. The loco and caboose were lettered for NYC (lightning stripe, but the loco body was light grey). My next purchase was a conversion kit Varney made to make the engine powered. That was followed immediately by track, and a rectifier and reversing switch to hang on my old Marx transformer.
Somewhere I've got an old photo of the train, but the train itself is long (45 years or so) gone..
---
Gary M. Collins gmcrailgNOSPAM@gmail.com
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"Common Sense, Ain't!" -- G. M. Collins
http://fhn.site90.net
4x8 are fun too!!! RussellRail
fiatfan wrote: My first purchase was an Athearn GN jade green box car and about 30 feet of track (brass with fiber ties) in the summer of 1962. I still have the box car (upgraded to IM wheels and KD couplers) but fortunately, the brass track is long gone.Here's the boxcar still at workclick to enlarge Tom
My first purchase was an Athearn GN jade green box car and about 30 feet of track (brass with fiber ties) in the summer of 1962. I still have the box car (upgraded to IM wheels and KD couplers) but fortunately, the brass track is long gone.
Here's the boxcar still at workclick to enlarge
Tom
Got the same one, probably one of my first 10 purchases. Gotta love the Goat!
Rick
pcarrell wrote:We all started out somewhere in the hobby. My question to you is, what was your first model railroad related purchase (besides a magazine)?As a side note, do you still have it, or any pictures of it? Mine was an HO Tyco Spirit of '76 train set (pn. 7330) with a bicenntenial painted Alco Century 430. It's long gone now though.
Mine was an HO Tyco Spirit of '76 train set (pn. 7330) with a bicenntenial painted Alco Century 430. It's long gone now though.
good question, made me think a bit. as a kid played with O-27 but I made a move to HO.
But the O-27 I didnt buy, it was like a father gift. The HO was me.
I think the first was the ole Dockside and some track, and a friend of my fathers gave me a bunch of equipment which I still have (he has since passed away.)
The rest is history, a few layouts, a club, and a new layout starting.
My first puchase was a Lifelike P2K SD60. I just added sound to it.
Engineer Jeff NS Nut Visit my layout at: http://www.thebinks.com/trains/
lvanhen wrote: HEdward wrote: lvanhen wrote:Will someone please shoot me?NO! I didn't bring my camera, but I am in Jersey right now.No thanks with the camera, I was thinking more 357 or 9mm!!
HEdward wrote: lvanhen wrote:Will someone please shoot me?NO! I didn't bring my camera, but I am in Jersey right now.
lvanhen wrote:Will someone please shoot me?
NO! I didn't bring my camera, but I am in Jersey right now.
No thanks with the camera, I was thinking more 357 or 9mm!!
I'll send you a PM with a politically based joke relating to me and guns.
I bought a train set when I was twelve years old. It was a Model Power set that was made by Lima of Italy. The hobby shop had the set on sale, and I told the owner that I liked the set but I wanted a yard switcher for a loco. The set came with an FP45, and he told me he could substitute the locomotive. So I got the set with a Cox SW1500 (same as Athearn's SW7) instead of the Lima FP45. Little did I realize that I got a better running loco than what came with the set. The loco eventually wore out and some the freight cars took a beating, so I chucked them out.
I still have the 50' reefer that came with the set, but I had to scrounge up a 50' gondola and a 50' flat car to recreate my first train set. I couldn't find a Lima bay window caboose or a Cox SW7, so I use an Athearn Bay window caboose and a Life-Like SW9 instead.
This is an excelent topic!
Let's see...my first HO scale train set was actually given to me by my parents at Christmas. It was the Tyco Golden Eagle set. I still have the locomotive and caboose (sentimental reasons), but all of the rolling stock is long gone.
Ths first model railroad items I purchased myself were a Tyco Railbox boxcar and their Howard Johnson's restaurant kit. I still have the HoJo's, but the boxcar is long gone.
Now, if you want the first rolling stock that I bought that I still have, that would be an Athearn 50' double-door boxcar. I still have it, still run it, and have a hobo sitting in it that gets a lot of comments whenever people see it at open houses or train shows.
Robert Beaty
The Laughing Hippie
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The CF-7...a waste of a perfectly good F-unit!
Then it comes to be that the soothing light at the
end of your tunnel, Was just a freight train coming
your way. -Metallica, No Leaf Clover
pcarrell wrote: HEdward wrote:I do believe the question is what did YOU buy first, not what did you get first.It's all good. This was something just for fun, ya know?
HEdward wrote:I do believe the question is what did YOU buy first, not what did you get first.
It's all good. This was something just for fun, ya know?
I know that, but I think the idea was that the majority of us were given our first trains as young people. That's why I went back and answered the question both ways. :) I just take the language in strictly defined terms. Not being judgemental. Not calling the railroad police on anyone.
mlehman wrote: I'm suprised at the number of you that still have that first purchase.Who dies with the most toys wins.
I'm suprised at the number of you that still have that first purchase.
Who dies with the most toys wins.
I see that some people have gotten the question a little wrong. I do believe the question is what did YOU buy first, not what did you get first. Going with the latter question since I already replied to the first, my Lionel HO set is still sitting on the top display shelf in my pool/bar room. Some of the track and the power pack are still in the inventory as well. Happy happy, joy joy. The 60s are alive and well and hiding in the basement in Womelsdorf.