Hi RWS1225, Funny you should mention the Athearn Hustler being mentioned only once. Let me be the "first" to "second" that thought. This was my 2nd Athearn engine, the first being a Burlington F7 in the silver color. And the year was 1958, my senior year of H.S. Jeez, you learned to love or hate those things with their high F rubber band drive system.
Never had them on any kind of layout except my bedroom floor. Apartment living was what it is. The F7 pulled 4 or 5 cheapie Rivarossi passenger cars around my small two track oval. The Hustler was best left to run by itself. It never would pull anything. Bill Lester from NW Indiana
All these replies and only one Hustler! Mine is still in a box with a lot of the other early locos mentioned in this discussion. The Lionel I got for my first birthday doesn't count because my dad didn't let us kids play with it too much. Modern locos are so much better the old stuff is just for display now.
It was a Tyco Silver Streak! It was awesome! (Remember, I was 10 or so).
Chuck
Modeling the Motor City
First loco that was 'mine'? A Tyco Santa Fe F unit in the blue and yellow scheme, got a train set when I was 6 or 7 as a present. We already had a train layout we set up every year around the holidays, but those were all my dad's trains. The F unit and cars that came with it were truly mine.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
SouthgateThat's a funny and accurate description of the ol Hustler! It made slot cars of the day look slow.
My first "scale" engine...well technically American Flyer "S" scale was scale size, so the 4-4-0 engine in the train set I got as a little kid would count. That would be around 1962. When I was 13 I wanted to get into model railroading and got a Tyco train set with a U.P. 4-6-2. I ended up having trouble with HO (in retrospect, probably because of the brass track) and bought a friend's old Lionel set with a 2-6-4. I was in O for about 15 years, and when I went back to HO at age 30, my first engine was a little CNW 0-6-0 switcher by Rivarossi. I still have it but it doesn't run very well; I'm hoping to maybe remotor it in the future for old times sake. The second HO engine I got was a GN Bachmann Spectrum GP-30, which I've been using continously since I got it in 1989 or 1990.
As a baby my father bought me a Lionel Berkshire locomotive(which I still have).The first loco I bought on my own was a Varney Dockside
I'm pretty sure my first locomotive was a HO Bachmann F7 I got as a Christmas present. Complete with boxcar, gondola, and a caboose.
TG3 LOOK ! LISTEN ! LIVE ! Remember the 3.
I still have a couple of my first HO loco's, an SD-24 and an Alco diesel. Both from Tyco. They have been long retired. I also have several Bachmann F7's that I bought for $3 a piece new back in the 80's. Michaels craft stores would from time to time have dump bins full of them and I would buy 1 or 2 a week. I still have a BN F unit that was wired backwards for some reason???
RMax
An AHM S-2 in a train set I received as Christmas gift in '70 nor '71. I still have it and yes, it still runs.
Todd
Central Illinoyz
In order to keep my position as Master and Supreme Ruler of the House, I don't argue with my wife.
I'm a small town boy. A product of two people from even smaller towns. I don’t talk on topic….. I just talk.
My first loco into this hobby was a Model Power CN C630m I received for Christmas.
The first loco I bought when I got back into the hobby as an Athearn BB SD40-2, CP Rail 5415.
No longer have the Model Power, but the BB will always be near the tracks unless it's on them.
Gordon
Brought to you by the letters C.P.R. as well as D&H!
K1a - all the way
That's a funny and accurate description of the ol Hustler! It made slot cars of the day look slow.
My first? Tyco train set F-7 piece of junk, replaced by Tyco train set U-B-something piece of junk from same dept store as first. That was replaced at a visit to a real hobby shop by an Athearn GP-35. I'd still be running it if it wasn't lost in a fire. It did, however, keep me from giving up on the hobby as a young'n. Dan
cacole An American Flyer Royal Blue steam locomotive set from A. C. Gilbert in 1946.
An American Flyer Royal Blue steam locomotive set from A. C. Gilbert in 1946.
I got the same AF Royal Blue locomotive in 1948 and it is still in the family. All of the rest of the American Flyer train sets were delivered by the Illinois Central to Dieterich Illinois behind steam via the REA. We had steam on the branch line until mid 1957. I still have the UP 4-8-4 American Flyer.
CZ
An Athearn rubber band drive lettered PRR. It was used but had the handrails on it, but didn't have track to run it on. Later on I hand painted and lettered it for Southern Pacific, a "very poor paint job". This was back in the mid 1960's, but don't remember what ever happened to it.
My first locomotive was a steam locomotive that came in a Märklin trainset that my dad bought for us. Sadly, that trainset and the Lionel trainsets that we got are long gone.
Marlon
See pictures of the Clinton-Golden Valley RR
Ulrich,
We must have started with the same Marklin set at close to the same time. My first loco is behind the service dock in the picture. Looks to be the same model as yours....
Guy
see stuff at: the Willoughby Line Site
Absolute first engine was a Marx windup 0-4-0 I got when I was 4. Next was another Marx 0-4-0, but it was electrically powered. The first HO loco was a Varney plastic F-3 in 1960 when I was 8. Been in HO ever since. I would still have the Varney but the disease got it's frame.
Carey
Keep it between the Rails
Alabama Central Homepage
Nara member #128
NMRA &SER Life member
My first was this Tyco F unit that my folks gave me for Christmas, 1963. I still have it and it runs, but it's too tall for my layout (low bridges, etc.), so it resides in a box.
Phil, I'm not a rocket scientist; they are my students.
My first Loco? I think it was a Athearn Hustler-from the early 60's, which I received from my dad when I was 5-6 years old. Mine had the "Formula 1 drive train" powered courtesy of 2 rubber bands from your local newspaper. It couldn't crawl, but when it came time for "pole position qualifying" it was more then fine! A loop of track just wasn't enough for that speed demon, as it excelled on the road courses. Wish I could show you a picture of the beast, but sadly it became a victim of it's own success when It slid off the course (ok...track) when I was trying to initiate threshold braking into a industrial spur.
Nearly 50 years later I now appreciate the gearing my N scale locos have that enables them to crawl.
Jeff B
Gosh, I wish I knew for nostalgia purposes. I was pretty young and my Dad bought me an HO train set that had an all black locomotive with white " CN" on the sides. I've often wondered if it was an early Walthers GP9? My first locomotive purchased as an adult was an Atlas GP40-2...still have it and always will.
Happy Modeling!
Don.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I have some good news and some bad news. The bad news is that both engines have failed, and we will be stuck here for some time. The good news is that you decided to take the train and not fly."
Santa brought me a Marx HO train set with the NYC hudson 6096 for Christmas 1963. My first purchase was an Athearn B&O switcher in the mid 1970's.
-Stan
Maine central #470What was the first scale locomotive you bought when you started out in the hobby?
Dr. Frankendiesel aka Scott Running BearSpace Mouse for president!15 year veteran fire fighterCollector of Apple //e'sRunning Bear EnterprisesHistory Channel Club life member.beatus homo qui invenit sapientiam
I sold her and her train recently but this was my first N scale loco, ATSF Northern and her 6 heavyweights.
SP&S modeler, 1960's give or take a decade or two for some equipment.
http://www.youtube.com/user/SGTDUPREY?feature=guide
Gary DuPrey
N scale model railroader
When I was about 7, my dad bought a Bachmann starter set for my brother and I, just spur of the moment. The locomotive was a GP40. I remember breaking some of the handrails and trying to fix them with masking tape.
Modeling the Pennsylvania Railroad in N Scale.
www.prr-nscale.blogspot.com
I received 2 HO steam locomotives in 1960 when I first started out. They were both 0-4-0s, one was a Varney "Little Joe" Dockside and the other was a Tyco saddle tank loco.
NP 2626 "Northern Pacific, really terrific"
Northern Pacific Railway Historical Association: http://www.nprha.org/
Hmmmm
My first, was a windup train set that I got for my birthday back in the early 1950s. The first one I bought was a Proto with sound SW8 in 2007 followed by a 2-8-0 consolidation. I'm probably split steam / diesel. Run what you "brung" and enjoy.
Lee
The first locomotive I bought was a Bachmann Plus run N&W Class J 4-8-4. This was my first HO scale locomotive. I had previously been involved briefly with American Flyer, due to the fact I had found a American Flyer Reading Atlantic thrown in a box with a train set. I was given the Atlantic, which I was able to repair and ran for a while. But when I found American Flyer made very little N&W stuff (as well as being more expensive than HO) that switched me to HO scale for good. I still have the Atlantic but it is on display.
lois
My first ever steam loco,was a 4-6-2 American Flyer,with smoke,for Christmas,1947,,,,,,,,1950,got a Varney train set with a diesel,it was a E or a F,hard to tell in those days..In 1952,I bought my own engine,made by Lindberg,a switcher,with spring drive...It was all down hill after that,,the snowball,just kept getting bigger..
Cheers to all,,
Frank