Great Quote from a "Rookie"

[CBQ_Guy]

My first train I watched was an O-scale Lionel in a circle around the tree on Christmas of 1956 when I was three years old. Don't remember specifically now, but it must have been a positive experience 'cause I've been nutso for trains ever since! [:D]

[JerryZeman]

QUOTE: Originally posted by dkelly

Anyone else remember their first train on their first layout?

I can't recall the first time, as I was quite young when I got my first exposure.

But my earliest memory of my dad's railroad dates back to about age 5. My father build a 13'x5.5' layout loosely based on the "Great South Pass" article in the 1950s. He had purchased a Great Northern Tenshodo SD9, a CB&Q and GN Tenshodo GP20s, and an International Models GP9. To a five year old, these looked just like the real thing.

I lived four blocks away from the CB&Q mainline in Berwyn IL. My folks gave me plenty of opportunity to sit trackside watching trains at an early age, and took drives around Clyde yard for my enjoyment. I used to love watching consists leave Clyde with their 100 plus car trains.

So back to the basement. Mom is downstairs doing laundry, so I get to play on Dad's railroad, and run locomotives back and forth in the yard (away from the edge). Of course, being interested in the real thing, one locomotive just wouldn't do, I had to have a lashup of four locomotives. Looked wicked cool.

Dad had the layout blocked for two cab operation. The power packs were old MRCs with external circuit breakers. I remember that one of the breakers would trip fast, and I knew which toggles to throw so that the other pack would control the train, which, unfortunately, never seemed to trip, which was a good thing for junior, because he could run all four locomotives. For those not old enought to remember, the Pittman motors in Tenshodo diesels would require about 1/2 amp or more current per loco.

But is was also a bad thing for junior, who chose to reach over to lower the end plates so that the crew could walk between locomotives, and placed his arm on top of this now very hot circuit breaker. I screamed like a banshi, got a really bad burn on my arm, and cried like a baby until Mom made it all better.

Lessons were learned.

1. I never ever again touched the damn circuit breakers.
2. Consists were from then on a self-imposed limit of two.
3. Neither Mom nor son told Dad about the infraction.

Man, those were the days. It took so much less to satisfy the lust for realism.

regards,
Jerry

[robengland]

re looking more: we were in Nelson, New Zealand, on holiday. It's a lovely bay-side town, very scenic. We drove through an industrial area, all fuel tanks, empty lots, factories, car yards, warehouses, machinery. I said to my wife that once it would have been a downer being there, now it is just as interesting and enjoyable (in its own way) as the blue water and green hills

[Anonymous]

Jason,

Be carefull. You're showing signs of the addiction!!! You hit the nail on the head. This hobby is filled with new things to learn and do. When you learn more you redo and things get better. Welcome and remember "Model Railroading is Fun!!"

[Anonymous]

Hey guys, I was the self proclaimed rookie who said it. I'm finding the whole process like this and that's part of what's drawn me into it. Yesterday I finshed the foam foundation for my mountain--again, it's this giant pink mass, but going from a flat board of foam with a loop of track to this great mountain (as well as adding some elevation to my track) is so rewarding. I see this happenening many steps of the way. When the ground cover goes in, when the trees go in, when I add my sidings/staging yards, when the structures go in. The best thing is right now I'm quite clueless about the 'train' side of things and am more into scenery. But even in the couple of weeks I've been plugging away and flippig through magazines I find I'm spending more time trying to tell one engine type from another. So even when I've run out of scenery on my layout to keep me going there's a whole other side to it waiting for me.

One other thing I've noticed is that I 'look' more when I'm out and about. I notice houses that would look great on my layout, maybe something as simple as a porch and some bushes, I notice a great clump of trees, or maybe the way the side of a hill looks--everything! It's a great hobby you guys have here, with alot to learn

JASON aka The ROOKIE

[hminky]

But aren't the "oval" people the most important people in the hobby. The cornerstone is getting people to try a simple oval of track to hook them. Everyone started that way. I model On30 and our minority scale has a train set. I argued on the Yahoo forums about how great that item was to the hobby. I still have welts from the brickbats. That is the ultimate thrill, that first train. Mine was Lionel on the rug.
Just a thought
Harold
http://pacificcoastairlinerr.com

[IRONROOSTER]

My first layout was a 4x8 twice around with two sidings, small yard. I followed a plan at the back of John Armstrong's book "Track Planning for Realistic Operation". The first trains were a Tyco 4-6-0 and a Tyco 2-6-2. Had some assorted Tyco, Athearn, and MDC cars. Used the Atlas block controllers with Atlas track. It lasted until our first son was born and my wife wanted the bedroom for him. I still have the engines and the cars, but haven't run them in years, decades even.
Enjoy
Paul

[Anonymous]

In the layout forum a self admitted "rookie" asked for some help in designing roads. Later in the thread he posted the following:

"I got my first oval in and wired and took my first run(through a pink wonderland of foam)--man is that a satisfying feeling...a little stuttery and not much to look at, but it's a start!"

I'm sure all of us remember the feeling of watching that first train run on that first layout. Sometimes we get lost in the neverending debate on which manufacturers make the best diesels, which type of track is best, the best method of buidling scenery, which DCC is better and the DCC/DC debate. Trust me, I love those debates, learn alot from them and don't want them to end, but sometimes I think we miss the big picture. This "rookie" posted something that I think we tend to forget. The important thing is that each of us obtain that "satisfying feeling" from modelrailroading in our own way. This hobby rocks!

I remember watching my first train run on the first layout I built. I was in 6th grade. It was loop with a siding. The engine - a Bachmann N-scale 4-8-4. I do think that memory is one of the top 10 moments for me in the hobby. Anyone else remember their first train on their first layout?