Age 5: Lionel 0-27 on a 4x8. Lasted me thru age 9 when I lost interest.
Age 12: Saw my first copies of MR and RMC, learned that even grown men can have fun with trains. That got me hooked on trains for the rest of my life.
-Ken in Maryland (B&O modeler, former CSX modeler)
I was going down this long dark tunnel while someone was yelling "go towards the light". When I hit the floor there was a train layout right there in front of me. Dad had it ready and waiting. I've never looked back.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
Gidday EL BILLY to the forum.
Cheers, the Bear.
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
I STARTED yI was 5 or 6 years old. we lived about 200 feet from the erie lackawanna yard in niagara falls ny and I dont know what happen but I was hooked for life. I would sit down by the tracks and belive me my rear end will tell you. my mother would yell at me your going to get killed hanging around the railroad... as years when by I have had the chance to meet a lot of train men and had rides in geeps and cabooses. they are still my friends even after they pasted.. I allways thank them for all they did for me to this day in my prayers.. By the way I model erie lackawanna, csx, up.
I got an HO plastic molded twice around from Steve's Hobby Shop in San Leandro, California that my dad had to put on layaway because he wasn't a rich guy. That was 1960. He helped me expand it by putting in a couple of switches and making a small yard where we could store some extra cars.
No telling what happened to it. Had a Santa Fe F-unit streamliner for power.
Got my mind drifting off again...
WP Lives
I started when I got a train set for my 5th birthday. Then got 1 more on my 7 birthday. I left the hobbey on model railroading. Then I started saving money for a new RC car. Then i got back into likeing trains and spent my money on a model railroad. And now 5 years later im in sixth grade and I have my own model railroad in progress. Not prototypical built but im still having alot of fun.
I think I was just born this way. Mom remembers me gurgling happily at grade crossings in a car seat. Got a Tyco bicentennial set in 1976, followed quickly by a Life-Like Amtrak set, which I would display in my office today, if I had had the good sense to save it. Went through all the stages and phases before I settled on an era that's sufficiently remote that I can contemplate the business of railroading with an unjaundiced eye. I was lucky- most people find a hobby, but I got a career, too.
http://mprailway.blogspot.com
"The first transition era - wood to steel!"
I'm the usual Lionel train set story. But, what really piqued my interest in trains was, as a pre-schooler, I could see from the big windows of our living room, the way freight switching cars at the local feed mill. I even remember some of the now-fallen flags, especially the New York Ontario and Western, the Wabash and those boxcars with that distinct old New York, New haven and Hartford herald, still my all-time favorite livery. I grew up in a very small village in upstate New York, along the Delaware Division of the Erie/Erie Lackawanna, a busy line between NY City and Buffalo. Mostly through traffic where I lived, but I cherished every moment when I got to see the way freight or an occasional work train carrying out it's chores along the line.
My start was with my dad's 1920s Lionel set up and then I got for Christmas a Lionel 027 trainset. That was great. Also, a B&M local went by the house every day. Then in the mid 60s N gauge became my focus and still is today. During that time, I did work for the ATSF for 11 years and then into the logistics business. My modeling now probably is modern era but there remain lots of 40' boxcars and lots of Fallen Flag railroad names on cars amid my stacktrains of 53' containers and unit coal trains. That is how I got where I am.
Ted
Started on my 4th birthday when my uncle and aunt gave me a HO train set with a steam loco, 4 freight cars and oval track already fixed on a board paved with grass and also featuring a bridge. Was a huge surprise because I already knew about model trains before because I was already into trains since I can remember, but never would have thought I would ever own one. So that birthday present my aunt and uncle gave me for my 4th birthday is for sure the best present I ever received so far. You should´ve seen my eyes when I realized what they gave me that day! Unforgettable memories!
traintravlerSo, How did others here in the forum start?
If you have a local hobby shop that came up for sale and could buy it, would you buy it? (just curios).
I was born in June of 1949. After experiencing the difficulties of buying most things during WW2, with the Korean war at hand, my Dad bought me a small Lionel set before I could walk. He also built a 4x8 plywood layout for us. I still have that original set. I moved to HO in the mid 50's. My best friend in grade school lived in a double. His uncle lived in the other side and had an HO layout in the basement showing me the magic of scale model railroading. I got my first issue of Model Railroader in 1956. By 1960 joined the NMRA and had the privledge of visiting Allen McClelland's original V&O. I was totally hooked!
When I was really little I had toy trains on plastic track that I really loved. I was also totally mesmerized by the old O scale model railroad at the museum in Chicago. In 4th grade I got a Lionel 0-27 train set for Christmas. It was one of my favorite gifts ever. That was it. There was no turning back, model railroader for life, switched to HO in 9th grade.
I was at the hobby store yesterday to pick up a screw I needed for a car I had. When I was heading to the front of the store a dad and his young son maybe 4 years old came in. They have a train layout in the store they are selling and they always have things for layouts. When the kid saw the layout he went nuts for it and starting going daddy daddy daddy. You could see the excitment just jumping out from the kid. The dad was like we are here for something else. As I was paying the kid picked up one of the basic n scale sets that just put the track together and plug in and your good. The kids told his dad we will take this one. The dad was no son, were here for the rc car. I wanted to setup a set for the kid. When the kid saw the car i had with me (the one needing the screw) he was like whats that whats that. The moment was priceless to see.
On a sadder note, the hobby store here locally by me it up for sale, owner wants to retire. I hope someone buys it and keeps it going.
Sean, the unknown train travler,
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
How did I get into the hobby?
I guess you could say I was born into it. My grandfather was a railroad engineer and a model railroader. He mainly had HO trains, but still had some of the 3 rail O scale trains. He had a layout in his basement and whenever we would visit, it was always a treat to go down and sit on the basement steps and watch the trains go.
My father had a 3 rail O scale layout set up in the attic of the woodshop side of our house. He was rarely ever home to work on it or to run it. When he tore down the workshop and put the new addition on the house, he never rebuilt the layout, but we always had the O scale train under the Christmas tree....he is 67 years old now and still does that.
I got involved on my own when I was about 6 or 7. On the back of the old Boy's Life magazine, there used to be ads for a company that you would sell X amount of their products and then you could get a toy or item of your choice. One of the items they showed was an HO Tyco Rock Island train set. I got the information and catalogs from the company and sold Christmas Cards and Christmas candles to get that train set. When my grandfather found out I did this to get a train set, he bought the plywood, cut it to size to fit under my bed (about 3'6" x 6') at the time. He used some of his own track and made a loop and wired it and tested it with his trains. When my train set arrived, my Mom called my Grandpa and I was presented with both at the same time. On my next birthday, my Grandpa gave me an ATSF Industrial switcher as a gift. The rest of my youth (until I was about 17) was spent playing with and spending lawn mowing, snow shoveling, and leaf raking money on HO trains! I know I still have the original Rock Island locomotive and caboose and the ATSF switcher, but I am not sure which rolling stock is the originals for that set. In addition to that, I inherited all of my Grandpas HO trains and his first O scale train set.
Trains run in my family....and I have yet to live in a town that has not had an active railroad (as i sit here listening to a UP mixed freight roll through town right now).
Robert H. Shilling II
hon30critter Bear! You have to admit that it is much more fun laying (track) with the 2 legged models! Dave
Bear!
You have to admit that it is much more fun laying (track) with the 2 legged models!
Dave
The trick is to find a two legged model who likes laying track with you - thats a rare find in real life; fantasy - well, they are dime a dozen aren't they? Wife #1 threatened to throw my trains out on the street, resulting in me boxing them up and tearing the layout down and and eventually searching for an upgrade. Wife #2 doesn't lay track with me but is much more train friendly; she goes to train shows with me, makes sure I don't miss any tables, remembers lots of important details. Even this morning she mentioned Tsunami sound to me and smiled and said, see, I pay attention! She does!
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
I got started when I was knee high as my grandfather had two lionel sets running on a L-Shaped 4x8 table format. Had one running around the edge with a Santa Fe Diesel and the other a figure eight inside running a steam locomotive and I still have both of them today.
I was then given a HO set around 13 and from there I started building, but for the last 20 years they sat in mothballs, but pulling them out know to get them running again.
USAF (Retired)
Sears and Roebuck did it for me. Back in 1968 when I was 6 years old, my outlook on toy trains was something that runs in circles until I got bored with it. When I got the Sears Christmas catalog I then realized that I can create a miniature world with toy trains. The catalog had pitures of their train sets not as an oval but some track with background scenery and buildings. I would spend hours looking at the pictures. I think JC Pennys also did the same thing.
Also we went to Sears in Dekalb County Georgia and they had a display of the train sets. It was basically a grass mat with some trees and buildings but it was beautiful sight for me.
I would daydream about building my miniature train empire during school, to the point where I was in my own world. I was always getting in trouble with my teacher and classmates for not paying attention. This problem never went away for me.
hon30critterYou have to admit that it is much more fun with the 2 legged models!
And far more expensive!!!!!
It was my Dad who kindled my interest in trains and model railroading. He was an avid railfan all of his life. He used to take my older brother and me to the train station on Saturdays, while Mom and my older sister stayed at home to clean the house.
It was not before Christmas 1963 when I go my first train set - a Marklin starter set consisting of an oval of tin plate track, a fantasy 0-6-0, a couple of tin plate passenger cars and a Faller kit for a small station building, which was assembled by me on Christmas day. I still have that building!
Each year saw an addition to the rather small start, more track, switches, signals, locos, cars. In 1970, I had accumulated sufficient material to build a small layout in our basement. That layout did not live long - the basement was flooded some years later and whatever remains could be salvaged, were sold. Life got in the way, but the interest never died down. 30 years later, I got back into the active side of the hobby and build another Marklin layout - just for reasons of nostalgia. That layout was sold when we moved house and I have build a number of rather small layouts since.
At the moment, all MRRing is resting, as I am recovering from a stroke I suffered 6 weeks ago, but the day will come when I´ll be able to pick up the hobby again!
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
When I was very young, maybe 2 or 3, my older brothers were given a Marx train set complete with crossing signals, remote controlled switches and even a station with a whistle. My brothers forbade me from going anywhere near the trains when they were being run. I still remember the frustration!
By the time I was old enough to be able to operate the train my brothers had managed to burn out the motor so the train set had already been packed up and put into storage. Thank goodness nobody threw anything out in those days.
Many years later when I was in my 40s my mother was cleaning house and she asked if I wanted the old train set. Of course I said yes. I managed to find a couple of very inexpensive replacement locos at a swap meet in Bracebridge, and the original locomotive shell fit on one of the drives even though the drive was a later model.
I then threw up some plywood sheets in an 'L' shape and quickly had the old Marx set up and running. Initially I was thrilled, but that soon wore off as I realized that the Marx set was just too toylike to satisfy my interests. When my wife asked me why I took it down after a couple of weeks I told her how I felt.
That was in the fall. That Christmas she gave me an HO Bachmann Hogwart's Express and I haven't looked back. I still have the Harry Potter train set and I have even installed DCC with lighting and sound into it. It will run as an excursion, that is if I can get the lead truck on the locomotive to stay on the tracks. So far, despite checking all the parameters, the lead truck seems determined to try to escape every time it goes over a turnout.
I have to mention that my wife has continued to support my interest in the hobby. I have explained to her how much things cost and she is fine with my spending. Mind you, she sort of has to be accepting because we put in a hot tub for her a couple of years ago and my model railroad spending has yet to come even close to what the hot tub cost. Just as a starter, we had to replace the electrical panel and that was $5,500. The fact that I got the extra circuits I will need for the railroad installed at the same time doesn't count!
When i was about 4, my father was stationed in France and bought a Marklin train set, and installed it on a 4x8 sheet of plywood... I was hooked.
Marlon
See pictures of the Clinton-Golden Valley RR
I've liked trains since I was a wee lad. It's no more complicated than that.
I got my first trainset for Christmas in 1952 at the age of three. An American Flyer steam loco and several cars. Another set arrived for christmas in 1954, a GP7 and a couple more freight cars. Eventually I accumulated two more locos, a Hudson with sound, a small switcher and more cars before switching to HO. All my AF track had rubber roadbed. My brother got the AF trains. My brother then got my HO stuff when I went into the Army in 1969. My parents gave ALL the AF trains away while I was in the service. I started over in HO when I came home.
I've been retired for 16 years now. I don't have to work nor do I want to so buying a hobby shop is out of the question.