What Influenced You?

[aloco]

Watching real trains in action.

[aloco]

Watching real trains in action.

[cwclark]

This topic has been posted a lot over the years (I voted other) so here it goes again..I come from a railroad family..i have two great uncles, my grandfather, two uncles, and a cousin that work for/ retired/ desceased from the SP...i grew up around trains but never worked for a railroad, (tried but never got hired by one,) so modeling them is the next best thing...I had a train that passed twice a day behind my house where i grew up and it's just kind of in my blood...chuck

[cwclark]

This topic has been posted a lot over the years (I voted other) so here it goes again..I come from a railroad family..i have two great uncles, my grandfather, two uncles, and a cousin that work for/ retired/ desceased from the SP...i grew up around trains but never worked for a railroad, (tried but never got hired by one,) so modeling them is the next best thing...I had a train that passed twice a day behind my house where i grew up and it's just kind of in my blood...chuck

[soumodeler]

A friend gave me a train set when I was 10, and it exploded from there after a visit to a local model railroad club.

soumodeler
-----------------
The Southern Serves the South!

[soumodeler]

A friend gave me a train set when I was 10, and it exploded from there after a visit to a local model railroad club.

soumodeler
-----------------
The Southern Serves the South!

[Anonymous]

Since i was born, i have watched CSX trains go by my parent's business every day. I would drag my parents outside when i was little. Since then the business has moved, but it is still close to the tracks. Then my dad bought a train set and a MR subscription. It's all downhill from there. 10 years after I saw my first model train at age 3, i love MRRing more than ever.

[Anonymous]

Since i was born, i have watched CSX trains go by my parent's business every day. I would drag my parents outside when i was little. Since then the business has moved, but it is still close to the tracks. Then my dad bought a train set and a MR subscription. It's all downhill from there. 10 years after I saw my first model train at age 3, i love MRRing more than ever.

[on30francisco]

I got a huge Lionel "Super O" gauge train set when I was a kid.

[on30francisco]

I got a huge Lionel "Super O" gauge train set when I was a kid.

[Anonymous]

My Dad was into O gauge when I was just a boy. To protect his layout, he gave my brother and me Lionel trains (much more than just a "set") for Christmas 1949. I am in HO now, and have been at it pretty much all my life. Oh yes, the HO thing started at Christmas, 1953. Love trains, love the hobby, miss steam locomotives.

Tom

[Anonymous]

My Dad was into O gauge when I was just a boy. To protect his layout, he gave my brother and me Lionel trains (much more than just a "set") for Christmas 1949. I am in HO now, and have been at it pretty much all my life. Oh yes, the HO thing started at Christmas, 1953. Love trains, love the hobby, miss steam locomotives.

Tom

[CBQ_Guy]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Puckdropper

Train set got me started, but I got it because of an existing interest in trains.

Hey, that's exactly what I was gonna say!

Received a Lionel set around the Christmas tree from my Dad (who's turning 80 next week!) back in 1956 when I was three years old. Dad would add to it over the years on various occassions and eventually build a train table in the basement, adding grass, roads, trees, houses (with lites inside), operating crossing gates and street lights! After that he lost interest and I was on my own. At age seven or eight we traded it all in for HO.

When I was around 13 I went into a local soda fountain and store. They had a large magazine rack at at some point I had the thought that since they seem to have magazines for everything else, they surely must have one for model railroads. I looked, discovered a 1966 issue of MR (the issue with the english deacon(?) on the cover), and I've been a reader of almost every issue since! Thanks, MR!

[CBQ_Guy]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Puckdropper

Train set got me started, but I got it because of an existing interest in trains.

Hey, that's exactly what I was gonna say!

Received a Lionel set around the Christmas tree from my Dad (who's turning 80 next week!) back in 1956 when I was three years old. Dad would add to it over the years on various occassions and eventually build a train table in the basement, adding grass, roads, trees, houses (with lites inside), operating crossing gates and street lights! After that he lost interest and I was on my own. At age seven or eight we traded it all in for HO.

When I was around 13 I went into a local soda fountain and store. They had a large magazine rack at at some point I had the thought that since they seem to have magazines for everything else, they surely must have one for model railroads. I looked, discovered a 1966 issue of MR (the issue with the english deacon(?) on the cover), and I've been a reader of almost every issue since! Thanks, MR!

[Anonymous]

train set.

[Anonymous]

train set.

[rf16a]

I got a train set for Christmas when I was about 3 or 4 years old. It was an AHM set with an 0-8-0 switcher, a few cars and a caboose. I still have that equipment, although its a little beat up. The engine still runs.

I also have parents who were then and are now supportive of my interest in trains.

I hope this survey helps in the quest to get more people involved in the hobby.

[rf16a]

I got a train set for Christmas when I was about 3 or 4 years old. It was an AHM set with an 0-8-0 switcher, a few cars and a caboose. I still have that equipment, although its a little beat up. The engine still runs.

I also have parents who were then and are now supportive of my interest in trains.

I hope this survey helps in the quest to get more people involved in the hobby.

[willy6]

my dad set up his LIONEL layout every year at christmas. when i retired from the USN in 1992 i had a 2year old son and we were walking through a hobby shop and i got re-inspired..........and blamed him to my wife.

[willy6]

my dad set up his LIONEL layout every year at christmas. when i retired from the USN in 1992 i had a 2year old son and we were walking through a hobby shop and i got re-inspired..........and blamed him to my wife.

[RhB_HJ]

Wellllllllllllllll..........

If my mother is to be trusted[;)][;)] I had a fascination with trains and a "special" name for them, before I could say Dad.

And it has been getting worse ever since; 1948 wooden trains (that's when I was 3), 1950 wind-up train, 1952 electric train. ....

2004 still electric trains!

[RhB_HJ]

Wellllllllllllllll..........

If my mother is to be trusted[;)][;)] I had a fascination with trains and a "special" name for them, before I could say Dad.

And it has been getting worse ever since; 1948 wooden trains (that's when I was 3), 1950 wind-up train, 1952 electric train. ....

2004 still electric trains!

[Anonymous]

I've been watching BNSF trains go by my factory a dozen times a day for the last 6 years and it finally got to me. The tracks are close enough that I won't park on the street between them and the building. We've had a couple of derailments there over the years. I've got a row of windows in front of my work bench and everytime I saw a train go by I'd think of the train set I had 29 years ago when I was 6.

After I got back from our Christmas trip I picked up an HO LifeLike Santa Fe Flyer set for I and the kids to play around with in the garage. It's nothing fancy, but it's a lot of fun playing with my kids and they're more interested in the trains than in my other hobby (tropical fish).

[Anonymous]

I've been watching BNSF trains go by my factory a dozen times a day for the last 6 years and it finally got to me. The tracks are close enough that I won't park on the street between them and the building. We've had a couple of derailments there over the years. I've got a row of windows in front of my work bench and everytime I saw a train go by I'd think of the train set I had 29 years ago when I was 6.

After I got back from our Christmas trip I picked up an HO LifeLike Santa Fe Flyer set for I and the kids to play around with in the garage. It's nothing fancy, but it's a lot of fun playing with my kids and they're more interested in the trains than in my other hobby (tropical fish).

[Anonymous]

Grandfather and uncle were both engineers for CN out of Jasper and Edmonton Alberta respectively. Then I rode the trains a lot because of a father who was in the Canadian Armed Forces. Finally, my son came along and I started buying trains and taking him on trains which ultimately got him hooked into modelling and myself as well.

[Anonymous]

Grandfather and uncle were both engineers for CN out of Jasper and Edmonton Alberta respectively. Then I rode the trains a lot because of a father who was in the Canadian Armed Forces. Finally, my son came along and I started buying trains and taking him on trains which ultimately got him hooked into modelling and myself as well.

[Anonymous]

TRAIN SET

[Anonymous]

TRAIN SET

[Anonymous]

My friend had a N scale train set and I thought it was fun,so I decided to get an HO scale CN train set from Life Like Trains.I think it was called Thundering Rails.The sad thing is that my friend is giving up model railroading now.