General Discussion (Model Railroader)

I am young (24) and got started when I was ten.  So my oldest piece goes back to the mid 90s.

What is your oldest loco/piece of rolling stock you use on your layout?

 I have a Life-Like that dates back to the '70s....I'm amazed that it's still around with the workout it gets.

My oldest piece of rolling stock would be the HO scale boxcars that I got with my first trainset, in the mid-90s.

Now that I'm in N scale, I think one of the waycars I picked up off Ebay might date back to the early-90s.

My oldest is a Varney F-7 with the road number 947, meaning that is was first put on the rails in September, 1947

 The mechanism was updated some time in the 1950s with a Bowser mechanism.

It will still pull the walpaper of of the wall

 My oldest loco is an old Marklin class E 94 electric from 1971. It still runs like a jewel and has crisp detail. Marklin first released that loco in 1964 - look at the detail it already showed:

wholeman:

What is your oldest loco/piece of rolling stock you use on your layout?

What is the oldest loco/piece of rolling stock I use on my layout? That would have to be my set of Röwa/MRC flute-sided C&O prototype N-Scale passenger cars dated somewhere around 1967-69.

These are not, however, my oldest pieces of equipment. That distinction goes to the Varney F-3 and three of the four cars that came with a 1962 train set; I own a '60s-era Rapido Pacific which may turn into an excursion engine if I can get it running again although this particular unit was not purchased until the early '80s and, not knowing how long Rapido manufactured this particular model, may possibly be of more recent origin--and I own two basket-case Röwa/MRC Berkshires which, like the aforementioned passenger cars, date from 1967-1969 and which will eventually wind up as static displays in a city park. Those passenger cars, however, are the oldest pieces of equipment which I own and which are still in use. 

Oldest piece of rolling stock?  1948-issue Mantua Shifter (PRR class A-5a) 0-4-0T, currently residing in a cassette coupled between my wedge plow and my 4-truck articulated well flat.

Oldest pieces of Japanese-prototype rolling stock?  A Tenshodo Baldwin 0-6-0T and two 15-ton gondolas, purchased in Tokyo in 1959.  The box-brake purchased at the same time is currently a junk box queen, awaiting major repairs.

The major part of my rolling stock collection was amassed in the 1960s, much of it from a hobby shop in Kanda (Tokyo)  Very few units of Japanese prototype are less than 35 years old.

And yes, my friends, they still run, and run well.

Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1965)

The oldest piece I have constantly owned is my ole 0-4-0 Dockside just about, no longer runs.

Oldest of age might be the 2-6-6-6 Winton kit, maybe some Varney cars and engines. 

Here's a photo of two of my oldest locomotives:

The B&O F-? is by Arnold.  It was purchased new in 1968 or '69.  It still runs well.  Not as well as the newer Atlas, Kato and Life Like, but well enough to keep using it.  Don't remember when I converted it to MT couplers.  I also have the 4 B&O passenger cars I bought at the same time.  Haven't run them in years.  They're in need of some service, wheel re-gauging, etc.

The steam engine is an ATlas 0-4-0.  I think it's from the early 1970's, bought new.  It, too, has the MT conversion couplers, except that I think they were Kadee's when it was originally converted.  LOL

The 0-4-0 has been one of the MOST reliably running engines I've ever owned!  Electrical pickup is from the engine AND tender, so it glides over turnouts without a problem.  I frequently use it in "helper" service, such as when a train stalls and needs a push to get going again.  I've also used it as a helper with an old ATlas 0-8-0 that can't climb some of the steep grades on my layout.

I have several of the Atlas 0-4-0's, but none of the others run as well as my original one.  Don't know why that is.  I bought them because of how well mine worked and because I just can't resist them!  LOL

Darrell, quiet...for now

I still have the Marx HO train set that I asked santa for when I was about 8. that would be in in 1960. The Double Diesel NH locomotives are not on the layout, but a couple of cars are including a Cities Service tank car and a NH box car. They are terrible in detail, and they only two cars with NMRA X2f couplers, but they look fine in the situation they are in.

To go another direction I also have the 700e Lionel Hudson and my fathers Hy-Rail equipment that I run on my O Scale layout. I started playing with it on the day I was born in 1952. I also run the AHM IHB    0-8-0  and the Casey Jones 4-6-0 as well as some cars that I built in the early 70s on that layout.

Paul

Dayton and Mad River RR

 Oldest in current use is an NMRA special run from Pacific Rails for a Gorre & Daphtid 1937 AAR boxcar kit.  First pieces I got and still have but not in use are a Tyco 4-6-0 and some Tyco freight cars.  On the used market I have picked up some Kinsman, Northeast, Ambroid, Mainline, and Roundhouse kits over the years but I don't know when they were new.

Enjoy

Paul

I've got a couple of Varney cars from the 1950s or so.

Well, the old locos are long gone, but I still have 3-4 Athearn metal freight cars from the late 40's/early 50's.

And I still have most of the wood/metal Silver Streak kits I built as a teen, in the late 60's.

Sheldon

How about this World War II era Laconia foil-sided Mathieson dry ice reefer?

Or maybe this equally unusual Red Ball card-sided Monsanto acid tank car, of a roughly similar vintage?

Both see at least occasional service on my HHRR.

CNJ831

My "oldest" piece of rolling stock is a D&H 50' "I Love NY" boxcar that I won as a door prize the first time my dad took me to a train show in the early 80's. It sat in on a shelf in my room for many years since dad ran his old Lionel O guage stuff. It finally found a home about 5 years ago when dad picked up an old HO trainset for under the Christmas tree. I rummaged through many a box to find the carefully preserved beauty. It was all down hill from there - the Christmas layout has evolved into a layout that threatens to take over the space that was once my mother's office (her desk is still there - she is VERY understanding )