Poll: my very first Lionel was a?

[More to restore]

289E - 659 - 657 - 604
I inherited this in 1974 from my uncles. I never made permanent layouts, just made a temporary layout on the floor with a Marklin transformer. It still runs great, but is much cleaner and better maintained nowadays.
In the 80's I bought a set with 1688E and 1690-1690-1691 from my own money in a second hand toy shop, a little later came the 1666E-1679-1680 train.

[msacco]

My dad's 2056 followed by my father-in-law's prewar 262. Both still champs on the rails.

mike s.

[1688torpedo]

Jim A- You're very welcome for the help.More to restore- I see you've a 1688E in your possesion. Nice train to have & a good runner to boot. How is the 289E doing? has it been restored yet? Take Care.

[palallin]

1972 Sears set: 8020 Alco (Santa Fe Warbonnet), 9142 Burlington gondola, Weaties boxcar, PC log dump car, 9011 DARK blue GN hopper (according to Greenberg, the rare one), and 9061 caboose. Figure eight of track.

I still have it, of course, and it runs great (as does my #490 Marx, my first train from 1964).

[Anonymous]

... secondhand American Flyer Sante Fe warbonnet freight set given to me by my cousin in 1968! [:D]

When my parents sent it to me after not seeing it for about 25 years the train bug bit me again.

When I wanted trains again in the mid 1990's I was awed at the selection of Lionel O guage available and made the switch. [:p]

As a kid, I remember how awesome my Flyer set seemed and how much fun it was. [8D] Looking at it now, I can see how used (and somewhat) abuse the set really is. [:0] There truely are some advantages at seeing things through the eyes of a child!

Someday I hope to restore the engines to their former glory! [:)][:)][:)]

Jim

[Kooljock1]

The Lionel Western Gift Pak with the Giraffe and Sheriff & Outlaw car, horse flat and a plastic 2-4-2. It all still works!

Jon [8D]

[Anonymous]

My NYC F3 2333 AA (48-49) set that my Father bought second had when I was born. Still pulling cars on my layout today!!!

[Lafondue]

the 2004 Nickel Plate Road Super Freight set.....welll it's now 2 years later what a ride it's been.
Thanks Lionel

[artyoung]

I still have my 2025 steamer with NYC gondola w/ barrels, SF animated boxcar, Sunoco 2 dome tanker and SP-type caboose from 1952. Still run it, too.

[DCmontana]

Christmas 1952, Santa Claus brought me the 2056 baby Hudson, NYC gondola car, Sunco double dome tank car, Lehigh Valley hopper, and a Lionel caboose. My parents added a couple of switches so I started with a passing siding. I still run the 2056 the most. It is a link between my dad, me, a son that we lost, and a son I have now. I believe that is what toy trains are all about. Believe me, I would not part with that 2056 for all the command control electronic stuff you can come up with. That ole engine is toy trains to me!

[Brutus]

I'm not really sure. It was one my dad bought I think in the early 60's. I know I played with it through the very early 70's, but it was in a box in their basement and I think some of the other kids or neighbors more or less wrecked it. I think it was an inexpensive freight train set, maybe a Santa Fe? I remember it smoked when we first got it, but I think my mom objected to the smell or something.

[danrunner]

...piece of crap. It was an MPC '70s era Yard Boss set w/ yellow diesel switcher. I miss it and will eventually pick one up for nostalgia sake, not because I like cheaply-made plastic trains.

D

[Anonymous]

A 2332 GG-1 back in 1948. It came with the green side dump car, the depressed center transformer, 6 axle crane and the DL&W work caboose with the searchlight.

I ran the train all year round and finally wore all the teeth off the worm gear. Lionel charged me $7.95 to replace the whole power truck in the middle 50's.

Replaced the E-unit once and lost three pantograph insulators, but otherwise, still going!

Tony

[Heartman]

My first "Lionel" was & is a 225E Gunmetal Gray Steamer that I got used in 1956. I still have it, It still runs, but it needs some new bearings. It's a little sluggish from the slop in the bearings due to the massive amount of run and fun time! [:)]

Dennis

[MTsteamfan]

Mine was a #1609 steam set given to me by my grandfather in around 1962 when I was 6. It contained a 246 Lionel Lines steamer, a "Lionel Savings Bank" boxcar, gondola with 3 canisters, and red LL caboose. I still have the whole set today including the box and transformer (no instructions though) and it runs fine.

[1688torpedo]

Hello Dennis Heartman! - If your 225E needs new axle bushings then Look up Dr.Tinkers Toy Train Parts as reproductions are being made & he may have some to install in your 225E. Take Care.

[Anonymous]

I got my first Lionel train for Christmas in 1956. The set was headed by a 2055 hudson which I still have today. I repainted the engine in the early 80's and started to run it again during the Christmas season. Now it's retired and put away as a keepsake.

Jim

[Anonymous]

My first Lionel items were an MPC 9013 CN hopper car and a postwar 6017 caboose that I bought at an antique store when I was 10 or 11. A while later, I also bought a pink 6017 caboose from that same antique store. The antique store in question had a cabinet full of HO trains with just these 3 O gauge pieces. At that time, all my O gauge trains were Marx and these 3 cars sat on a siding on my Marx layout.

My first Lionel engine came when I was 12. At an antique sale, I found a 600 MKT NW-2 switcher (the rare version with the grey base and yellow hand rails) with two X6014 Baby Ruth boxcars, a 6456 LV hopper car, a 6121 flatcar, a 6017 caboose and a pile of O27 track. I was thrilled! I finally had a Lionel!

However, as my dad and I were driving away from the sale, I discovered that there was no transformer with it. My dad turned around and went back to see if the people who sold it had one. They didn't, but he did discover that they also had another Lionel for sale: a boxed set with a 221 Rio Grande Alco FA, 3349 turbo missile car, 6042 gondola car with cable reels, 6476 LV hopper car and unmarked yellow caboose. He bought it, but didn't tell me and I got it for my 13th birthday.

I haven't stopped collecting since!

[darianj]

The Very first one?....I have no idea. I do remeber having a train when I was about 6 or 7, but being a kid, things broke, got thrown away, and the only thing that can be found at this time is a plastic tender with the word Lionel on it.

30 years later, I purchased the "Polar Express" set.

[Dave45681]

An MPC "Workin' on the Railroad" set from the late 70's. Had a steamer, blue manual dump car, yellow manual crane, and a red work caboose. Had stickers for the decorations. Also had the plastic "lumber loader" structure in red plastic and a few red plastic molded figures.

This was a DC set with the red power pack with the handle that you lifted up to move the throttle. (Think of an inverted U that rotates from table to vertical with the loop upwards).

-Dave

[lionel2986]

My first Lionel was a section of 0-27 track. Then I got more track and a PRR 2-4-2 from the MPC era, new in box during summer of 1990. I still remember the day my dad took me into the hobby shop. I was 4 and trying to decide between some sort of blue NW2 with a horn, or a gray PRR 2-4-2 with smoke. I picked smoke. For the most part, nothings changed. I still like buying the ones with smoke but now I can get railsounds :)

[Buckeye Riveter]

My first Lionel Train arrived for Christmas.  It was an uncatalogued set sold at Western Auto.  The engine is a Rio Grande 222.  The set included the red satellite car, now a collectors piece.  (Green ones are much easier to find.)  The engine still works great and the satellite car can still launch it to the ceiling.  In the photo below, the Rio Grande 222 is running on my layout of today being controlled by TMCC.

[Anonymous]

My first 'O-gauge' set was my Father's 1949 Marx Sante Fe freight set.  The engine didn't run and when we took it to a hobby shop for repair they wouldn't touch it.  Since it didn't run I basicly put it in a box and it fell into oblivian.  For my 16th birthday, instead of a car, I wanted Lionel Trains, so my father told me to pick something out of the Trainworld add in the back of a Model Railroader magazine... I ended up with a Northern Pacific (I was born in Tacoma, WA), Lionel Sante Fe Auto Carrier, Rock Island Boxcar, NYC Flatcar, and a Northern Pacific Bay Window caboose (this was 1987).  Played with the stuff for a few years and then put it in a box and forgot about it till 2002.  I traded my Father's Marx stuff for a Lionel PostWar 2020... although I love the 2020 I wish I still had my Father's Marx stuff as I found a guy who would rewind the motor a few months after I traded the stuff ... lesson learned (never get rid of something you like just because it doesn't work... you will eventually find someone who can fix it!

I now have a boat load of stuff waiting for the new train room...

[dsmith]

I received my first Lionel train set in 1957 for Christmas when I was 7 years old.  It is set 1575, a 5 car 027 freight set that consists of a 205 Missouri Pacific A-A Alco Diesel, a red and grey 6111 log car, 6112 blue gondola with white containers, 6560 wrecking crane and 6119 work caboose.  It continues to run around my layout and is my favorite set.  I like to set it up under the Christmas tree every year, just like I did 50 years ago

[Prairietype]

It was for the kids, but my dad later admitted he bought it really for himself. I liked it most and inherited it.

It was Illinois Central #2363, and it included the cars shown on the front of the 1955 Lionel catalog, + a green Cities Service tank car, a gang hand car and a crossbuck signal "Lionel Lines." 

 

[traindaddy1]

SantaFe F3 Diesel AA with the Silver Bluff, Cloud, Range and Dawn.

PS  You did say 'Lionel'........What started it all was a Marx @ 1950 and Varney @ 1953.

[laz 57]

A LIONEL starter set back in 57 the year I was born, my father said we need a train set for this one to put around the tree.  Now my nephew is the proud owner of the set.

laz57

[ezmike]

Two actually.

My uncle gave me the 2 sets my parents bought for him as a present. I don't remember exactly when he gave them to me, I was born in 1956, but here's the story.

Sometime after 1952 when my parents got married, they bought him 2 used sets. They were a 2036 loco with it's 6466W tender, 2- 3472 milk cars with stand, a Sunoco tanker, black gondola and 6257 caboose and a Scout loco (I think it is a 1001) with sheet metal tender, gondols, Baby Ruth car and caboose. I don't have them in front of me and I don't remember all the numbers. These were the beginning. I still have them both. The 2036 runs great, the tender whistle is strong and both milk cars operate perfectly. The Scout has forward and reverse issues, runs in one direction no matter which way the switch is positioned but that's another story.

Wait there's more, the sets included 027 track, 2 sets of switches, a 90 degree cross-over, a silver metal Lionel bridge, a red pre-war trestle/bridge (has walkways on both sides and Lionel in an enamel oval), a 394 beacon, an automatic gateman (got lost in our last move), assorted Plasticville structures and pewter figures and let's not forget both a ZW and KW with a small AF transformer (all 3 still work and the ZW and KW have been serviced recently).

These laid dormant for almost 25 years before I became "addicted" this past Christmas. Now I can't stop.

Mike

[Anonymous]

 My grandfathers trains were my first introduction to trains, he had alot of them. I had some marx and MPC plastic locos that I started out with as a todler. Used them as floor toys. Those are long gone. My first real set was given to me by my grandpa for christmas when I was three. It was a 1957 204alco set with the blue striped passenger cars. I also got track, an Rw transformer and MPC horn station. Interesting thing about that set though was, although I had my own little layout at my grandpa's house and visited him every weekend, It remained in a box in the basement of my house only to come out at Christmas. Still, getting that train set is my first memory of a child. My grandfather gave me lots of trains growing up and taught me most of what I know about trains. The foremost reason I am so passonate about this hobby is that I remember him and keep his spirit alive by doing so.

[gwg50]

My first was this 1688 Torpedo. Something (car) is missing but don't remeber what.