What kind of train did you start with

[Anonymous]

What a great subject!!
When I was about five or six years old, my parents had a Lionel Train set under the Christmas tree for me (mid-1950's--yea, shows my age too). Turns out they had to ask the next door neighbor to help them set it up because they knew nothing about the "simple" electronics of the day. I still remember both the 4-6-4 Lionel steam loco and the M&STL 0-4-0 diesel switcher I got a few years later.
About 1964, the HO bug bit and I landed a Tyco set with their unusually accurate GP-20. As much as I loved that Geep, I, like so many others, gave up (sold) all the Lionel I had accumulated to that point. I was hooked on HO for a long time. Funny thing is I can still remember my dad telling me in 1967: "When you get to college, you'll get over this interest in trains."
Thankfully he was wrong. Although I had to sell all my remaining HO locos, cars, bldgs., track in a move in 1998, I am now firmly hooked on N scale with a layout in the living room of my apartment with MILW/GN power. And I am trying to get other people hooked on the hobby.
L R

[BRAKIE]

Ross:I been at it in this hobby for 50 years.You don't really have to be nuts, but, it sures does help!!!

[Anonymous]

My first Railroad car was a Roundhouse Katy Box
Car. That was in 1962. The Car has a metal bottom
and sprung trucks. It is on my railroad today. The
only change is that it has Kadee couplers. The
trucks work just fine. The car cost 1.98. It is
still my favorite car on my railroad. Lionel set
Christmas 1963 was my first set. I still have the
set and it still runs. I have three brothers and
my father always would do trains for us when we
were at a younger age. Today I'm the only one that has a layout and still has the bug. I just
can't imagine not running trains. My kids could
care less about trains. I do not push it. Maybe
someday they will learn. To me its hobby that only
a nut can love. Ross

[tankertoad70]

Dad bought me a Lionel, Pennsy, 6-8-6, for my fifth birthday, 1952. It has a gondola, boxcar with a door that opens and a brakeman popping out, and a tuscan red caboose. Such things as a log car and loader, cattle car and loader, giraffe car, gondola with the brakeman chasing a hobo were added through the years. I still have it all for "nostalga" purposes. I switched to HO scale modeling in 1972, and been with it ever since.
Don

[snowey]

I don't know what kind was my first. About 1961 or 62, my father set up some trains (all brass rail, and code 100-YEESH!!) in our basement, for our family (although my brothers and I were the only ones who used it-and my dad!). But, MY first train was a Tyco F-7 locomotive and 3 freight cars and a caboose, in HO scale. It was in a train set with that awful brass track with code 100 rail again. But, I received it as a Christmas present from my parents about 1978, and I was just started taking a "serious" interest in Model Railroading (the trains my father had set up had long since vanished, over the course of a move to another house), so I didn't know any better. I forget what happened to it, but I had it for a long time. It didn't run, but I still had it! But, I still have the caboose, though. Well, I'm sure this is more than you wanted to hear, so I'll shutup now!

[NscaleMike]

My first was a Arnold-Rapido Nscale set...24 years ago..The loco still runs today...with some TLC....

[mnwestern]

Great forum! We moved to town from the farm when I was about to enter first grade. The small town had a Milwaukee Road branch with an out-back local running through it. That was my first real exposure to trains. I would hear the diesel horn outside of town, hop on my bike and pedal as fast as I could the three blocks to the tracks to count the cars going by.

I was about 11 when Santa (perhaps the last year I still believed in St. Nick) left a Marx three-rail train under the tree. It was the die-cast UP 666 2-4-2 loco with a boxcar, gondola, auto carrier and orange UP caboose. I had a lot of great times with that set on the floor with my Lincoln logs and "army men" or "cowboys and Indians" staging battles. My closest brother (nine years older) left for the Army about then, just missing my oldest brother who was returning from Germany after four years in the Army over there. They enjoyed playing with the train too. I still have that Marx, complete with its box, track and power pack.
Two or three years later, I received my first HO set, a Tyco with the blue and yellow warbonnet F-unit, red ATSF caboose, El Capitan boxcar, a flat car with culverts, and a hopper. That eventually went on a 4x8 table with an expanded roster of motive power (a Tyco Pacific and an AHM Plymouth diesel) and rolling stock.
With high school, college and a budding journalism career, the trains remained boxed in a closet at my parents' home. When I got married 12 years ago, Mom felt it was time I took my train stuff to our new home. My wife probably regrets that day. Since then, we have traveled the country shooting about 15,000 slides, built an HO and N scale layout, joined four railroad historical societies, and founded a club in our hometown. Once you get the train bug, it is hard to derail it.
T

[Anonymous]

These are some really good stories. I guess that I just can't compare to some of you about the passion that you have. One of the only things that I remember from when I was about 4 was a new HO for christmas in the late 70's. After that, I remember a 4x8 table in my grandparents basement with those same cars. The table had no scenery or anything else, just a circle with a couple of switched for my boxcar storage. I could only get over ther once a week or so, so I had to clean the track everytime I played. I remember my grandfather fondly for the good times we had playing with that train.

Several years ago, after my grandfather died, my grandmother asked me to remove the setup from her basement. I then decided to try to retrofit the layout with an N scale setup. Unfortunatly, lack of money and a new girlfriend put a stop to that. Now that I am married, and have a son, I am going to try to get that layout finished. I want my son to be able to remember back to his childhood about the good times that we had.

[Anonymous]

my first trains were HO scale tyco train sets. i think i got my first one in the eairly 80's when i was around 8 or so. when we moved into our house in california there was a train table in the garage and i just had to build a layout. i would always get frustrated with the sectional track beacause the train would always stop in a certan section beacause the electrical connections were bad.

from there i have never lost my intrest in trains. for a while i got interested in aquariums, but would always buy a train if i found one i wanted. a few years ago, i started my first big model railroad. i boult it in the metal barn i have here, but the moisture and the temperature changes started getting to it, so i had to tear it down. now i am finally getting to build the railroad i have always wanted. it is going to be built in my old mobile home. now if i can just find the time.........

[BRAKIE]

I got my start when my dad sat me on his lap,and let me operate a o scale(two rail)Hocking Valley
4-6-0!The only time I was out of the hobby was
when I was in Uncle Sam's Army for 6 years.
Even then I read Model RailRoader and trains.
So you might say I was never out of the hobby.

[Anonymous]

I received my first train set Christmas 1980, when I was 10. It was a Tyco set that came with an 0-4-0 locomotive. I had been begging to get a train set after my mother showed me a few of my grandfather's brass trains, they were off limits at the time. The set was fun because it came with a 4'x8' 3-piece cardboard layout which had printed color steets and lots for buildings along with a few building kits, signs and assorted details. It was fun to build up the kits, (as well as add other kits and details I had received), and it was fun to work on many aspects of the layout in our basement. Operation was very simple, just a common loop in a loop, though I added a few spurs with my dads help. I used to buy a few extra pieces of HO equipment each week from my dad, (he'd bought a lot of garage sale pieces, kits, engines, buildings, rolling stock and parts, etc.), which made it fun and kept it fresh and creative. There were a lot of things to fix and build! I had a couple friends that would come over alot of the time and help out, it was fun and kept me out of trouble until pac-man arrived! We had moved several times in the 80's so the kit stayed packed up for a while. Unfortunately, and regretfully, I had sold all of the trains, layout and all at a garage sale in 1988 for a very small amount of money.
One note about my first engine, the 0-4-0. I had burned it out from running it non-stop for about 2 days! My dad took it to a shop to get it fixed though. I learned a lot from that set and I'm now back into HO trains for about 2 years now. I kind of knew when I sold the set I would regret it, though I have some really nice stuff right now. If the young me could see my current trains, I would be smiling from ear to ear.
Pete

[Anonymous]

I received a Tyco HO Scale set from Santa in 1969 when I was five. I know that is when I got it because it was before we moved North and I started elementary school. Since I was five, my mom and her brother set it up on a 4 x 8 sheet for me. My mom built a whole city of houses and I still recognize many of them in the Walther's Catalog. The track consisted of a loop with 18 in. radius curves and one siding about thirty six inches long made from a single piece of flex track. After we moved North, we never set up the train again.

I got the railroad bug when I decided to give my father-in-law a Bachman set for Christmas. I set it all up but replaced the steel(!?) track with nickel silver. After I got it set up for him I learned alot about model railroading. I bought many books, subscribed to MR magazine and recently joined the NMRA.

Now I am waiting to buy that BWAHOI and put my plans in motion. - Ed

[Anonymous]

I know,I know, I already told my story. But Bobs letter stating he bought a basement with house attached was a great line! I just couldn`t shut up. I love it! Now thats a true model railroader. Wish I had a basement even without a house! Great letter Bob. I too got interested in girls and left the hobby. Now that`s more expensive than any train purchase. Even brass! Gerald

[cmrproducts]

I also started out with American Flyer at the tender age of 6. I added to the set every Christmas and Birthday for many years. I then got interested in cars, girls and a job. When I got married and a house the railroad bug bit again. I got out all othe AF trains and tried to run them but needed parts. Not knowing I could get parts at the train shows I sold them. I am now in HO and have purchased a 25' x75' basement with a new house attached. I have started my latest layout in HO and have over 1500ft of track down and more layout to build.

BOB H Clarion, PA

[rogerhensley]

Briefly, Marx O27 timplate keywind in the 40s and Marx O27 electric in the early 50s to which I added a couple of switches. The folks got rid of all of it while I was in the Navy and I didn't return to the hobby until 1970.

Roger

http://cid.railfan.net/

[sumpter250]

I never did get a "train set" I was given a Varney "little joe" 0-4-0T, a "steel side" Swift refer kit., some brass snap track, and a power pack. I still have all except the brass track
(and a whole lot more). In one of the many boxes of stuff I still have pictures of that first 4'X6' plywood layout with all the cardstock buildings. There was a revell station kit that I still have packed away, and I think I still have most of the cast lead figures.
Pete

[thirdrail1]

Shortly after World War II I received an American Flyer set that ran on O 3 rail track but was S sized. It had a Reading Atlantic with a die cast boiler. The tender and some of the cars were tinplate, but the caboose was plastic. In 1948, since Flyer went to S 2 rail, my parents traded this set for an S set with an NYC Hudson. In 1953, I traded my S tinplate in for HO and in 1968 switched to N scale.

[BNSFNUT]

I got a Lionel set for Christmass in 1947 (I still have it.
12yrs lster I switched to HO scale then about 5yrs late swithed to N scale then 8yrs later went back to HO scale and have stayed with that although I have a small Lionel layout that I run some of the items that I collect.

[Anonymous]

My first train set was an HO scale "Marx" I got at Christmas in 1956. My Dad thought I might enjoy the smaller scale size rather than the larger scale Lionel or American Flyer. I really didn't get into it as much then as I did a little later, at around 11 years old. By then we had moved to California and I began to experience Athearn made cars and locomotives. I built a layout with Dad's help on a 4x8 plywood sheet, but never really got the train to run as well as I would have liked. The original Marx coal car from my 1956 set had survived up to that time. The closest hobby shop had a decent selection and I remember the guy behind the counter always gave out "Greenstamps" to my Mom if she took me.

But high school, girls, and other things took me away for some years, although I never stopped liking trains in general. By the time I was in my early thirties, married and a house that had a basement, I began to rekindle my true love again. I was also living in Denver, Co at the time and they have "Caboose Hobbies", where I got hooked good. Since then I have been more passionate about model trains than ever before. I am now building an HO layout in an 11x14 size room and have a sizeable collection of HO cars and locomotives, including that original Marx coal car from 1956.

[Anonymous]

My first train was a Lionel set from Santa (aka: mom & dad) when I was six or seven. It came with the missle launcher flatcar & exploding boxcar. We set it up on a 4X4 platform with the help of my maternal grandfather from whom I caught the model railroad bug.
Sadly my first set was also lost in the name of progress to HO in my early teens. The HO stuff was sold or tossed in my late teens before joining the Army. While stationed in Germany in the mid '70s, I was introduced to N scale (European prototype of course). When I got out of the army in'77 I bought some N scale track, cars & two Rivarossi light pacifics (I still have the pacifics & they still run). Trains were put on hold for a while due to job, house & family needs.
I've been back into the hobby and N scale since '89 and loving every minute of it.

When my son was around eight, my grandfather gave me two sets of Lionels for him to have. This is actually what started getting me back into the hobby. Both are from at least the early '60s, one set has a cast metal pacific, the other a plastic Sana Fe F unit. Shortly afterward, my grandfather passed away. We set up the Lionels with two ovals on a 4X8 sheet of plywood and bought some buildings and accessories. For the next year and a half my son and I had fun running trains before other interests began occupying his time. I carefully removed the track, had the locos cleaned & lubed by a shop that specialized in Lionel, and stored them away wrapped in plastic. My son is now in his senior year of college and hopefully someday his interest in model trains will return. Until then he knows that the trains are safely stored away and that they will be his when he's ready, on condition that he can't sell them while I'm still alive.

[Anonymous]

This should be a fun one. I received an American Flyer set with a Frontier loco and rolling stock for Christmas when I was about six years old, which was in 1960. Uh oh now you know my age. For that time, it was probably one of the best runners that was smaller than O scale. I loved the smell of ozone in the morning. It also had the smoke feature which really thrilled me. That thing really puffed! Being a great size for small hands (not as good as O scales size) and ran on two rails instead of three that O used. This feature I really liked because real railroads of course use two rails. I played with this set for years until I was introduced to HO. I then did something I always regretted when I sold it to finance more HO equipment. At that time twenty bucks would buy a lot of track. I wish I had that train on a shelf right now,center of attention in the family room. It was my start in model railroading which means a lot more to me now than it did then. Being a kid I lived for the moment instead of the future. So you dads,moms,grandpas,grandmas,brothers,sisters,or anybody else not mentioned,please don`t let your kids or siblings give away or sell these first train sets. If they insist selling,buy it from them and present it as a gift at a later date. What a gift that would be! That old train set will bring back fond memories when they`re old enough to appreciate it. Remember the new trains today are the antiques or classics of tomorrow. I hope my American Flyer found a good home and creating memories for years to come. Gerald