My first loco was a Lionel 3 rail F unit for Christmas over 45 years ago. My first HO was a Tyco F unit about 40 years ago for Christmas.
The first loco I bought was back in 1996 and still have is an HO CSX C30-7 by Atlas, GREAT runner.
Richard
All HO since I started in the mid-late 70s:
Mid/late-70s Tyco 0-4-0 (Think listed under Switcher and Tender), brought by my parents in a train set - eventually the sheet metal "valve gear" just bent, and that was that.
First locomotive I brought myself (w/ Birthday money), late 1970s, was a AHM GP18 ( had to be AHM - I distinctly remember a "Made in Yugoslavia" label cast into the frame bottom) SOO line livery, Dad drove me down to the former Mays on Rockaway Blvd in Woodmere (Mays has been gone a long time - that may be a Kohl's now, not sure).
Finally my first real locomotive (more or less) - Athearn BB GP9 in BN livery. Yay, a locomotive that didn't stall on the turnouts or derail at random!
You know, come to think of it...now I remember having a cheesy Lionel 3-railer trainset in I guess 1973 when I was 7 or so - heck, guess that was my first locomotive then...never mind.
After I sold my Lionel trains in 1953 at the age of 13, my fiist locomotive was a Mantua shifter 0-4-0 to which I added valve gear and later sold.
Peter Smith, Memphis
My first in HO was a Penn Line train set (Penn Line had just gone out of business and their stuff was being sold off very cheaply which I am sure is why my folks chose it). It was an F7 with one powered truck, in Southern Pacific freight colors. Over time I pretty much junked the drive and the shell but the huge lead weight still provides material for weighting down freight car kits, and I think I still have the motor around somewhere. A few of the freight cars from that train set still see service although they are perhaps the least accurate models on my roster. The flat cars were solid metal castings which actually makes quite a bit fo sense from a weight and center of gravity standpoint.
Dave Nelson
My first locomotive was a Tyco Santa Fe Pacific. It still runs and the light still works. Dates back to Christmas in 1961. I did not start purchasing locomotives or cars until 1981 when the US Navy stationed me in Puerto Rico. I was a general medical officer and I would assemble Athearn Blue Box kits in my office during the night shift when things were quiet. So, the first loco I bought was an Athearn ATSF PA diesel. Most of the stuff I bought during the next three years came from Model Railway Post Office. - Mike
Gidday , first loco I was given was a clockwork Hornby OO 0-6-0 when I was five. Still have it, thanks to my mum who did not throw away anything.
First loco I bought was a Athearn BB GP7, which I also have cos I like it.
Cheers, the Bear.
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
This thread brings up some nasty memories for me because as a toddler I could only watch my brothers play with their Marx O scale 0-4-0. They threatened me with untold doom if I ever attempted to touch it!
Fast forward to when the first Harry Potter movie came out. I expressed a tremendous interest in Hogwarts Express to my lovely wife, who magically made the Bachmann set appear under the Christmas Tree! That was my first locomotive! It now has sound and headlights (but I need to do something about the interior details in the passenger cars, and add some weight).
By the way, several years after my brothers had done with the Marx set I inherited it (with a burned out motor- just to rub salt in the wound). Luckily I found an engine at a swap meet which I was able to use to re-power the original, and every so often I set up some plywood in the garage to run it. I always make sure I give out an evil laugh when I am running it, as though to say "its mine now you ...... ...... brothers! Beware toddler revenge!
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Got my first HO train For Christmas 1967 - and still have it ! ....
Mark.
¡ uʍop ǝpısdn sı ǝɹnʇɐuƃıs ʎɯ 'dlǝɥ
A Lego 9volt "steam locomotive" closely followed by another Lego 9volt, a Santa Fe F3.
Maine central #470What was the first scale locomotive you bought when you started out in the hobby?
The first locomotive I got that was not a hand-me-down was a Rivarossi 4-4-0 Reno. That was 1966. Back when they still had real brass railings, domes, fittings, etc.
The first locomotive I remember buying for myself was in 1975. It was an N-scale Bachmann U-28-B Spirit of 1976.
The first HO locomotive I remember buying for myself was a 44 ton switcher painted for Bell System. That was 1979. 5 years before the Bell System was broken up.
Hornby Dublo 00, 0-6-0 Shunter in 1961 for my 4th birthday. Sold it to my brother in 1973. Current whereabouts unknown..
Gilbert F3 in C&O blue. Birthday gift in 1960. Very jerky but it ran. My first loco that I ran into the ground was a black Athearn Hustler with RB drive.
My first locomotive was an ALCO C430 in a TYCO train set I got for my 13th birthday in 1972. I still have it. It is currently painted in the scheme of a local club, Saginaw River Valley. I am not using it on my new layout which is DCC.
narrow gauge nuclear My first loco was a Varney L'il Joe, dockside 0-4-0, Xmas 1958. Ran it until the worm and wheel gears wore out. (late 60's) Richard
My first loco was a Varney L'il Joe, dockside 0-4-0, Xmas 1958. Ran it until the worm and wheel gears wore out. (late 60's)
Hey, me too! I was given mine in 1958 or 59 - part of a Varney train set at the time. I think my parents got tired of me asking for the Lionel train used at Christmas to be set up every couple of months. My Little Joe does still run, kind of. It took a couple of dives to the concrete back in the day, it's missing a pilot step and a corner of the cab. Here's a pic - the weathering is all natural!
Now, the first locomotive I purchased myself was a Varney SW-something or other, bought from the old AHC catalog in the mid-1960's . I realized after many weeks trying to make it run why it was so inexpensive.
George V.
The very first locomotive I "bought" was an N scale Bachmann SD40-2.
The first loco I bought when I got back into HO scale in 2006 (actually there were two within 1 hour) was an Atlas RS-1 and an Atlas MP15 with DCC and sound.
Dennis Blank Jr.
CEO,COO,CFO,CMO,Bossman,Slavedriver,Engineer,Trackforeman,Grunt. Birdsboro & Reading Railroad
I don't still have my first locomotive, but its cousin is setting on a shelf just to the left of me. It was an S-scale Flyer 4-4-2 Atlantic, in Reading Lines livery.
Later when I got "serious" about model railroading, one Christmas I was given an Atlas N-Scale starter set. It had a pair of Fairbanks Morse "C-Liner"s, one powered and one dummy. Which was a lot of diesel power for 2 freight cars and a caboose!
I have figured out what is wrong with my brain! On the left side nothing works right, and on the right side there is nothing left!
My first locomotive was a Varney "Casey Jones" ten wheeler bought with money saved from my paper route. I ran it on a circle of brass track on plywood and powered it by a Marx transformer coupled to a selenium rectifier. Very little speed control but a lot of fun.
Joe
My first locomotive was Marx O scale, Christmas as a four year old. My first locomotive bought back in the 1970's was a Rivarossi Pacific, getting back into the hobby seriously, my first purchase was a Bachmann Spectrum 2-8-0
Mine was a Varney NW-2 Hew Haven switcher.
My 1st was a rubber band powered Lionel FA "Texas Special" loco. I've since added a B unit and another A, and repowered the entire lot with Walthers FA chassis! They run like new!!
Karl
NCE über alles!
Mine is an Atlas Trainman CSX GP-38 I got for Christmas a few years ago as set from my wife. Great running engine, it was busy, with another CSX GP-38 pulling a string of intermodal cars this weekend.
Being a newbie, my first locomotive is not very old at all. It is only six months old and is a Kato Union Pacific F3A. I bought it in January using my Christmas money from my in-laws.
My first loco was the classic Lionel Santa Fe PA in the mid 1960s. It was handed down by an uncle. I sold it and the rest of the O-27 set with it and bought my first HO when I got serious about model railroading in 1969 and realized how much more space O took versus HO.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
First loco given to me was a used (set) pre-war Lionel 0-6-0 in the late 40's. First one I bought myself, a Lionel Hudson, c1954. First HO for my layout IHC 2-6-0, c1997. First DCC, BLI Pacific, 2013. Can't afford many more firsts.
Still have them all.
Have fun,
If I can't fix it, I can fix it so it can't be fixed
My first locomotive would be the Bachmann F9 (in CN zebra stripes) that came in the first train set I got at Christmas when I was 8. That was followed by the next two train set locos, which included a Bachmann GP40 (also CN) and a Mechano CP 2-6-0 Camelback steamer (from a President's Choice train set).
The first locomotive I ever bought though was a Walthers Trainline F40PH, painted as VIA 6450. I remember how incredibly excited I was when I made that trip to the hobby shop - We were only able to make a trip to the nearest hobby shop about once a year, so it was always quite an occasion. I saved up the money I made from refereeing house-league soccer through the summer, and anxiously awaited that next trip. I had seen the VIA F40s there on the last trip (although then they were painted in the old scheme, before the "Canada" graphics and flags were added).
I remember how insanely excited I was when I walked down that aisle, saw the locomotive sitting there (just one, the last one!), and looked at the price tag to realize it was within my budget and with a bit extra to spare. The hour and a half drive home felt like many times that, as the only thing I really wanted to do was to get home and put it on the tracks!
That F40 has continued to hold a special place, as it was also the first locomotive I ever got up the nerve to superdetail. The old Bachmann train set F9 and GP40, by contrast, have been relegated to scrap-pile/spare parts duty ;)
-Tim
It was either a Tyco Sante Fe 4-6-0 or a Tyco PRR 2-6-2 or a Tyco PRR 0-6-0. It was 40 years ago and I don't remember which my wife gave me for Christmas 1971 and which I bought shortly after. But with these I started the hobby. Also in those early years I added an MDC Boxcab Diesel and a Rivarossi V&T 4-4-0.
Enjoy
Paul
My first "scale" loco was part of a Marklin starter set I got for Christmas in 1963.
It did not follow any specific prototype, had no complete valve gear, but it was mine!
A Triang F7 lettered for CP Rail. My parents bought it for me in 1971 and I still have it.