I was taking care of things in the yard when I started thinking about how I got into model trains and rc vehicles. Way back when i was in kindegarten or first grade, I was given a small train set that consisted of an engine and maybe 2 or 3 cars. A couple of years later I got a rc 3 wheeler. I went back and forth between the two i played with and wore both of them out. Never sure what happened to the train set after that. I build a few other rc cars and lost interest for a while. Maybe 5 or 6 years ago i really got back into model trains and started doing something with it off and on.
So, How did others here in the forum start?
If you have a local hobby shop that came up for sale and could buy it, would you buy it? (just curios).
Sean, the unknown train travler,
Before I was born my father bought some American Flyer trains for my older sisters. I think they only set it up around the Christmas tree each year. When I got to be about 7, my dad built a permanent layout for them. It was 'L' shaped and was about 13' x 8'. There wasn't much in the way of scenery, just a couple of papier-mache mountains and some trees and bushes made from pine cones and sweetgum balls. It was only a foot off the ground so I could walk around on it if a car needed rerailing.
Steve S
When I was a kid, my dad dabbled briefly in the hobby. He started to build a layout on a 4x8 sheet of plywood, but never made it out of the benchwork stage. He bought a few Athearn BB locomotives from a local hobby shop. One set was a powered and dummy U33B decorated for SCL (both had the same road number, mind you!). The other was an Amtrak FP45, with a few Amtrak passenger cars to go with it. We also had a Tyco steam engine train set - the Clementine 0-8-0 with the mechanism in the tender. As kids, my brother and I had fun playing with them and running them on brass track that we put together on the floor.
I still have those old locomotives. I converted one U33B to a U36B and super detailed it a few years ago. I stripped the FP45 and plan to detail it and paint it in the ATSF Super Fleet scheme one of these days. Not sure what I'll do with the old Clementine loco.
Dan Stokes
My other car is a tunnel motor
Model train sets as a kid and Grandpa played with trains.
traintravlerIf you have a local hobby shop that came up for sale and could buy it, would you buy it? (just curios).
I like cake too but doesn't mean I want to own a bakery.
A visit to the Museum of Science and Industry's HO scale display when I was 6 years old.
- Douglas
''insanity''.
Seriously: S-scale 1946/47, Trainset....HO-scale 1950/51, Varney trainset. I was born in Chgo.....no matter where You turned, there was a streetcar, Train or truck....very easy, to fall in line, with sooo many to choose from.
Take Care!
Frank
At some point, before my earliest very specific memories which start about age 2 or 3, I was given a wind-up train set, likely Marx. It was a black metal streamlined steam loco (shaped somewhat like the Hiawatha 4-4-2 steam loco) and a few cars, with tab and slot couplers. I believe it was used when I got it because I remember chips in the paint right from the start. I clearly remember having it and playing with it - I do not remember getting it. Then I got a second wind up train that ran on the same track and had the same couplers so it was likely also Marx. It had a plastic steam locomotive and if memory serves, a battery powered headlight you could turn on and off. It is quite possible it was bought used as well. The two rail track was probably 0-27 in size. I don't remember getting that one either.
I had various kiddie train books too so I assume I exhibited interest in the trains that ran through town even before getting the toys and books.
I was probably five when I got my first Lionel train set, an oval of track with the 520 electric locomotive. I do remember getting that at Christmas, and opening the brownish cross-hatched Lionel Electric Trains box it came in. I even remember the smell! It came with a pulp paper 1957 Lionel Accessories catalog in the box which I just about wore out. It said on the cover "Gee Pop, you got 'em." I wanted everything in that catalog! I did not succeed.
I just found a photo of it online; here is the link
http://www.lioneltrainspaper.com/annual/acc1956.jpg
I wish I still had all those trains. And all my Lionel catalogs. But decades later when I was an adult my mom found two complete Lionel trainsets at rummage sales that she got me sort of as joke gifts. She paid $15 for one set (track, transformer, plastic steam locomotive and "chuffing" tender, and two cars plus caboose) and an amazing $1 for another complete set that had a die cast 2-4-2 steam loco. Now and then I set up a Lionel oval under a Christmas tree.
I got into HO in the early 1960s - not sure of the exact year but my first HO trainset was from when Penn Line trains were being sold at close out prices, so early 1960s. Maybe age 9 or 10. I still have three of the Penn Line freight cars but not the F7 or caboose. My dad did splurge on a MRC Ampack which I still have. It probably cost as much as the train set.
I started buying MR in late 1964 and my subscription started with January 1965.
Even after I switched from Lionel to HO I kept getting the yearly Lionel catalogs because they were free and could sill generate powerful reactions -- I was fascinated with the big Berkshire and the NYC F units. I would also get the yearly Tyco catalogs; they remind me most of the Lionel. We are talking mid 1960s here.
I didn't start buying Trains magazine until 1966 or so.
Dave Nelson
I was born into the hobby...so to speak. There were trains under the Christmas tree when I came into the world kicking and screaming. Between the Christmas railroad, my dad's enthusiasm for trains, watching Reading trains in Reading, and riding to Philadelphia on the train with my family...did nothing but boost the intersest. But the magic happened when I was 9 and my dad arranged a ride on a Reading freight train with a locomotive engineer relative of his. That was it...I was sold. My first real locomotive was a Reading RS3. I got the train bug...and it's been with me since. That was 44 years ago. I did rounds with clubs, some RR volunteer work and some time as a RR professional.
The proverbial snowball just kept getting bigger.
I'll probably get buried with my trains...when the time comes. LOL.
Mark H
Modeling in HO...Reading and Conrail together in an alternate history.
Dad set up the Lionel's at Christmas, my uncle set up the American Flyers. I have great memories of those trains.
I eventually went HO.
Also had a wind up Marx. Today dad's trains still run next to the HO.
I got my first trainset for Christmas in 1952 at the age of three. An American Flyer steam loco and several cars. Another set arrived for christmas in 1954, a GP7 and a couple more freight cars. Eventually I accumulated two more locos, a Hudson with sound, a small switcher and more cars before switching to HO. All my AF track had rubber roadbed. My brother got the AF trains. My brother then got my HO stuff when I went into the Army in 1969. My parents gave ALL the AF trains away while I was in the service. I started over in HO when I came home.
I've been retired for 16 years now. I don't have to work nor do I want to so buying a hobby shop is out of the question.
I've liked trains since I was a wee lad. It's no more complicated than that.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
When i was about 4, my father was stationed in France and bought a Marklin train set, and installed it on a 4x8 sheet of plywood... I was hooked.
Marlon
See pictures of the Clinton-Golden Valley RR
When I was very young, maybe 2 or 3, my older brothers were given a Marx train set complete with crossing signals, remote controlled switches and even a station with a whistle. My brothers forbade me from going anywhere near the trains when they were being run. I still remember the frustration!
By the time I was old enough to be able to operate the train my brothers had managed to burn out the motor so the train set had already been packed up and put into storage. Thank goodness nobody threw anything out in those days.
Many years later when I was in my 40s my mother was cleaning house and she asked if I wanted the old train set. Of course I said yes. I managed to find a couple of very inexpensive replacement locos at a swap meet in Bracebridge, and the original locomotive shell fit on one of the drives even though the drive was a later model.
I then threw up some plywood sheets in an 'L' shape and quickly had the old Marx set up and running. Initially I was thrilled, but that soon wore off as I realized that the Marx set was just too toylike to satisfy my interests. When my wife asked me why I took it down after a couple of weeks I told her how I felt.
That was in the fall. That Christmas she gave me an HO Bachmann Hogwart's Express and I haven't looked back. I still have the Harry Potter train set and I have even installed DCC with lighting and sound into it. It will run as an excursion, that is if I can get the lead truck on the locomotive to stay on the tracks. So far, despite checking all the parameters, the lead truck seems determined to try to escape every time it goes over a turnout.
I have to mention that my wife has continued to support my interest in the hobby. I have explained to her how much things cost and she is fine with my spending. Mind you, she sort of has to be accepting because we put in a hot tub for her a couple of years ago and my model railroad spending has yet to come even close to what the hot tub cost. Just as a starter, we had to replace the electrical panel and that was $5,500. The fact that I got the extra circuits I will need for the railroad installed at the same time doesn't count!
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
Bear!
You have to admit that it is much more fun laying (track) with the 2 legged models!
It was my Dad who kindled my interest in trains and model railroading. He was an avid railfan all of his life. He used to take my older brother and me to the train station on Saturdays, while Mom and my older sister stayed at home to clean the house.
It was not before Christmas 1963 when I go my first train set - a Marklin starter set consisting of an oval of tin plate track, a fantasy 0-6-0, a couple of tin plate passenger cars and a Faller kit for a small station building, which was assembled by me on Christmas day. I still have that building!
Each year saw an addition to the rather small start, more track, switches, signals, locos, cars. In 1970, I had accumulated sufficient material to build a small layout in our basement. That layout did not live long - the basement was flooded some years later and whatever remains could be salvaged, were sold. Life got in the way, but the interest never died down. 30 years later, I got back into the active side of the hobby and build another Marklin layout - just for reasons of nostalgia. That layout was sold when we moved house and I have build a number of rather small layouts since.
At the moment, all MRRing is resting, as I am recovering from a stroke I suffered 6 weeks ago, but the day will come when I´ll be able to pick up the hobby again!
hon30critterYou have to admit that it is much more fun with the 2 legged models!
And far more expensive!!!!!
Sears and Roebuck did it for me. Back in 1968 when I was 6 years old, my outlook on toy trains was something that runs in circles until I got bored with it. When I got the Sears Christmas catalog I then realized that I can create a miniature world with toy trains. The catalog had pitures of their train sets not as an oval but some track with background scenery and buildings. I would spend hours looking at the pictures. I think JC Pennys also did the same thing.
Also we went to Sears in Dekalb County Georgia and they had a display of the train sets. It was basically a grass mat with some trees and buildings but it was beautiful sight for me.
I would daydream about building my miniature train empire during school, to the point where I was in my own world. I was always getting in trouble with my teacher and classmates for not paying attention. This problem never went away for me.
USAF (Retired)
I got started when I was knee high as my grandfather had two lionel sets running on a L-Shaped 4x8 table format. Had one running around the edge with a Santa Fe Diesel and the other a figure eight inside running a steam locomotive and I still have both of them today.
I was then given a HO set around 13 and from there I started building, but for the last 20 years they sat in mothballs, but pulling them out know to get them running again.
hon30critter Bear! You have to admit that it is much more fun laying (track) with the 2 legged models! Dave
The trick is to find a two legged model who likes laying track with you - thats a rare find in real life; fantasy - well, they are dime a dozen aren't they? Wife #1 threatened to throw my trains out on the street, resulting in me boxing them up and tearing the layout down and and eventually searching for an upgrade. Wife #2 doesn't lay track with me but is much more train friendly; she goes to train shows with me, makes sure I don't miss any tables, remembers lots of important details. Even this morning she mentioned Tsunami sound to me and smiled and said, see, I pay attention! She does!
How did I get into the hobby?
I guess you could say I was born into it. My grandfather was a railroad engineer and a model railroader. He mainly had HO trains, but still had some of the 3 rail O scale trains. He had a layout in his basement and whenever we would visit, it was always a treat to go down and sit on the basement steps and watch the trains go.
My father had a 3 rail O scale layout set up in the attic of the woodshop side of our house. He was rarely ever home to work on it or to run it. When he tore down the workshop and put the new addition on the house, he never rebuilt the layout, but we always had the O scale train under the Christmas tree....he is 67 years old now and still does that.
I got involved on my own when I was about 6 or 7. On the back of the old Boy's Life magazine, there used to be ads for a company that you would sell X amount of their products and then you could get a toy or item of your choice. One of the items they showed was an HO Tyco Rock Island train set. I got the information and catalogs from the company and sold Christmas Cards and Christmas candles to get that train set. When my grandfather found out I did this to get a train set, he bought the plywood, cut it to size to fit under my bed (about 3'6" x 6') at the time. He used some of his own track and made a loop and wired it and tested it with his trains. When my train set arrived, my Mom called my Grandpa and I was presented with both at the same time. On my next birthday, my Grandpa gave me an ATSF Industrial switcher as a gift. The rest of my youth (until I was about 17) was spent playing with and spending lawn mowing, snow shoveling, and leaf raking money on HO trains! I know I still have the original Rock Island locomotive and caboose and the ATSF switcher, but I am not sure which rolling stock is the originals for that set. In addition to that, I inherited all of my Grandpas HO trains and his first O scale train set.
Trains run in my family....and I have yet to live in a town that has not had an active railroad (as i sit here listening to a UP mixed freight roll through town right now).
Robert H. Shilling II
SP&S modeler, 1960's give or take a decade or two for some equipment.
http://www.youtube.com/user/SGTDUPREY?feature=guide
Gary DuPrey
N scale model railroader
I was at the hobby store yesterday to pick up a screw I needed for a car I had. When I was heading to the front of the store a dad and his young son maybe 4 years old came in. They have a train layout in the store they are selling and they always have things for layouts. When the kid saw the layout he went nuts for it and starting going daddy daddy daddy. You could see the excitment just jumping out from the kid. The dad was like we are here for something else. As I was paying the kid picked up one of the basic n scale sets that just put the track together and plug in and your good. The kids told his dad we will take this one. The dad was no son, were here for the rc car. I wanted to setup a set for the kid. When the kid saw the car i had with me (the one needing the screw) he was like whats that whats that. The moment was priceless to see.
On a sadder note, the hobby store here locally by me it up for sale, owner wants to retire. I hope someone buys it and keeps it going.
When I was really little I had toy trains on plastic track that I really loved. I was also totally mesmerized by the old O scale model railroad at the museum in Chicago. In 4th grade I got a Lionel 0-27 train set for Christmas. It was one of my favorite gifts ever. That was it. There was no turning back, model railroader for life, switched to HO in 9th grade.
I was born in June of 1949. After experiencing the difficulties of buying most things during WW2, with the Korean war at hand, my Dad bought me a small Lionel set before I could walk. He also built a 4x8 plywood layout for us. I still have that original set. I moved to HO in the mid 50's. My best friend in grade school lived in a double. His uncle lived in the other side and had an HO layout in the basement showing me the magic of scale model railroading. I got my first issue of Model Railroader in 1956. By 1960 joined the NMRA and had the privledge of visiting Allen McClelland's original V&O. I was totally hooked!
traintravlerSo, How did others here in the forum start?
Started on my 4th birthday when my uncle and aunt gave me a HO train set with a steam loco, 4 freight cars and oval track already fixed on a board paved with grass and also featuring a bridge. Was a huge surprise because I already knew about model trains before because I was already into trains since I can remember, but never would have thought I would ever own one. So that birthday present my aunt and uncle gave me for my 4th birthday is for sure the best present I ever received so far. You should´ve seen my eyes when I realized what they gave me that day! Unforgettable memories!
My start was with my dad's 1920s Lionel set up and then I got for Christmas a Lionel 027 trainset. That was great. Also, a B&M local went by the house every day. Then in the mid 60s N gauge became my focus and still is today. During that time, I did work for the ATSF for 11 years and then into the logistics business. My modeling now probably is modern era but there remain lots of 40' boxcars and lots of Fallen Flag railroad names on cars amid my stacktrains of 53' containers and unit coal trains. That is how I got where I am.
Ted