Do you remember the day you received your first train set? The day when it all began? I still have vivid memories of that day which coined my life a lot! It was Christmas 1963, when Santa brought me my first train set and a Faller station kit, which I assembled the same day - my first kit ever! The trains are long gone, but I still have that station building I built as a 7 year old.
Over those more than 50 years, the little building has turned into a precious treasure for me.
Do you also still have treasures of your model railroading past? I´d like to invite you to share them with us!
Quite a few years before I was born (1964) my father bought some American Flyer trains for my older sisters. He'd set them up under the Christmas tree. When I got to be about 8, we built a 13' x 8' L-shaped layout in the basement. So there really wasn't a single moment, like getting a Christmas present, that suddenly sparked my love of trains. They were always there.
I still have those AF trains, but they've been boxed away for quite a while.
Steve S
I copied my post from yesterday on the topic of: A question for old timers.
It certainly would make this thread more interesting, if you could include some pictures
Unfortunately I think most of the pictures of each layout we built over the years have been lost in various moves. I do have an 8mm home movie of me at age 2 running trains. We had no room for a permanent layout so we set it up every year from Thanksgiving to New Years. Personally, I always thought it could have just stayed there, all it really did was displace the furniture to the side a bit, but it did alter the viewing angle to the TV so my Mom would never buy into that. I think if asked privately, my Dad would have wanted it to stay too. Most of the equipment was stuff my parents had from before I came along, when they had a large layout in what ended up being my room at our old house. I do remember my first train set, that was truly mine, a Tyco Sante Fe F unit freight set. Even thought he layout was up down in the family room, it did get set up on the dining room table for a little while, until I took it all down stairs and just ran it on the layout. I think I was about 6 that year. When I was 9, I got to have a small permanent layout, in N scale this time. Set it all up after we took down the HO holiday layout, but it didn't last long. That Spring my Dad passed away and for a while I was having nothing to do with things that reminded me of him. Come that Thanksgiving though I managed to haul half of the old layout from the basement where we stored it and got it running, determined to have the tradition continue. The other half, which had the large and heavy mountain on it, I just couldn't get up the stairs by myself. After that, i switched back to N scale again and had a 2x4 layout for a couple of years until I switched yet again to HO and built a 4x8 in my room, which had been enlarged. I ran that for a while until I went back to N with a 3x6 in place of the 4x8, which was the last layout I built until after college.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Sir Madog It certainly would make this thread more interesting, if you could include some pictures
As an Air Force brat, I was rather lucky in saving a few things considering all the moves, weight limits and stuff I had to dispose of that didn't make the cut. This included my only (so far) contest winning model, a station scratchbuilt down to the hand-cut battens per a plan in an old MR building plan book. It won first place (structures? youth?) in a model RR contest held at a base somewhere near Frankfurt, (West) Germany circa 1972.
I patched it up, lit it, and gave it a foundation as the Hesperus station on the layout.
Most of my MOW train is similar vintage, now repainted and lettered for the Rio Grande.
Sometimes things are gone and all you have are pictures. They may be iffy, but they're better than nothing. Here's a pic of a Monon RS-2 from '70-'71, when we lived on the south side of Bllomington and the Monon switched cars in quarry to mill service practically in my front yard. This was one of the things that really cemented my interest in the hobby.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
My first train set was a G Scale New Bright steam locomotive that was battery operated.
I'm trying to remember how old my brother was, probably 2 in 1991? during Christmas. I can't remember if I was 4 or 5 years old but I remember it. It had a 2-6-0 steam locomotive with two cars and a caboose. It ran on a remote control.
Amtrak America, 1971-Present.
Gosh Mel! Your story could almost be mine! After first receiving a Marx clockwork set in the mid-50s, I got a Lionel O-27 2-4-2 steam set. It was later set up in the basement on a 4 x 8 with a run down one wall to a 4 x 4 turn around loop. My Dad also made track out of sheet tin-plate that was recovered from a car in the RR yard where he worked. I never saw how he made it, but he had built a fixture out of some steel drawer rollers that somehow shaped the rail. These were then attached to hand cut hardboard ties in 18" or so lengths. It's so long ago, but I recall everything working well. I could loop around the 4 x 8, head out down the wall run and come back, then back up on a track to turn around on the 4 x 8, then head out again. So fascinating back then!
Bob Bochenek
Ulrich,For me it would be the first Hobbytown RS3 I built when I was 11 under my dad's supervision. I was very proud of myself when this engine turned out to be a very smooth runner. The hardest part for me was forming the handrails.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
Got my first American Flyer set, a steam locomotive, freight cars and track in 1949. In 1957, a Baldwin diesel locomotive and freight cars were added. This is a scene from a small layout that I created a few years ago in my basement.
Rich
Alton Junction
Nice pic Rich!
In the early '50s I got a Marx set, but as I hit 11 or so I lusted for Lionel - but there was no money for such expensive toys. At age 12, I got a paper route, and that Christmas bought a Lionel set - 0-4-0 loco work train set. Soon a layout was built in the dingy basement under our grocery store, and it developed into a 20x8 set-up. I got a Burlington GP7/9, and a few more cars, and would buy plaster for $.05 lb at the local hardware store.
Oh, I confess that one of the sheets of plywood - a 4x6 - was a "borrowed" road sign stating "Road Repairs - sorry for the inconvenience - Richard P. Daley , Mayor". Yes, I quickly covered that up with green and brown paint.
When I hit 15, I traded the lionel for HO, and am still there (also with a Lionel postwar collection). I've had a few HO layouts and one N, and they have all been fun for me. BUT, the most fun I ever had with a layout/trains was with that Lionel set-up from '56-'58!
ENJOY !
Mobilman44
Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central
Here are a couple of Polaroid scans from when I lived in Omaha, NE, in the 70s.
Tom
Life is simple - eat, drink, play with trains!
Go Big Red!
PA&ERR "If you think you are doing something stupid, you're probably right!"
Lots of neat stuff, Rich and everyone else.
Tom,
I used to have a building like the machine shop that is just right of center in your first pic. I think it was one of the items that didn't make the cut to return from Germany.
Found some more pics of some rolling stock. First is a caboose built on the frame of IIRC an AHM bobber.
The T&SV wasn't much on paying for the skills of a real sign painter to letter their stuff
Some passenger stock of obvious origin.
And a AHM RS-2 for power.
mlehman Lots of neat stuff, Rich...
Lots of neat stuff, Rich...
Rich,
Is that some form of snap track or something else?
mlehman Rich, Is that some form of snap track or something else?
I believe the first train set I saw was around when I was five years old. I kept asking for a train set for Christmas for years without any luck (much later my mother thought they were way more expensive than they were). In early grade school I often traded toys with other students, and worked my way up to trade for a basic Louis Marx set with an oval of track. I mounted this on a 4' square piece of hardboard, placed on an old kitchen table. Added a 4' by 8' table, and a few other extensions by the time I was 14.
Don't have any photos of the earliest set ups, but here I am in 1958:
Kept with the Marx gear for a few years, then changed to HO scale. Lost interest later in high school and sold most of the stuff off. Picked up the hobby again around 1983, made several pairs of modules with our local club. Have been collecting and dabbling in On30 for about 10 years now, don't have anything running though.
It has been fun and interesting!
Bob Boudreau
CANADA
Visit my model railroad photography website: http://sites.google.com/site/railphotog/
My entry into our hobby came in the form of a toy train (think Thomas the Tank). It was definitely my favorite toy (I was three), and it saw hard use, so I no longer have the original. I do, however, remember the face on the engine and the gray plastic track. These were my only clues, so imagine my surprise when I found it on that auction site. The trains are from Child Guidance, and I am now a proud owner of a base set.
We did have a train around the tree in my early years, but I cannot recall scale or make. I do remember the cardboard buildings my father made, and wish I still had them, as my father was not a train guy. He put a lot of effort into those simple buildings.
The first electric trains I remember that were "mine" were Tyco and Bachmann. I do still have a couple of those...
Chris Ballinger
Modeling the Clementon Branch of the Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines in HO scale
My introduction to model trains was very traumatic! In fact, I think I can rightly blame my current state of craziness on the experience.
My first exposure to model trains was to be told to keep my hands off my brothers' Marx O scale (027?) train set. I was about three years old and I watched for hours as they ran trains, but they never let me handle the throttle (or at least that's how I recall it - I may be exaggerating). Boy did I want to run that train!
By the time I was old enough to be allowed to run it, the motor was burned out. Of course, that added even more to my psyhcopathic (sp?) tendancies!!!
About 30 years later my mother asked my if I wanted the set. If not it was headed for the garbage. I gladly accepted it and, thanks to a train show in Bracebridge, Ontario of all places, I was able to get a couple of locomotives. Shortly after I had a bunch of various sized plywood sheets cobbled together in the garage and I was running trains!!
Unfortunately, the toy like qualities of the Marx equipment quickly turned me off. After all that angst and lusting I was disappointed. More mental trauma!
Anyhow, to make a long story short, my lovely wife gave me Harry Potter's Hogwarts Express in HO for Christmas and I was happy! In other words, I got my first train set (that was truly mine) at about age 40. I haven't looked back, especially at the bills I have incurred since then.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
I also had some of those plastic toys with the grey track that had the round tab on one side and round slot on the other to use as "rail joiners". I remember also that the tab would eventually break off.
Moving ahead, the 7 year old is now 17 and a senior in HS. For her 16th birthday she asked for, and we bought, an HO trainset. The one we built at my house now fills my entire 2 car garage. It was converted to DCC long ago, even Thomas and Hogwarts Express. There is now another grandchild, an 8 year old male, who LOVES Papa's train and who has added a TARDIS. He also has the original 36 six inch circle in his room.
Lackawanna Route of the Phoebe Snow
That's depressing. The first half of my post disappeared.
Trying again:
Like most of us my first train was a Christmas present in the early '50s. An American Flyer S gage. That lasted me until I got a morning paper route when I was 12. One of my customers had a wonderful HO layout in his basement which I walked by every morning when putting his paper at the top of the stairs by his kitchen door. (How many adult delivery people would do that today?) It even had a trolley that ran in the street. It inspired me to use my paper route income to change to HO. That lasted until I went into the Navy.
That was the end until I had grandchildren. The first two (4 and 7) were big Thomas the Tank Engine fans. I bought an HO Thomas set for them with a 36 inch circle of track. It went over much bigger that I expected, so I bought the Woodland Scenics River Pass for Thomas to run on and helped the eldest construct it. Early on in the construction, the old memories came flooding back and we added 4 switches to the track plan for future expansion.
Moving ahead, the 7 year old is now 17 and a senior in HS. For her 16th birthday she asked for, and we bought, an HO trainset. The one we built at my house now fills my entire 2 car garage. It was converted to DCC long ago, even Thomas and Hogwarts Express. There is now another grandchild, an 8 year old male, who LOVES Papa's train and who has added a TARDIS (Dr. Who). He also has the original 36 six inch circle in his room.
I don't have any memories of the 'Magic Moment' that I got bit by the train bug. My Dad was a big HO fan and there was always a layout in the basement, so no trains under the tree. He also belonged to the local train club, which I barely remember.
We lived 6 houses away from a B&O double track that came from Cincinati O. I don't remember live steam, but I remember seeing the steam locomotives being towed, probably to the scrap yard. They made a lot of noise even without steam. Clanging and banging. I played on those tracks, putting my ear to the rail to see if a train was comming. Putting a penny on the track and waiting for a train to run over it was cool. The penny became almost the size of a silver dollar. Once or twice a day a train guy (conductor?) would hammer a square object to the track by the ears on each side of it. When the next train came by, the square thing would explode with a loud bang. Cool.
I guess trains have been a part of my life since day one.
South Penn
PS: My Dad worked for Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton, the locomotive builder. I guess we were a train family too.
SouthPenn Putting a penny on the track and waiting for a train to run over it was cool. The penny became almost the size of a silver dollar. Once or twice a day a train guy (conductor?) would hammer a square object to the track by the ears on each side of it. When the next train came by, the square thing would explode with a loud bang. Cool.
Watch out for those pennies. Tried it a couple of times and they flew and got lost. The last time I tried it, the thing smacked me square in the forehead. When I got my wits about me again, I still couldn't find it Wisely decided to quit that...
That square thing? A torpedo. Not for kids, but still pretty cool. Not sure if they still use those. Anyone know?
RR_Mel He got the machine shop where he worked to make a die of an O gauge rail. It consisted of a solid metal bar of about 10” long by 2” x 1¼”, the machinist cut a grove down the center of the bar the width and depth of a Lionel rail. He made a metal “T” section that would drop down in the slot. MY Dad would cut up tin cans (food cans) to form several strips of tin about an inch and a quarter or so wide by 10” long inches long. We would place the tin strips over the slot and drive the “T” into the slot with a hammer forming a U shaped rail. We would trim the bottom edge leaving a slight flange and used carpet tacks to nail the rails in place. We made “joiners from ½” wide strips of tin in the die then squeezed them enough to slide into the rails and solder them. That’s how I learned to solder at the ripe old age of 8 by using a baseball bat sized soldering iron and solder dipped in acid to make a solid joint.
He got the machine shop where he worked to make a die of an O gauge rail. It consisted of a solid metal bar of about 10” long by 2” x 1¼”, the machinist cut a grove down the center of the bar the width and depth of a Lionel rail. He made a metal “T” section that would drop down in the slot. MY Dad would cut up tin cans (food cans) to form several strips of tin about an inch and a quarter or so wide by 10” long inches long. We would place the tin strips over the slot and drive the “T” into the slot with a hammer forming a U shaped rail. We would trim the bottom edge leaving a slight flange and used carpet tacks to nail the rails in place. We made “joiners from ½” wide strips of tin in the die then squeezed them enough to slide into the rails and solder them. That’s how I learned to solder at the ripe old age of 8 by using a baseball bat sized soldering iron and solder dipped in acid to make a solid joint.
Julian
Modeling Pre-WP merger UP (1974-81)
fieryturbo Oh man, this is a great story. That is some serious work. It just proves an article I read awhile back that said we couldn't beat our grandparents in a war. I believe it. Hard times make for hardcore people, and thems was hard times.
Have fun with your trains
I recieved my first train set when I was around 7 years old. I remember very little about it except that it was either a 240 or 260 three rails ( the type of rails that had tiny rods sticking out theat slid into the next rail. Plastic and it two or three cars and a caboose. LOVED IT. But what really got me hooked was a friend of my fathers had a HO F unit. He let me hold it and I couldnt believe how heavy it was, how detailed it was - it was beautiful !!! From that point on I have been hooked : )