Trains.com

Subscriber & Member Login

Login, or register today to interact in our online community, comment on articles, receive our newsletter, manage your account online and more!

Your Oldest Equipment

7807 views
37 replies
1 rating 2 rating 3 rating 4 rating 5 rating
  • Member since
    June 2015
  • 28 posts
Your Oldest Equipment
Posted by SovietP36 on Wednesday, August 31, 2016 8:28 PM

Here's a discussion tab for you to show off your oldest model railroad equipment-- enjoy!

  • Member since
    September 2012
  • From: Fraser Valley, BC
  • 538 posts
Posted by Rastafarr on Wednesday, August 31, 2016 8:40 PM

My Model Power Sharknose Diesel in CN livery, ca. 1977. Needs a decoder conversion, but otherwise in great shape.

Now for the ten seconds or so it will take for someone to beat me by a mile...

Stu

Streamlined steam, oh, what a dream!!

  • Member since
    December 2004
  • From: Bedford, MA, USA
  • 21,481 posts
Posted by MisterBeasley on Wednesday, August 31, 2016 8:52 PM

This, to the best of my recollection, is my original HO train.

It's all Athearn equipment.  The engine, a GP9, no longer runs by itelf, but it's a sound dummy and runs as part of a consist.

This stuff is from the early 1960s, but the scene is on my present-day layout.  I do have some older equipment, bought used back then, but I can't put a date on it.

It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse. 

  • Member since
    February 2004
  • From: Knoxville, TN
  • 2,055 posts
Posted by farrellaa on Wednesday, August 31, 2016 9:00 PM

This was my first operating HO engine, a 1950's kit for the Mantua 4-6-2 Pacific. (I had some Globe F units that first got me into HO a couple of years earlier)I recently upgraded it to a can motor so I can eventually put a decoder and maybe sound in her. It is still on of the smoothest of my 60 plus engines. I bought it from America's Hobby Center in NYC for $19.95 around 1957 (I still have the original box and maybe the reciept?).

   -Bob

Life is what happens while you are making other plans!

  • Member since
    July 2006
  • From: Bradford, Ontario
  • 15,797 posts
Posted by hon30critter on Wednesday, August 31, 2016 9:06 PM

I have a few old pieces, but the oldest might well be my fleet of four Star Line stock cars. I believe Star Line went out of business in the 1940s. The kits were assembled when I got them (beautifully I might add), but they did require some repairs as well as new trucks, wheels and couplers. They could be more than 70 years old!

Here they are after the rebuild:

This is what they looked like when I got them:

Dave

I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!

  • Member since
    April 2003
  • 305,205 posts
Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, August 31, 2016 9:44 PM

Might be a stretch, since it's less "model" and more "toy" but still pretty old. I have a 1917 Ives set that's been passed down through our family. I'm the 4th generation to own and operate it.

Almost 100 years old and it still runs great!

  • Member since
    January 2013
  • 1,034 posts
Posted by PM Railfan on Wednesday, August 31, 2016 9:48 PM

Nice thread idea!

 

Ole #1....

 

Still shoving cars, 40+ years later and counting. Completely OEM except lube and couplers.

PM Railfan

 

  • Member since
    April 2012
  • From: Huron, SD
  • 1,016 posts
Posted by Bayfield Transfer Railway on Wednesday, August 31, 2016 10:00 PM

How old my equipment is is none of your dang business!

....oh, you mean model railroad equipment.  Never mind...

Disclaimer:  This post may contain humor, sarcasm, and/or flatulence.

Michael Mornard

Bringing the North Woods to South Dakota!

  • Member since
    January 2009
  • From: Bakersfield, CA 93308
  • 6,526 posts
Posted by RR_Mel on Thursday, September 1, 2016 5:32 AM

My oldest locomotive is a MDC Roundhouse 0-6-0 Kit from 1951.  It was my HO starter locomotive at the ripe old age of 14.  It’s been repainted several times, the only thing not original is the cast pot metal main frame.  It took a bad fall in 1992 and lost a front step, a call to MDC and the frame was replaced at no cost.  How’s that for Customer Service!
 
I did add two new couplers and the crew during the last repaint session in 2006.  Runs great!
 
 
 
Mel
 
Modeling the early to mid 1950s SP in HO scale since 1951
 
My Model Railroad   
 
Bakersfield, California
 
I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.
  • Member since
    September 2003
  • From: Southeast Texas
  • 5,449 posts
Posted by mobilman44 on Thursday, September 1, 2016 8:13 AM

I have a lot of Athearn/MDC BB kit cars from the '70s.  With KDs and IM wheelsets, a bit of weathering and a Dull-Cote spray, these cars will last "forever"......

ENJOY  !

 

Mobilman44

 

Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central 

  • Member since
    October 2001
  • From: OH
  • 17,574 posts
Posted by BRAKIE on Thursday, September 1, 2016 8:46 AM

I have a Model Power RS11 that my late wife gave as a Christmas gift in '71.45 years later it still runs and still has its original X2F couplers. I should locate it (its in one of my storage totes) and put in a display case.

Larry

Conductor.

Summerset Ry.


"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt  Safety First!"

  • Member since
    June 2007
  • 8,892 posts
Posted by riogrande5761 on Thursday, September 1, 2016 10:13 AM

With all the old codgers on this forum, I'm sure you've picked a topic that will thrill them and not be disappointed.  Some of them probably have old rolling stock going back to the Triassic period on the geologic time scale.  In my case, I've been selling off a lot of my older equipment and replacing it with much of the newer more accurate rolling stock so I'm not really in the running.  I'd be lucky if I had some old Athearn freight cars from the 1970's at best, but probably 1980's since I didn't get back in to HO until around 1983/84.

Edit: Hold the phone, I forgot about the O-27 Lionel Hudson steam engine I still have as a momento.  I got that for Christmas when I was 4 years old in 1963.  My dad bought it used and I think it was actually a few years old at that point, made around 1958/59.  So my oldest train is the Lionel Hudson - missing some wheels and I am not even sure if I have the tender.  Still, imagine there are some who have items much older than that.

Rio Grande.  The Action Road  - Focus 1977-1983

  • Member since
    September 2002
  • From: North Carolina
  • 1,905 posts
Posted by csxns on Thursday, September 1, 2016 11:08 AM

Rastafarr
Model Power Sharknose Diesel

I have one in the Pennsylvania livery and a matching dummy.

Russell

  • Member since
    December 2004
  • From: Bedford, MA, USA
  • 21,481 posts
Posted by MisterBeasley on Thursday, September 1, 2016 11:30 AM

The ancient Tyco streamliner passenger cars on the left are older than my Athearn equipment above, but I got them all used so I can't actually date them.

I've got 5 of them - 2 coaches, a baggage car, dining car and the observation car.

Here they are after the custom paint job.

It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse. 

  • Member since
    March 2002
  • From: Milwaukee WI (Fox Point)
  • 11,439 posts
Posted by dknelson on Thursday, September 1, 2016 11:41 AM

Two HO reefers which were given to me decades ago as a teen by an older modeler who was getting rid of stuff.  One is a "pure" paper sided reefer with wood floor and roof.   The other is also paper sided (and ended) but the paper is embossed so it looks liked scribed siding.

I assume both are pre World War II.  

Both cars have really nice lettering schemes which is the only reason I still run them.  Detail on the floor is a lump or two of something that I guess looked like airbrake stuff at the time.  The trucks were rather crude and did not run well on NMRA standards track so I replaced them, as well as the Baker couplers.

My oldest running locomotive is also a Mantua 4-6-2 - mine came with metal tender but plastic cab so I assume it is not the earliest run which had a metal cab, but pre 1960 when they went with a plastic tender and perhaps plastic pilot.  It runs very smoothly and pulls like the very Dickens.  Whether I bother to convert it to DCC or not is questionable.  

 

Dave Nelson 

  • Member since
    August 2003
  • From: Collinwood, Ohio, USA
  • 16,367 posts
Posted by gmpullman on Thursday, September 1, 2016 12:50 PM

riogrande5761
With all the old codgers on this forum, I'm sure you've picked a topic that will thrill them and not be disappointed. 

Hey! I Represent That!!

Still, as far as the layout goes I'm with Rio Grande in that I have weeded most of the Athearn Blue Box et al out and replaced them with cars having a slightly higher level of detailing.

This LMB, New York central H-10a represents what is probably my oldest locomotive, 1962 era.

I already replaced the open frame motor with a can motor, then tested with a keep-alive decoder. After I update a few of the details it will be a pretty handsome addition to the roster.

Regards, Ed

  • Member since
    July 2006
  • From: Bradford, Ontario
  • 15,797 posts
Posted by hon30critter on Thursday, September 1, 2016 1:43 PM

S Connor:

I think you might have the record here, so far at least. (I have a cottage that was built in 1910 but it hasn't got any wheels so it doesn't countSmile, Wink & GrinLaugh).

You said it still runs well. How is it powered (i.e. electricity, wind up....)?

Dave

I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!

  • Member since
    July 2006
  • From: Bradford, Ontario
  • 15,797 posts
Posted by hon30critter on Thursday, September 1, 2016 1:48 PM

Neat stuff everybody!

I have a penchant for the older stuff, purely for nostalgic purposes. I don't have a lot of it, but I find it very rewarding IMHO to revive an old piece of rolling stock and get it detailed and running properly.

Dave

I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!

  • Member since
    August 2001
  • From: US
  • 791 posts
Posted by steamage on Thursday, September 1, 2016 6:21 PM

My oldest rolling stock is an "all Metal", 250 ton, Athearn Crane  made in 1951 according to the instruction sheet that came with the kit.  It has operating 3 sheves with cable. Its really heavy too, just like its prototype.

 

 

  • Member since
    January 2002
  • From: Hilliard, Ohio
  • 1,139 posts
Posted by chatanuga on Thursday, September 1, 2016 7:28 PM

For my HO rolling stock, it would be my Athearn Amtrak "SDP40F" (actually an FP45) that I've had since about 1982.  Still runs great as you can see in the video below.

watch?v=SdsQu8yUx M

Kevin

  • Member since
    August 2006
  • From: Franconia, NH
  • 3,130 posts
Posted by dstarr on Thursday, September 1, 2016 8:39 PM

SovietP36

Here's a discussion tab for you to show off your oldest model railroad equipment-- enjoy!

 

This is an Ambroid 1 of 5000 kit that I built in 1963.  Still running on my layout.

This is a pure scratch build I did in 1964.

 

  • Member since
    January 2009
  • From: Maryland
  • 12,897 posts
Posted by ATLANTIC CENTRAL on Thursday, September 1, 2016 10:00 PM

Well, I don't have lot of photos handy, but here are a few:

Varney metal reefer - I have about 30-40 of these Varney metal freight cars, A few not built yet, all from the late 50's and early 60's.

 

Athearn metal freight cars, again, late 50's early 60's, some from my fathers collection, about 30 or so of these as well, again some built, some not yet.

 

Original Globe/Athearn passenger cars, some built, some not, early 50's, about 6-8 of these early ones, and about 200 Athearn passenger cars from the 60's and 70's.

 

 

60's and early 70's production blue box freight cars - these piggybacks have been kit bashed to be more correct - without getting real OCD - about 70 of these piggy backs on the layout.

 

 

 

Lots of Silver Streak wood kits going back as far as the 60's, Athearn metal crane, Roundhouse metal cars, etc.

Too much to even think of photographing......

Sheldon

 

    

  • Member since
    April 2007
  • From: Stevens Point, Wisconsin
  • 112 posts
Posted by arbe1948 on Thursday, September 1, 2016 10:05 PM

MisterBeasley

This, to the best of my recollection, is my original HO train.

It's all Athearn equipment.  The engine, a GP9, no longer runs by itelf, but it's a sound dummy and runs as part of a consist.

This stuff is from the early 1960s, but the scene is on my present-day layout.  I do have some older equipment, bought used back then, but I can't put a date on it.

 

Cool also to see a Revelle engine house and Campbell Swift packing plant.  Lots of other neat stuff from the early 60s that I can't make out.

Bob Bochenek
  • Member since
    July 2006
  • From: Bradford, Ontario
  • 15,797 posts
Posted by hon30critter on Thursday, September 1, 2016 10:40 PM

David:

I love the scratch build!

Dave

I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!

  • Member since
    December 2015
  • From: ROCK ISLAND IL
  • 221 posts
Posted by fourt on Friday, September 2, 2016 1:32 AM

My oldest would be a trainset from ahm from late 70's. still have all the cars i belive. The engine a gp-18 has been repowered with a athearn bb frame and motor.

Modeling on the cheap

  • Member since
    July 2004
  • From: Carmichael, CA
  • 8,055 posts
Posted by twhite on Friday, September 2, 2016 2:13 AM

My oldest would be an Akane 2-8-8-4 Missabe M3/4 Yellowstone given to me in 1966 as a birthday present.  It's gone through some re-building, a can motor and conversion to a "never was" Rio Grande 3900 articulated (Rio Grande actually used these Missabe locos during the winters of WWII, so I'm not THAT far off, prototypically).  The loco is built like a tank, still runs like a Swiss watch and will haul anything one wants to put behind it.  I like it so much I found two more at swap meets.  

 

Tom 

  • Member since
    April 2008
  • From: Columbia, Pa.
  • 1,592 posts
Posted by Grampys Trains on Friday, September 2, 2016 10:35 AM

This Fleischman switcher and work train is my oldest HO equipment. I got this set around 1958.

  • Member since
    May 2012
  • 1,855 posts
Posted by angelob6660 on Friday, September 2, 2016 12:56 PM

The oldest equipment I have is my dad's Silver Streak N Scale train set from Life Like in the early 90s. We no longer have the the box, ATSF F7, caboose, and some other things that came with it. 

I managed to save the Mobile tank car without the bottom half. A gray 50' reefer Bordens, Indian Red Santa Fe 40' boxcar. All of them are missing brake wheels, trucks, wheels, and some other things.

Modeling the G.N.O. Railway, The Diamond Route.

Amtrak America, 1971-Present.

  • Member since
    April 2003
  • 305,205 posts
Posted by Anonymous on Friday, September 2, 2016 2:00 PM

hon30critter

S Connor:

I think you might have the record here, so far at least. (I have a cottage that was built in 1910 but it hasn't got any wheels so it doesn't countSmile, Wink & GrinLaugh).

You said it still runs well. How is it powered (i.e. electricity, wind up....)?

Dave

 
It's 3rd rail electric. I'm an HO guy, so it doesn't get pulled out often, just enough to continue the tradition with my dad and grand-dad around christmas.
  • Member since
    January 2016
  • From: Billings, MT
  • 70 posts
Posted by Srwill2 on Friday, September 2, 2016 4:28 PM

Great thread!  I can't compete with most on this thread, but I still have the first engine (Tyco F3, ATSF in solid blue) that was part of my 1st train set that I received for Christmas while in elementary school in mid 70's. Barely runs, but I will never get rid of it, that engine was the start of it all-40 yrs later.  

Subscriber & Member Login

Login, or register today to interact in our online community, comment on articles, receive our newsletter, manage your account online and more!

Users Online

There are no community member online

Search the Community

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Model Railroader Newsletter See all
Sign up for our FREE e-newsletter and get model railroad news in your inbox!