what made you get into model railroading?

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by cwclark

because it's fun?

This, and also my cousin had a really cool DRGW layout, which got me into model railroading.

[Anonymous]

I can't remember ever NOT being inot the hobby. My great Uncle worked for the C&NW from the 20's until the late 60's. His father worked for the C&NW from 1892 to 1942. My great uncle owned the duplex we lived in when I was born, and there was a large HO layout in the basement. When I was three, we moved to the suburbs and my dad built a 12' x 24' layout in the basement, and that was there until I moved out when I was about 20. After another 20 years of wandering lost in the wilderness, I finally had a house with a basement and began my own HO layout. My two brothers also had layouts in their houses. Now my son is the next generation of train lovers...

Paul August

[countershot]

I Like trains so that go tme started

[KKEIFE]

When I was 10 or so my older brother gave me a Lionel "Navy" train that had a submarine car, a flat car iwth a helo on it an an operating missle launching car that could fire 4 missles. He set up a basic oval with a secondary track within the oval. He also had about five plastic buildings that made up a city. It also had an operating signal crossing.

I spent hours shooting missles at the town and "destroying" the buildings. It may have been the best gift I ever received for Christmas.

That spiked my interest in railroads as a form of moving goods from one place to another and I rode my bike down to the local tracks to watch trains when I had nothing better to do.

I have also always had an interest in minature villages and the like so that together with my interest in trains and my early train set got me going in the last ten years or so.

[tommann]

MY mom's dad worked as a machinist for CN. My father took my at a very early age for walks in the CNR yards in Moncton NB after Sunday school every Sunday. I fell in love with the steam engines working the yard. I also took the train from Monton to Winnipeg when we moved there in 1945 (7 years old). Shortly thereafter, my dad got me started with 027 Lionel. In high school, I took over a 13 by 13' room in the attic and built an HO layout, subscribed to MRR magazine, and got the bug seriously. The bad news is that after I started working ful time, and got out in the real world, I couldn't find time for trains until I retired last year and was able to start an N scale layout. Now, I'm in my second childhood and enjoying trains once again. :)

Tom Mann,
Littlerock, CA

[Anonymous]

I think that I was just born being crazy about trains. Sure, CP goes through our town, but really I don't think that there was anything major that would precipitate someone else to end up in the hobby. Ever since I was a toddler, all I could think about was trains. My parents tell me about the countless trips they took driving with me just to try to find trains. They joke that the train crews must have wondered how come that car was out driving all the time. I was far too young to remember any of this now.

When I was little, I naturally had various toy trains. My first electric train set was a Playmobil G scale set with a red diesel switcher that I got when I was about 4. Extra track, rolling stock and accessories were added to it.

At the age of 5, I got my first HO set. It was a Bachmann circle set with a chrome Warbonnet F9. It was bought on a trip we took to Minot, ND in the summer. For Christmas that year, I got another Bachmann circle set (CP this time), plus extra cars, track and an Atlas station kit, as well as a piece of plywood covered with astro-turf to set it all up on. My HO collection continued to grow and when I was about 8, my dad built a permanent layout. It was L-shaped and could run three trains simultaneously. Things have just grown from there.

[1shado1]

About 33 years ago my mother told me my other hobby would result in blindness.[:D]

[ARTHILL]

When WWII was over I tired of airplanes and decided to model an iron mine in Minnesota. My dad thought that was cool and bought me an English Yard bird to build. I have been hooked off and on ever since. Just started 4th pike this spring after 25 years away.

[trainboyH16-44]

A combination of Thomas and a Duplo train set. Ever since then, My interst has grown, bacause in my spare time, when I can't golf, it's the only thing to do.
Matthew
P.S. Doctor who on tonight!

[leighant]

Lionel trains, reading Carsten's Toy Trains magazine at age 7, and the neighborhood of Houston where I grew up...

[Paul3]

I was born into it because my father is a model railroader, and has been since he was a teenager. We've always had a layout...it's something that I simply grew up with. Heck, I had a handmade wooden train from my grandfather waiting for me when I got home from the hospital.

I didn't get "serious" as a model railroader until I was 15, when my father took me to a train show at a railroad club. We hadn't been to a show for ages, and I was amazed at the size of the show and the detail and size of the club's layout. We both joined the club that year (I as a junior member), and we're still members today.

Of course, it didn't hurt that the New Haven's old Shore Line (now Amtrak and MBTA's North East Corridor) runs right by my house...

Paul A. Cutler III
*****************
Weather Or No Go New Haven
*****************

[trainchris]

I remember going to my grandfathers house on the weekends to go swimming. At the end of the day when all the adults were sitting around talking, I would sneek down into the basement to his layout and have a blast making his trains go around and around. I always got caught because I would make them go to fast. After he died that was it for some time. My mother took us kids a few times to a place called Turntable Junction ( http://www.brwrr.com/Links/Links.htm ) in Flemington NJ, and the black river railroad system ( http://www.brwrr.com/ ). I then got older and moved on to other things. My brother and I got into car racing for some time but went are own ways as well. I got married,found a house,had a son,and all that good stuff. Now I can't afford racing, also my 5yr son really was not able to be apart of it so that ended. Old memories of my grandfarther's trains never left the back of my head and now I wanted to share the fun of the real railroad, as well as the hobby of MRR with my son. Were working on getting our first layout started now ,while also enjoying the fun of riding the old trains around where we live. Hopefuly one day my son will share with his kids all there is to see,and the enjoyment of riding as well as modeling the rails!! One of the best things about this hobby for me is that its not just an old guy thing ( no offense to any one). I get to spend good quality time with my son, and the whole family in some way can be involved and or get enjoyment out if it.

[TrainFreak409]

My model railroading enthusism started when I was 5 years old, and Santa Claus brough me a Bachmann Rolling Thunder HO scale train set for Christmas. From then on, I have been creating a good collection of HO and now N, with the majority being Bachmann.

My train enthusism I cannot explain anyother way other than I was born like that.[:D] My first words were "Choo choo." I grew up with Thomas the Tank Engine, after my grandfather found out he would take me to a nearby railroad station and we would talk with the conductors and so on. I would read any train book I could get my hands on (That hasn't changed!), and I was constantly drawing trains on everything.

But now, I enjoy model railroading because it gives me time to just get away from the hassles of school, and moving, and stuff like that. I'm only 16, I shouldn't be this stressed out over life. And, add in the fact that there is no limits to this great hobby of ours!

~[8]~ TrainFreak409 ~[8]~

[Anonymous]

Seeing the Long Island Railroads hotshot montauk branch commuter trains go past my house led by GP-38-2's with FA-1 cab units on the rear

And Thomas the tank engine.

[Ibflattop]

Going with Grandma to pick Grandpa at work when I was 4. He worked by the mainline of the N&W (ex- Wabash) thru Ft.Wayne. While waiting for him the trains would go by. I would sit there and wait for the caboose to pass and wave at the guys riding on her. Well Grandma and Grandpa first got me an O27 trainset. We set it up on a 4x8 sheet of plywood in the basement. Three years later H.O. came into the house and the O-27 got put away. From there it has been a hooby of mine along with HW and Matchboxes, Building 1/24th and 1/25th scale autos and trucks, 1/35th scale Armor and Figures, and also collecting 1/6th scale Joes and Dragon action Figures. Wife says when she goes into the basement she goes into the "Neighboorhood Hobbyshop"!!!!!

[Anonymous]

I think my wife regrets buying me that Lifelike train set when I turned forty. She misses having a basement. I also had a Triang set as a kid and my grandfather in England used to scratchbuild cardboard and shellac scale models of British steamers. Super cool!
Andy

[Anonymous]

Going to the LA county fair as a kid and seeing these 2 layouts every year:

North America's largest garden railroad: (it used to be a larger, purely scratchbuilt scale)

http://www.trainweb.org/girr/gjrr/gjrr.html

And this 2-rail O-scale indoor layout:

http://www.citrusempire.net/index.html

Somewhere around that time my Dad aquired a used HO layout, then he got us a figure-8 layout - Tyco or something. We had several attempts at layouts but never got past the track on 4x8 plywood stage.

Hoping to get further this time...

[AggroJones]

Being repeatedly exposed to the SP railyard in Roseville during childhood.

Waching "Tracks Ahead" on PBS during the teen years.

[howmus]

Woke up on Christmas morning when I was 7 to find Santa had brought me a Lionel. For some reason it was all set up and running when I got down stairs. My dad said that Santa brought it like that, but I knew better. My dad always got up at 4:30 in the morning to go milk the cows. He put it together I bet. Every year for the next several years Santa brought me more trains until, by the time I was in High School, I had quite an empire upstairs in an unused bedroom. Then, of course, I found out about girls and didn't do much on the railroad (should I say) for a few years. Went to college, got married, had kids (basically in that order) and got back into the hobby when a fellow teacher and friend told me that Model Railraoding is a good way to avoid the "Honey Do" list and such........... Got out of the hobby for about 15 years after my wife died. Traveled with my Boy Scout Troop to Steamtown in Scranton PA a few thousand $ ago.... Hooked again! [:D]

[MudHen_462]

Because of so many relatives who worked on RR's... L & N, C&EI, Southern, and the Monon. Later on, I worked for the NYC (Indiana Divn., and after the merger... the "Pennyless Central" !

All that got me into model railroading, and then I just never quit liking trains.

Bob

[jeffshultz]

Someone asked as an icebreaker at a gathering, "If you won the lottery, what utterly frivolous thing would you buy?"

My answer was "An SD40T-2... which I'd probably turn around and lease to the power hungry PNWR."

[BillLading]

Always interested in trains. First train ride: Marshfield OR to Ptld. in a sleeper. (Too young to remember.) Subseqent trips when older: Astoria to Ptld.several times, Ptld to Seattle several times, Ptld to Spokane, Pltd to Mpls several times. Worked a short stint for the SP&S. Worked in Traffic for private industry. Received first Marx electric train at 8, then later a Lionel. And then finally had a place of my own with a basement and went to HO. Now retired and President of my own little railroad empire, the CH&C.

[BN U30C]

QUOTE: Originally posted by verse2damax

Because I cannot afford a real one (I'm serious).

A friend.

[Anonymous]

Because I cannot afford a real one (I'm serious).

Anyway, I love making models (Buildings & bridges).

I get a tremendous kick out of seeing those colossal diesels followed by a very long train. This sends me into a frenzied haste to get home and re-enact the days experience.

I also endeavour to replicate those old RS-8 DL-532B that trundles by my house, hauling trains 32 cars long contain acid and bauxite. I want to capture even the most minute details.
Richie

[timthechef]

My Dad used to model HO and when we were kids he built us a large Lionel layout. We moved when I was 5 and I've wanted another one ever since. So I started building my own at 40!

[Anonymous]

Age 5 - first Lionel 027 train set at Christmas
Age 11 - bought first issue of RMC [August 1966] at a hobby store, learned that even adults do this stuff!
Age 13 - first HO train set, started buying Athearn BB's thereafter...

[simon1966]

Had trains when i was a kid. My folks dumped my old trains on me during a house clean out and the bug bit again.

[railroadyoshi]

The MBTA running near my home and the comeplete support from my parents

[Anonymous]

What made me get into model railroading was my first train that I got for Christmas back in the late 60s. The rest is history...

trainluver1