Train Virus

[Master of Big Sky Blue]

I was always highly suceptable to the train bug.

When I was two years old. Dad took me down to the old train depot and we stood on the platform and watched trains go bye.

we stood right near the yellow line, and the train came through doing about 50 (or so he says. I was to young to remember) and instead of being scared and wanting to go home. I was utterly facinated.

Then when I was 4. he brought two bachmann sets home from work. And the rest is history Now I have 120 locomotives. over 600 cars and more track and buildings than I can use at the moment.

James

[Anonymous]

I had a Lionel set as a kid but to my pappy it was a toy and we never did anything with it; by the time I was an adult I had lost complete and total interest in it.

Then, in May, 1962 the Air Force (read: SAC) sent me to Vandenburg AFB in California for a four week specialized computer maintenance training course - being 22 and still a little on the wild side I took along 4 weeks of partying money - and I did - then they extended (read: stranded) me for another three weeks to act as an observer for a missile shoot.  Was out of partying money so got myself two cartons of cigarettes to tide me over for the three weeks and went by the exchange to get me some reading material.  Picked up two or three pocket books and guess what else I bought at the newstand?

Don't remember the names of the pocket books; don't remember whether I ever even read them or not; do know that I read the July, '62 MR and RMC; read them - and read them - and read them. They are temporarily residing in a storage box in my train room while I go through a sorting and reorganization operation.

The AF ultimately cancelled one of the weeks of my extended TDY and ordered me home to my regular duty station in Washington state.  Had I have known my TDY was only going to be two weeks in length I would probably have contented myself with the pocket books - and I probably wouldn't be up here on the forum right now. 

[on30francisco]

I got infected with the train virus in 1964 when I got a big Lionel train set. Unlike bactreia, you can never get rid of a virus. The virus I got has multiplied exponentially and mutated into a Large Scale, narrow gauge type with detail-oriented genomes and some remnants of an On30 protein shell.

[corksean12]

i was raised watching thomas the tank engine, and could hum the themesong before i could count to three.I still think the thomas the tank engine layout is one of the best layouts there is. the skarloey railway was the best.

[chessiecat]

I got the virus when I was 5 yrs. old in 1954. My Dad used to take my brother and  I to the B&O mainline in Martinsburg W.Virginia and park along the tracks. The mallets pulling the coal trains where amazing. The smoke and cinders would fly and we would laugh, the first diesels we saw we were afraid of at that time. They just didn't sound and look right to us. I also fell in love with the I-12 Wagon Top cabooses, they were a welcome sight bringing up the rear of the trains.  Jim

[Anonymous]

027 Lionel in either 1950 or 51. took two hands to hold the engine of course I was only 4 or 5. Picked up HO in 1970 or 71 and still there. Phil

[RRTrainman]

Got a RELAPSE when I got hooked on DCC and Gadgetmania!! Worth every penny and every minute of time. Long way from Jersey City and the 027 around the tree!

RELAPSE!!!  I never could get rid of it.  It started at 6 year old with a old Tyco HO train set.  It was a Tyco train set and yes I still have it and IT STILL RUNS!!!  That old F-7A still pull a car or two.  My virus quadroopled about 17 years ago.  Its a thing that just doesn't go away.

 

[claycts]

I still have it after all these years

K

:O)

Got a RELAPSE when I got hooked on DCC and Gadgetmania!! Worth every penny and every minute of time. Long way from Jersey City and the 027 around the tree!

[Budliner]

I still have it after all these years

 

 

K

 

 

:O)

[Anonymous]

Dating myself--five years old at the 1939 World's fair -Union Pacific model railroad display-Treasure Island, San Francisco. WOW!

[Texas Zepher]

Its a virus? I thought it was some genetic thing aquired before birth. As far as I know I was building a loop of track around the top rail of my crib before I could do anything else for myself.

[wallyworld]

Marx NYC steam around the xmas tree in 1953

[Train 284]

When my dad built me an N scale railroad for my 3rd birthday!

[Budliner]

wow so meny of us got this thing
well we live with it


:O)

[easyaces]

Got the bug back in "79" when my son was born. His grandpa went hog-wild and went out and bought over 500 bucks worth of HO equipment, dropped it at my house, and told me to build my new son a layout. Have'nt been able to shake that darn persistant bug yet!

[Anonymous]

My virus started when my family would go to town on Friday nights and Sears had their Christmas Lionel display set up. No body put up a better display in Columbus, Ga in the fifty's. Phil

[emdgp92]

Let's see... I remember going to the Amtrak station here many times in the late 1970s / early 1980s with my mother to pick up my grandparents. They hated flying then, and the train was the easiest way to go to my aunt's house in Philly. Imagine being a kid in the train station then. Because the station was falling apart, it seemed dark and mysterious. In fact, I remember parking the car under the dome out front, walking (or driving--you could get a car down the hallway, and park in the former waiting room!) But, what I remember most was the noise! I still remember the diesels--they were huge, and loud! Amtrak still ran E units on some runs, but the F40s (even louder!) were becoming more common.

As if that wasn't enough, my great-grandmother lived about 100 feet from the old Monongahela main line in Waynesburg, PA. Most nights, Grandpa and I would go down there and watch the coal trains speed through town. What a change from the slow NS drags of today!

I think that's what all started it. I got a Bachmann Chessie set in about '82 or so...and it went from there.

[Budliner]

QUOTE: [i]Originally posted by jxtrrx[/iwhat loco is that? Wow. I like.[:)]

looks like the crescent limited
but the bumpers on the front looks like its from the UK
someone know's

thanks guys for making this a great thread


K

[Anonymous]

Got a Lionel HO set in 1964 (sound familiar?) Added Varney F-units in 1969, and Tyco power in 1976. Ran the snot out of that stuff, so much that in 1979 we tore that layout down, and found that some of the curved sections of rail had the railheads almost worn off!!! Got married in 83 and went to n-scale on a sheet of foam under the bed, always worried that the steeple on the church might poke through at the worst time![:p] Went back to HO in 89, and will stay there til I'm old and decrepit.
I guess you could call this ferroequinitis ! The ex-wife might have called it grounds for divorce, frankly, I just call it fun![;)]

[GAPPLEG]

Didn't catch it till I was 22 years old, believe it or not. When I got hired at GE out of the service, to build Locomotives, what a stupid job I said to myself. After about a year I became obsessed with them, and have been since. Now 58 and still working at GE.
Built all kinds over the years started with U-50's for the UP 23's 30's 33's 36's. Now have a job working on computers here but still like my choo-choo's.

[jxtrrx]

QUOTE: Originally posted by bush9245

A picture is worth 1000 words. As a small boy standing on the station waiting for the train and seeing one of these come in. No one would be brave enough stand up close to the edge. But the virus was contagious.



I feel sorry for the kids today. They can only see these specimens in "captivity" preserved. Not running free like they did when I was a youngster.

John, I'm going to show my ignorance and ask what loco is that? Wow. I like.[:)]

[tomikawaTT]

My parents infected me early - my first Christmas (age 5 months) with a Lionel 027 tinplate (literally!) train. I teethed on a box car.

Chuck (who is presently drawing Social Security)

[Anonymous]

A picture is worth 1000 words. As a small boy standing on the station waiting for the train and seeing one of these come in. No one would be brave enough stand up close to the edge. But the virus was contagious.



I feel sorry for the kids today. They can only see these specimens in "captivity" preserved. Not running free like they did when I was a youngster.

[1train1]

Grew up 1/2 block from an industrial line. - got my first N scale Minitrix set for a Christmas present . - Grew up/married and bought a home on the CN mainline- joined two MR clubs and spent waaaay too much $
Still haven't shook the virus.

[jbloch]

(1) My dad's Lionel 027 train set--that I steadily added to.

(2) Frisco freight and passenger trains ran thru downtown in my home town in Missouri--I rode the last passenger train through there(Rolla, MO) --ca. 1966 or 67.

Jim

[jeffrey-wimberly]

It was a Lionel train set that I got in 1964 that did it for me. In 1966, my dad built me a simple 4x8 HO layout with 2 mainlines, and interchange and 1 spur. One train was OO scale made by mantua and the other was HO scale made by Bachmann. Can anybody remember when Bachmann wasn't made in China? I can. The HO layout was finally trashed in 75 and I didn't really do much for several years after that. In 79 I got a HO trainset, just to mess around with, and it snowballed from there. The old mantua OO loco finally bit the big one in 83 when the motor shorted out. The Bachmann had gone to the trash can years before that. A friend got me hooked on Athearn in 81 and I've been using them ever since. Recently, I bought two LifeLike Proto2000's (a GP30 and a PA2) and I've been very happy with them. I expect that this bug will be the end of me someday, but if you can't enjoy yourself, what's the use of living? I'm currently working on a new layout (HO of course) that is 2 track, a mainline and a shorter branchline running in a loop inside the mainline. The two of them will be able to interchange rolling stock and share spurs and siding. It's strictly analog block control for now but I think I've been bitten by the DCC bug. I am seriously considering changing to DCC in the near future. I'm going to start with the Bachmann EZ command system to get the feel of it, then take the plunge with a better system, possibly Digitrax, when I can afford it.

[jwils1]

I was infected at the little Santa Fe station in Planada, CA about 1940. My friends dad was the station agent and we played around the station a lot. A lot of real hobos around the tracks in those days.....very interesting characters!

Jerry

[dgwinup]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Budliner

I caught it when I was at the Boston-Museum of Science, Museum had a layout and thats all it took in 1979 I loved it

what was it for you

My Dad worked for the MoPac for several years. Bought Lionel trains after my older brother was born. There was always the Lionel set-up when I was growing up until I took it down to make room for HO trains. The Lionel stuff is all gone, but I still have most of the HO stuff.

Great picture of Citgo signed. Darn near lived under that sign while going to college (BU). Remember the crowds of people in Kenmore Square when the Red Sox clinched the penant in '67!

Those were the days! Thanks for the memory!

Darrell, all teary-eyed with memories, and quiet...for now

[Anonymous]

Playing with my dad's Marklin HO trains when I was a kid. And riding the Nut Tree Railroad at the now-defunct Nut Tree in Vacaville, CA. Oh, and listening to a cool cassette tape I had of classic steam trains.

[Medina1128]

When I was about 4, my dad put a Marklin trainset on a sheet of plywood. Then, when I was about 8, a Lionel set for me and my little brother. He spend more time playing with a robot, and I played with trains. But, then again, when we grew up, I got into drag racing, and he played "geetar". I came full circle in the 80s when my son was born and we built the Medina Valley RR short line based on the Southern Pacific. Now, I'm modeling the Clinton-Golden Valley RR based on the "Screamin' Eagle". If you have to ask, ya just have NO clue...LOL