What Influenced You?

[Anonymous]

Back in the early 1980's I was living in Denver. I had noticed the Caboose Hobbies on my many trips down Broadway. In those days, the store was about 1/3 the size it is today but even then I wondered if so large a store could really be all model trains. Curiosity finally got the better of me and I went in to check it out. The rest, as they say, is history.
Jerry Smith

[Anonymous]

My dad worked for the SP for 47 years, with the last 22 years (after WW II) being in San Diego for the SD&AE. Our house was a short walk to the SD&AE mainline and I spent lots of time watching 2-8-0's and 4-6-0's pulling freights up a slight grade near 47th street. In addition to taking summer vacations via train, I spent 4 years traveling from San Diego to Ithaca, NY on the Santa Fe, SP, Rock Island and NYC. So, I had a great love for trains early in my life.

After the typical Lionel set as a kid, what got me into model railroading was learning about and joining the Purdue Model Railroad Club at Purdue University as a graduate student. I was fortunate to move to Dallas, TX after grad school: Dallas was and still is a hot-bed for model railroading. As they say, the rest is history .....

Regards,
Lou Adler
The Sierra Central Railroad

[Anonymous]

My dad worked for the SP for 47 years, with the last 22 years (after WW II) being in San Diego for the SD&AE. Our house was a short walk to the SD&AE mainline and I spent lots of time watching 2-8-0's and 4-6-0's pulling freights up a slight grade near 47th street. In addition to taking summer vacations via train, I spent 4 years traveling from San Diego to Ithaca, NY on the Santa Fe, SP, Rock Island and NYC. So, I had a great love for trains early in my life.

After the typical Lionel set as a kid, what got me into model railroading was learning about and joining the Purdue Model Railroad Club at Purdue University as a graduate student. I was fortunate to move to Dallas, TX after grad school: Dallas was and still is a hot-bed for model railroading. As they say, the rest is history .....

Regards,
Lou Adler
The Sierra Central Railroad

[Anonymous]

I was born in Berwyn, Illinois and lived just a block away from the Harlem Ave railroad crossing. Every evening, my grandfather would take my brother and I for a walk down to the tracks to watch the trains. This was back around 1957, so I saw plenty of steam on it's way out and more and more diesel coming in, and loved both. When I was 5, my Dad bought an HO set to go around the Christmas tree, and I basically took it over and kept building on to it. I've been hooked ever since. I still have the original Loco (an Athearn Hi-F drive F-7) and 5 freight cars, and have since added about 60 locos and 300 pieces of rolling stock, and buildings, and trees, and people, and..., and..., and..., ....

[Anonymous]

I was born in Berwyn, Illinois and lived just a block away from the Harlem Ave railroad crossing. Every evening, my grandfather would take my brother and I for a walk down to the tracks to watch the trains. This was back around 1957, so I saw plenty of steam on it's way out and more and more diesel coming in, and loved both. When I was 5, my Dad bought an HO set to go around the Christmas tree, and I basically took it over and kept building on to it. I've been hooked ever since. I still have the original Loco (an Athearn Hi-F drive F-7) and 5 freight cars, and have since added about 60 locos and 300 pieces of rolling stock, and buildings, and trees, and people, and..., and..., and..., ....

[Anonymous]

Rec. with my older brother an American Flyer set with a K-4 Pacific for X-mas. I was 5-6 years old. One of my brother's buddies was working on an H.O. layout in his basement. Seeing how realistic the little Varney 0-4-0 Docksider looked, sold me and it was H.O. all the way. By the way, my Mom bought that loco for me and I still have it! I was into R/C airplanes when I was a senior in H.S. and did that untill 1989, when the train bug hit again.

[Anonymous]

Rec. with my older brother an American Flyer set with a K-4 Pacific for X-mas. I was 5-6 years old. One of my brother's buddies was working on an H.O. layout in his basement. Seeing how realistic the little Varney 0-4-0 Docksider looked, sold me and it was H.O. all the way. By the way, my Mom bought that loco for me and I still have it! I was into R/C airplanes when I was a senior in H.S. and did that untill 1989, when the train bug hit again.

[andyhjn]

when i was about 5 got a lionel diesel set for christmas..my dad was a rental agent in manhattan.one day i went to work with him,we ended up in a high rise buildings basement where some railroad club had the whole basement full with a huge layout .we spent some time with a couple of the guys,they let me run the trains for a while,[:D] the rest as they say is history.andy

[andyhjn]

when i was about 5 got a lionel diesel set for christmas..my dad was a rental agent in manhattan.one day i went to work with him,we ended up in a high rise buildings basement where some railroad club had the whole basement full with a huge layout .we spent some time with a couple of the guys,they let me run the trains for a while,[:D] the rest as they say is history.andy

[1stu11]

My dad had been modelling in O gage prior to WWll and he started me in 1939 at age 6. I still have some of the Varney kits he gave me at Christmas during the war years, and have a number of the old paper-sided cars by Laconia, Comet, as well as Varney still in service. I still use the first engine, a Varney Dockside, that I bought about age 10 or 11. I'm currently building a layout in a spare bedroom that was inspired by an article in the July, 1975 issue authored by your artist Robert Wagner.

[1stu11]

My dad had been modelling in O gage prior to WWll and he started me in 1939 at age 6. I still have some of the Varney kits he gave me at Christmas during the war years, and have a number of the old paper-sided cars by Laconia, Comet, as well as Varney still in service. I still use the first engine, a Varney Dockside, that I bought about age 10 or 11. I'm currently building a layout in a spare bedroom that was inspired by an article in the July, 1975 issue authored by your artist Robert Wagner.

[jimheh]

I was raised in a home next to a Milwaukee Road line. The steam era was just ending and I was fascinated by them.

[jimheh]

I was raised in a home next to a Milwaukee Road line. The steam era was just ending and I was fascinated by them.

[Anonymous]

I was a railfan by age 3 and became a model railroader when I grew tall enough to see the top of a table. I wanted to recreate what I saw in the prototype. This was during Lionel and Flyer's peak years and I always wore out their catalogs. In the last 50 years I've modeled in O, S, HO and N scales, and currently find S scale (not tinplate) the most rewarding.
I think the biggest surprise in present day model railroading is the strong interest in steam locomotives by modelers who never saw steam in regular service.

[Anonymous]

I was a railfan by age 3 and became a model railroader when I grew tall enough to see the top of a table. I wanted to recreate what I saw in the prototype. This was during Lionel and Flyer's peak years and I always wore out their catalogs. In the last 50 years I've modeled in O, S, HO and N scales, and currently find S scale (not tinplate) the most rewarding.
I think the biggest surprise in present day model railroading is the strong interest in steam locomotives by modelers who never saw steam in regular service.

[DragnSlayr]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Bergie

What initially got you started in the hobby of model railroading?

Please vote then share your comments below.

Wife started a village for Christmas, & I told her I needed a train to go around it. Well, it grew & grew. I'm hooked.

[DragnSlayr]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Bergie

What initially got you started in the hobby of model railroading?

Please vote then share your comments below.

Wife started a village for Christmas, & I told her I needed a train to go around it. Well, it grew & grew. I'm hooked.

[walthuston]

My entry is quite unusual, I think. When I was 11 the company I worked for went bankrupt. The owner didn't want to see "the kid" go without anything so he gave me a cardboard box full of used HO scale equipment and some snap track with brass rail. I fooled around with that for a while and found it quite interesting. I went to work for a newspaper next, still 11 years old. After a few months my employer went bankrupt. Because he didn't want to see me go unpaid he too gave me a box full of HO scale equipment and flex track with brass rail. That sealed the deal. I was from that point forward a died-in-the-wool model railroader. I do not have any of that original equipment today, 47 years later, but I am still going strong in the hobby, now in N scale, which I have been doing since 1968. I still dabble in HO from time to time, believing that any model railroader can learn from any other model railroader regardless of scale. All that's required is an open mind, and open ears.

[walthuston]

My entry is quite unusual, I think. When I was 11 the company I worked for went bankrupt. The owner didn't want to see "the kid" go without anything so he gave me a cardboard box full of used HO scale equipment and some snap track with brass rail. I fooled around with that for a while and found it quite interesting. I went to work for a newspaper next, still 11 years old. After a few months my employer went bankrupt. Because he didn't want to see me go unpaid he too gave me a box full of HO scale equipment and flex track with brass rail. That sealed the deal. I was from that point forward a died-in-the-wool model railroader. I do not have any of that original equipment today, 47 years later, but I am still going strong in the hobby, now in N scale, which I have been doing since 1968. I still dabble in HO from time to time, believing that any model railroader can learn from any other model railroader regardless of scale. All that's required is an open mind, and open ears.

[fec153]

NAGGING WIFE. Xmas 91, what do u want? After a week ,just to shut her up, I said
"Electric Train set. Now have 500 pieces rolling stock, 46 locos, 4 trolleys plus 3
special sets unopened-all Ho. 2 sets in "G" and 1 Lionel Ford Motor Co. set. Oh,
and one Bachmann ho-30. Plus some special cars in various scales to denote
special interests. That will teach her to nag.......

[fec153]

NAGGING WIFE. Xmas 91, what do u want? After a week ,just to shut her up, I said
"Electric Train set. Now have 500 pieces rolling stock, 46 locos, 4 trolleys plus 3
special sets unopened-all Ho. 2 sets in "G" and 1 Lionel Ford Motor Co. set. Oh,
and one Bachmann ho-30. Plus some special cars in various scales to denote
special interests. That will teach her to nag.......

[Anonymous]

I am two of the above...My dad was a model railroader, but he also gave me a train set.

[Anonymous]

I am two of the above...My dad was a model railroader, but he also gave me a train set.

[Anonymous]

I saw my first real train when I was 3 maybe 4 years old.A steam engine pulling a freight train on a bridge over a road.

[Anonymous]

I saw my first real train when I was 3 maybe 4 years old.A steam engine pulling a freight train on a bridge over a road.

[Anonymous]

I voted "Other". I live in the most heavily railroaded part of the UK. The coal mining valleys of South Wales. It was inevitable that I should become interested in the subject as there were at least 8 rail tracks across the width of my home valley, a distance of a little over a mile. Bourke A. Le Carpentier, Aberdare, UK.

[Anonymous]

I voted "Other". I live in the most heavily railroaded part of the UK. The coal mining valleys of South Wales. It was inevitable that I should become interested in the subject as there were at least 8 rail tracks across the width of my home valley, a distance of a little over a mile. Bourke A. Le Carpentier, Aberdare, UK.

[Anonymous]

My Dad bought an American Flyer train set (4-6-4 Hudson and passenger cars) the day I was born --umpteen jillion years ago! Obviously O gage. After College and getting married, had to have at least a Christmas train. Bought N scale and the rest is history. Upon retirement, expanded the smaller layout twice and am planning to do it again shortly. Currently have 92 sq ft running DCC --- 22 locos and over 100 pcs of rolling stock. Web site with pix -- www.paonline.com/gngleise

[Anonymous]

My Dad bought an American Flyer train set (4-6-4 Hudson and passenger cars) the day I was born --umpteen jillion years ago! Obviously O gage. After College and getting married, had to have at least a Christmas train. Bought N scale and the rest is history. Upon retirement, expanded the smaller layout twice and am planning to do it again shortly. Currently have 92 sq ft running DCC --- 22 locos and over 100 pcs of rolling stock. Web site with pix -- www.paonline.com/gngleise

[Anonymous]

"Santa" brought us a Lionel set for Christmas when I was about 9. Unfortunately, Dad liked it so much he bought more cars and spent most of the time on it. Then he took me to the home of Carl Mattlin, retired depot agent for the NP at the Bald Eagle Depot. He had an entirely hand-made set in brass that took up the whole attic. Then Dad took us to the St. Paul Union Depot to take my uncle, an NP agent to his train. We saw a huge layout of the Twin City Model Railroad Club.