Hello model railroaders:
Here's a photo of my oldest locomotive. When I was too young to own a such a thing, my father returned from a business trip in Japan with this "souvenir". I operated it on the crude layout I had made back then. Unfortunately, the Hudson derailed on some bad track. (All of the layout was bad track!) It bounced off the layout and onto the basement floor. I did the best I could to straighten out the damage and repeated the process. After about three or four trips to the concrete floor, the engine was not operable. I placed its pieces in its wooden box and went back to my Athearn Hi F engines. It spent a few decades in its box. About 4 years ago, I decided to restore the engine. I bought replacement parts as needed. I removed its paint. Soldered or fastened on the new parts. I rewired it and connected the power. Away she went! I repainted and relettered it. Headlight still works, too.
Now the locomotive has a prime spot on a display shelf. She's 51 years old and counting.
Perhaps other model railroaders will show us their oldest locomotives, too. I hopw so.
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
What an interesting account...thanks for taking the trouble to write it up and to post it. There certainly is a lot of history to this hobby, and there are many still-running locomotives and modelers with stories to tell.
That is a nice locomotive, too. Nice to know that it is restored.
Sorry I don't have a photo (even didn't try to post one at this forum up to date), but I feel that my TENSHODO GN N-3 is one from the 1967 or 1968 run (I have no box and therefore no proof), making it my oldest engine. It still is unpainted, has heavy tarnish, and after some superdetailing work I want to regear and remotor it, and of course it will get a nice paint job.
Is it possible that your nice Hudson is a very early TENSHODO? However, it's very nice to know and see that such an old and nice piece is restaurated and still makes pleasure to someone. Thanks for that posting.
My Youtube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/JR7582 My Flickr Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wcfan/
I have essentially replaced all of the older equiptment. That being said, Im aware of some O gauge equiptment still operating after one or two generations.
I hate to say this but I think my BLI PRR m1a is currently my oldest locomotive.
My oldest is a cheapie Tyco Sante Fe U boat, it still runs as good as a Tyco ever ran, but is not ever in service on the BMRR. I'm not sure how old, its an older Tyco, came in a set that my dad purchased for my brother years ago. I got a Trailer Train auto rack and some other cars that came in the set, the track however was brass and was disposed of. I should have kept the box, I don't know why, but I'd just be neat to see again... Nice story, and I would post pics, but the Tyco isn't worth the trouble of taking a picture of.
-beegle55
English Yardbird. My dad gave it to me in 1950, my first engine. I added the valve gear. It never ran very well and I tried to fix the running gear in 1970. I found what was left of it in 2005 when I started over and I included it in my station scene.
I was about 8 years old when I got this Triang-Minic dockside loco. It was part of a road-rail set that I played with and ended up destroying out of frustration. Things just did not run well.
Affectionately known as "The funny little red one" by my sons, this little chap is pushing 40 years old.
It was actually a cool idea. Small OO scale electric cars drove around on a slot car track. I had an E-type Jag as I recall. The cars could be driven up a ramp and onto a car carrier that was pulled by this little dock sider train. Here is a link to a set that is much bigger than mine.
http://www.tri-ang.co.uk/Minic/layout.htm
I have to say that it was actually a good idea http://www.tri-ang.co.uk/Minic/loading.htm and with what I know about track cleaning now, would probably work quite well.
This little loco came back into my life about 6 years ago when my Dad visited the US and carried it over with him. I have repaired the brushes and got it running. It has the deepest flanges I have ever seen on a loco!!
Simon Modelling CB&Q and Wabash See my slowly evolving layout on my picturetrail site http://www.picturetrail.com/simontrains and our videos at http://www.youtube.com/user/MrCrispybake?feature=mhum
The white loco in this pic is my oldest. It's a Bachmann GP40 that I bought in Germany in 1977. Recently I ripped out the old open frame motor and shoe-horned in a a PPW can motor and fitted a new GP40 shell. As of February it has been in my possesion for thirty years.
Dr. Frankendiesel aka Scott Running BearSpace Mouse for president!15 year veteran fire fighterCollector of Apple //e'sRunning Bear EnterprisesHistory Channel Club life member.beatus homo qui invenit sapientiam
A 1950's varney SW-1200. A real puller of a brute,after being rewired,oiled and painted in DRSC colors.
Heavy die-cast frame,shell and trucks. I love this locomotive,one of the best switchers in the fleet.That is only used for steel mill service and only ventures out of the mill when needed.
Patrick
Beaufort,SC
Dragon River Steel Corp {DRSC}
Fear an Ignorant Man more than a Lion- Turkish proverb
Modeling an ficticious HO scale intergrated Scrap Yard & Steel Mill Melt Shop.
Southland Industrial Railway or S.I.R for short. Enterchanging with Norfolk Southern.
jeffrey-wimberly wrote: The white loco in this pic is my oldest. It's a Bachmann GP40 that I bought in Germany in 1977. Recently I ripped out the old open frame motor and shoe-horned in a a PPW can motor and fitted a new GP40 shell. As of February it has been in my possesion for thirty years.
That loco looks like a SD40. My eyes might be fooling me.
Is the green one a custom paint?
This would be it.
a present from my wife in the 70's
She's gone now but it still runs quite smooth
TerryinTexas
See my Web Site Here
http://conewriversubdivision.yolasite.com/
The lead F7 is somewhere around the half-century mark. I got it in a yard-sale box-o-trains as an early teen, and it was used then. I'm 60 now, so the math puts it around 50. It's an Athearn gear-drive, and it is still running. Sounds like a garbage disposal, but it will pull this whole train with no problems. I replaced the original incandescent with a LED, put on a pair of Kadees and even gave it a decoder. The dummy B-unit came from eBay, and the A on the back is a dummy, too. That one was one of my original belt-drive Athearns.
FYI, the whole passenger train is of the same vintage - early Mantua. Two came from that same box, and the other 3 were picked up on eBay a year or so ago.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Hers's my oldest , I think . A pair of Tyco GP-20's. I got them used from a friend in 1970. Not sure how much older they are. The shelves are three tracks deep, I don't even know whats on the back track. Or in the storage boxes under the layout.
Jerry SP FOREVER http://photobucket.com/albums/f317/GAPPLEG/
WCfan wrote: jeffrey-wimberly wrote: The white loco in this pic is my oldest. It's a Bachmann GP40 that I bought in Germany in 1977. Recently I ripped out the old open frame motor and shoe-horned in a a PPW can motor and fitted a new GP40 shell. As of February it has been in my possesion for thirty years.That loco looks like a SD40. My eyes might be fooling me.
WCfan wrote: Is the green one a custom paint?
Oldest original locos:
1959: Pacific Fast Mail 1950 series ATSF 2-8-0. Bought new. Still running. Dropped a NWSL can motor it it two years ago. Running better than ever.
1960: Akane USRA Pacific. Bought new. Dropped NWSL can motor in it ten years ago. Still running. Trailing truck disintigrated (okay, became un-soldered) in a minor accident last month. Ordered a new Cal-scale truck to replace it. Due in next week.
1964: Akane M3/4 (can't tell which) Yellowstone. Bought new (birthday present) Dropped a big NWSL motor in it 15 years ago, still pulls anything that can be put behind it. Popped some new Cal-Scale castings on it about 5 years ago. Still just spectacular.
1964: Another Akane M3/4. Same year as original. Bought used 4 years ago. Original open-frame motor. Pulls the paint off of the walls. Quiet, smooth. Did some casting changes with PSC (replaced Worthington FWH with Elesco, changed out front pumps). Incredible locomotive, I don't DARE pair it up with the one I got in 1964, the two of them would pull the garage out into the street!
Anyway, if it will post, here's a picture of my two big 2-8-8-4 Hunkers.
Tom
Tom View my layout photos! http://s299.photobucket.com/albums/mm310/TWhite-014/Rio%20Grande%20Yuba%20River%20Sub One can NEVER have too many Articulateds!
My oldest (surviving) lokie is a circa 1958 Gilbert (HO-American Flyer) Gas-Mechanical Switcher, which looks like a small diesel body on a 0-4-0 arrangement since the solid drivers have side rods. It's lettered "Industrial Transfer Service". The mechanism is pretty wobbly now but it runs well enough to be the Master-of-Ceremonies at the golden spike awards.
Sigh!
The oldest in my fleet is one of the following, all of which were me dads!
My AHM 4-4-0 V&T Reno
My Mantua 0-6-0T undec
My Rivarossi 0-4-0t B&O
Gordon
Brought to you by the letters C.P.R. as well as D&H!
K1a - all the way
The oldest member of my fleet that is still operable is a 1984 vintage RS-3 by Atlas/Kato.
This is it in a very early iteration of my Laurel Valley Ry. paint scheme. It has been very reliable over the years, having been repainted into WM livery back in 2001, and a decoder installed just last summer.
It's the lead unit in this consist.
I have many older locomotives (I've been at this since about age 8) but they are mostly in the boneyard box, occasionally coughing up a gear or a chunk of handrail for a scenery project. I never throw anything away!
Lee
Route of the Alpha Jets www.wmrywesternlines.net
Okay, let me see if I understand; this is your oldest locomotive but it doesn't have the original motor or shell. Hum, have you ever heard the joke about Abraham Lincoln's ax?
rayw46 wrote: jeffrey-wimberly wrote: The white loco in this pic is my oldest. It's a Bachmann GP40 that I bought in Germany in 1977. Recently I ripped out the old open frame motor and shoe-horned in a a PPW can motor and fitted a new GP40 shell. As of February it has been in my possesion for thirty years.Okay, let me see if I understand; this is your oldest locomotive but it doesn't have the original motor or shell. Hum, have you ever heard the joke about Abraham Lincoln's ax?
Well for me my oldest loco is not that old any more. Last December I sold my oldest locomotive to a guy that collects old Tyco stuff but it was a Chattanooga Choo Choo GP20. I dont know the exact year my dad brought the train set home but I know it was well before Mt. St. Hellens blew up so I would say 1978 or 1979. We would only take the train set out for X-mas and I would be allowed to play with it till around New Years when the tree came down. I talked my dad into making me a layout when I was about 7 or 8 but that got ruined by some popsicle juice. (I didnt do it and actually the whole thing was left on the tracks and melted into a goo that we could never get off). Again my train was left for the tree in Dec. I dont know when but Tyco came out with the "Turbo Train" you know the one that could climb walls and go through loops and that came with some rubber connectors that allowed me to make some loops and stuff when ever I wanted. That loco seen alot of use after that till it would not run any more. Around that same time my sister had a friend with some Tyco trains that he wanted to get rid of and he gave them to me. In that was another GP20 with stripped gears but a good motor. I quickly discovered how to rebuild these motors and rebuilt my Loco. I only had one good set of running gear for 2 good shells so I would occasionaly swap them out so I could run a different train. (my choices were BN or Chatanooga). At the time of sale the shell of the BN was on the loco but the Chatanooga shell was in the box ready to get the trucks and see the rails again. That train used to sit on my dresser or display shelf even when I got older and moved away from trains. I put it there because I always wanted to build a railroad of my own and that was my inspiration and reminder to me not to lose that dream. Now that I am older and a father of 3 I hope to inspire my kids with the trains just as my dad did for me. Since I sold that engine my next oldest loco is only 4 years old, it is an Athearn BB SD40-2 painted in CSX colors. This loco will be in my fleet for a long time to come and maybe 20 or 30 years from now I will be posting about it just as I have my old Tyco train.
A Veteran, whether active duty, retired, national guard, or reserve, is someone who, at one point in his or her life, wrote a blank check made payable to "The United States of America" for an amount of "up to and including my life."
The oldest engines I have are Mantua 2-8-2s and 4-6-2s from the early 1960s:
I inherited two of each from my father, who built his as a teenager around 1960-61. I bought the others (I "think" I have something like 10 of the 2-8-2s) when I was freelancing in the early 1990s and needed a decent hauler for my coal road. Now that I'm proto modeling, they're all surplus.
Ray Breyer
Modeling the NKP's Peoria Division, circa 1943
Here are the REALLY old ones in my "museum" located over my work table.
My Granddad made a live steamer in the early 1920's. Its remains are on the top shelf sitting on a test track he made for it.
The O guage steamer and HO diesel and coach were made by my Dad in the 1940's. He was recovering from polio at the time and therefore they were a bit on the crude side. The live steam engines he made in the 1960's and 1970's were much more impressive.
As you can see I kind of went crazy spending money on trains in my youth. I worked very long hours to save money for trains. (No credit cards then!)
The Tenshodo Hudson pictured earlier is on the shelf with the NYC F9's (Tenshodo).
The Tenshodo FT's and the GP7 are about 45 years old and the F9's are a little newer. My Rivarossi's are nearly that old too. The Varney bay window caboose is my first model train purchase made by myself with my own money.
I rebuilt the Bowser Pennsy T-1 a couple of years ago adding the super detail kit. At five pounds, and with two motors, it will haul any train I put behind it.
Many of my early trains are long gone including my first Lionel train. My very first HO train was a Flieschmann set my Dad brought from Germany. I was too young for it too and it is also long gone.