My oldest Loco. Please post yours, too.

[0-6-0]

Hello What great locomotive. I have a mdc 0-6-0 from 1940-45,varney f7a 1945 and some rolling stock from the 40's.All my dads stuff and they still run..The 0-6-0 needed some parts but runs great now. I also have 3 more varney's 2 from the 40s 1 from the 50s .I have a 0-4-0,0-6-0 w/tenders from the 60s or early 70s a riv big boy from the 70s. I like the vintage trains. Fix the track and put up a safety wall so it wont fall and run it.Frank

[Texas Zepher]

AHM 4-4-0 V&T Reno

Wow me too.   I got mine for Christmas when I was in the 4th grade (1966).  That is real brass on the smoke stack, sand and steam domes.  I still have it and the MRC Ampack II that I got at the same time.   Actually I don't know that it is the oldest locomotive in my fleet, but it is certainly the first locomotive that was truely mine, not a handme down.

[Sturgeon-Phish]

All my engines are Gilbert American Flyer.  Here is a pic of a few.

My oldest is a 310 (with brass buttons) and a 300 both from '46, and a few 302's, 350's & 300's from the late '40's and early '50's

Jim 

[Texas Zepher]

My oldest is a 310 (with brass buttons)

As in brass button pickups for three rail track?  I had a Pacific that was so configured, but sold it a long time ago when my mother told me to get "rid" of the trains.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

my mother told me to get "rid" of the trains.

My parents found out long ago that them there are fightin' words.

[johncolley]

Depends if you mean oldest type or longest owned, eh? My oldest type is a pair of BLI NW2 switchers, then an ABBA set of Stewart FT's, followed by a pair of LL GP7's. I have had the geeps for around 10-12 years, the FT's around 5 years, and the switchers for about a year. They are all DCC/sound and I still have to convert the geeps and am strongly thinking of Lok-sound. jc5729 John Colley, Port Townsend, WA

[oleirish]

These are my oldest locomotives,there both old round house Shay kits,one was an three truck that I converted to A two truck,the other is an two truck,they both have been worked over some,they have can motors,flywheels and extria dc pickups in them,They both run noisy and slow but are  relieable.One is 25 years old and the other about 20 years old.There HO.

 

JIM

[Beowulf]

My oldest loco is a 1946 lead Varney Dockside switcher which still can run with its original motor and gears but spends most of its time on display.

Early in 1946 my father and I ballasted "our" (I was 5 at the time.) tinplate layout with rock salt.  Summer humidity would condense on the basement floor and, needless to say, by the end of the summer all the track was useless.

At that point "we" changed to HO and purchased the Dockside and a handfull of rail.  My father began cutting ties from pine boards with hand saws and I assembled some buildings out of cereal boxes (Kix?).

A mantua Mikado followed in 1947.  It commited suicide when its frame warped in the 1960's.

A zink Varney F-3 followed in 1948.  It still runs but has gone through a number of mechanisms.  Originally, it had a belt drive using pulleys with three different diameter groves allowing a choice of gear ratios.

In spite of all their limitations, those ancient locomotives, carefully planned for and purchased one a year, were in a way, more satisfiying than all the goodies available today.

[twhite]

These are my oldest locomotives,there both old round house Shay kits,one was an three truck that I converted to A two truck,the other is an two truck,they both have been worked over some,they have can motors,flywheels and extria dc pickups in them,They both run noisy and slow but are  relieable.One is 25 years old and the other about 20 years old.There HO.

 

JIM

Jim:  Here's to you, guy!   I've got one, about 20 years old, and it IS noisy and slow, but it's so darned reliable, and it'll outpull my new Bachmann spectrum 3-truck (which I like, BTW) about two to one.  Still got the original Pittman, but I'm going to drop a NWSL into it in the near future and re-work the gears.  But boy, is it a little workhorse! 

Tom

[Anonymous]

my oldest engine is one of the models produced 1939 and 1945-46 engine but i dont know which one. the number model is 224.

68 years!? The best I can do is a L-L GP38-2 I got with my first layout Christmas 1987. It doesn't run. I dummied it.

[fiatfan]

Here's my oldest.  It was given to me as a gift in the mid '60s.

Tom 

[oleirish]

Thanks Tom,are't they fun to run,I've built ten old type log cars and scrached an bobber cobosse for them,The log loads are sticks I found around the yard,They are an kick to run!!I re-motored mine with Atheran SW-1500 motors With one flywheel re-moved,sure is'nt much in side room for DCC so there still DC,and thanks for the come back!!

JIM

[IRONHORSE77]

My oldest locomotives are 3 Pennline Midget switchers and a Varney brass Berkshire.

I've had them since the early 60's.

The Varney needs rebuild but the Pennlines are up and running.

Chuck

[Cannoli]

My oldest loco, which I will try to get pictures of later today, is my great grandfather's old Athearn Hustler, which I believe is from the late 60's. It still runs, like a rocket, and is painted in NH livery. I also have an Athearn RDC that belonged to him which still runs but needs new rubber bands for the drive. This is also painted in NH livery and is from the same time period.

[oldyardgoat]

I'm a computer dummy, too . . . and I just moved last year, so my engines are still in boxes. 

I'm in N-scale, and my oldest engine is an MRC Nickel Plate 2-8-4, circa, 1969.  It still runs, albeit not real well as those early N-scale motors were still in virgin territory.  Only a few months younger are two Atlas USRA light 2-8-2s, which still grunt along.  Oh, and there is an MRC Y-6 2-8-8-2 of the same vintage that is probably the healthiest of the bunch.  What a contrast to my just purchased Athearn 4-6-6-4 DCC sound machine!  Wow!

Ardenastationmaster. 

[Anonymous]

Art,  I LOVE those Yardbirds!!  My father started us on the model RR adventure with one of them back about the same time you got yours.  I have it restored on our shop layout today.  If you ever decide to restore your little guy, please look us up.  I carry all of the original parts for them, as well as other parts for John English's models.  www.yardbirdtrains.com

Dan Bush - Yardbird Classic Trains

[chartsmalm]

My Dad's name was Marvin Malm.  He was the Admeasurer of Vessels for the US Custom Service, Southern District, California.  During the war most of his work was with the many ships built at LA harbor for the Merchant Marine and Navy. We got into the hobby just after Pearl Harbor, so there was lots of scratch building. But, Ray's Hobby Shop in Long Beach, CA was a really big store.  Ray had a good inventory going into the war period, so we were able to get some stuff.  He probably had the largest shop in Southern California, at the time. I am not quite sure how Dad met Gordon Varney.  It might have been through the defense work that Varney Screw products did - or it might have been through Ray, at the hobby shop.  Anyhow, after the war the Varney company got back into production. The Dockside Switcher was one of the early entrants, as I remember.  One day Dad came home with one of them and said that Gordon Varney had given it to us.  I never had the pleasure of meeting the man. This Lil' Joe Dockside dates to approximately 1947.  It is still running today on my layout, after motor refurbishing by Dan Bush at Yarbird Classic Trains. I would attach a picture, but can find no way to do so in this forum,

[challenger3802]

Mine (pictured below) is an original boxed Hornby Dublo 2-6-4T, my Grandfather would have purchased it around 1950-1960.  It still runs perfectly but will never transfer to DCC, it's just too delicate for that.

 

Ian

[gtwmtclemenssub]

My early years were filled with Blue and Yellow Santa Fe A/B F-7s.  The A is powered and has taken the all-too-familiar track-to-floor trip a few times during the early days of its 40 year life.  Believe or not it still makes the trip around my present layout, with more than a handful of cars behind it - there are usually great memories of the early years of model railroading with my dad.

[Darth Santa Fe]

My first engine was a Life-Like N-scale F40PH. It's actually a very nice runner.

I'm not sure which one's my oldest, but the ones I'm pretty sure date back to the early 60s are a Mantua Big Six 0-6-0, a Mantua/Tyco F7A, and an Athearn Hustler.

Here's my oldest.  It was given to me as a gift in the mid '60s.

Wow! An Athearn 0-4-2! You don't see those very often anymore!

[loathar]

My oldest loco is almost brand new. A Tyco/Mantua Heavy Mike that was produced in the mid 70's. I found the kit brand new at a LHS about a year and a half ago.

The ones I've had the longest are a SW 1500 and GP 38. Both Athearn CP Rails that I bought in the mid 80's.

[Occupied Block]

Hi everybody,

My oldest and one of my most favorite locomotives is the Marx Santa Fe #21's Double AA's, (Say what you will all ye rivet counters!) , these locos are almost 50 years old now, and they still fly around my layout! They've endured many years of play, a basement flood, and occasional abuse by my non-model railroading childhood friends, and they still look good, and run like the proverbial bat outa h.e. double hockey-sticks! Marx Rules for fun and durability - even today!

[Rosenblad]

Hi!

 My oldest loco is a Tenshodo F7 AB bought in Japan in 1957. It was painted Southern green but in later years it was redone in Union Pacific colors. It never was a brilliant runner! Now it's stored somewhere in the attic.

 Tom

[Tilden]

That would be my first loco.  A 0-4-0 Mantua tank switcher circa 1958/9.  I still have it and converted it to run on DCC.

 

Tilden

[railroadinmedic]

I don't have a pic of it at the moment, but it is one of the popular bachman Sante Fe engines of its time, that was my Dads, and he handed down the set to me.  It is at least 45 years old (Somewhere around 1960 model, or older), and the best part it that it runs like it was made yesterday.  I will try to post a pic later.

[peepsight38570]

dont have a photo but my oldest engines are athearn rubber band driven and varney also had some diecast hobbytown locos .  still wish i had my lionel locos from when i was a child more than 50 years ago.  they may not run as well as the new locos but they sure bring back memorys. also have rdc athearn rubber band drive

[Rich Lauty]

    I have and still operate, a Mantua Goat camelback 0 4 0 that I built in 1940. The locomotive was powered by a 6 volt motor. After world war 2, motors became 12 volts and Mantua replaced my 6 volt for a 12 volt for $1.

[blueangel]

I have been around the hobby a long time, The two oldest locomotives I have are a Varney dockside from the late forties and a PENNLINE Reading Crusader from 1949.

The Dockside was my fathers. The Crusader I got as a box of parts. Both are still operable.

Ray

[fiatfan]

Wow! An Athearn 0-4-2! You don't see those very often anymore!

It was originally a 2-4-2.  I could never keep the front truck on the rail so I took it off!

Tom 

[SteamFreak]

The oldest HO scale loco I have is this American Flyer 1950's Hudson.

 

This first shot taught me not to run it at full throttle. Nearly asphyxiated me:

The oldest loco I own is my father's AF S scale Hudson, but I didn't fire that up since I plan to breathe tonight.