What was your First O guage engine?

I love it!

I was a late bloomer. Got my from o-gauge train around 50 years old. It was an MTH Premier GP-60 Santa Fe with Protosound.

My first engine was also the Lionel Cannonball Express Set - complete with the plastic truss bridge and a (seemingly) big loop of tubular track.  I got it from my grandfather in 1987 at age 5, and I still love the low-tech chuff sound produced by the wheel in the tender.  I still have the whole set, though the box has certainly seen better days! 

My daughter's first train set will be the pink William's girls' passenger set with the GG-1.  I've already upgraded the GG-1 to proto-2 (Williams and MTH semi-scale GG-1 shells are conveniently identical and easy to swap), I'm installing LEDs in the passenger cars next, and plan to replace the silhouettes with strips featuring pictures of family members.  Should be a good first set and a fun project!

-Dustin

Christmas, 1948 2025 Steam Engine, still running strong. I added a railsounds tender to have updated sounds. Looks good with my original Madison cars.

happy Holidays to all

About 2002 I got my brother in laws Marx 9625 Allstate set with the 666. Still have it. Runs great.

Steve

A Pennsy Flyer 4-4-2!

--Greg

I don't remember my first Lionel locomotive. I can remember all the ones I had but I can't remember which one was my first.

Lionel Rock Island Line 027 Gauge Train Set Special Edition True Value.  My dad gave it to me as a Christmas Gift in 1976 or 1977.  Forward, Reverse or neutral was controlled by a switch in the engine’s cab. 

MPC DT&I Diesel Switcher.

Cesar 

My first engine too. Mine also still runs.

About 1955, a Sakai set from Japan, still have them, still runs well.

Mine was the Lionel Quaker Oats Promotional Set X600. I think it was from 1962? My cousin and I both got one for Christmas. Looks like my grandparents ate allot of oatmeal that winter!!

A Lionel 520 set for Christmas 1957 at age 4 and still have it.

Not sure what a guage is, (gooahgee?)

Anyway, I started off right, Lionel 681 dad bought for me in 1951. Since I was born in 11/52, I wonder how he knew?

1998 - Lionel Alaska set.  Been buying ever since, mainly Lionel Alaska items.  Went in to postwar a few years ago.  Alaska 614 - 681 Turbine & what I thought was Santa Fe 2343 for parts, but turned out to be 2333.  The CW transformer went out last night, brought out the big - old ZW and had the ozone going with the 681 & whistle tonight around the tree.  Popped in a repro smoke pill and had the smoke rolling.

The third one up from the bottom. Christmas 1938.

Wore out the armature bearings. Dad replaced them with "kumshawed" miniature ball bearings (IBM, a great place to work in WWII).

Wore out the tender trucks, replaced with homemade 6 wheeled ones.

Still runs.

The 2353 Santa Fe's from the 1954 catalog, received for Christmas 1954. Here they are on the layout, spliced by a 1990's "Water" B-unit. They are always on the layout, and run often.  

I still have a Lionel engine only (black steam Pacific type that used pills inserted in the smoke stack) from my childhood days.  Somehow lost track of the tender years ago.

However my first purchase was a MTH Railking Milwaukee Road Hiawatha from Jim's Train Shop in Homer City, PA.  Think the price was $420.00  (Jim did you give me any discount)?  No longer have this engine and every futher purchase was always 3 Rail scale.

Christmas,1949 a 2025.

Christmas morning 1987 I found this under the tree.  

A Lionel 2037 steam engine, Christmas 1959, I think.  

- Mike

For my two brothers and me it was a Lionel 2-4-2 with smoke pills and an air whistle in the tender.

I received the following uncatalogued sets my first Christmas from my Grandfather:

And a few extra cars.

I still have them all although they have a lot of play wear.The little 233 steam locomotive still runs and smokes great.

Ricky 

My first O gauge was a Marx windup steam train. I do not remember the set but I do remember watching Mickey Mouse Club on our old Philco. I do have one of the Magikist truck banks.

Merry Christmas.

franktrain

This is Christmas 1958.

My first engine was the Lionel Union Pacific Steam Freight Set in about 1993. I would have been about 2.5 or 3 years old at the time. That means I am approaching 20 years in this hobby. 20 out of 22 isn't bad.

2004 Polar express, it is worn out and is setting on my layout now. I saw the polar express at the theater and t said to my son in law if they made a oscale train like that I would buy it! Just a little seed that turned into a forest..

While not actually "mine", my dads postwar 675 pacific was my first experience with O guage back when I was 8 or 9 years old. I ran out the rest of the life it had and then had an H.O. guage distraction until about 7 years ago. I bought a PE set for around the tree, then started a scale layout in the basement, still in progress.

     My first O Gauge engine was a Marx windup engine and cars (still have them). Then, for Christmas 1950 my father bought me Lionel Set 1461S with the 6110 engine (still have it). This was an inexpensive Scout-type set. I have been into O Gauge (off and on) ever since!

     The motor of the 6110 finally gave up in the late '70's. I found new old stock motors at Madison Hardware back then and 6110 is still running today.

     Next Tuesday will be its 63rd year running around the Christmas tree!

John Knapp

Erie, not Eerie

It was a Marx 444....still have it and I received it 56 years ago!!

Alan

I did not have toy trains as a kid (couldn’t afford them), so there is no nostalgia factor for me.  My father-in-law was very much into Lionel trains and I would help him run them.  However, I never liked the non-scale look of them.  So my first engine was the scale Lionel T-1 Chessie Special.  We had to redo the outer loop of track with O-42 before we could run it.

Ron

A Marx CV set in 1953. 

I was an American Flyer kid, so Polar Express set Berk Jr.  First "real" (US-made) loco is a 646 Hudson I got in October.

Pete

2322 Virgianian FM in 1968 first O gauge Locomotive

56 Minn & St. Louis Minning Locomotive in 1958 first Lionel Locomotive

Christmas 1938, Marx Clockwork 0-4-0 with tender and 2 cars and caboose. Looking back I am suprised that my parents could afford even a wind-up unit.

Not sure what year, in the 1960's, but my dad bought me the set that had a Lionel 235 scout(2-4-2) engine with minute man missile car and exploding boxcar and satelite launching car and 6017 caboose. The set if I am correct was a figuire 8 with trestles for up & over, had 027 track.

Since then he gave me his pre-war sets of Lionel trains, a 224E with three passenger cars, 2460's? the second set was a 249E with a hopper car and a dump car, both sets have the electric operated box & pin couplers.

Lee F.

For me it was a Lionel 2338   

Art

In 1956 when I was 2 my uncle brought me a LV 627 44 ton loco with a gondola, flatcar and caboose.  That set remains on display to this day.  Just lubed the loco for a trip around the layout 2 nights ago.  

My first was a Marx windup freight train, but I can barely remember it--it was prewar and I was only about two. My second one which I still have and it runs great is a 1941 Lionel 229 (2-4-2 Columbia) with passenger cars. I got it while WW II was going on. Two interesting things about this locomotive: (1) it has one green jewel and one red jewel light--I recently saw another 229 like it for sale on ebay. (2) it has a Madison Hardware sticker in cab--they repaired it in early '50s.

Take care, Dick

My first was a Marx windup, then a Marx powered train, then somewhere around 1962 My parents bought the next door neighbors 2036 set for a whopping $10.00. It still survives intact in my collection and runs occasionally.

Rob

Lionel 8304. Part of the Allegheny set.