Yes - the Lionel 2321 DL&W TrainMaster has the strongest association. Some years ago I contacted a childhood friend to ask if he still had any of the trains he and his brother had run on their large layout. He sold me a couple boxes of stuff. I called to tell him I had found a nice N5C caboose that he didn't know was in one box, and that I owed him $10 more. In return, he let me have the 2321 for 2/3 of its value at the time, saying he knew that I would keep it, and not sell it.
That reminds me...
My dad bought a 2321 in the early '70's from a gentleman heavy in the local TCA/train scene. A few years later, we met "Gayland", who would become one of our dearest friends and who was also a train freak. The first time we invited him to the house, he saw the 2321 and just said: "That's mine." He told us what to look for inside the shell and, sure enough, it really was his from when he was a kid. He told us that, in a moment of utter stupidity, he sold it - actually, the entire, original freight set - to the fellow WE bought it from (who ended up opening a successful train shop in town). Anyway, he was okay with it, because he loved us, knew where the engine was and that it was safe - but didn't love that the set had been parted out.
Gayland and dad are long passed. I still have the engine and always will. It's up there in importance with my first trains. (There was a thread recently asking if anyone got more emotional as they got older... yes, absolutely.)
