Loved your post Gerry.......it reminded me so much of my childhood, and our first "train-set". I was one of seven children born in the early 1950's, so there was not a lot of spare money to go around.
My father brought home a little "Buco" 3 rail "O" gauge train set (1955) that included the Swiss electric loco and two tinplate passenger carriages. There was enough brass 3 rail track to make a small oval, and a funny looking "Hag" transformer. I also got that same instruction.... that I was not old enough to operate the train-set on my own, and it must be under the watchful eye of my father.
When I left home and finally got married, my mother said the train-set should be with me after all these years. It still remained boxed-up in its original carton, and I hadn't played with it in many,many years. When we moved to our present house (14yrs ago) my wife said she had never seen this train running, and was sick of moving the box (stored in the top of a wardrobe) everytime we moved house.
Out of some sort of curiosity, I set it up on the dining room floor and, low and behold, the little loco fired-up and ran around the small oval track straight away, after being neglected in its storage box for over 50yrs. Childhood memories came flooding back to me of my father and me on the lounge room floor watching this little tinplate train running around the small oval track.
Long story short, I now have an incredible "Buco" layout in my 3rd garage, (amazing what a disposable income and no children left at home to feed, cloth, and educate will allow you to do), and I am told by the Buco fanatics in Switzerland I probably have the largest "Buco" "O" gauge collection outside of Switzerland.
Like you said Gerry.....you're never too old to play trains!!!!!!
Peter on the sunny Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia.
