Arnold, another great topic and great reading everyone's stories.
My story is from Christmas of 1960 when Santa brought me a Lionel 1629 C&O set which I still have as shown below on the 3rd shelve from top.
Looking at the Lionel 1960 catalog this set listed for $29.95. I ran the inflation calculator and that works out to $259.80 in today's dollars. My Dad had a pretty good job working at USS in Gary Indiana but I'm sure that was still a good amount to spend on one toy at Christmas for one of three boys. My older brother had a 1461S set which had a Lionel 6110 steamer, tender, box car, gondola, and red caboose. Between us we had these two trains, a Lionel gateman, a milk car, 2 switches, and a Lionel 1033 transformer. My older brother lost interest in trains but I was lucky to have kept all these through the years. My Dad took a part of our basement and built shelves for our toys and a fold down table we could run our trains on and also run our Strombecker slot cars from another Christmas on. We were very lucky and I am thankful to Mom and Dad that we had what we had.
What I always wanted, but knew was too pricey, was the Lionel ZW transformer. To a small boy of 7 in 1960, that thing was a beast. As most of us that grew up in the 50s and 60s know , usually the only time we got stuff was Christmas and on our birthdays. In addition to trains I also liked baseball, ice hockey, cars and trucks, plastic army men and equipment ,radios, etc. so others things were asked for.
When I got older and back into trains the first thing I bought was that ZW. I was in train heaven and now have 2 ZWs, a KW, and a few more. I always liked the Lionel Santa Fe diesels but chose to buy the Williams Trains reproduction and have added a few more over the years. I have all the trains now I could have ever wished for and really don't need anymore even though every now and then something catches my eye.
My older brother never had any of his toys from his youth so a few years ago I gave him his 6110 steamer set for Christmas. He's not a big train buff but he runs that train around his Christmas tree every Christmas.
Oh, what is my favorite train you might ask... that would be that Lionel 1629 C&O set that Santa gave me back in 1960. In my mind, I can still see it clear as day setting under that Christmas tree on Christmas morning. Brings back memories of Christmas past with brothers and Mom & Dad.
Dean
