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Many years ago, you decided to create that train layout that you dreamed of as a youngster.  You settled on a theme and started acquiring engines and rolling stock that seemed relevant and looked good.  But your house wasn't as big as your vision, so the O gauge items went to storage and a small HO or N layout was built to satisfy the craving.  The years went by and the houses grew, but a road warrior job and a boat for half the year largely precluded basement finishing and layout construction.  Meanwhile, the O gauge item inventory kept growing, sometimes duplicating itself.

Retirement solved the road warrior job problem and a new home with a large auxiliary building solved most space concerns, so the layout design was finalized and construction began.  Three winters of construction work later, the benchwork is finished, the roadbed and track laid, and the wiring has been completed.  Although the layout is far from done - track ballasting & painting, engine facility benchwork & trackage, and scenery projects lie ahead - O gauge trains can be made up and run continuously, if one desires, for the first time since the carpet or plywood sheet layout of one's early years.

So you look at all those boxes stowed under the layout and ask yourself, "what should be the first trains that I run after a functional test?"  Do you meekly run the least of your inventory, since it's an incomplete railroad?  Get out the finest locomotive you own and the fanciest cars for it to pull, because you've waited long enough?  Or just grab whatever's atop the stacks and easiest to unpack?  (And wondering if you subconsciously slowed construction to avoid this decision.)

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Well, when I finally had a decent trainroom, my first step was to just start unpacking stuff and putting it on the first set of shelves I put up, those were in the stairway to the trainroom.

Train Shelves N1Train Shelves N2

Unfortunately, even with all the additional shelves I've since erected, there are countless boxes of stuff under the layout, in the closets, and in the shelves in the garage!  I hope I live long enough to unpack them all!

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Last edited by gunrunnerjohn

Well, when I finally had a decent trainroom, my first step was to just start unpacking stuff and putting it on the first set of shelves I put up, those were in the stairway to the trainroom.

Unfortunately, even with all the additional shelves I've since erected, there are countless boxes of stuff under the layout, in the closets, and in the shelves in the garage!  I hope I live long enough to unpack them all!

I haven't thought about shelves yet ... I begin with the assumption that I have more items than available space for shelves.  Thinking about constructing A-frames on casters that can stow underneath, so that I can have my artist stepson paint vistas on the walls.  Fortunately, I have locomotives, cabeese, and pax cars from only one railroad!

I tried to honor my dad, who got me into trains by running one of the few engines I got from him as the first engine I ran on my layout.  It just seemed appropriate.  I had some hesitation because I was afraid a wiring error might ruin it but it went well.

I think you just need a really long run session and just run them all.

20220908_000710

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Last edited by Raptor Rails

KarlDL, your post tugged at my heart strings.  As a baby boomer, I think there are many like us on the forum who experienced a similar journey through model railroading.  When my wife and I moved 10 years ago from upstate NY to Portland, OR to be closer to our children and grandchildren, a stipulation in our house hunting was space for my "dream" layout. I got a 9X14 room in the basement, and after 8 years, just "completed" it in the fall (are our layouts ever completed?).  I intend to submit an article on the construction of the GFRR - Grandpa's Funtastic Railroad to O Gauge Railroading magazine that describes building that layout after years of vintage items in storage and modern additions.

As to your question, the first train to run when I completed the track work was my trusty Lionel 2026 loco that my Dad gave me in 1952 when I was 5.  Still runs like a charm and puffs O-rings from a liquid smoke chamber I converted from the original smoke pellet unit.  Not only fun to watch, but running a conventional control unit, helped me determine areas of voltage drop to add electrical leads from a bus wire.

I included a photo of the consist, as well as a 1948 Lionel catalog that shows the same - for the bargain price of $47.95!  A relative gave me the catalog from a house he was clearing out for sale that a hoarder had lived in.  I was so excited when I went through the pages and saw my first train!

Enjoy your layout!

Michael

IMG_0619Phtoto 1- 2026 consist from Lionel catalog 1948

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  • Phtoto 1- 2026 consist from Lionel catalog 1948

First, I made sure that all my accessories and operating cars worked. They did.

Next, I ran the biggest engines I had to check clearances. I had to make only one trim.

Finally, I brought out my original set from 1952 with the 2025 K4 and ran it on my freight line, and ran my 9-car aluminum 2500 type cars behind my MPC NH F3's.

And then I sat there and grinned like a fool for over an hour.

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