When I was a young boy, through high school we always had Thanksgiving diner at my grandmothers home in Black Lick PA. We never had room to store my trains. Therefore,my grandmother kept in her attic. Then when we would leave to come back home, we would bring my trains home to Homer City. Over the next few weeks my father would set up my trains. Some years he would install them in my bedroom and some years he would put them up in our basement.
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The photographs are great as are your memories, Jim!! Happy Thanksgiving!
I wanted a train set for so long, but Dad said a train set was too expensive for Christmas. Looking back, he was right. No one in my family got any gifts as expensive as a Lionel or American Flyer train set was in the '60s. He wisely told me to save my money. I don't know how long I saved, but finally I had enough for a Tyco HO train set. One Saturday, we drove from our home in Butler County to Trainorama on Sawmill Run Blvd in Pittsburgh. I bought a set with a green Penn Central F7. The set didn't include a transformer, so I bought a Lionel DC power pack I still have. I was about 12, so it was around 1968.
Thank you for posting!!
Happy Holidays Jim, you had a really nice set up there. Thanks for sharing.
Hope you are having an amazing, nostalgic Thanksgiving, Jim. Being somewhat weird, one of the first things I noticed was the crinkled edges of some of the photos you scanned. Kids today will never understand having to take a roll of film to be developed 
When my brother and I were old enough (around 6yo in the early 60’s), we each got a set of Lionel trains. As we lived in apartments in Brooklyn, NY, we didn’t have room for a layout, but my dad got a 4’x8’ sheet of plywood that could be put in storage for most of the year and it had two ovals of track (mine was the bigger Super-O!!!). Although I don’t run them anymore, I fortunately still have both of our first sets.
Thank You so very much for sharing those pictures and your memories with us. They are wonderful.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family.
Frank
Awesome historic thanksgiving photos! Happy boy, Flyer and plasticville warms my heart!
Jim, Mark, Apples55,
Thanks for the pics and the nostalgia. Great way to start the day! I went through a long waiting period as well, before my parents spent what was a small fortune on a Lionel 027 set, which I still have. That was also back in the day when tinsel was lead or aluminum, either one of which would short out the rails!
Great photos Jim! One thing I lack is photos of my childhood in general. Many years ago, my mom had family photos of my brother and me in a plastic bag that my dad mistook for garbage, and they got thrown away.
My trains as well as my dad's trains only came out during the holidays until we started a true layout in the huge attic of my house when I was 12. My dad would run his 1464W 1951 UP Passenger set around the tree. Always a treat. My first set, a 1975 or 1976 Tyco ATSF starter set came less frequently occasion, but it never really got use until the permanent layout was built and even then, my first act was to repaint it into awful paint schemes. I still have the two cars and caboose from that set, but you wouldn't know looking at them!
Again, thanks for sharing. Great memories.
Hi Jim and team,
Not only were the trains expensive, but the pictures were too, especally for the flash bulbs for indoor shots. Most of the time, indoor pictures were taken during holidays and birthdays, sometimes a roll of film would have three events on them (Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years) and the roll may not be developed until May. As a result, I have no pictures of the layout that my dad built for me for Christmas 1959.
So, Jim you are fortunate to have pictures of your layout! Thanks for sharing.
@GG1 4877 posted:Great photos Jim! One thing I lack is photos of my childhood in general. Many years ago, my mom had family photos of my brother and me in a plastic bag that my dad mistook for garbage, and they got thrown away.
My trains as well as my dad's trains only came out during the holidays until we started a true layout in the huge attic of my house when I was 12. My dad would run his 1464W 1951 UP Passenger set around the tree. Always a treat. My first set, a 1975 or 1976 Tyco ATSF starter set came less frequently occasion, but it never really got use until the permanent layout was built and even then, my first act was to repaint it into awful paint schemes. I still have the two cars and caboose from that set, but you wouldn't know looking at them!
Again, thanks for sharing. Great memories.
Sorry to hear, Jonathan, that your family childhood train photos were not preserved. They can be such a treasure. I suggest that you focus on the fond memories you have of those wonderful moments in your life. Such memories are also a treasure.
That picture of you at the end of your layout could be me too. My father worked for IBM in the shipping department and at that time In the 1950’S IBM computers were boxed with 3/4 x4 x 8 sheets of plywood. My father got one of the drivers to drop off two 4’x8’ and a 4’x4’ sheets at my house after a delivery. That was my first layout for my first AF train set that I got for Christmas. I always say it was a high-tech layout because it was built on a computer Box. I wish I had pictures of my layout.
Jim,
Thanks for the pics of your early trains, we got American Flyer in 1952, they were expensive but my folks were generous with their kids at Christmas. I to wish we had pictures although ours, a 4-6-2 with four red passenger cars, was set up on the carpet.
Ray
Two very interesting facts. When I went from Flyer to Lionel, by using 0-42 track, My new Lionel layout was exactly like my old Flyer layout. I have never owned a Lionel post war engine.
I've got tons of photos of the old Lionel layouts from the 50s. Unfortunately, facebook locked me out and I have no way of posting and it is 3 rail Lionel.
Jim, thanks for sharing those wonderful photos. I never knew you grew up a "Flyer Guy!" Merry Christmas in advance!
@DL Brunette posted:Hi Jim and team,
Not only were trains expensive, but pictures were too, especially for flash bulbs for indoor shots. So, Jim you are fortunate to have pictures of your layout! Thanks for sharing.
You are right, DL. Its amazing that people today, who can snap away picture after picture on their phone or digital camera have no idea how carefully we had to budget the film (& flash bulbs) we used & judicially choose each photo to be taken. We never knew how the photos looked until getting them back days )or weeks) later!
Jim,
Mine is a similar story to yours! Looking at your photos it is pretty evident that you were already planning for Jim's Train Shop!
Norm
I definately knew what I wanted. I wanted a store. I have a lot of fine memories but unfortunately not many pictures,
Wonderful photos and stories! There should be the old guy "I remember when..." forum. Memories of past Christmas/Holiday seasons are why most of us over 60 still love trains. My prize train possession was bought by my Grandfather on Christmas Eve in 1935-37. It is a 4 car O gauge American Flyer Zephyr. It came with 4 rails. He saw it running in the window at the Burlington Railroad office on Michigan Avenue in Chicago. They said it was not for sale. He said "Everything was for sale!" He came home on the Rock Island that Christmas Eve with it all basically thrown in a box.
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