THe First Display You Viewed

  Grandpa's layout was first. My own train around the tree my fist Christmas would be #2 (I guess it was under my crib before that...??? that I don't recall, but I do recall a lot of my first Christmas.

  The earliest two Christmas displays were in a big Sears, and an early local mall for Lionel, and the mall Woolworth's [or Montgomery Wards?] for Marxs tinplate, and a few shop windows in Wyandotte, mostly vintage tin. I dont really recall when, but Me and Gramps hit them all in one day ending at those window displays after hours

 The only dealer display I've seen was the elevated hwy & moving traffic (#?) tattered but worked. 

Grandpop had a circle of Std. Ga around the tree when I was a wee tike, but my first big commercial layout would've been the Choo Choo Barn.

bluelinec4 posted:

First display I saw was at a&s department store in Brooklyn.  I was immediately hooked

oohhhhyeah, we can believe that!  Ther's hooked and then there's "blueline-hooked."!!! (Or should I have said, "Ben-hooked"?)

FrankM

Traindiesel posted:

Since I had trains before I was born, the first display I probably saw was the Christmas layout in our basement that my Dad and Grandfather built.  After that I saw my cousin's layout in his basement.

The first commercial layout I ever remember seeing in the 1960's was the layout in Philadelphia's Wanamaker's Department Store downtown.  It's the layout that now resides at Nicholas Smith's store.

I would have to say that the Wanamaker toy department layout was probably the first layout I ever saw.  My parents would take my brother and I down town, Philadelphia, to see Santa.  While Gimbals, Lit Brothers and Snellenbergs al had a toy department, Wanamaker had the biggest and best.  

I couldn't wait to ride the monorail.  That depended on how ,such patience my parents had at that point in the day.  The line for the monorail was always long.  

Sure, I remember.  It was in late fall of 1951.  My Dad took my 3-year-old self to see Balshis Hardware (hence my username) in eastern Pennsylvania.  They had a big operating layout with racks of display shelves behind it.  I couldn't believe what I was seeing -- I thought I'd died and gone to Heaven.

Dad pointed to one of the locomotives clattering around the layout and asked if I liked that one.  I nodded dumbly, too mesmerized to put anything into coherent words.  Little did I suspect that Lionel 2026 and its freight cars would follow me home, to appear beneath the tree on Christmas morning.

And yes, I still have it all.  The 2026 usually lives on our coffee table these days, but come Christmas, it'll be downstairs on my 3rs layout, carrying on the tradition yet again.

Thanks, Dad!

Miketg posted:

I remember the Swissair display in NYC very well, two large mountains connected by a long bridge and a village in the valley below. Across the street at the KLM Dutch Airlines offices they brought in sections of the Madurodam display from the Hague. Large scale old Dutch buildings, absolutely magnificent. Luckily I had the opportunity to see the real exhibit in the Netherlands in 2016. Both exhibits have influenced my activities in the hobby ever since.

I also remember the Swiss Air Layout on 5th Avenue. It had two trains going in opposite directions and when one would arrive at the station in the front of the layout, the other train got a green light and took off. Back around 1989 I found out that this layout had been donated several years earlier to Bear Mountain State Park for use at their annual Christmas Festival. The gentleman in charge, Ed Dyeroff, knew I was into trains and wanted to know if I would help to get it up and running for the following Christmas Season. He actually offered to give me the layout if I would agree to exhibit it at the festival. I arrived at the administration building and we hopped into Mr. Dyeroff's pick-up and headed down to the warehouse on Iona Island. What was to have been wonderfully exiting discovery turned out to be a huge disappointment as the layout, over the many years it had been stored there, had been destroyed by careless workers moving it from one side of the warehouse to the other to get at other stored items and the piling things on top of it when things were returned. What was left were crushed pieces of the two Styrofoam mountains with some Maarklin track still attached, but missing was everything else. 

I posted this a while ago in a different thread, but I think it applies here:

One of the moments that is etched into my memory, and has fueled my interest in the hobby, was when my dad took me (at 7 yrs old) over to a gentleman's house to pick up a ZW he had listed in the paper. Once there, he invited us down to his basement layout room.

The steep wooden steps creaked as we descended into the basement. My chin hit the floor as we turned into the layout room. At first, my eyes couldn't look any further than the ocean of black postwar steamers filling up a group of yard tracks. In reality, it was probably about 20 or so, but at the time, it may as well have been 1,000 ironhorses stamping their feet in the stable, eagerly waiting their chance to strut around the layout.

As he stretched the legs of one of the steamers around the pike, there were crossing arms that danced, blinked, and bowed in homage to the puffing black beauty pulling along a streak of silver passenger cars. A gateman popped out to see what all the commotion was about, but quickly realized all was fine, so he retreated to his cozy little shack.

A beacon light swirled and scanned the room from the top of a giant green mountain that soared above my ear to ear grin. Then the loco emerged from the tunnel below where I chased the express down the mainline straightaway.

The gentleman gave me the chance to push a few buttons, and flip the the levers of some turnouts, while he told my dad the tale of surviving his 4th heart attack. There were real railroad signs on the wall next to shelves of F3s and rolling stock. I thought to myself, this guy has life figured out.

All in all, it was a thrilling experience that gave me dreams to take back to our ping pong table oval with passing siding. Over time, and likely because of overtime, my dad was able to periodically pick up a used train or old box of tracks to keep me going.

I probably would have been somewhat interested in model trains without that visit, but the visit was truly an inspiration to a young buck like me at the time. Even today, I'm hoping to recreate that same awe inspiring moment for my own kids to enjoy with me, and carry with them for the rest of their lives.

JD

prrhorseshoecurve posted:

My first  Toy train display was the Swissair Display at Rockerfeller center during Christmas Season back in the early 1970's. I used to be glued to the window watching the Marklin HO trains go from the Village up and into the mountains. I have to find pics of that.

The next displays were of late 1970's Christmas Season and taing trip up to Bear Mountain where they had a winter wonderland and displays of the Swissair layout as well as a tinplate standard gauge layout.

And the first FAO Schwartz store on the corner of 59st and 5th Ave where 1/2 the second floor was dedicated to lgb and marklin trains and their display layouts.

Mark,

If you find photos of the Swiss Air Layout please share them! I too was one of the people glued to their windows on 5th Ave and 49th St. I was probably in my 20's at the time and was often dragged away by my friends anxious to see the tree.  

I too remember ogling the Swissair display as a youngster during Christmas-time visits to the city in the 1970s!

My first strong layout impression was the gigantic HO setup in the basement of St. John's church in Stamford, Connecticut. My first O gauge layout was the previously mentioned display at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.

For first Christmas display, it would be a bank not far from where we lived on Woodland Ave. in Philadelphia.  They had a large window with a platform that would be used for all kinds of bank promotions, and one year a bank premium for opening certain accounts was a Tyco Santa Fe set that had a figure-8 over and under, double A units and freight.  The set was set up and running, and they had one in its boxes behind it for the display.  I remember that like it was yesterday, and probably cemented my love of the Warbonnet scheme.

I still buy Tyco Warbonnets if I find them at shows and they're a good price.

For display overall, it would have to be Choo-Choo Barn in Strasburg.  It blew my mind when I first saw it, and still love it to this day.

My first recollection of a train display was the Lionel Super O Showroom Layout at 15 E 26th St. To a 4 year old this 16' x 32' layout seemed large beyond comprehension. I remember trying to figure out the routes that each train was taking around the layout as they disappeared underground, into tunnels, and crossing the river. It was pretty spectacular.

The first Lionel display layout I remember seeing was the D-164 (1956) that was in T.R. Hermans train shop on Sutphin Blvd. in Jamaica, NY.  My dad used to visit this shop frequently, and I always looked forward to a subway (elevated) ride on the Liberty Avenue elevated line and subway to East New York, the big elevated complex there and then on to the Jamaica Line to Sutphin Blvd.  Once at the store, the owner would turn on the layout for me and I was literally hypnotized while my dad did business.  Once in a while, my dad would drive his car instead of taking the subway, always a great disappointment to me.  Little did I realize that when he drove, he was picking up trains that he had previously ordered (Santa always brought the trains - this was how the elves did it!).  I was always too busy watching the trains careen around on the display layout to pay any attention to what was going on right under my nose.  The owner always gave me a new catalog when we visited, and early in the year after Christmas, he would give me his copy of the Lionel Advance Catalog, a collection of which I still have.  Of course, there was the Lionel Showroom in Manhattan which was the ne plus ultra of displays.  I only remember the Super O layout there.  They always gave me a catalog as well, and once I received an engineer's hat!  Closer to my home in Ozone Park, Friendly Frost (an appliance store!) had a larger D-165 display.  I liked that one so much that I eventually built a reproduction of it!  Oh, to buy one new today for under $300!  

Was at a furniture store where my folks were going to purchase our new couch/ their bed combination for our two room apartment. The store had a pretty big, to a little kids eyes and mind, layout plus Lionel products for sale.

The main thing I remember is the kid operating it wouldn't let anyone touch it, just him. I've since been told he most likely grew into the stereotypical Post War collector where stuff is never run Glad to say many of my "Post War" friends run things and let their kids, though not like modern train folks who run everything!

The John Wanamaker monorail, now in historic Memorial Hall in Philadelphia’s Please Touch Museum, made its rounds of the eighth-floor toy department from 1946 to 1984 before the ingenious merchandising tool was nearly destined for the salvage heap.

The Buhl Planetarium, the predecessor to the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh, PA. 

The Planetarium was the home to the large Lionel model train display that we would visit every year. Yes, there were displays in the Kaufmann’s and Horne’s Department Store windows, but it is the Model Railroad and Viilage that I remember most. Thank goodness it’s still around. When we get into Pittsburgh for the holidays, we try to go. 

http://www.carnegiesciencecent.../miniature-railroad/

- Carl

Carl:

Thanks for sharing.  I clicked that link and was pleasantly surprised to see that the modeling on the display is actually pretty darned good.  Look at this photo of the "Crawford Grill":

I think that neon sign is first rate, ditto the amber color of the lights within.

Fun.

Steven J. Serenska

The first very large Lionel train layout I saw was in 1955 at a department store called Raus, I was five at this time and my mother would take me shopping and a bus ride to the city business district . The department store was art deco with large display windows the train set was in this window viewed from the outside. From 1955 through 1960 it was always an anticipated event after Thanksgiving to go downtown to see the city Christmas decorations, the decorations of the stores and the annual Lionel train display.

The city business district was about about 12 city blocks from where I lived, when we turned 7 my friends and I would walk on Saturday mornings after Thanksgiving to watch this display. Many times we would walk the East and West bound EJ&E train tracks as a shortcut, both tracks shared the same embankment, if a freight train  was approaching we went on the other main track after checking that no train was approaching us, if both mains were occupied we climbed down the embankment, once clear we returned to walk the ties to or from the city business district. The "J" at this time used the orange and green Baldwin center cab locomotives, the two street grade crossings , restricted speed, and the locomotive horn always gave us warning of an approaching train, the vast majority of times we  received and returned waves to the train crew as we watched the train pass, reflecting back in time maybe we considered the "J" freight train our full sized Lionel train set.,      

Buffum's Department Store, Long Beach, California, Christmas season, 1954.  They had a Lionel layout and there was a twin unit Western Pacific F3, power was from a KW transformer.  A man who was standing next to my mom, seeing how interested I was, gave her a business card from a man named Tomkins, who had a large Lionel hi-rail layout in a building attached to his garage, and he ran a Lionel service station.  We visited his layout on many Sunday drives with the whole family.

Carl Peduzzi posted:

The Buhl Planetarium, the predecessor to the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh, PA. 

The Planetarium was the home to the large Lionel model train display that we would visit every year. Yes, there were displays in theKaufmann’s andHorne’s Department Store windows, but it is the Model Railroad and Viilage that I remember most. Thank goodness it’s still around. When we get into Pittsburgh for the holidays, we try to go. 

http://www.carnegiesciencecent.../miniature-railroad/

- Carl

Thanks for the memoires! I remember every one of those iconic places - they were part of every trip from my suburb to "downtown," during the year, in the '50s and early '60s, and, certainly, at Christmastime.

Kaufman's and Horne's are gone , now, right? Gimbles, too, and Brookes Brothers ?

Is Mellon Square still a hangout, or has it become too dangerous to relax in?

FrankM, a McKeesport boy of decades ago.

Moonson posted:

Carl Peduzzi posted:

The Buhl Planetarium, the predecessor to the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh, PA. 

The Planetarium was the home to the large Lionel model train display that we would visit every year. Yes, there were displays in theKaufmann’s andHorne’s Department Store windows, but it is the Model Railroad and Viilage that I remember most. Thank goodness it’s still around. When we get into Pittsburgh for the holidays, we try to go. 

http://www.carnegiesciencecent.../miniature-railroad/

- Carl

Thanks for the memoires! I remember every one of those iconic places - they were part of every trip from my suburb to "downtown," during the year, in the '50s and early '60s, and, certainly, at Christmastime.

Kaufman's and Horne's are gone , now, right? Gimbles, too, and Brookes Brothers ?

Is Mellon Square still a hangout, or has it become too dangerous to relax in?

FrankM, a McKeesport boy of decades ago.

Kaufmann’s was sucked up by Macy’s in the 1990s. Horne’s was bought by Lazarus Department Stores then they were bought by Macy’s and it became one big blob of a company. Sad to see both get dissolved into the Macy’s brand. 

The tree on the side or Horne’s is still displayed every year from what I heard. 

I don’t live in PA any longer, so I only hear about about the evolution of the city and see it sometimes. The downtown and outlying areas are all experiencing growth. The city is doing fairly well from what I have seen. 

We need to get back there and show my daughter the trains at the Science center. The layout is still one of the best I have seen anywhere. 

- Carl

Serenska posted:

Carl:

Thanks for sharing.  I clicked that link and was pleasantly surprised to see that the modeling on the display is actually pretty darned good.  Look at this photo of the "Crawford Grill":

I think that neon sign is first rate, ditto the amber color of the lights within.

Fun.

Steven J. Serenska

It is very impressive in person. To the best of my knowledge, every structure on the display is made by hand. 

If you ever get a chance to see it in person, or if you search YouTube for videos, I’m sure you’ll enjoy it. 

- Carl

Here is a good video from PghTrainFanatic showing the present-day Miniature Railroad and Villiage at the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh, Pa. 

https://youtu.be/dviq8soJCs4

definitely worth a look.

-Carl

The first display layout I ever saw was an actual Lionel Display Layout which my father purchased from an unidentified hobby store in northeast Philadelphia back in 1948.   I do not recall the number of the Display Layout but it was either 4x6 or 4x8.  As I recall it was prewired with boulevard lamps, a semaphore and an automatic gateman.  The layout's simulated grass was green dyed sawdust while the roadways were meticulously painted in white.  The layout also sported a 3472 Automatic Milk Car.  On this layout my Dad operated Lionel Set# 1423W which is a freight set headed up by a 2-4-2 1655 Lionel Steam locomotive with its associated freight cars.  I was born in 1947 and have very vivid memories of this set being operated at night time in our living room during the Christmas holidays with all the lights turned off save the tree lights.  The tree was placed in the middle of the platform.  For a little tyke it really was magical.  Watching that diecast locomotive whip around the sharp curves with its headlamp glowing and its whistle blowing along with the pungent aroma of ozone and the distinct fragrance of a freshly cut pine tree certainly left a lasting impression upon me.  I still have the 1423W freight set along with its set box and individual component boxes.  Its still in great condition and runs very well.  Even the whistle tender still works pretty well even though it is a tad raspy.  Every Christmas it still takes a few turns around our Christmas layout.

Unfortunately, my Dad passed away in June of 1953 from wounds he received in WWII so after the Christmas season of 1952 the layout never saw action again.   My Mom tried to get it up and running but could never figure out how to wire and operate the KW Transformer.   Consequently, when we moved to West Virginia in 1959 the layout was placed on the trash heap.  She thought it was too big and unwieldy and since she could not get the train running on it she didn't think it was worth hauling to West Virginia. Oh the horror!!  Thankfully the freight set went with us.  I think about that layout often and have wished on many occasions I could take a trip back in time to retrieve it.  

Like many other youngsters in Philly during the late 1940s and 1950s my other exposure to a display layout was at Wanamaker's Department store where I rode the Monorail on many occasions.  Great memories.  

Frank G. posted:

The first Lionel display layout I remember seeing was the D-164 (1956) that was in T.R. Hermans train shop on Sutphin Blvd. in Jamaica, NY.  My dad used to visit this shop frequently, and I always looked forward to a subway (elevated) ride on the Liberty Avenue elevated line and subway to East New York, the big elevated complex there and then on to the Jamaica Line to Sutphin Blvd.  Once at the store, the owner would turn on the layout for me and I was literally hypnotized while my dad did business.  Once in a while, my dad would drive his car instead of taking the subway, always a great disappointment to me.  Little did I realize that when he drove, he was picking up trains that he had previously ordered (Santa always brought the trains - this was how the elves did it!).  I was always too busy watching the trains careen around on the display layout to pay any attention to what was going on right under my nose.  The owner always gave me a new catalog when we visited, and early in the year after Christmas, he would give me his copy of the Lionel Advance Catalog, a collection of which I still have.  Of course, there was the Lionel Showroom in Manhattan which was the ne plus ultra of displays.  I only remember the Super O layout there.  They always gave me a catalog as well, and once I received an engineer's hat!  Closer to my home in Ozone Park, Friendly Frost (an appliance store!) had a larger D-165 display.  I liked that one so much that I eventually built a reproduction of it!  Oh, to buy one new today for under $300!  .

Great to see this post Frank. What people should know is that Frank's D165 is the only one that looks like the promotional photo. Lionel actually altered the plan, making the elevated line a simple oval. Frank's reproduction is a "genuine" dealer display in every aspect from the mountain material and the 919 grass to the cloth insulated wiring. 

While I had my expanded circle, my Uncle Bill's early 1950's  layout in his dining room seemed huge. It really wasn't that huge, but I was very small. Uncle Bill's GG1 and the Madison Set with an AMT Observation on the end were my favorites. My cousin Lad and I still talk "trains" and love our trains 60+ years later.

When I was five, we moved to Syracuse. I loved the layout at the Noah's Ark store in Eastwood. One of my Dad's customers was Sam's Hobby. While I could look at Noah's Ark and Ed Guth Hobbies, purchases were only  allowed at Sams.

A few years later, when the Minuteman car, and the New Haven McGinnis Electric were first available,  Lionel had an impressive Super O operating layout at the New York State Fair.   I became  hooked on Super O.

Great memories of stores, train layouts, and individuals that are no longer with us. I still have my first Lionel set, plus a whole bunch more.

Charles Wood, Warren, Ohio.  Two massive tinplate layouts and walls filled with pre-war.  I only wish I had pictures of that.  I remember the sounds in those rooms.

Apparently, both Wanamakers in Philly and Midtown Plaza in Rochester used the same type of monorail.  Midtown was demolished a few years ago and the monorail was put into storage.  The City issued an RFP to see if anyone would be willing to set up the ride and operate it someplace, but I believe there were no takers.  The "Clock of Nations" resided at the Airport for a while. I am not sure where it is now.

Rochester had a number of great train displays at the holidays.  Perhaps the best was at Sibley's Department Store.  There was of course a huge Lionel layout which I believe changed annually.  The American Flyer display was used for several years in a row and, best of all, has been saved.  I believe that both the Forum and CTT ran stories about it.

The E.W.Edwards store featured a ride-on train assembled in the store's basement each year. It supposedly traveled through Santa Land which on closer inspection proved to be otherwise unused storage space.

All of the stores and all of the train displays have disappeared,

Happy Holidays.

Joe

Sears and Roebuck layout, downtown Mobile, Alabama, post-1950. I got my own train - and permanent layout! - in 1955. I believe that I saw the Sears display before that.

If it was the Sears display - they definitely had one (with a big poster on the wall showing a RR scene) - but trains were sold in many stores, though some only seasonally. A downtown store named Alabama Hardware was a dealer and always had Lionel on sale and on display, though I don't remember a layout there. Unlike Madison Hardware, this store was still a hardware store in the main, but they had lots of trains, bikes, toys and the like, year-round.

Urban hardware stores back then were less like Home Depot and more like a tool and appliance (and toy) store. No lumber.

D500 posted:

 

Urban hardware stores back then were less like Home Depot and more like a tool and appliance (and toy) store. No lumber.

Hardware stores in rural Pennsylvania were like that, too.  I remember Corcelius Hardware in Huntingdon, PA, which sold American Flyer trains, and had an operating layout during the holidays.

One of our Lionel dealers was in the back of a gas station.  That's where I first saw a #50 Section Gang Car and #60 Trolley.

Florida State Fair 1965 Atlantic coast line , O scale 2 rail display exhibit , even tried to research what happened to it , to me seemed like it was 40 X30  in size

Hi Steve, good to see you Posting. For me it was the Sears store at 69th and Market in West Phila. I would ride my bike there Via Cobs creek Parkway just to look at it. Or take the 36 PCC trolley to 30th street from there catch the EL to the store.

The layout was a simple track plan but all the Lionel and American Flyer stuff on the display shelves where truly a wonder to behold.  

Balshis posted:

D500 posted:

 

Urban hardware stores back then were less like Home Depot and more like a tool and appliance (and toy) store. No lumber.

Hardware stores in rural Pennsylvania were like that, too.  I remember Corcelius Hardware in Huntingdon, PA, which sold American Flyer trains, and had an operating layout during the holidays.

One of our Lionel dealers was in the back of a gas station.  That's where I first saw a #50 Section Gang Car and #60 Trolley.

For me, it was a sporting goods store. 

SOL’s sporting goods in Beaver County, PA. They sold HO and Lionel trains every Christmas Time. 

As far as hardware stores, Alam’s Hardware in Aliquippa, PA, I believe an ACE Hardware store, is still listed as a Lionel and MTH dealer. And near my sisters house is C.T. McCormick Hardware. They are a large O Gauge dealer in Western PA. Never been to C.T., but I plan on stopping by the next time I visit my family up there. 

VistaDomeScott posted:

Charles Wood, Warren, Ohio.  Two massive tinplate layouts and walls filled with pre-war.  I only wish I had pictures of that.  I remember the sounds in those rooms.

With luck I will see Charlie at the end of next week; I'll ask him if he has any pix.

Lou N

The first display I remember was at Halle Brothers in downtown Cleveland.  Their entire 7th floor was the toy department.  They built a freelanced Super O layout to show off the new track.

Next would be Leonard Blum's Hobby House.  They had built a 10 x 11 foot layout of concentric ovals for a customer.  It started with O Scale, followed by S and then HO.  I can still see the All Nation silver boxcar sitting alone on the O scale loop.

Riedel's Railroadiana in Euclid had a 12 x 60 GarGraves layout.  Jaye and Jaye had several small display layouts.

The first actual Lionel built display was at Uncle Bill's discount store (1963).  It was a Super O 4x8.

Lou N

Kaufer Brothers Hardware store in Plains, PA, outside Wilkes-Barre, where Lionel train sets were on display only during Xmas in the store window on a specially-built rack. They seemed out of reach to me as I was a kid. However, not to be deterred,  took a blank check from my mother's purse and went to the local Acme Market, across the street, where a neighbor worked the cash register. I told Eleanor (her name) my mom said it was OK (she didn't) to cash the check, for about $8.00. With the cash in hand, I purchased a #6419 DL&W work caboose, with the high stack, because it had two couplers. I brought the item home and can still recall the brick box it came in and its obviously mint condition. Mom soon found out, made me return the item, made me go to the Acme and apologize and told me I did wrong, which I do remember. A few years later Santa gave me the N&W work train with culverts and the N&W work caboose with two couplers. The lesson: desire is superseded by doing what is right.

For me it was the J.L. Hudson Co. downtown Detroit.   This jogs a memory of electric buses in Detroit.

As close to a "display" layout as per se for me would be the GarGraves factory layout at "Gardner, The Train Doctor" at the original store(the basement of a large house) on Dewey Avenue in Rochester, NY.

It was, of course, all GarGraves track(and just a few switches - maybe 5), with a inside loop that could be switched on to a folded figure-8 inner loop that rose up & crossed over itself and a passing siding equipped outer loop, and they were running the 1187 Illinois Central SSS set with a 8254 dummy added to make a rather impressive train, for the time.

The current layout at "Gardner, The Train Doctor" in North Rose, NY,  is a little smaller, lower height, but based on that 1950s/1960s track plan as explained to me by Don Roder. He gave me a copy of the current design he did in RR-Track... I have it here somewhere.

PayLess drugstore in San Leandro, California, from 1955-1957.  It was huge.  With tons of trains and accessories for sale.  My father came home after one Christmas and announced that he could buy one of the two displays for $300. I was all in, but my mother gave him "the look." Oh well.

Hal

My first was the old O gauge layout in the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.  Age 6, 44 years ago, and a fan ever since.

Don

Macy's Department Store in NYC in the late 50s.