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My first childhood trains were Tyco HO, which quickly died on Christmas day that i got them.  Replaced by a MPC era Atlantic Coast Line starter set.  I do not remember what happened to that set as once I turned 12, I got my fathers post war 1423w set with the 1655 2-4-2, whistle tender and short freight train.  Everything I bought or got as gifts after that was postwar.   The basic set survives and I gifted it to my youngest sister's, youngest boy who wanted a train for Christmas last year.  My wife and I were unable to have children, so I passed the set down to the next generation of our family.    Mike the Aspie

Still on my shelf last time I looked.  No drama to recount.   I made sure the trains and baseball cards were well protected all my life.  A 1949 2153ws freight set, 671, 2671, 3469, 2460, 6419, 6520 and 3472, 55, 51, 6017, ZW, 132, 022x2 and track.

Still have my baseball glove, Willie May's home run ball, Willie mccovey cracked bat, erector set in box with paper

I initially played with my dad's o gauge Flyer and Lionel junior streamliner and later "graduated" to HO, mostly Athearn, Tyco and Roundhouse products.  One Christmas, Santa brought a Lionel set -- that dad won in a raffle -- for my brother and I.  One unique thing we noticed was how the Styrofoam packaging was shaped like buildings.  Years later, when I returned home from overseas (with a boatload of Marklin HO and gauge 1 in tow), I borrowed it from my brother, cleaned it up, and ran it under the Christmas tree before returning it to him.  Although he doesn't have a layout and probably never will -- he operates the real thing for UP -- I know he'll never part with it.

My childhood train was a Marx 999 freight set.  I still have it and the box.  It spends most of its time on the train room shelves waiting its turn on the layout. 

The set was the basis for my existing train layout that stared in 1977.  Four Lionel 248 and 249 plastic 2-4-2 locos were added the make operation of the turntable and two loops with relays to allow two trains per loop have enough train population for running.

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The original 999 engine has been retired with a worn motor gear but has been replaced with another Marx 999 engine.

Charlie

 

In 1937, I received my first train; a little Marx freight set with the Commodore Vanderbuilt steam engine.   There were five four wheel litho tin cars.  I loved it and was "hooked" on trains for life.  The next year Santa Claus brought me a second train, this time a Marx red and silver streamlined M10,000 set that came with a pair of manual switches.   I was one prod kid, as no one else in our neighborhood had two trains around the Chritmas tree.  Again, I was more deeply hooked on trains and played with them, virtually constantly. 

Two years later I had a cousin that passed away at a very early age, and his parents, my Aunt and Uncle gave my folks his trains to add to  mine.  There was a Lionel 1666 freight set, an American Flyer (Chicago era) passenger set with four cars, an American Flyer "Champion" Hiawatha set, plus some miscellaneous Lionel motors and cabs from an earlier time.  (Many years later I learned that those Lionel remnants were toys that my Dad and his two brothers had played with when they were kids.)

I played,hard, with my trains in those years and, frankly, pretty much ruined them from a collector's standpoint.   About the time I turned 16 or 17, I fell in with the wrong crowd:  A group of HO Gaugers.   Never became much of a model builder but I did have a couple of HO layouts until I finally went back into "0" gauge, three rail about 40 years ago.  Sold all the HO stuff and started  building a semi-scale, threee rail layout.  When Command Control became available, I eaderlly embraced it for operations sake.

But, in my later years, I managed to locate and purchase really nice copies of those trains that I once had including the Marx sets, the 1666 Lionel freight, the AF Commodore passenger set and the AF Champion Hiawatha set, plus a comlete Lionel #150 Passenger set.  So, some mightsay that I have gone full circle  with my trains.  It's been a glorious journey!

Paul Fischer

 

 

 

We (my 2 brothers and myself) played with them from 1960 to 1969 and they were hidden from me until 2003, when I was told where they were hidden.  I cataloged them with pictures, all sorts of freight, tankers, flat and cabooses.  Still had the Plasticville houses and all that.  Many sections of tubular track, a ZW and a 1013 transformer.  A Bascule Bridge and Log Loader round out the list.

We never had trains under the tree at Christmas.

1666, 2037, 1011 and a Texas Special (?) F3 that being a real basic locked in forward only diesel.  The engines all still run, with a little maintenance, everything is pretty much intact.

My roster has grown, thanks to my former part time employer The Trainworks in Jacksonville, FL, where Dave Caplan owned and ran the store.  Dave passed away suddenly and I received many items as compensation for working there....I even got paid in trains!!

I have a modest layout in my attic and run what I can when I can.  But, yes, I still have my childhood trains!!

Last edited by anjdevil2

I think they were casualties of a move or two. I do remember making a flat car out of the gondola car for the O guage layout my buddy was building. A few years ago, I replicated the set with a 2-4-2 Columbia and square tender plus the Ives carry over larger 1700 series cars. I do have most of the engines now  from the expensive part of the catalogs, lacking only the PRR turbine and a NYC Hudson. 

I got a large layout of Lionel trains at age 11 (I still have all but 1 loco that I sold for a better one), but my first was in 1947 at the age of 10 months. What was dad thinking?     It's the Marx set I still have & pictured below.  Yes, it still runs.  It has spent most of its whole life under a Christmas tree.   Dennis

DSCF4843    No, I do NOT use that transformer!  ...Not since the 1940's 

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I recently added a second gondola just because I saw it.

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Last edited by Hartman
7E82095B-863E-426A-B899-0FF1CCA6F7B5Balshis posted:
albertstrains posted:

My Dad bought the items piece meal at George’s Trains over a few months for me

Were you living in Toronto, or is there another George's Trains somewhere?  I used to be a regular customer at the Toronto store.

As to the original question, yes I do have all my original Lionel trains.  Every locomotive, car and accessory that was ever under our Christmas tree is still in my possession, still in top shape, still maintained and still running perfectly.  And they have a lot more company these days!

Balshis

 Yes George’s Trains in Toronto . Went there almost weekly if I could get my Dad to stop for an hour for me to browse 

  Great store

Al

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My parents, like my grandparents were the defination of "Yankee Skin Flints"  Very frugal even though both grandpa and my father had really good jobs.  My MPC set was a very basic set, just as my father's set from 1948 was a very basic set and was bought second hand off the neighbor family in 1949 as their boys were more into sports and cowboys/indians than trains.  I didnt really start to add to my postwar collection till I started cutting grass around 12yrs old, then my first real jobs after high school.  Being on the autism spectrum, dating really wasnt my thing, neither were cars other than it being a means to get somewhere.  So the trains never got put away like many do once girls/cars move into the scene.  As jobs and job losses came and went, some stuff got sold, others kept.  I have moved back into the Lionel world along with my G scale as I can see it better than HO and its less frustrating to work with.    Mike the Aspie

The 1970s Pennsy Congressional by Lionel with F3 power was with me until last year when I gifted it to my Nephew who enjoyed this train running on our family Christmas layouts in his early years.  He has set up an F3 Lionel Christmas this year so his family can pass the tradition along.  

I still have my HO Athearn SP daylight set from the 1970s.  Growing up in a Pennsy household it was bordering on scandal when I discovered the bright orange and red streamliner at the hobby shop in Sharon, PA and brought it home.  It sits in boxes, but dont have the heart to part with it.  Those Alco PA units by Athearn looked nice, but were tempermental locos, prone to derailing on curves.

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They are all within 10 feet of me as I type this reply.

The first was Marx set 15765.  Here it is two years after I got it (I wish I still had that Tonka fire jeep and trailer):

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Here it is a couple years ago on the big layout:

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The next set was an MPC Sears set with a ATSF Alco.  Then came a Remco SpeedRail Monorail.  Next was a TYCO Chatanooga Choo-Choo, whose siren whistle led me astray down the HO path.  Finally was a Bachmann ATSF set led by a chromed U36B.

I have all the rolling stock from all the sets, the HO pieces somewhat the worse for the wear of my "Let's paint and improve them!" days.  Some of the track pieces in the monorail set are broken, so I can't set up the full layout anymore, but I can mange a simple oval.  It doesn't run that well (well, neither do the TYCO's, but the TYCO engine is the third--the first and second had to be replaced within a week of the Christmas I got them).  The Bachmann is sorta weak, too.

But that Marx and the Lionel both run very well, and they will get their annual exercise here in a couple weeks!

 

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albertstrains posted:
PAUL ROMANO posted:

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            MY AF #21140 is the only original piece I have from when I was a kid.

Wow!

 Great loco to have had as a kid.

Did you have this in a set or was it a separate sale item at the time?

Al

Al, I got this as a replacement engine after my Dad dropped my AF#282 Pacific putting back in the attic after Christmas. He bought me this one a few months later. I picked it out at a local hobby store, Lionel City in Cliffside Park, NJ. The guy took it off the display shelf and wrapped it up like a fish in a newspaper and we brought it home.  

What became/remains of my childhood electric (Lionel) trains.

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"Santa" brought my (our) first electric (Lionel) train Christmas 1947.  The set was pulled by the 2025 pictured above with a three "Madison" passenger cars.  I presume that the "metal" Pennsy double door box car appeared then too.  I never recall a time not having it.

The Super'O' General set Appeared Christmas 1957 (or possibly 1958).

Christmas 1948 Santa brought a Lionel "electronic" set.  The Christmas 1954 a Lionel Santa Fe AA Fu-units.  Right after Christmas Day went to Trig's Marine and picked up four streamline passengers car and a C&O switcher on big time sale.

Well back in the early 70's put all ( including track, 022 switches,and ZW) but the first set up for sale so could buy Bowser PRR engine kits.  The bother of the owner of the gun store I did some gunsmithing for  bought all but the General set.  He accused me of changing the cab number, which I did not.  This set was not listed in the book he had.  A couple of days later he called really wanting that set.  realizing it must have been special, kept it.  At least until my EX sold it in violation of the judge's property settlement.  But still have the original box.

Ron

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PAUL ROMANO posted:
albertstrains posted:
PAUL ROMANO posted:

IMG_6024IMG_6022

            MY AF #21140 is the only original piece I have from when I was a kid.

Wow!

 Great loco to have had as a kid.

Did you have this in a set or was it a separate sale item at the time?

Al

Al, I got this as a replacement engine after my Dad dropped my AF#282 Pacific putting back in the attic after Christmas. He bought me this one a few months later. I picked it out at a local hobby store, Lionel City in Cliffside Park, NJ. The guy took it off the display shelf and wrapped it up like a fish in a newspaper and we brought it home.  

Paul

  I have a mint in box 282 I could trade you for it.....LOL

  That’s a great story and I like how you recalled it being wrapped up like a fish

  I remember George’s Trains wrapping up used trains like you just went to the butchers

  Nice to have a loco for sure.

I never had any access to AF catalogs until 1982 when I started my AF revival with getting my little 302 Atlantic repaired by a local AF repair man at the time

 Al

My first train set I received in 1975 was the Lionel set powered by the Santa Fe 8351 that my Dad..eeerrr Santa picked up at the old Heck's Dept. Store in Russell,Ky.  . It resides in the display case next to my late Dad's first Lionel set the Lionel Santa Fe 6220 bell ringing switcher .

Both got ran around the layout a few days ago . First time in a few years.

Last edited by mackb4

My dad got me tyco HO sante fe set when I was young, like 6-8 years old.  That was probably around 1974-75?   I still have the engine and probably have the cars.  They are worthless since they are tyco but I keep them.  The one I remember the most is around 1976-1979 I saved up my money to buy myself a brand new Tyco Broadway Limited trainset from Caldor.   The Broadway Limited was their fake Amtrak "GG1" with 3 passenger cars.  The GG1 was a *******ized version that Tyco made that had only the front and rear 6 wheel trucks.  It didn't have the center wheel section that every other GG1 replica has.   But that set is what drove my love of passenger cars.  Well that and going to New Haven to take the Metro North to NYC at Grand Central.  I am now 52 and just went to NYC about 2 months ago.  My wife and I took the train from NYC to CT to see my parents and a few days later took the metro north back to Grand Central for the end of our trip.   Every time I exit the tunnel into the main GC lobby, I feel like I'm 10 years old and in awe of the building. 

So yeah, I have some of my original trains even if they are junky.   

My dad had a lionel set that I remember a little bit about, it was a Soo line from the early-mid seventies, never knew what became of that set. 

 

I still have the Lionel trains my mom and dad gave me in 1957. A turbine set which used the smoke pellets and later a gp7 abash all of are still in my display case. But the most important train in my life's the train my dad bought in 1946 right after the war. It is also in my display case and of course is my favorite. He paid for it by picking up tobacco leaves that were left over from haverest in the field. Means a lot to me.

Making a few laps with my original engine tonight.   I get it out about twice a year and always at Christmas.   This was a present for my first communion.  It was an mpc era DC only loco.  I replaced the motor and added a Dallee e unit years ago.  No whistle but that is what the whistle shed was for.   Its still running too, hooked up to a doorbell button for easy use by little fingers!

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The good news:  My very first trains were a Tyco HO scale 4-6-0 (Sierra Nevada replica) and a Hornby Stephenson's Rocket with 3 coaches, which I got for Christmas from the JC Penney's X-mas catalog in the early 70's.  Ran them for a handful of years on a 36" dia. circle of track on a 4' square plywood board.  Had a lot of fun with them. 

The bad news:  Got bored with them, and when I turned 16, sold them for next to nothing. 

The good news:  They were HO scale.  No big loss.   

Some of mine survived. Mostly the engines. My 2020 Loco and NW-2 and Bicentennial U-36 all survived and run well after cleaning and lube. My Bicentenial New York and Pennsylvania cars were also in good shape as are my Heavyweight Milwaukee Road passenger cars.  The heliocopter lives on with a new shell as well. My accessories did not fair so well but parts of them live on in ones I’ve used their parts to rebuild.

My childhood trains were given to me for Christmas 1941.  The 224 loco has been retired, because I prefer running DCS and this loco was not convertible.  The rolling stock--gondola, Sunoco tank car, log dumping car, caboose--all is in daily use; the electrically-lifting coupler have been replaced with knuckle.  I occasionally use the Type R transformer on the workbench.

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