What engine started it all? For me it was the Marx 999 that Santa brought in 1949 or so. I still have it although the gears are worn and it locks up some time.
Lets see a picture of yours if you still have it.
Charle
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Trains were handed down in my family. Being the youngest of 3 brothers, my turn came about 1952 . I received a prewar 264E Red Comet, 3 passenger cars, five 600 series freight cars and a 675 steam engine equipped with a box coupler on the tender. The coupler modification was a Madison hardware modification.
The originals are long gone but I have replacements acquired at York.
A Lionel 2026 2-6-2, 1949 model. I still keep it running. It's had a gear replaced, one wheel rim reattached and the smoke unit rebuilt.
Year was 1950, enginne 2344
Mine was lionel chessie system train set bought new in 2002 when i got into O gauge i was in HO and N scale before that. Here is a pic of the engine in my set i have run this engine alot for a starter set engine only thing i have done was replace traction tires
My first set was a 671 Turbine ( Pennsylvania) and a ZW transformer in '49 or '50.
Both are still running in good condition.
My "first" locomotive was my Dad's old Marx 999. I was about 6 when I found the set stored in a closet. My dad and uncle built a small layout on a 4 x 4 sheet of plywood.
The first locomotive that I actually claimed ownership to was a Lionel 8030 Illinois Central GP-9. My family went together to get me the Cross Country Express set for Christmas when I was 10. I still have the loco and all of the cars.
Tom
Lionel 675
Mine was a 726 Berkshire given to my father from my uncle because his son did not want it anymore and the rest became train history I have been hooked on trains since then back in 1952..............Paul
This is mime
Well, with 300,000 Marx sets reported as produced a year in their heyday, maybe it
is not unusual that mine is the third Marx #999 set to be listed here, not sure how old I was when I got it..7 or 8 years old, for we moved after I was 8, about 1947-8.
My first train was a Lionel, K-4 Pacific. It ran fine until the train had a deer mount fall of the wall and land on the train. Now it's just a shelf item, but still looks good.
Christmas, 1950. I was one.
Dad bought me (him) a Lionel freight set headed by a 681 Turbine and 2671W 12 wheel tender. This mighty pair pulled all of three freights: an operating boxcar, gondola with six wooden barrels and an illuminated caboose. An RW and an oval of "O".
I still have the set. The beginning.
Lionel, LV, 44 Tonner, the best train set in the neighborhood. All right, the best one in my basement, but it was cool!
Mid 70's. Plastic body, no lights, no sound, no smoke. Still runs!
That would have been the 1225 Polar Express back in 2008. My first train however was an American Flyer set back in 1960. Just took me a little while to come around...
Gilly
In 1962 dad brought home an American Flyer 3116 pre-war electric engine. We were in S gauge at the time so it sat on the shelf until a Marx set and a Lionel 624 C&O switcher wandered in.
Railroading had already been established as a family passion many years earlier by my grandfather so four locomotives served on the first railroad my father built for me in our Queens apartment. They were the 2321 DL&W Train Master, 2360 Tuscan GG1 with pinstriping, the Pennsy B6 and the 226E. My father had the tenders of both steam locomotives equipped with knuckle couplers for operation with postwar rolling stock. All in all, not a shabby way to be introduced to model railroading.
Bob
It was Christmas 1963 - Lionel 634 "Orbiter" outfit. Still have it all.
2379 Rio Grande F3. It came as a repackaged set I got for Christmas in 1961. Still have it!!!
Hand me down Lionel 1666 from my cousins, 1960 or 1961, got it for Christmas. Still remember it, still have it, still run it.
19244 freight set, Christmas 1966. Still have it.
It happened later in life for me. Christmas of 1993 I bought the Bandlands Express set and my first layout had a western theme. It included a DC powered Dockside switcher, horse car, payroll car, outlaw car and 4 plastic figures. The figures were 2 good guys and 2 bad guys.
MTH Norfolk Southern SD70ACe w/ PS3. Was supposed to arrive today according to package tracking. Didn't. Fingers crossed for tomorrow.
2035 ,still runs great.
hello guys and gals....
My first 3 rail engine was a marx 490 back in 1959 or 1960 and i don't know what happen to it except i remember the number well. OH well!!!!
the woman who loves the S.F.#5011
Tiffany
My first was this hand me down from my Dad - Set 2533W
the first engine that was "mine" was the 18901/18900 PRR ALCo FA & the passenger cars - I beat the crap out of those & unlike the postwar trains my Dad had, they didn't hold up. One day I'll buy that set again.
Well, it was definitely Marx. I think it was a 999 but frankly I do not remember for sure. it was a 2-4-2 though, at least 'til I damaged it by launching it up ramp-trackss to fly across the room. Ultimately it became a 0-4-0!
I got a 1956 Jersey Central 621 switcher in 1983, but it didn't run. My dad had a 601 Seaboard when he was a kid, so he bought the 621 that did run and switched shells to make his run, and I got the remains. Remember the boy scout balsa wood rockets? I had that poor 621 covered with "liberty" stars and rocket stickers from the boy scout rocket kit. Still have the 621, sans stickers, and it runs now.
The year was 1948, the set was freight and the engine, 2026. Still have it. Don
Mine was a 8902 2-4-0 steam engine in the Lionel Freight Flyer train set from the late 1980s and early 1990s. It was originally DC, so I put a Lionel electronic reverse unit in it so I can run it with the rest of my trains.
2025 from 1952. Still have it, still runs great.
A 1951 Lionel 2026 2-6-4. I was three years old and my father was a struggling student on the GI Bill. My parents must have had to save up for it for months prior to Christmas, because we were dead broke at the time. I still have the 2026, and it still runs and looks like new. Still have the original cars from the set, too: a 6017 caboose, a NYC black gondola (with wooden barrels) and two Sunoco 2-dome tank cars. Oh, and the original 1033 transformer.
Thanks, Dad and Mom.
Mars 666, with that Pepe LePew smoke fluid in the Wicked green bottle!
Born into an HO (mostly TYCO) family, I bought my first Lionel, the Cannonball Express in 1989 when I was 23. Golly, half of my life now has been spent with O.
It will be 66-years ago this Christmas. It was the Lionel "Electronic" set. It had a steam turbine with box, dump, gondola cars and caboose. All cars and engine had receivers in them so that they could be uncoupled anywhere alone the track from a gray control box with ten colored bottoms. The colored bottoms matched up with a small color coded Lionel logo on each.
Well, it was definitely Marx. I think it was a 999 but frankly I do not remember for sure. it was a 2-4-2 though, at least 'til I damaged it by launching it up ramp-trackss to fly across the room. Ultimately it became a 0-4-0!
I love it!
I was a late bloomer. Got my from o-gauge train around 50 years old. It was an MTH Premier GP-60 Santa Fe with Protosound.
My first engine was also the Lionel Cannonball Express Set - complete with the plastic truss bridge and a (seemingly) big loop of tubular track. I got it from my grandfather in 1987 at age 5, and I still love the low-tech chuff sound produced by the wheel in the tender. I still have the whole set, though the box has certainly seen better days!
My daughter's first train set will be the pink William's girls' passenger set with the GG-1. I've already upgraded the GG-1 to proto-2 (Williams and MTH semi-scale GG-1 shells are conveniently identical and easy to swap), I'm installing LEDs in the passenger cars next, and plan to replace the silhouettes with strips featuring pictures of family members. Should be a good first set and a fun project!
-Dustin
Christmas, 1948 2025 Steam Engine, still running strong. I added a railsounds tender to have updated sounds. Looks good with my original Madison cars.
happy Holidays to all
About 2002 I got my brother in laws Marx 9625 Allstate set with the 666. Still have it. Runs great.
Steve
A Pennsy Flyer 4-4-2!
--Greg
I don't remember my first Lionel locomotive. I can remember all the ones I had but I can't remember which one was my first.
MPC DT&I Diesel Switcher.
Cesar
Mid 70's. Plastic body, no lights, no sound, no smoke. Still runs!
My first engine too. Mine also still runs.
About 1955, a Sakai set from Japan, still have them, still runs well.
Mine was the Lionel Quaker Oats Promotional Set X600. I think it was from 1962? My cousin and I both got one for Christmas. Looks like my grandparents ate allot of oatmeal that winter!!
A Lionel 520 set for Christmas 1957 at age 4 and still have it.
Not sure what a guage is, (gooahgee?)
Anyway, I started off right, Lionel 681 dad bought for me in 1951. Since I was born in 11/52, I wonder how he knew?
1998 - Lionel Alaska set. Been buying ever since, mainly Lionel Alaska items. Went in to postwar a few years ago. Alaska 614 - 681 Turbine & what I thought was Santa Fe 2343 for parts, but turned out to be 2333. The CW transformer went out last night, brought out the big - old ZW and had the ozone going with the 681 & whistle tonight around the tree. Popped in a repro smoke pill and had the smoke rolling.
The third one up from the bottom. Christmas 1938.
Wore out the armature bearings. Dad replaced them with "kumshawed" miniature ball bearings (IBM, a great place to work in WWII).
Wore out the tender trucks, replaced with homemade 6 wheeled ones.
Still runs.
The 2353 Santa Fe's from the 1954 catalog, received for Christmas 1954. Here they are on the layout, spliced by a 1990's "Water" B-unit. They are always on the layout, and run often.
I still have a Lionel engine only (black steam Pacific type that used pills inserted in the smoke stack) from my childhood days. Somehow lost track of the tender years ago.
However my first purchase was a MTH Railking Milwaukee Road Hiawatha from Jim's Train Shop in Homer City, PA. Think the price was $420.00 (Jim did you give me any discount)? No longer have this engine and every futher purchase was always 3 Rail scale.
Christmas,1949 a 2025.
A Lionel 2037 steam engine, Christmas 1959, I think.
- Mike
For my two brothers and me it was a Lionel 2-4-2 with smoke pills and an air whistle in the tender.
I received the following uncatalogued sets my first Christmas from my Grandfather:
X533NA | OTASCO | 1960 |
| (Christmas Gift) | ||
| 228 | Canadian National ALCO A | |
| 6544 | Missile launching car w/4 missiles | |
| 6844 | Missile carrying car w/6 missiles | |
| 3419 | Operating helicopter car | |
| 6017 | Caboose | |
| X522NA | OTASCO | 1960 |
| (Christmas Gift) | ||
| 220P | Santa Fe ALCO A | |
| 220T | Santa Fe ALCO A Dummy | |
| 6812 | Track maintenance Car | |
| 6062 | NYC Gondola w/3 reels | |
| 6825 | Flatcar with trestle | |
| 6476 | Lehigh Valley hopper | |
| 6017 | Caboose | |
| X-639 | Western Auto | 1961 |
| 233 | Steam Locomotive | |
| 1130T | Tender | |
| 6650 | ICBM Missile Launching Car | |
| 6470 | Exploding Boxcar | |
| 6062 | Gondola w/3 reels | |
| 6017 | Caboose |
And a few extra cars.
I still have them all although they have a lot of play wear.The little 233 steam locomotive still runs and smokes great.
Ricky 
My first O gauge was a Marx windup steam train. I do not remember the set but I do remember watching Mickey Mouse Club on our old Philco. I do have one of the Magikist truck banks.
Merry Christmas.
franktrain
This is Christmas 1958.
My first engine was the Lionel Union Pacific Steam Freight Set in about 1993. I would have been about 2.5 or 3 years old at the time. That means I am approaching 20 years in this hobby. 20 out of 22 isn't bad.
2004 Polar express, it is worn out and is setting on my layout now. I saw the polar express at the theater and t said to my son in law if they made a oscale train like that I would buy it! Just a little seed that turned into a forest..
While not actually "mine", my dads postwar 675 pacific was my first experience with O guage back when I was 8 or 9 years old. I ran out the rest of the life it had and then had an H.O. guage distraction until about 7 years ago. I bought a PE set for around the tree, then started a scale layout in the basement, still in progress.
My first O Gauge engine was a Marx windup engine and cars (still have them). Then, for Christmas 1950 my father bought me Lionel Set 1461S with the 6110 engine (still have it). This was an inexpensive Scout-type set. I have been into O Gauge (off and on) ever since!
The motor of the 6110 finally gave up in the late '70's. I found new old stock motors at Madison Hardware back then and 6110 is still running today.
Next Tuesday will be its 63rd year running around the Christmas tree!
John Knapp
Erie, not Eerie
It was a Marx 444....still have it and I received it 56 years ago!!
Alan
I did not have toy trains as a kid (couldn’t afford them), so there is no nostalgia factor for me. My father-in-law was very much into Lionel trains and I would help him run them. However, I never liked the non-scale look of them. So my first engine was the scale Lionel T-1 Chessie Special. We had to redo the outer loop of track with O-42 before we could run it.
Ron
A Marx CV set in 1953.
I was an American Flyer kid, so Polar Express set Berk Jr. First "real" (US-made) loco is a 646 Hudson I got in October.
Pete
2322 Virgianian FM in 1968 first O gauge Locomotive
56 Minn & St. Louis Minning Locomotive in 1958 first Lionel Locomotive
Christmas 1938, Marx Clockwork 0-4-0 with tender and 2 cars and caboose. Looking back I am suprised that my parents could afford even a wind-up unit.
Not sure what year, in the 1960's, but my dad bought me the set that had a Lionel 235 scout(2-4-2) engine with minute man missile car and exploding boxcar and satelite launching car and 6017 caboose. The set if I am correct was a figuire 8 with trestles for up & over, had 027 track.
Since then he gave me his pre-war sets of Lionel trains, a 224E with three passenger cars, 2460's? the second set was a 249E with a hopper car and a dump car, both sets have the electric operated box & pin couplers.
Lee F.
For me it was a Lionel 2338
Art
In 1956 when I was 2 my uncle brought me a LV 627 44 ton loco with a gondola, flatcar and caboose. That set remains on display to this day. Just lubed the loco for a trip around the layout 2 nights ago.
My first was a Marx windup freight train, but I can barely remember it--it was prewar and I was only about two. My second one which I still have and it runs great is a 1941 Lionel 229 (2-4-2 Columbia) with passenger cars. I got it while WW II was going on. Two interesting things about this locomotive: (1) it has one green jewel and one red jewel light--I recently saw another 229 like it for sale on ebay. (2) it has a Madison Hardware sticker in cab--they repaired it in early '50s.
Take care, Dick
My first was a Marx windup, then a Marx powered train, then somewhere around 1962 My parents bought the next door neighbors 2036 set for a whopping $10.00. It still survives intact in my collection and runs occasionally.
Rob
Lionel 8304. Part of the Allegheny set.
Marx 490 0-4-0, 1964 (I was not yet a year old). That engine has a small piece busted out of the pilot and the cab roof (from many collisions with friends' Marx wind-ups), but it runs like a champ every year at Christmas. On the current 045 inner loop, I can really let it stretch its legs.
I wouldn't trade that engine for any other. Thanks, Grandpa!
My first was a Sante Fe....who am I kidding! MTH Premier SD40-2 Proto 1 in Chessie livery of course. Still runs like a champ! 
My first Lionel loco was in 1975 - a MPC blue and silver Alco FA-2 that I ran for many hours. Only had a 2 position E-unit but it was hearty and cheered me up at a time when I needed cheering up.
My first set was a #1575 freight set with 205 Missouri Pacific Alco AA's. It appeared on a layout that my Dad set up around the tree on Christmas eve. This "magic" occured for several years and I thought it was Santa who did it. I wish I had a pic of that layout, but here's the set.
Neil
Lionel 671 turbo, quite awhile back. Still have it and upgraded to TMCC. Tom
Born into an HO (mostly TYCO) family, I bought my first Lionel, the Cannonball Express in 1989 when I was 23. Golly, half of my life now has been spent with O.
This was my first O gauge set too!!!
My Grandpa gave it to my brother and I for Christmas when I was eight years old. I played with it so much I wore it out
My first was a Lionel prewar 1688E, shared with my brother, around 1946-47.
No longer have the original, but did pick up a like-new one a year or two ago.
My first O Gauge engine was a Marx Diesel Switcher part of a freight set. The
Year was Christmas Morning 1954. My brother now has it, it still runs. Great
topic for this time of year.
Many thanks,
Billy C
My first engine was the UP 2023 in 1951. Silver with and gray roof. Still have the whole set (1467w). Just had it on the layout a few weeks ago. Runs great.
My first was the Marx Diesel Switcher set in 1954 also. My brothers kids inherited and it sill going strong.
Mort
A Lionel #736 set in 1954 that I shared with two brothers and I still have to this day.
Joe
Even though so many of us are really into scale trains with all the features, it seems like those no-frills starter sets really did their job well back in the day!
My first was the Rock Island Rail Blazer set from 1987. In addition to the loco (DC only) and caboose it came with a flatcar with fences, gondola and "plug door" boxcar, all bright magenta. There was also a stationary crane (pretty cool but kind of fragile), some crates and pipes to haul around, and some telegraph poles.
I still have the set, though the engine has "grown up" a little! (It had got pretty banged up, and I was always bummed that it didn't run on AC. It does now, and has TMCC, too.)
Christmas of 1948 I was surprised with a 4' X 8' layout. I remember watching my father and a friend of his building it Christmas Eve day and not having a clue what it was. On the layout was a 671 freight outfit and a mid 30's Lionel Zephyr set that had belonged to my uncle. Quite a Christmas for a 10 year old!
Lionel Sante Fe F3 in 1957.
Most of you folks had a much better first O Gauge engine than me. I got mine when I was a little kid!
Anymore want to share theirs?
Charlie
I got a 2065 Hudson with the 3 2400 series passenger cars, I still have it.
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