I got my first Lionel 736 Berkshire freight set on the Christmas just before my 3rd birthday in 1953. Every Christmas thereafter, Santa Claus would add to the set.
My mother's side of the family was a Railroad family. My grandfather, William Schubert, worked for 42 years on the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) and retired as a freight conductor. I loved hearing his railroad stories from the time when I can first remember. Therefore, I fell in love with my Lionel trains and could not wait until Christmas each year to see and run them again. My younger brother also had a set, both of which were incorporated into a basement, "Christmas Garden" as seasonal train layouts were called in the Baltimore, Maryland area. When the 1957-58 Lionel catalog came out, I was given a copy. From that I realized what a significant investment my father had committed to the original Berkshire locomotive. Being a PRR GG-1 fan, I wanted one, but did not have the nerve to ask for one because of its price.
Fast-forward to the late 1990's after my only son Christopher was born. He became a lover of Thomas the Tank Engine videos. So, Santa brought him a Lionel Thomas the Tank Engine set that appeared on a platform around the Christmas tree. The following year, the layout moved to our finished basement and expanded.
The first addition to the layout was a MTH GG-1 and a set of PRR, heavy weight passenger cars., something I had wanted as a child. Chris is now 24 years old and, though his time for the layout is more limited by work and his lady friend, He still has a great interest in the trains and enjoys running them in addition to occasionally scratch-building an O gauge structure or two.
To sum things up, We still have and run my original Berkshire locomotive and all of the rolling stock that came with it among many other trains that we have acquired over the years including a Santa Fe, F-3, ABA with aluminum passenger cars from the post-war era. The hobby has enriched my life and solidified the relationship with my son. My wife also enjoys the trains seeing the nostalgic reactions from visitors who remember trains that they or their fathers had in Christmas' past.