Did you ask for a Lone Star set? If so, where did you see those trains advertised or on display? Was the set purchased from a hobby shop or a department store? I'm curious because, back at that very early date, the only trains I was aware of were Lionel.
Life's highlights indeed! I still remember my first train set, also received at Christmas. There are a lot of things I've forgotten over the years, but the memory of that first train set is one I can bring back immediately. I'm impressed that you still have the box and all the pieces!
^^^^ What he said. I am trying to stick to my reading through the Model Railroader DVD of the first 75 years, but it gets harder as I get closer to the introduction of Lone Star OOO. I'm up to April 1959, so getting closer. Though not on topic or in the same scale, I am seeing ads for Varney and other HO Scale freight cars that were in my late father's accumulation, and which I've decided to hold on to. Metal sides!
Actually, I just asked for a train set after my older brother got a Tyco set the year before. We also had a 1949 American Flyer set which was an influence. Also, I loved trains since a very early age (3?) when we used to go up to the Twin Cities and visit my relatives and the trains ran through "valleys" below street level with bridges over them. I was REALLY impressed! Santa...er...ah...my parents ordered the set from Montgomery Ward in St. Paul. So, the Treble-O-Lectric trains were a complete surprise. I may have seen them in the catalog before Christmas but I don't really remember. I was probably more expecting an HO set like my brother's if I did get a set. I do remember seeing the illustration comparing O, HO, and OOO sizes in the catalog but I don't know if that was before or after I got the set. "Not much larger than a penny", it said. Doug
I have always taken pretty good care of my stuff although I DID do the goofy things kids do, to these trains, in those years like painting hinges, handrails, or other detail parts silver or some other contrasting color. I was able to remove all that when I restored them in 1997, though. Doug
I mentioned my older brother's Tyco HO set he got for Christmas of 1961 and, over the years, most of his trains were lost through giving them to my nephews, etc. In 2017 I found all the missing pieces, except the Tyco box, and was able to recreate it. I also found the other stuff he had, like the Revell Engine House with the operating doors (they never worked very well) and the Atlas and Revell multiple piece building kit sets. EDIT: By "found" I mean "bought on eBay". Doug
My first N Scale set was made by Arnold Rapido and I received as a birthday present in 1968. It was a complete surprise, as I had a Lionel layout. I'm blessed that my parents happened by chance to choose a good brand like Arnold, as there was a lot of junk out there in '68 that would have led to short term involvement with N Scale. I still have some of the rolling stock and was able to rebuild the locomotive with critical parts from a train show junker.
I don't ever recall seeing a Montgomery Ward catalog at that time. I found an online scan of the 1962 Sears Christmas catalog and all of the electric trains in there were either O or HO from Lionel or Allstate.
My first N Scale set (and several subsequent ones) was also made by Arnold Rapido. I had first seen N scale on display at a Macy's department store. It was a Lima set, with a European style loco that was decorated for the New Haven. The set came with several passenger cars, also of European design, a figure-8 of track and a battery-operated power pack. The loco was this one: http://www.spookshow.net/loco/limadiesel.html However, "Santa" made a wiser choice and delivered an Arnold Rapido freight set for Christmas. The loco was the Baldwin switcher: http://www.spookshow.net/loco/baldswitch.html Likewise, if another brand of trains had been chosen, the prospects for my long-term interest in N scale would have been dim.
My first venture into N scale was with a 0-4-0t and a few Bachmann old time coaches. Surprisingly that loco ran well and from that humble beginning rose a collection of about 70 N scale steamers. That little critter eventually was modified into a 2-4-0 cab forward with a slope back tender my first steam kit bash.
That's the same locomotive that was in my set. My parents chose C&NW because it served our town. Here's mine after its rebuild. The replacement body shell I found had an oily logo sticker, but I was happy to have found it.
Here is a silly thought. I wonder if my set could be found in original packaging? Bachmann. It was BN, in a plastic case, with a cardboard sleeve. I would bet most sleeves were the first thing to go...
My set packaging is long gone, but it looked just like this and with an Arnold power pack. I set it up on a card table and played with it all summer long with just an oval of track and Treble-O Trains plastic trees bought at the local drug store. I still have the trees somewhere.
Hi Doug, Very nice train set. One of my friends collects Lone Star Treble O or as we know it today N scale trains. Like your brother, my first train set was an HO set from Athearn I received as a Christmas present in 1967. My Dad had a good friend who owned a hobby shop, originally my Dad was going to purchase a Lionel train set for my Christmas present, but my Dads friend told him Lionel was having some problems and Athearn was an up and coming company in the Model Railroad Industry. Plus HO scale was on the rise, so Athearn it was along with enough Atlas Brass Snap Track to make an oval of track and a MRC Trainpack 100 transformer. Here is the actual set minus the train box, wish I would have kept that box and the Atlas Brass Snap Track, only one empty box remains with the instructions printed on light weight paper on how to wire the snap switch. Christmas 1970 or 1971 I received this AHM / Lima N scale set from my Maternal Grandparents. During the 1970's my primary modeling scale was HO and the N scale set remained a novelty. A simple loop of track was setup on my dresser and I did spend many enjoyable hours watching that New Haven F7 chase it's tail. In 1989 I happened upon a new hobby shop near my home (imagine that in this day and age when we see hobby shops closing, here we had one that had just opened ) and saw this locomotive sitting in the display case (Not the Original Locomotive, I recently purchased this one for remembrance sake). Along with the Micro-Trains coupler and pilot conversion kit. At that point I was sold on N scale and have been a N scale modeler ever since. Here is the original Conrail 8265, that I repainted and decaled into the PC paint scheme sometime in the late 90's. Thanks Doug for this nice walk down memory lane.
Ward's had Treble-O-Lectric in their 1962, 1963, and 1964 Christmas catalogs. The pages are shown on the "Treble-O-Lectric Documents" page on my site. Doug
Yours is such a wonderful website Doug. I can't help but smile, yet feel a bit saddened too as I look through the pages. The years have rushed by and yet it seems not so long ago I was enraptured by these trains as a wide-eyed kid.
Another silly thought- Does anyone have some, or know of a source for researching older Bachmann N scale? Such as catalogs?
Trovestar may have what you need with catalogs from 1968 and 1969 at [ https://trovestar.com/Assets/Collections/4/Catalogs/Bachmann/ ].
