What was your first locomotive?

BNSF FAN Nov 22, 2020

  1. Hardcoaler

    Hardcoaler TrainBoard Member

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    :) I remember SO wanting a Lionel Virginian Trainmaster when I was a kid, but Santa never delivered. However, my parents later gave me my first N Scale set in June of 1968 and I've been hooked on N ever since. Several years ago I acquired an Atlas N Scale Trainmaster in DL&W, so my longing for a Trainmaster has finally been satisfied. (y)

    [​IMG]
     
  2. Doug Gosha

    Doug Gosha TrainBoard Member

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    No apology necessary. Like I said, that image was from another guy's eBay auction and, at the time, I had no PC example of the GP40 so I asked him if I could use his and he OKed it. Also, after being online for 17 years, I guess it is expected some of the images will be found scattered around.

    Doug
     
  3. Doug Gosha

    Doug Gosha TrainBoard Member

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    Electric Trains! Magic words back then. I guess they still are to most of us.

    Yeah the Virginian Trainmasters were gorgeous. My only Trainmaster I have is SP Black Widow, a scheme I have always liked, too.

    Doug
     
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  4. Doorgunnerjgs

    Doorgunnerjgs TrainBoard Member

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  5. Mike VE2TRV

    Mike VE2TRV TrainBoard Member

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    My Christmas train, today on Christmas day, on my current layout:

    20201225_095255A.jpg
    It's come a long way from the livingroom floor in 1973.

    Merry Christmas!
     
  6. Doug Gosha

    Doug Gosha TrainBoard Member

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    That's great! The Atlas switches, Bachmann coal tower and switch tower, and the MRC Tech III! Is that a "Shark"?

    Doug
     
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  7. Mike VE2TRV

    Mike VE2TRV TrainBoard Member

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    Better believe it! 1973 Model Power sharknose. Very smooth runner with that big motor inside, and still going strong after 47 years.

    Buildings and power pack are all used items picked up at train shows. I have two Tech IIIs, one on the mainline (the visible one) and to its left, out of the photo, is the one for the small yard and engine servicing facilities. Both are on a sliding shelf I built using drawer sliders. There's a Tech II on the other side for the town. A couple of switch boxes to isolate tracks in town and in the yard.

    Old school fun!:cool:

    (it would cost me a small fortune to switch to DCC :eek:)
     
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  8. Doug Gosha

    Doug Gosha TrainBoard Member

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    I am old school, too. Here's a picture of my current layout, just the old ovals and block control using Atlas Selectors along the near edge of the table, out of view. This was actually taken about 5 years ago in my apartment and the layout sat there for about four years and is now here in the house.

    I don't think I will ever go DCC. I have nothing against it, really. I actually like throwing the block switches. I am having to rememorize which switch controls which block since so much time went between running times.

    I don't think I had my first locomotive on there when I took the picture. There are some fairly early ones on there, though.
    P1030497.JPG

    Doug
     
  9. CarlH

    CarlH TrainBoard Member

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    Does that Athearn Hustler have rubber band drive? My older cousin had a couple of these, which probably were purchased in the early 1960s.
     
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  10. Doorgunnerjgs

    Doorgunnerjgs TrainBoard Member

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    Rubber bands all the way.
     
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  11. Doug Gosha

    Doug Gosha TrainBoard Member

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    Sorry, I kind of veered from the thread intent in my last post.

    I remember being kind of fascinated by the Hustler when I was a kid. Were they all band drive or did Athearn change to gears, later?

    Doug
     
  12. Pastor John

    Pastor John TrainBoard Member

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    Got a train set for Christmas in '75, I think. I still have parts of it.[​IMG]

    Sent from my moto g(7) play using Tapatalk
     
  13. dti406

    dti406 TrainBoard Member

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  14. Hardcoaler

    Hardcoaler TrainBoard Member

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    Lionel's No. 60 Trolley was the only piece of the family Lionel I was permitted to operate when I was young. Our layout had a straight section of track with a bumper at each end and it was the car's domain. I was able to secure some new parts for it at a train show several years ago, including its trolley pole, the pole's mounting and a transparency for one of the ends. When it hits a bumper, the pole swings around and the car reverses. It's not in great shape, but it still runs well and is a treasured keepsake.

    Lionel No 60 Trolley - for upload.jpg
     
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  15. f2shooter

    f2shooter TrainBoard Member

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    About age 6 it was Lionel. After that it was HO and the first two were a diesel and a switcher with Reading RR decals. Still got the switcher, need to get it running again.

    Rick H.
     
  16. minesweeper

    minesweeper TrainBoard Member

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    I did not get the first one for XMAS, but in Italy we celebrate the Three Kings' visit on January 6th (a good spirited with "the befana" brings present).
    since my father was in the Railways, as kids we were given by the Morale and Welfare association the Railwayman's Befana.
    Guess what was in store for boys? LIMA HO Scale start sets..... and a "real world bike" the last year you were entitled to it (7 years old).
    Never got the bike as they discontinued the thing when I was 6, but got the trains.....unfortunately these did not survive.
     
  17. Paul Liddiard

    Paul Liddiard Staff Member

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    My first train was a Marx wind up set. I think I was four. My next train, the set that got me totally hooked, was Christmas 1972, when I received a Tyco LONG HAULER. A Union Pacific GP20 hauled a 50ft box car (CP multi mark), a Virginian coal hopper, a 40ft Ralston Preurina reefer, cable reel flat, Dodge semi flat, Seatrain container flat and a 200 ton crane and boom tender with aUP caboose. I also got a little 0-4-0 slope back tender steamer.
     
  18. Mike VE2TRV

    Mike VE2TRV TrainBoard Member

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    Wow - you're bringing back memories of my collection in my younger years. I had the Purina reefer, the cable reel flat, the Seatrain flat, and the 0-4-0 with the slope-back tender. That little 0-4-0 also survived, because my Mom loved the look of it. She kept it with her nicknacks and baubles in a glass case. The sharknose I kept.

    Every time I go to a train show (pre-COVID and hopefully post too...), I look for those old cars (or locos!), for pure nostalgia. That's how I reconstituted my original 1973 train set.
     
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  19. Hardcoaler

    Hardcoaler TrainBoard Member

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    You posted this picture three weeks ago and I'll bet I've looked at it a dozen times since. Each time I look at it, I see something new, er, old. :) So much neat stuff there to take me back in time. Thanks for posting it!
     
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  20. Doug Gosha

    Doug Gosha TrainBoard Member

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    You're welcome and thanks. About the newest things on there are the Atlas switch tower in the foreground and the Bachmann Santa Fe B23/30-7 to its right and slightly above.

    Everything else is many years old.

    Doug
     
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