Woodhaven, NY, Christmas 1965. It all started with 3 rail O Tinplate by, I believe, Marx. It was a figure 8, 0-6-0 or maybe 0-6-2, a tender, boxcar, and caboose. Loved the smoke oil. We assembled the layout on the living room floor of our apartment. The transformer taught me the difference between AC and DC, when I tried to hook up my Gilbert Erector Set DC motor to the transformer. Hooray, no more batteries! Only to find out that all I would ever get was a hum, and lots of heat. Oh well, I also had lots of fun shorting out the transformer and making wires glow red hot. Is it any wonder why I became an engineer (mechanical that is)? Fast forward a few years to about 1971. Christmas again. This time, Atlas N Scale: the old Lima (?) 0-6-0T, a circle of track on a 4x8 sheet of particle board, a yellow caboose, national Dairy Dispatch reefer, Monon gondola, and a Texaco Tank car. The particle board stood on 4 folding legs (remember, this was an apartment), but we learned that cross bracing would be needed to eliminate the crazy droop in the middle. Dad bought a copy of Atlas's books "A Clear track to n Gauge Fun" and "Nine N Scale Layouts." Mom and Dad are long gone, but I still pull the books out and read them. Thank you, Thad Stepek and John Armstrong. My collection of stuff and my methods have improved, but I would've missed out on a lot had it not been for Mom and Dad. I still have all my old cars, and if I ever get the Big Boy I preordered, it will pull them!!!
My father introduced me to trains at Christmas, one of the earliest Christmases I can remember. We had an HO Bachmann set running around the tree. My dad had track tacked down to a peice of plywood that he set the tree stand on and he let me run the controls. I used to play chicken with the train and some Hotwheels on the old favorite Bachmann. My Bachmann stuff has since been passed on to my nephews. He and my Grandfather then bought me my first "model" train set of N-scale Atlas/Kato paraphernalia when I was ten or so. He helped me pick out a generic trackplan from an Atlas brocure and we laid it out on a large plywood/2x4 bench. As I hit the teen years, I began to kindle an interest in cars of the 1:1 scale. I let my love for trains fade behind for a while, but re-established my love for trains about four years ago when my Daughter was born. Now, my trains are a "fall and winter months" hobby when it gets dark early and it gets too cold to be outdoors all day. I'm 27 currently so I've got a lot of years ahead of me to build my collection and some dream layouts!
I received my first trainset when I was three years old. An american Flyer. When I was around eight years old I switched to HO and my Brother got the A/F sets. They mostly came out at christmas time and a short time during the summer but they were always added to during set up times. ( The A/F sets were given away while I was in the Army when my Parents needed the closet space). My Father and Grandfather both worked for the NYC In New York City. We didn't have a car and went everywhere by train or the Subway. After Highschool the trains stayed out all year although just a small switching layout. Went to work on the NYC Subway as a Signal Maintainer for 31 years, bought a house, switched to N scale, retired in 1999 and now have the layout I wanted to build many years ago. My Brother worked for the PC, Conrail and now Metro north RR. My Nephew recently hired on with Metro north as a Trackman.
My older brothers had a Marx tinplate set, which was around since before I was born. I think I played with it more than them. Christmas 1965 I received an HO set... And two years later I made the switch to N: After that, there was no turning back.
My very first clear life memory is age 3, moving to Chicago. Woke up in the back seat when the car stopped in our new driveway, jumped out, and ran to the basement to see if my Lionel trains had made it. So, I guess it was before age 3! I also vaguely recall pulling into NYC Grand Central station on a train, which my mom figures had to be when I was about 2 as well. Funny thing, but last night I saw one of the Kalmback special issues on O, and it featured the best of Lionel in 1952-1954. Right there was a picture of the Texas Special that was our (my brother and I) main train. We also had an NYC Hudson and a Jersey Central SW7 and some frieght cars. I had always sort of figured that Dad bought the Texas Special on a discount to save money, as in maybe a Texas train wouldn't sell well in NYC (where we lived those years) but knowing the year he bought it, and seeing it was their feature train, I guess he went all out for his boys!
the first time i saw one, early 60's. the postage stamp train set shown above introduced me to N scale. also had that same HO set except it was pennsylvaina instead of santa fe.
When I was 4 yr's old... We went to Expo 86 in Vancouver. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expo_86 ). The theme was, of course, transportation , so there was a lot of train stuff there, but the most impressive was the Japanese pavilion, filled with a huge model railroad, all running automated by computer control. ( http://bobbea.com/expo-86/japan.html / http://bobbea.com/expo-86/japan2.html ). You can probably see how that event hooked me on trains.
Well, I was a railfan before I became a model train freak. I had a nickname for the train that ran close to our house before I could say Dad - that's how my mother used to tell it - which would be at < 2 years old. Next I had a wooden train that my Godfather made for me, next a wind-up train and then finally Christmas '52 an electric train set. 1:100 scale on 13mm track for those of you who wonder "what gives with this guy?" :headspin:
My Dad got that Freight Hustler set and I first remember him setting it up around my 3rd birthday in 1970. I lived across the street from the CB&Q Geneva branch and would watch the black and gray CB&Q (later green and black BN) SW1200 work the branch. An advertisement for Kato CB&Q E8s got me into N scale in 2003.
Christmas, 1961. Dad use to take me down to see the Espee derrick train when it would come into Palmdale, Ca., once or so a month (he was poker friends with the agent) and new how much I liked the train so my mother and he bought me a Marx train set with a derrick car and tender. Still remember sitting in my chair with my derrick on the TV tray watching kids programs. One of the best memories I still have!!!
It's a wonder I retained my interest in model trains. It's one thing to be exposed to the hobby at a young age, as I was., It is quite another to stay involved in the hobby. Despite the interest as a kid... model railroading was not a mainstream interest in our family. My father in particular was not impressed with my interest in the hobby... taking every opportunity to tell me to get involved in sports and go out and play. He was definately not a fan of model railroading. If I asked for model railroad stuff for my birthday... it was usually diverted to some other interest. I pretty much had to self motivate to stay in the hobby. I remember wanting to get some passenger trains (HO scale) in 1970. I had to save my lunch money to get them. Unfortunately... by summer of 1971... I was out of the hobby altogether. My parents decided to move from Maryland to Florida and all of my trains and bicycle were sold to a friend for a measly $20.00... YES TWENTY STINKIN' DOLLARS. I didn't return to the hobby until 11 yrs later... when I became an N scaler.
Electric train ran at the bottom of our garden in the UK. Started with wind up trains. Had my first electric Triang when I was 7. Been a train nut most of my life. Had the original Thomas story books. Many in my family had worked for the railway. Worked for 3 summers at the NAR.
I started when I was 2 years old, my parents got me a Lionel train for Christmas, that was back in 1951. Then in 1957 I was in a combo toy and hobby shop and spotted HO, they had a small layout and it was far more realistic than the clunker Lionel. Even at that age I was able to assemble the Athearn blue box kits, my first kit was a Blue B&M boxcar. I stayed in HO until the hot rod and girl bug sunk its teeth into my wallet, I dropped out of the hobby in 1963. Then I saw an N-Scale set in a hobby shop window that was 1973 and I have been involved in the hobby since my layout is 25ft X 30ft or so and takes up about 50 % of our basement. I think N-Scale is the best scale as I can get a lot of run time on the main lines (3) currently I am working on expanding the yard area for more staging capacity.
My first layout was likely back when Maisto made roughly N-Scale non-powered diecast train sets when I was about four or five. I had a BNSF locomotive and a hodge-podge of different railways that came in the set. I also had a few loose locomotives, too like a steamer. Most didn't survive too well. The only one that survives is a caboose, which was given to an adult friend, and it still resides in their house. These are expensive now, and for the price of a Maisto loco or rolling stock, I can get an HO or N locomotive or rolling stock. They must have been really popular back then. I then had New Bright O? Gauge sets. They were cheap junk, and didn't hold up. I have a BNSF car and a DB locomotive that still survive. I then moved on to Brio and Thomas and Friends wooden railways when I was 7. I even had those that were recalled for lead paint. And yes, I still have them all, and I have no brain damage from the lead paint. I went "pro" with a Bachmann set a few years ago. I never was a fan of the quick connect power connectors and easy lock track. A week ago, I bought a large lot of 1950s to modern day stuff for $20, which was mostly Atlas curve track, and Tyco accessories from the '70s and '80s. Everything screws on the all-metal Tyco power pack/speed controller. Oddly, I hadn't planned to get it, but I looked around and accidentally found it, and couldn't pass it up. I plan to build the full 36" diameter curve track, putting it on a roughly 40" by 40" inch homemade table, using the three buildings it came with, and all the HO and roughly HO trains I have. N scale is something I've always considered, as HO layouts won't fit on any of the existing furniture in my room.
Back in 1950 received my first Lionel train for Christmas. It was a Santa Fe 2333 with four streamline passenger card, and track to fit a 8 x8 layout. Don
I am 75 years old. I cannot remember a time in my life that I was NOT interested in trains! My family lived above their general store until I was about 3 years old; the store was directly across the street from the B&O branch line depot in Beecher City, IL. I started asking for trains for Christmas very early and finally received an American Flyer 4-6-2 locomotive and set. I still have it and it runs after all these years.
I kidnapped my uncle's old American Flyer trainset circa 1972. I can still smell those smoke capsules Cheers, -Mark
I grew up in such a deep valley along the Allegheny that there was no TV reception, but there was a PRR main line across the river. There are pictures of me as a baby about a year old with my mom holding me up on the couch and I'm pointing to the trains across the river. My mom said that she always looked forward to a train because she'd have a couple minutes of uninterrupted time as I would just stand there staring. Then the baby pictures of the wooden trains, then a wind-up mechanical, then American Flyer, then Tyco HO from about 1965, then a used N scale set in March 1972. Sprinkle in with that several trips with my parents to the west coast on Santa Fe between 1965 and 1972, a 'last run' on the PRR, steam excursions, etc. I think I was pretty much hopeless shortly after birth. I did a lot of other modeling from slot cars to military to aircraft, but only the trains stuck. When I was sick in bed once my mom brought home two magazines from the drugstore - a TRAINS and a Model Railroader. Both were from March of 1966. I still have both of them. Talk about a game changer! My mother always said those were the two most expensive magazines she ever bought in her life. My father always insisted he was NOT a railfan and had no particular interest in trains - only his son did. Hmmm. Lets look at the evidence. Picture of a 47-ton Heisler above his desk - original builders photo (I still have). Always travelled by rail. Took me along on every train trip he went on. But the real kicker as a discovery of a box of shots he took in 1938 when his company was shutting down the sawmill railroad. Perfectly composed, 3/4 roster shots, even set with rods down. Excellent photographic work, that I didn't discover until about 1976, and are on my W&D website. Yeah, you can deny it all want Dad, I was born a railfan, it was genetic.
