My first N-scale train was a Postage Stamp set from Aroura. Given to to me about 1981 by my brother in law.
A Model Power F40PH and four Con-Cor Superliners (all Amtrak). Those were the bees knees back in the day (-;
I got an 060 Bachman, a Riverossi 282, and an Atlas F7. An oval of atlas snap track, Two switches and enough extra track for a short passing siding. About a dozen atlas cars. an, MRC power pack for my 13th birthday in 1968. I was in Hog heaven!! I still have it all! The 280 and the F7 still run! All the cars have been converted to MT body mount couplers, MT trucks and fox valley low pro's. I machined the flanges on the F7 so it could operate on code 55. It still runs every bit as good as my Kato F's and at the same speed, so it gets consisted with them ocasionally. Kinda like an antique hotrod on a nice sunny saturday. cool:
First in the family was my sons LL Amtrak E8 and MP fed ex car. My first was eithe a Kato GS-4 or a LLF7 in NFL colors. As a famous President once said "Well.... I don't remember"
My first N scale item was an Atlas U.P. SD9 set I got it from my uncle when I was about 18yrs old back in the 1990's form Kay Bee toys.
And this was not the exact question, BUT... my first N scale project was a feasibility model in 1969, to see if it was possible to scratchbuild in that tiny tiny scale. I sketched some dimensions from a slum house that being torn down and when I was in a hospital bed for two days, I built a model using balsa 1/8 x 1/8 sticks, balsa 1/16 sheet, an Xacto(r) knife, airplane glue, and a grade school rule to make measurements. Oh, I also used the paper from a hospital meal choice menu as the underlayment for my roof. This structure was all built while in hospital, except that paint had to be added later-- couldn't bring paint in hospital. Steps, piling foundation and hillside scenery for the house built years later as a styrofoam demonstration...
Arnold Rapido FP7 A-A power/dummy and 4 car streamline set purchaed by my Dad for me for Christmas 1969. (I still have those originals and keep them in excellent running condition). Fell in love with the Warbonnet and have been a ATSF/BNSF fan ever since. Joined a club in 1986 ( Metropolitan N-scale in Englewood NJ) and have been off and on in the hobby since then. Kato unitrack satisfies my urges to run my trains. Lots of equipment, but never my own permanent layout. Hoping that since I'm retiring this year, I will finally have the time to build that layout I've been wanting all these years!
Aurora Postage Stamp Mine was an Aurora Postage stamp train set. It had 1 F9 painted in War Bonnet silver and red Santa Fe livery, 5 pasenger cars an oval of track and a transformer.
LifeLike SW1200 A&B units. In Wisconsin Central paint scheme. With two flat cars and pulp log loads. Soon followed by a coffee table size bent dog bone. The track is in storage and engines, cars and two 'HO' 40' wood refers with Schlitz Beer lettering are on display.
Atlas coal hopper, black and I believe for the Erie. Bought it while on a family trip back east for my older brother to look at colleges, so it must of been 1978-1979? We had stayed at a family friend's house and he showed me his under-construction HO layout in the basement, first time I remember seeing model trains. He also gave me an old MR that had an article on John Allen's original Gorre & Daphetid. I spent the rest of the trip trying to find hobby shops in each city and begging my folks to visit them, reading and re-reading that MR and day-dreaming about the amazing layout I'd build. 30 years later I'm still an armchair modeler.... Oh well:tb-smile:. Dreams are fun too. Still have that hopper in my inventory, just waiting for the day benchwork starts.
I actually got a whol pile of rolling stock as opposed to a trainset, etc. But my first locomotive was a Kato/Atlas Erie Lackawanna U25b... still have her actually... Not exactly this ony but you get the idea
For what ever reason the pict I posted to this thread last year has vanished. User error no doubt. So here it is again: circa 1974
I got back into trains and into N scale in 2003 when I retired from the Army. I bought this set because it had an SW9 and the same NE style caboose that the railroad I wanted to model had. It was a Great Northern set. They are both on the layout today.
My first was an Atlas FM C liner set as well. Came with the engine, caboose and I think like 3 more cars. A helium car, a vinegar tank car, a Linde boxcar and I do believe a regular tank car. I still have all the original pieces to that except for the track. I do beleive I even have the little Blue transformer as well. I received it when I was around 6-7 years old. I had set the oval up on an old card table, ran it around a few times, then it took a nose dive off the table. My mom took it away from me till I got a little older..lol. Fond memories for sure.
Mine is a Life-Like BL2. My dad had two in C&O colors when he had his N-scale layout in the late '80s, early 90's and they were always my favorites. When I decided to build my own N-scale layout I wanted to have at least one BL2 as well. Got one off of Extortionbay in Rock Island colors that is now in the process of being repainted for C&O (sorry RI guys).
Russ's photo on page 1 brought back memories. My first loco was the same Rapido switcher. Notice the lead axle journal. It is a slot, not a hole. A change of direction was supposed to lift the coupler, the first attempt at automatic uncoupling. As with Rapido from the late 60's, it weighed a ton and really pulled. Dave G Cache Valley & Northern RR
Ah, memories. My first n-scale equipment? Christmas 1970 or thereabouts: Atlas 0-6-0 Tank Loco Santa Fe #147 Texaco 3-dome tank car Monon Gondola National Dairy Despatch Reefer Yellow High Cupola Caboose (UP?) A copy of Nine N-Scale Layouts, so well written by John Armstrong and Thad Stepek, that seduced me (still does!) with beautiful photos. A circle of track tacked onto a 4x8x3/4" particle board, (on folding legs) that drooped in the middle until my dear departed Dad reinforced it. I ran the dickens out of that little locomotive until Dad had to send away for new brushes from good old Atlas. The locomotive and track are long gone. I still have the three freight cars, and that book is very worn, but will never part with them.
Not sure exactly which one of the two,but one of these Trix F's was my first loco in 1967,soon followed by the other.I repainted them,[AGAIN,LOL!!!] rebuilt them, and added the screens and the B unit recently.
