I got mine when i was 8 years old the maker of my frist is called Kusan-auburn, inc . K series 2 rail system 4 striaghts and curves to make full circle . the train was called the satelite . had a up alco F engine with speed adjustment on top with electrical hookup to send power to car behind which was a blower that put a styrofoam ball to float in the air then powered out to nest car that was a search light that went around and around when trained moved then there was a radar dish on the next car that spun also , gondola with satelite loads with containers then the UP caboose. got it used for 10 bucks. ran that thing to death but still works busted some handrailings here and there and still have it. this guy shows some of these trains they made and gives details abount them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUm4d_zvdEE
and here it is in action
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShGN_AZsTP8
have fun watching Dae
since i grew up in a family of modellers, i never got a "first train set" per se.
my first locomotive was an arnold rapido FA1 in erie colours, which we ran on our n scale christmas layout. it features a die cast body and like many n scale locos of 40+ years ago a very high top speed. it would pull whatever we could put behind it on the mountain.
because of this, to this day i am a sucker for any locomotives painted for the erie.
Lionel post war 1964 set . This included
12710
Five Car
Freight Set
1964 - 1966
739 Berkshire Locomotive
736W Whistling Tender
6162 New York Central Gondola
6414 Automobile Loader
6464-725 New Haven Box Car
6476 Lehigh Valley Hopper
6437 Pennsylvania Caboose
Plus: O gauge track, UCS remote control track, LW transformer, billboards, smoke pellets and instructions
My father was over seas at the time . And my family lived on an Air Force Base in Maine . My mum set it up on the wood floor in my bedroom . I liked running it at night watching the head light and smoke . I remember the guff she went threw to get me more smoke pellets . I believe some of it is still in their attic along with a bunch of TYCO stuff ...
1971. I was 10 years old.
4 piece AHM freight set; 0-4-0 Dockside with a few cars. Also got some kind of 4-wheel plymouth, never ran well. AND a Rivarrossi 0-6-0 tanker. The tanker still runs and runs and runs. Got a circle of track and I ran the heck out of those trains under the dining room table.
The next summer I inherited my grandfather's HO trains. He switch to N before he passed.
He had a Varney 0-4-0, B&O. Guess which railroad I model 42 years later...
(http://i642.photobucket.com/albums/uu146/jsnvogel/Rolling%20Stock/DSCN2840.jpg)
Regards,
Jonathan
first set was a lionel 44 tonner set in 1958
Trix Twin passenger set around 1960, it never really grew as they turned belly up not long after.
Quote from: jonathan on January 05, 2013, 04:50:58 PM
1971. I was 10 years old.
4 piece AHM freight set; 0-4-0 Dockside with a few cars. Also got some kind of 4-wheel plymouth, never ran well. AND a Rivarrossi 0-6-0 tanker. The tanker still runs and runs and runs. Got a circle of track and I ran the heck out of those trains under the dining room table.
The next summer I inherited my grandfather's HO trains. He switch to N before he passed.
He had a Varney 0-4-0, B&O. Guess which railroad I model 42 years later...
(http://i642.photobucket.com/albums/uu146/jsnvogel/Rolling%20Stock/DSCN2840.jpg)
Regards,
Jonathan
jonathon,
interesting that your love for b&o stemmed from a docksider. mine stems from growing up less than a mile from the mainline. B&O was a friendly road, and i spent countless hours in the signal towers helping the operators throw switches, occasionally hooping up train orders, etc. they were happy for the company on a lonely job.
the other big line in the area, pennsy/ pc/ conrail, ran far more trains, but took a dim view of railfans.
Dave,
I think your satellite train is really cool! I would have loved something like that when I was a kid.
Johnathan,
You were a lucky guy to get your grandfather's HO trains. Generally, the trains get bigger as the owner gets older (so they can still see them).
When I worked in HO, I had an AHM Docksider. Yours looks like it had a number of improvements added. It looks like it sits a little lower than mine did. I like the chain added to the cylinder, the red window frame, and the figure in the cab. Looks like your grandfather had a fine eye for detail.
My first train was a Lionel set I got for Christmas in 1953. I was four years old. It had a die-cast 2-6-4 loco. I received more cars as presents in following years, so I don't remember what it had originally, but I remember it had a lighted caboose, a Sunoco tank car, two gondola cars, and a flat car with a boat. I also got a Western Pacific boxcar sometime later.
The O-27 track was set up on a braced Masonite 4x8 sheet. I had a stamped steel through truss bridge (mounted flat on the Masonite), a remote-control uncoupling track, and a road crossing with flashing signal and a shack with a little man that came out and waved a lantern.
I always thought the bridge over nothing was unrealistic until I worked for the DM&E RR. We had a bridge over the Bad River in South Dakota that was located where the river was re-channeled. The new channel passed under the railroad via culverts, while the old channel was filled in without the bridge being removed. Thus the bridge remained on what was now flat ground. Life imitates art!
Les
Lionel, 0-27, 2-6-2 with smoke and horn in the tender. A white pill about the size of an aspirin as I recall was dropped into the smoke stack. A wire coil in the bottom of the smoke box heated the tablet.
A log car that flips the logs off. Operating milk cat where the worker would push the milk cans onto a platform. A searchlight on a flatcar. Two dome tank car and caboose. Long gone.
I now have some 0-27 Marx that are very noisy when running. Tin plate.
Rich.
My first trains were a Lionel set which was really my brother's from just after World War Two. I can't remember not having it. We acquired a Lionel Magna-Traction diesel of some kind in the mid-fifties (my brother might have liberated it, I never knew for sure). That thing would pull the family Buick if we needed it to.
We switched to HO in 1959 with two Athearn sets, one led by an AT&SF GP-9, the other an AT&SF passenger F unit. We soon acquired two Athearn RDCs (one powered) and many more pieces of rolling stock made from Athearn kits. Within a year or so we had graduated to Walthers wood and steel heavyweight passenger car kits, LaBelle wooden kits, Model Die Casting all zinc casting kits, Penn-Line plastic passenger kits, and Tru-Scale wooden kits. We also built some Central Valley kits (my favorite) but they were more expensive due to the included high-quality trucks. Our first three locos, counting the RDC, were all Hi-F drive, known disparagingly as rubber band drive. Then we shifted almost completely to steam with Varney, Model Die Casting and Mantua locos and loco kits. We began switching to Kadee couplers after just a few months hoping the NMRA-approved X2f horn-hooks would work as well as the NMRA endorsement seemed to promise. For structures we free-lanced/scratch built when we could or built Revell kits and then Suydamm kits.
Talk about a trip down Memory Lane. Wow!
-- D
I was 5 and for Christmas got an AHM set that contained a Pennsy Alco RS 2 or 3 (at the time I did not know or care-was just excited to get a train set!) And the following cars: The red white and blue Bangor/Maine box car, a yellow cattle car, a Pennsy cabose and Rhode Island or Rock Island gondola. At first it was a figure 8 on a piece of Masonite. My father also gave me use of a couple of Gilbert cars: a B & 0 box car, Gulf tanker and black B & 0 gondola. He also gave me a B & 0 steamer that had a tender attached. No idea what kind of steamer or maker, although my dad seems to think it was a Mantua. The cattle car never seemed to track well and it always seemed to be much "higher" than the other cars. When I was between 8 and 10, I grew to hate the Alco, bc it could not pull squat, even on a level surface. It and the steamer died (too many moving parts on the steamer for a young fella). They got replaced with an Athearn Blue Box Chesapeake and Ohio F7 "super weight" which I still have today, after recently replacing a truck (the kind with the metal side plates) and doing everything short of the Pearl Drops on the Athearn "update" routine. The F7 is a "beast" and can pull a ton of cars.
I still have the Bangor/Maine, all the other AHM cars took headers off the 4 x 8 particle board the layout was later on when we moved to the suburbs. I do still have some parts from them. The Gilbert gondola disappeared as well but I recently put Kadees on the Gilbert B & O and Gulf Tanker. They still have springs on their trucks. Over time, I also came by my father's Atlas snap switches and other Atlas track to supplement the AHM track. Brass of course, but stil in use today, with my son. In fact, some of the switches lasted until just recently. They came apart bc the plastic was breaking down. I also just recently replaced the transformer he gave me to use, a big green thing, made in W. Germany that had forward and reverse controlled by a single dial. 12:00 position was off and to the left and right were forward and reverse. It was still working; just not as efficient as more modern transformers. Don't know what ever happened to the AHM transformer that came with the set I got for that Christmas.
My first train set was a clock works set by Marx. My guess would be in 1937.
Did we become kids again. bring back some fun times. and how many different types of trains. i know when i was playing with mine i had more friends want to come to my place. i was the only one in our neighborhood who had one except one friend who could never keep his running and forgot what brand but went over to hes house one day to hook up the wire that broke. made me proud i could fix it used my dads rapid strippers i was abount 9 or 10. i was hoping one day Bachmann could make a radar and light car DCC and even maybe a blower car with dcc maybe even a spring loaded nerf rocket launcher dcc so i can shoot my godzilla from attacking my train yard. Dave
Once, at the big Timonium show in Maryland, there was an exhbitor who made kits for the big railway guns. One of those would certainly keep Godzilla at bay (not sure about Mothra.)
My love of trains started in my godfather's basement. His dad was a PRR employee so the heavy power was provided by Lionel GG-1s. I remember his set of Madison passenger cars being pulled by a GG-1 - the lights flickered as the train ran around the layout. A Pennsy turbine locomotive often drew freight duty.
The track was all handlaid outside third rail on Midlin roadbed
My first set of trains were Lionel. I had a friend who had American Flyers. I always though that their trains suffered because of the tremendously big couplers - either the hook or the knuckle type. Of Course the Lionel coupler was also huge!
my grandfather had some midlin track. i liked it. it was a easy way to lay your own track. the rail had a flange on the bottom which fit into slots cut in wood ties. instant handlaid track, perfectly in guage.
one wonders where such ingenuity, so common in this hobby in the past, is to-day,
My first train set was a Marx set from about 1951. If memory serves, there were powered and dummy F-units painted Southern Pacific, a box car, flat car, gon and caboose. All of the equipment was lithoed metal. The cars only had two axles. I eventually got a station building with a horn inside, and some more track for a figure 8. That lasted a few years until about '56, when for my birthday I got an American Flyer S gauge set. It had a New Haven Pacific and also 3 standard passenger cars - baggage, coach, obs.
My first set was a Revell HO U.P. 0-6-0T (with "Omaha" on the side of the tank), a 50-ft Southern RR bulkhead pulpwood flat car, a 50-ft flat car with three giant-sized (for HO) logs, and a U.P. caboose. I think my grandpa got it cheap, maybe even used, but it ran fine for all my 1960s childhood. The log flat car got broken and disappeared years ago, but I managed to acquire a replacement for it from eBay. The train now has pride of place in my display cabinet, on the bottom shelf to signify that it's the foundation of my love for model trains.
Another early train, also from my grandpa (and I'm sure purchased used and cheap because the engine mechanism was broken) was a Gilbert American Flyer HO "Pacific Clipper" Northern Pacific passenger train--engine, combine, dome car, and observation--in the beautiful "North Coast Limited" two-tone green paint scheme. It came with an oval of Gilbert's "Pikemaster" track, an early form of roadbed track. The set was supposed to have a power pack, but it wasn't included in the set as given to me.
This train remained in practically like-new condition, as it wasn't used all that much during my childhood. My grandpa had replaced the broken Flyer engine mechanism with one of those old Athearn rubber-band drives, and it simply wasn't strong enough to pull those long, heavy passenger cars. About 20-odd years ago, as a Christmas surprise, my dad took the engine to the LHS where we had done train business since I was a kid, and the owner fitted the Flyer shell to an Athearn "super-power" gear-drive mechanism--so finally, after about 25 years, the train finally ran decently!
Recently, my dad had to spend a few days in the hospital to get his ticker checked out. While he was in the hospital, his house was burglarized, and--you guessed it--the Flyer set was among the items stolen. It was the only part of my vast assemblage of HO trains still under the parental roof. Dad thought the train had survived the burglary, but when I was visiting him for Christmas and went to set it up to run, I knew immediately that it was gone because the box was way too light in weight when I lifted it off the shelf in the closet where it was stored. The thief took the train and the "Pikemaster" track but left the original set box.
I will miss that train. Running it at Christmas at my dad's place had become something of a tradition for us over the past few years.
First set, a 1971, 6 unit, HO Tyco Set from Sears. Burlington Northern. It didn't run Christmas day and had to be exchanged. I still have the complete replacement set to this day and it still runs. My next door neighbor had an AHM set and I ended up with some of the cars from his set. I still have those as well. Good times... Alas, all of the HO stuff now resides in a storage cabinet since On30 fever took me several years ago.
Like Tim my first set came from Sear's but it was an S gauge American Flyer from 1956 set that I still have today and still works. Actually it was my brother's first set that I aquired in 1964 when I was 2 yrs. old.
Jerry
J-J
I'm sorry to learn of your loss and I can imagine how you must feel about it. All of my Christmas ornaments were stolen when I left the navy, probably because the shipper saw me close up the boxes with dozens of elaborate, hand-made pieces inside. The boxes had all of the ornaments from my parents' trees and even what was left from one set of grandparents. So I understand the sadness and the anger.
Seemingly unimportant things can become touchstones for our lives, and real parts of how our traditions define who we are. It
can feel like such a personal assault when things like this happen. I'm sad for you and angry to hear that this happened to you.
-- D
J-J,
I would like to add my condolences to those expressed by Don.
When we are passionate about our hobbies, these items become a part of our persona. For someone to steal them becomes stealing something by which we define ourselves.
Les
Thank you, Don and Les. I appreciate your kindness in commenting. Because of the "history" of the set, it really feels like a part of my childhood was stolen. :(
However, I am comforting myself with one notion about the burglary: The thief also took my grandmother's silver. With the price of silver so high right now, he probably thought he was going to clean up on that, except for one thing: The silver wasn't sterling, it was plate, and nobody who is buying wants plate. You can barely give that stuff away. ;D
Don, that's just awful about the Christmas ornaments. I'm sorry to hear about that. >:(
Well if you really want to know my first train set it was a plastic push set with track made by Child Guidance at maybe 6 years old.
My first Electric set was from Lionel at arounf 10.
late 1950s. Hornby-Dublo three rail. LNER A4 No. 7 "Sir Nigel Gresley" in LNER blue, four tin plate lithoed "Teak" LNER carriages and N2 class 0-6-2T and assorted freight cars. All now collector's items but of no real great monetary value but all stored safely in my basement.
1940 era Lionel, O27 Hudson with all the cars and accessories you could imagine, in an inner loop. Many happy hours with that and my Brother's O gauge K4 on the outside loop with a pier bridge and inner loop. I can say the Magna-traction worked 99% of the time. Concrete floors did not seem to harm that old stuff!
Best Wishes,
Jack
Mine was a wind-up Marx steamer, no tender, a boxcar, tanker and caboose.Except for the engine, which was plastic, as was the track, the cars were lithographed steel. I was 4
My next set at 6yo was a dual AF, with an Atlantic steamer and a PA-1. The Atlantic pulled freight and the PA pulled the passenger cars. I never wanted lionel, as it had 3 rails and didn't look a thing like the real one, and I didn't want it. I basically loved this set to death.
At 8 I got a Silver Streak Dbldr 40' SRR boxcar. Been in HO ever since, and I still have most of the cars I've built in those 50 years!
Didn't get into Electric Trains until about 2004 . I made mention to a friend that I had a " deprived childhood" in that I hadn't had an electric train as a youth . My sister found out about that and it gave her the answer to the question of what to get for someone who has a plethora of hobbies . First train set was a Bachmann " Harry Potter " set for Christmas and so began the journey . Still haven't built the permanent layout but acquired many more trains and assorted tools and material and catalogs. It did lead to constructing a 4'x8' table , building a miniature spray painting compressor to power air brushes , and shelves to house paint bottles and model spray paint cans and paint brushes . My first toy train was also a wind up steamer with tender , boxcar ,and caboose . Lithographed for the New York Central with hollow steel track about O - scale if memory serves. J2
When my Father left the AirForce after the Korean War to return to college he first married my Mom and got a part-time job to supplement his GI Bill. With his first paycheck he bought a Lionel complete set Hudson 4-6-4 with rolling stock, he bought a ZW Transformer, Light tower, signal bridge and some other accesories. He would set it up every year around the Christmas Tree and after I was born would photogragh me every Christmas under that tree with the train running around the track. When I was 9 or 10
he built a 5x8 foot table in the basement so the train was "up" all year round. My Uncle was a professional artist himself a veteran of The Korean War 1st Marine Division "Frozen Chosen", built us a beautiful mountain and tunnel and beautifully painted it. I didn't realize till years later that this was therapy for him as he suffered from Post War Stress Syndrome. Only 6 of 152 of his men walked out of that conflict. Over the years my brother and I added to the set with the Tie Ejector and bumper car. When we went off to college it was all put into storage. After I was married and started a family it was my 5th chilld, my son joey who loves trains so much discovered
all the packed boxes and started pulling boxes out begging me to set it up and run them. After my wife and i bought our first home I had a G-Scale Bachmann around the tree every Christmas but it wasn't till Joey was 5 I finally set up my Dad's stuff in the basement. It's amazing what our kids will get us to do. I can't tell you all the memories that have come flooding back from the day's of my chidhood and now all the memories my son joe and I are making with the lay-out we have made and am now re-making. We have more Engines and Rolling stock thank you WBB and are having a wonderful time.
Quote from: M1FredQ on January 13, 2013, 08:30:29 PM
When my Father left the AirForce after the Korean War to return to college he first married my Mom and got a part-time job to supplement his GI Bill. With his first paycheck he bought a Lionel complete set Hudson 4-6-4 with rolling stock, he bought a ZW Transformer, Light tower, signal bridge and some other accesories. He would set it up every year around the Christmas Tree and after I was born would photogragh me every Christmas under that tree with the train running around the track. When I was 9 or 10
he built a 5x8 foot table in the basement so the train was "up" all year round. My Uncle was a professional artist himself a veteran of The Korean War 1st Marine Division "Frozen Chosen", built us a beautiful mountain and tunnel and beautifully painted it. I didn't realize till years later that this was therapy for him as he suffered from Post War Stress Syndrome. Only 6 of 152 of his men walked out of that conflict. Over the years my brother and I added to the set with the Tie Ejector and bumper car. When we went off to college it was all put into storage. After I was married and started a family it was my 5th chilld, my son joey who loves trains so much discovered
all the packed boxes and started pulling boxes out begging me to set it up and run them. After my wife and i bought our first home I had a G-Scale Bachmann around the tree every Christmas but it wasn't till Joey was 5 I finally set up my Dad's stuff in the basement. It's amazing what our kids will get us to do. I can't tell you all the memories that have come flooding back from the day's of my chidhood and now all the memories my son joe and I are making with the lay-out we have made and am now re-making. We have more Engines and Rolling stock thank you WBB and are having a wonderful time.
What a lovely, heart-warming reminiscence! Great reading for me on a gloomy Monday morning. Thank you for sharing that! :)
It was probably around 1956-1957 and I was 6-7 years old. My brother (who was 6 years older) and I received an American Flyer train set for Christmas. This set had a Pennsilvania K-4 Pacific and 5-6 cars and a typical N (something) type Pennsy caboose. As I had little money to spend on the layout at that point in my life and my brother did, from mowing grass and such, he bought more track, a couple of turnouts (called "switches" back then) and some Plasticville buildings. He mounted the track to a 4X8 sheet of plywood and although he let me run the train, his being 6 years older and having more money invested in the layout, it was much more his, than mine!
One of the neighbor kids, who was even older than my brother, had an HO layout in his basement. I thought HO to be much more scale like than my "high rail" American Flyer set and so started asking Santa for an HO trainset, which I finally got in 1959. This was a Tyco set with a 0-4-0 side tank Booster loco, an MKT Box car, a Pennsy Gondola and a Bobber caboose and of course it was in Pennsy livery. Along with this set I received a Varney Little Joe Docksider 0-4-0 and a Varney powerpack that had been the neighbor kid's who had the HO layout in his basement. Thus began my deep and long lasting love for HO. Incidentally I still have the Varney Little Joe, it runs and pulls more cars (for it size) than any other loco I have!
My first train set was a Lionel "O" Scale Red & Silver Santa Fe Diesel loco and some operating cars and it took up two ping pong tables in the basement. That was in 1953 when I was about 6 or 7. Wish I still had it as it would be worth lots of $.
Quote from: Trainmastermike on February 07, 2013, 12:23:42 PM
My first train set was a Lionel "O" Scale Red & Silver Santa Fe Diesel loco and some operating cars and it took up two ping pong tables in the basement. That was in 1953 when I was about 6 or 7. Wish I still had it as it would be worth lots of $.
And I'll bet the memories of the fun you had with that train are priceless. :)
I found this thread and am enjoying reading everyone's stories.
I hope folks who view this site take time to contribute. We really have a great hobby!!
You mean this magnetraction Li-0-27-nel doorstop Gramps gave me on Christmas 45 years ago ;D
(Gramps 1st train was a USED marklin tin Og steamer. A depression Christmas gift. Still runs)
(http://i1322.photobucket.com/albums/u570/GGa1lin/engine2037adriatic2-6-4_zps5da8b0bf.jpg)
I actually first got a L. Super-O track with US Army missile launching engine, land,sea,air,(extra-missle transportcar, helicopter launcher car, submarine car, derreck-crane car, spotlight car & white red cross rescue caboose. But I destroyed the plastic bodied engine in just weeks. Worst pulling engine ever AND often derailed in turnouts. Even slow & solo it was sketchy. That next month was my birthday (only my 4th) and this 2037 Adriatic, 2046 whistle tender, and extra rolling stock arrived. "Bet you dont break this one" Gramps said. He was right. Original pill smoke unit, it still smokes like wet leaves on a campfire. Nice! The magnetized wheels are STILL strong enough to hold on to a piece of track in the air. Casey Jones got nothin on me, & this one often pulls passengers merrily along at 120mph scale speed thru 27" bends. Im more likely to loose a light caboose to a bump, than roll this loco in a turn. I run fast b'cause I can. Besides the old school whistle motor LOVES the extra voltage. Whheeeoooooo Whheeeoooooo Whheeeoooooo!!!!
5 years later my brother got HIS first. A "santa fe" hudson with boiler-door top feedwater heater. Pulls 5 more cars but will roll off a turn at 90mph. We both got many more cars on Christmas & birthdays. My brother went DCC. THEN..there was a great train robbery,... BY ME! (he can have it back if he wants it) ;D(maybe) ::)
(http://i1322.photobucket.com/albums/u570/GGa1lin/1stand2cnd/engine665santefehudsonWfeedwaterheat4-6-4_zpsb05b080f.jpg)
Engines(2) and about 20pc. of rolling stock survived fairly intact. Some wrecks became kit bashed and live on, some are only memories. I got 3 more locos, over 40yr span. And Ive finally added some more over the last year, 15 engines now, 80+ on rolling stock. My first Adult purchase? W/Bchmn tuskan red, 5 stripe, small keystone, dual can GG1, and k-line fleet of modernism tuskan/gold-stripes passenger cars. Never loved a train more. Now if I could only find a redhead named Gigi in a dark red dress who has gold I'd be all set...Naaah...Setteled on another train, my 1st N-guage ever, a Bachmann f-9, A-A unit Alaska.,Mt McKinley Explorer full-vista dome passener set bought 60 days ago!
Quote from: GG1onFordsDTandI on February 08, 2013, 09:12:16 AM
I run fast b'cause I can.
I always say, inside every adult who tries to operate his trains prototypically is a little kid who just wants his trains to go fast! :D
Quote from: Johnson Bar Jeff on February 08, 2013, 01:42:45 PM
Quote from: GG1onFordsDTandI on February 08, 2013, 09:12:16 AM
I run fast b'cause I can.
I always say, inside every adult who tries to operate his trains prototypically is a little kid who just wants this trains to go fast! :D
"of course why else would a grown man play with trains"
(A slightly misused, but never overused, quote by my
childhood hero Gomez Addams)(as if you didnt know)
Quote from: GG1onFordsDTandI on February 09, 2013, 04:36:06 PM
"of course why else would a grown man play with trains"
(A slightly misused, but never overused, quote by my childhood hero Gomez Adams)(as if you didnt know)
:D
Now, excuse me while I get the mail from Thing. And ring for Lurch. :D
Just to be pedantic : The Family Name is "Addams" , I believe , and say HI to Cousin IT . J2.
Quote from: Jhanecker2 on February 11, 2013, 06:22:25 PM
Just to be pedantic : The Family Name is "Addams" , I believe , and say HI to Cousin IT . J2.
You are right. Duh! Corrections have been made. My spelling always stunk, wait till you read some more of my phonetic spelling nightmares(as well as lousy sentence structure). I do prefer to know of my mistakes rather than continue them, so thanks!
Quote from: Jhanecker2 on February 11, 2013, 06:22:25 PM
Just to be pedantic : The Family Name is "Addams" , I believe , and say HI to Cousin IT . J2.
J2-
And to be even more pedantic, I believe I count eight errors in your sentence.
-- D
Quote from: Johnson Bar Jeff on January 07, 2013, 02:17:47 PM
Another early train, also from my grandpa (and I'm sure purchased used and cheap because the engine mechanism was broken) was a Gilbert American Flyer HO "Pacific Clipper" Northern Pacific passenger train--engine, combine, dome car, and observation--in the beautiful "North Coast Limited" two-tone green paint scheme. It came with an oval of Gilbert's "Pikemaster" track, an early form of roadbed track. The set was supposed to have a power pack, but it wasn't included in the set as given to me.
This train remained in practically like-new condition, as it wasn't used all that much during my childhood. My grandpa had replaced the broken Flyer engine mechanism with one of those old Athearn rubber-band drives, and it simply wasn't strong enough to pull those long, heavy passenger cars. About 20-odd years ago, as a Christmas surprise, my dad took the engine to the LHS where we had done train business since I was a kid, and the owner fitted the Flyer shell to an Athearn "super-power" gear-drive mechanism--so finally, after about 25 years, the train finally ran decently!
Recently, my dad had to spend a few days in the hospital to get his ticker checked out. While he was in the hospital, his house was burglarized, and--you guessed it--the Flyer set was among the items stolen. It was the only part of my vast assemblage of HO trains still under the parental roof. Dad thought the train had survived the burglary, but when I was visiting him for Christmas and went to set it up to run, I knew immediately that it was gone because the box was way too light in weight when I lifted it off the shelf in the closet where it was stored. The thief took the train and the "Pikemaster" track but left the original set box.
I will miss that train. Running it at Christmas at my dad's place had become something of a tradition for us over the past few years.
I can't seem to find a post updating this, so please forgive me if I'm repeating myself, but I do want to report that miracles do still happen: Wonder of wonders, this summer we got the stolen American Flyer "North Coast Limited" set back!
One day back in July I was making my daily eBay check, and I always searched under American Flyer HO for "North Coast Limited" equipment. My jaw nearly hit my desk when I came across a listing for what I was reasonably certain had to be the purloined train; there were several things that suggested to me that it was our stolen "Limited," but the main one was that seller gave its location as my home town!
I immediately got on the horn to my dad, and got from him the phone number for the police detective who was in charge of investigating the burglary at my dad's home. I spoke to the detective and explained why I thought it was our train. Then at the detective's suggestion, I pulled something a little sneaky: I used eBay's messaging feature to contact the seller to ask if I could inspect the set before I bid on it! He replied that I could, and sent me his phone number. I then googled the phone number, which gave me his name and address. I passed the name and address on to the detective, who paid a visited and checked things out.
Turned out the seller had bought the train from someone whom we now presume was the burglar. The detective felt the guy was honest and was caught in a bad place, and the detective suggested I contact the seller, offer to reimburse him what he had paid the presumed burglar for the train, and retrieve the set. I did just that , and the "North Coast Limited" is once again safe at home.
Incidentally, someone has been charged with the burglary of my dad's home, as well as several other homes in the neighborhood.
Now, if they'd just let me alone with her--yes, it's a "her"--in a locked room for a short while, we'd find out what she did with my grandmother's silver. ... 8)
That's a great story/ending JBJ!!. I am so happy for you, that's great! One of the unthought of benefits of EBay I guess.
One of these http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HO-OO-Triang-Wind-Up-Shunter-Switcher-Clockwork-Model-Railway-/160990314733?pt=Model_RR_Trains&hash=item257bc540ed, a custard and cream carriage (passenger car) and a handful of freight wagons on an oval of track. The 'square' dome on the the loco's boiler hides the clockwork spring.
JBJ,
What a great happy ending!
Congratulations.
Les
Quote from: GG1onFordsDTandI on February 12, 2013, 01:05:18 PM
Quote from: Jhanecker2 on February 11, 2013, 06:22:25 PM
Just to be pedantic : The Family Name is "Addams" , I believe , and say HI to Cousin IT . J2.
You are right. Duh! Corrections have been made. My spelling always stunk, wait till you read some more of my phonetic spelling nightmares(as well as lousy sentence structure). I do prefer to know of my mistakes rather than continue them, so thanks!
Not being critical but there is a spell checker that I run every time I post here. The same spell check also under lines in red any spelling errors, or what it thinks are spelling errors. It thinks "Bachmann" for example, is a spelling error. :)
Having said that, I don't know how many times I use the "modify" button to correct grammar errors in posts I've made earlier that I notice only when I log back on later. :(
Quote from: Johnson Bar Jeff on September 17, 2013, 02:19:51 PM
Wonder of wonders, this summer we got the stolen American Flyer "North Coast Limited" set back!
the detective suggested I contact the seller, offer to reimburse him what he had paid the presumed burglar for the train, and retrieve the set. I did just that , and the "North Coast Limited" is once again safe at home.
Not thrilled to hear you had to buy your property back, but very glad to hear you got it back. Im not sure I would have been so generous. If
I thought he was honest, I would met him halfway.
Quote from: rogertra on September 17, 2013, 10:13:35 PM
Having said that, I don't know how many times I use the "modify" button to correct grammar errors in posts I've made earlier that I notice only when I log back on later. :(
On other forums they will always seem to ask me what the edit was about, then I have to anser ::) So I don't do it as often as I used to. Only if its really bad.
Dear All,
I specify my edits as a courtesy to the reader.
I've seen others do this on another model train forum and thought it was a good idea.
1. It makes it easier to see that there was an edit.
2. It saves the reader the time to go over the entire post again and try to figure out what was changed.
Back to topic:
Tyco HO zebra stripe CN F7(?) freight set with a bobber caboose.
My loco was older and not as detailed as this:
(http://www.ho-scaletrains.net/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/tyco_deluxe_f7_cn.jpg)
(From Tony Cook's ho-scaletrains.net resource.)
Pretty sure we had a flat car with 3 culverts. 2 remote R&L switches forming an early cutoff oval on a 4'x8' half inch plywood sheet set on saw horses. Fence was horizontal (smooth) laths nailed to the edge.
Hope this helps.
Sincerely,
Joe Satnik
On the general subject of theft, our club once shared space with the local trolley musuem and was open on Sunday afternoons when the museum was open. We had installed a trolley line with working overhead and I had built a Pennsylvania Scale Models (later Bowser) Brill. I painted in the old Captial Transit scheme complete with custom logo decals from a LHS. Someone purloined said trolley off the layout and I keep hoping against hope that it might show up some day at a train show. I'd buy it back, no questions asked.
This is probably the set from 1964-65 catalog:
(http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r132/tonycook1966/TYCO/TYCO_T6402C.jpg)
Again, Tony Cook's site.
The flat that I recalled earlier must have been from another source, as the culverts in this set picture are in a gondola.
Joe Satnik
I came into trains in an odd way. As a kid I never had any interest in them. I was asked by a friend if I could paint a locomotive for him as he knew I owned an airbrush and had painted helmets for people from time to time.
I remembered the Maine Central from childhood and when I saw a Proto 2000 caboose at a yard sale I purchased it just to set in my display case of lead figures. A year or so latter I saw a flat car that caught my fancy and added that to the case. I got several requests to paint engines from people who saw the first one, and before long I was doing a couple a week. Well somewhere along the line I ended up with one that was not claimed by its owner. It too sat in the case; a one car train looked silly so I went out to add a few more cars, and discovered that engines could be had factory painted and made of plastic. I always assumed they all came in brass :D I collected a lot of engines and cars but finally saw a set of the Amtrak high speed Acella cars and power units and that became my first and only train set.
Quote from: rogertra on September 17, 2013, 10:13:35 PM
Having said that, I don't know how many times I use the "modify" button to correct grammar errors in posts I've made earlier that I notice only when I log back on later. :(
Isn't it amazing how many spelling errors mysteriously appear as soon as you hit the "Post" button? Happens to me all the time, and I would swear I had everything spelled correctly before I hit that button. :(
Quote from: Joe Satnik on September 18, 2013, 10:41:05 AM
Dear All,
I specify my edits as a courtesy to the reader.
I've seen others do this on another model train forum and thought it was a good idea.
1. It makes it easier to see that there was an edit.
2. It saves the reader the time to go over the entire post again and try to figure out what was changed.
I noticed you do this Joe. Following you're lead, Ive done the same, if I edit after any length of time. I just don't think every little spelling mistake is worth an edit, I try to save that for "important" mistakes. Mostly I keep spelling edits, or edits without explanation, to within minutes of my first posting.
Quote from: Johnson Bar Jeff on September 18, 2013, 01:39:11 PM
Isn't it amazing how many spelling errors mysteriously appear as soon as you hit the "Post" button? Happens to me all the time, and I would swear I had everything spelled correctly before I hit that button. :(
Same here, I just figured it was gremlins messing with me :D.
Quote from: Joe Satnik on September 18, 2013, 11:47:03 AM
This is probably the set from 1964-65 catalog:
The flat that I recalled earlier must have been from another source, as the culverts in this set picture are in a gondola.
Joe Satnik
I wonder if you got a slight deviant from the norm, or a set that had its gondola swapped out pre-sale. I know that was fairly common in our neck of the woods, and dealing with suppliers for "you know who".
I am an old geezer who will be 72 my next b'day--My first trainset came in the depths of WWII--when such things were not allowed to be made. Lots of things were rationed--so the second-hand market was my source of trains and other "necessities"for a 3-year-old.
My parents did not smoke, but they bought their ration of cigarettes every week and stashed them away . For Christmas 1943 (or possibly 1944) they put an ad on a bulletin board for a train--offering to trade cigarettes for one. They got lots of offers to buy the cigarettes, but "A little boy needs a train for Christmas". Eventually they found a Marx "Army Supply Train"--a wind-up one at that--because they were worried about me having an electric one at that age.
I can't really say that I still have it--but over the years A have managed to find most of the components of the electric version.
Even earlier--my mother that my dad had a set of Tootsie Toy trains when he picked us up at the hospitalwhen I was born!
Due to lack of space my father had his layout underneath the parental bed.
The track and locomotives were Fleischmann.
The track was folded steel tracked and had cardboard sleepers.
His first loco was an American diesel switcher and his second a T3.
I still have them running in my collection.
I was born literally with trains under the bed!
I can remember my first train set.
It was a windup from Fleischmann.
Have a look in the 0n30 section/pictures of my website.
www.pe2tr.nl
The first photo is me in 1958 with the diesel.
Ton
The Netherlands
Ton,
Great layout! Thanks for providing English translation captions. My Dutch is a little rusty. ;D
Regards,
Jonathan
Had to be late 50's or early 60's when I got a Lionel O gauge set. It was boxed up and put away when I started high school in 1966. About 10 years ago, I started wondering what happened to it. Mom said I had it, I said it was still at her house. Looked both places several times by couldn't find it.
When I started having grandsons (had daughters, no sons) I started to think about the train again because the boys loved to watch Thomas and play with the wooden trains. Once again I searched, but still couldn't find it. Got some HO stuff and have set it up several time in the kitchen so we could play with it. Been slow working on a table in the basement so we can do more with it.
Two months ago, my sister was looking for some stuff she had at mom's and found it. Flat cars with a boat, one with two cars, one with a helicopter (broken) :'(, a magnet operated mail car (door opens and a bag is thrown out (bag missing), train station, diesel engine. Don't know if it would work. Sure is dirty and the track is in pretty rough shape, but I'm happy I have it back and will likely have the guy at the local train club look it over. Morgun
Dear Morgun,
http://www.postwarlionel.com/cgi-bin/postwar?ITEM=3428
What are the numbers on the loco (usually 3 or 4 digits) and cars (4 digits or 4 digits "dash" - 2 or 3 digits)?
Joe Satnik
[quote author=Morgun 30 link=topic=22399.msg193637#msg193637 date=1379858759
Flat cars with a boat, one with two cars, one with a helicopter (broken) :'(, a magnet operated mail car (door opens and a bag is thrown out (bag missing), train station, diesel engine. Don't know if it would work. Sure is dirty and the track is in pretty rough shape, but I'm happy I have it back and will likely have the guy at the local train club look it over.
[/quote]
Good news Morgun. The broken helicopter, and lost mail bag, can be replaced with re-pops for about $20 and $3 respectively. Just match the winder style correctly if the helicopter car has a launcher. Boat and car re-pops can be had too, I believe those originals are "collectables" to be shelved. The engine would likely run if it was running when you boxed it. A little clean up and lube and I bet that old diesel lives another 50 years. The track if dirty, will be likely be more forgiving that an HO would. If its more tarnish, than flakey, or deep rust, a little Scotchbrite will probably do to clean that up.
Ooooh! the pain..The loco number? Photo? Is that only the "exciting" stuff? You left us hanging Morgun! :'( >:(...;) :-*...:D ;D
Sorry, my computer was hit by a spyware program and I just got it back today. So I've actually got something that's worth a little money? Cool! Selling it, however, is the last on my mind.
Yep, that's the mail car. Loco is a Northern Pacific #628 (Lionel 027 diesel switcher)
http://www.postwarlionel.com/cgi-bin/postwar?ITEM=628
Quote from: Morgun 30 on September 24, 2013, 10:13:32 PM
So I've actually got something that's worth a little money? Cool! Selling it, however, is the last on my mind.
Yep, that's the mail car.
http://www.postwarlionel.com/cgi-bin/postwar?ITEM=628
That's a classic switcher all right.
Well you're not gonna get rich, but the boats, and other such "brittle toys" aren't exactly falling out of trees. If you can afford it, best to shelve to goodies, and "play" with the re-pops. Glad to hear they are worth more than money to you Morgun.
My first train set was my uncles American Flyer that was handed down to me. I wish I still had it even though the loco quit working. It didn't make it on a move between Michigan and Oklahoma when I was younger :'(
My first train set was, believe it or not, a LIFE-LIKE set! To be precise, it was the Toys R' Us Express, from when I was a kid in the 1990s, which I got as a Christmas present:
(http://i.ebayimg.com/t/Vintage-Toys-R-Us-Express-HO-Train-Set-w-Geoffrey-Giraffe-Car-New-in-Box-RARE-/00/s/MTE5NVgxNjAw/$T2eC16RHJI!E9qSO8nJcBP-b-6bNr!~~60_35.JPG)
(Our local Toys R' Us used to sell a lot of HO train products, mostly Bachmann and Life-Like.)
Rather basic, but a nice little set, and for a kid my age, the Power-Loc track was pretty good for playing with it on the floor. During this time, I wasn't really interested in setting up a real model railroad yet, but I did get some extra track so it wouldn't just go in a circle every time.
But what REALLY made my layout take off was what I got for Christmas 2000:
(http://mojosavings.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/train-set.jpg)
Set it up on a 4x8 sheet of plywood, along with some additional accessories I got. A lot like those older high-end Tyco train sets of the 1970s.
Of course now I have moved up from most of the Power-Loc track and those low-end "retro" Life-Like locomotives.