I was thinking about my first model railroad, HO, this morning and was wondering what you remember. My first was in 1967 when my Uncle Dale gave me a AEC locomotive with a boxcar, flat car with a rocket and a Pennsylvania bobber caboose. He gave me this small train because he was going into N scale and knew I was into trains. I still have the set along with some other HO cars I purchased over the years. The locomotive doesn't run any more because something happened to the motor but I would like to get it fixed sometime. Thanks to Uncle Dale I will be celebrating my 50th anniversary next year, 2017. Please post your fondest memories. Joe
Sometime in the late 70s, I received one of the Tyco "Golden Eagle" sets that came with enough track to make a simple circle. The locomotive was a shiny, six-axle, high-nosed short hood creation of someone's imagination, but it was mine and it ran fast. It had a very particular oily smell after it had been running for a while. Don't know what happened to the locomotive, but I still have the caboose sitting on a shelf above my workbench. My first actual "Frisco" model involved saving up my money to go to TJ's Hobbies in Cape, where a fellow Frisco Folk we know as klrwhizkid was apparently working, and had decorated an F-united in Mandarin orange/white with a nose Coonskin herald. Guess that was one of my first, indirect contacts with the many fine folk that still hang out in this forum. Best Regards,
My first locomotive was a Mantua "Big Six" HO kit with zamac boiler and valve gear, a very smooth runner. Wish I still had it. The layout was in the basement of a rented duplex, little more than an oval, with one end hidden within a large plaster mountain. The year was 1963.
My first was on a ping pong table. The year would have also been Jan-Feb of 1963 for me, too. (I was 10 years old at the time.) Like most first layouts, it consisted of a basic oval with some spurs for switching. I remember getting some Life Like ballast down, as well as some Life Like lichen trees, bush clumps, etc. There were a few structures, including a couple of poster board constructed types that I scratch built (not very well, I'm sure) using my Bantam Books "Model Railroading" paperback as a guide. Upon this grand empire operated my Lindberg Lines SW6 and my Tyco (red box) GP20 and all my huge fleet of rolling stock. (Maybe 8-9 cars?) Regardless, I had a ton of fun and things were much, much simpler then. My vivid imagination supplied about 90% of my enjoyment. I still enjoy model railroading, but perhaps things have to be so sophisticated now that a bit has been lost along the way. Much less of my imagination is used now. Speaking of our first stuff: Very unlike many other modeler's early "Modeling Memories", mine do not revolve around a Lionel set. No, my most influential set was a Lindberg Lines set that I received for Christmas, 1962. Christmas 1962 was very special. Perhaps some day I'll offer up a post (with illustrations) of one exciting Christmas for this very happy young (at the time) boy.
My first was a 4x6 O scale on plywood. It had wheels under it and would roll under my bed. It was 1968 and I was 5 years old. I drew roads on it with an ink pen. Scenery! I can still smell that warm Lionel transformer.
Must've been a SE Missouri austerity measure; I remember my cousin and I doing the same thing on 4x8 particle board. That was the only thing that distinguished road from surrounding lawns, pasture, etc. until I discovered the "Scenery Mat" material. Best Regards,
I dug out my first model train, it's HO scale and was given to me in 1967 by my uncle who was going to N scale. A AEC, Atomic Energy Company, 44 ton locomotive, Western Pacific 40 foot boxcar, Seaboard 40 foot flatcar with a rocket and a bobber caboose. The locomotive doesn't run right now, probably just needs to be cleaned and a couple drops of oil. It has a lot of hours on it and even more fun. Who knew that I would be into the model railroad hobby for 53 years. Joe
My first layout was in HO Scale - I was in early grade school - mid 1960's. It was built by my older brother (by 9 years) and a neighbor friend of his. As I recall, it was built from a layout planning book, designed by John Allen, 4 x 8 feet in size. They set the layout on top of two sawhorses which were the perfect height for this kid at that time. The basic plan was a figure 8 - over and under style, with sidings for industries, maybe a small little stub-ended yard. They did a great job of installing the scenery and track work, even building some structures from kits, maybe even some R.T.R. structures. A short time prior to this, I'd received a Tyco HO Scale starter set, power pack, a maroon Pennsy F-7. handful of cars, and a caboose. This equipment received a good workout on my new layout. Brother Bill and Tim the neighbor were working on this layout for several months. I had no idea what they were doing downstairs in our family's basement. I did know that they didn't want me to go down there, so I knew something was going on. Christmas morning, they took me down - a large bed sheet was draped over the entire layout. They unveiled it, and I remember being so shocked, surprised, and in absolute awe. That is a fond memory I'll always treasure, for as long as I'm able. I'm fortunate enough to see my brother every three months or so, as he lives 2-1/2 hours away in Wichita. I love him dearly, and we have a close relationship. Even though he was in high school at this time, busy with other things, he still made time to take me over to Spotlight model railroad. He really enjoyed building the Campbell Scale Model kits. Even though Bill wasn't as much of a railfan as I was, this was a hobby that we enjoyed together. Thanks for starting this post Joe, I really admire your work! Bob McKeighan Lenexa, KS
After Lionel 027, mine at age 12 in 1960 was a Lionel ( Rivarossi ) HO set with an IC FM diesel, IC silver reefer, MC gondola, MKT stock car and Reading flat car and Bobber caboose. On a 4x6 sheet of plywood. My dad and I built a tunnel out of paper mache. There were a bunch of Plasticville buildings too. Right away I ruined everything trying to repaint things. But to me it looked great. I remember two things I really felt were missing...... a boxcar and an 8 wheel caboose. We went to visit Aunt Wanda and Uncle Jack in Houston who took me to the G&G model shop where my birthday present was a Mantua green Maine Central boxcar and a Revell ATSF wood caboose which I thought was a dead ringer for the T&NO ones we saw daily. I have 3 stand in pieces today for the early ones lost so long ago, courtesy of eBay..... a replacement Michigan Central gondola, a Revell bunk car, and an Athearn IC pulpwood rack. All heavily freighted with old memories.
First set was a Marx Big Rail O-27: Believe it or not, I still have it, somewhat the worse for wear, with station, telephone poles, and crossing gate. I pulled it out a few years ago for a little boy in the neighborhood and it still worked, if you don't mind the smell of ozone. My brother and I used to play with it, using Army men, Tonka Trucks, Tootsie Toys, and Matchbox cars (scale wasn't very important). I remember one time we shorted out the transformer and blew a fuse, probably from a metal toy on the tracks, and Dad fixing it at his workbench, which was also in the basement, and then Dad blowing a fuse when we shorted it out again maybe 30 seconds later... When I was a little older, I used to read Railroad Model Craftsman at the public library. This was when Tony Koester was editor and Allen McClellan's V&O was prominently featured. I wanted to build a real layout, so I got an AHM trainset Christmas 1977. Dad had recovered enough to help me build a 4x8 on sawhorses in the basement, and I recall being extremely proud of myself for wiring up some snap switches and remotes and them actually working. I don't know what happened to the loco, a Mehano-made 6-axle unit, but I still have 3 of the cars: The set was supplemented by Tyco cars and Plasticville buildings bought at Woolworth and J.C. Penney with paper route money. Scenery never got very far past some green sawdust and cardboard roads, but was enough for 1:72 tanks and airplanes to make an appearance. Oh the memories!
My first train set, received Christmas 1963 was a Marx set sold by Montgomery Ward in a plain brown cardboard box. In content it was pretty much identical to the Sound O Power set that was sold in 1973, but had a New York Central theme. I have no pictures and it was sold in my dad's auction in 2006. Picture below from ebay. The same Christmas, my brother and I received a Marx Slot Car set from Montgomery Wards similar to this but also in a plain brown box, however the controllers were different:
Keith, Very nice. I have the version in the yellow/brown box from Montgomery Ward in NYC, if I recall correctly. I will get it down from the attic for a photo.
Lucky y’all still have those trains. My mother didn’t believe in keeping anything, especially toys, not daily used. We had the most uncluttered house you ever saw. I wish I could get mine somewhere near that today. I didn’t play with the 027 trains for awhile, they were put away , and one day they simply went away unannounced to some “drive” or another. If there was one anywhere she kept them supplied. I remember the trains to this day and wish I could take them around the track one more time, and smell that unmistakable Lionel Train smell of hot electrical and smoke pellets...... a smell that meant extreme fun was in the area.
I forgot one 027 story. A couple of kids in the neighborhood would bring over their straight tracks and combine it with mine in the hall to get a nice long tangent. We’d pile Lincoln logs over the track and run my Santa Fe Hudson through it at warp speed , saying we were running for the Mexican border. Man, those things went flying but nothing could hurt those ironclad Lionel steam engines, they were engineered to perform those exact duties. It never even derailed. No eight year old kid ever had more fun. I don’t know if I could today.
Christmas of '65: my grandfather gave me a #15765 Marx NYC set with the track attached to a board. He included rudimentary scenery in the form of a playmat left over from an HO train that was DOA. I was not yet two. I still have the train, and I run it every Christmas in his honor.
