It would be nice to see some of your oldest loco’s that you all have in your roster. Pictures of them would be great.[8D]
Here is my favorite old timer.
Tyco F7A and it runs
There are a few… I’ve been at this for a while.
I have quite a few current/recent engines, but a number of oldies have managed to remain active. Among them are:
Varney Economy 2-8-4 Berkshire
Varney Super 4-6-2 Pacific
Varney “Casey Jones” 4-6-0
(2)MDC 2-6-2 Prairies
MDC 0-6-0
MDC 4-4-2(…rivals a Balboa brass model; GORGEOUS!)
1962 U.P. 0-6-0 (PFM)
1963 Ma & Pa 2-8-0 #23
1962 Southern Ps4 4-6-2
Newer favorites include:
2-10-0 Russian HiGrade Decapod by PFM(…the 'HG’s have cvan motors and backhead…)
2-6-6-0 D&SL HiGrade
http://s352.photobucket.com/albums/r345/joeygid/
I still remember the excitement when I was a boy when I got Lionel’s 4-4-0 “The General” for Christmas …and I hate myself for selling it and the rest of my Lionel and windup tinplate.
As for something I still have, I was a bit older but hardly less excited the Christmas morning when I unwrapped AHM’s Y6b 2-8-8-2. I also still have the envelope from a letter I got from my best buddy who wrote “2-8-8-2” all over the outside, out of pure envy. At the time I thought that was just about the smoothest running, best detailed locomotive imaginable. I looked at it again a year or so ago and was surprised at how blunt some of the detail now looks, and how the flanges seem to have gotten deeper over the years. But it is still a wonderful looking engine.
Dave Nelson
Back in the 1960’s, my mom found a “box o’ trains” at a yard sale. Inside was an Athearn F7 in UP colors. I bought a dummy F7 in Milwaukee livery and swapped the shells. Of all the engines I had back then, this is the only one that ran well enough to put on the layout when I unpacked my trains after 40 years in storage. It’s even got a decoder, and new couplers by Kadee.
The other F7A is a dummy made from a rubber-band drive Athearn, and the F7B came up on eBay, also a dummy.
This is one of the loudest engines on my layout, and it doesn’t even have a sound decoder! Sure, it sounds more like a coffee grinder than a locomotive, but I love it anyway.
I have a lot of old locomotives… probably the oldest is a Mantua metal 4-6-2. My oldest ACTIVE loco is either my Bachmann Spectrum C40-8W or my Atlas SDP35. The C40-8W was given to me by a friend, so I don’t actually know how old it is.
Three of the oldest locos on my roster—Akane Yellowstones from 1964. They still run like champs and get a lot of mileage in on my Yuba River Sub.
The 4-8-2 is a newer one, a NJ Brass from the late 'seventies.
Tom
My Varney Dockside and Varney ABBA F3 diesels that I painted and lettered for the Reading RR. These were my first engines when I switched from O Gauge to HO in late 1948. I later added an Athearn AA PA set lettered and decaled for the New Haven and two EP-3 box cab electics from Walthers.
This is one of the the two locos I got with my very first train layout, when I was about 4 years old, back in 1962. It’s an HO Gilbert/American Flyer 0-6-0. It does still run!
Rotor
This is the other loco I got with my first train set around 1962. Gilbert/AF Industrial Switcher. I literally ran the wheels off this thing!
I need to snag one off ePay to repair the non-geared axle, and a couple other things. The motor still runs, though.
Rotor
This is the very first loco I purchased myself, and my first greasel! Bought it around 1970, when I rebuilt my layout to it’s (somewhat) current configuration. It’s an old AHM Tempo BL2. It still runs, with the help of some train show parts locos.
Rotor
…I have here my grandfather’s Athearn F7; Two years ago, I swapped the Hi-F chassis for a geared one. Today, I exchanged the shell- it WAS a Santa Fe Warbonnet; it is now a D&RGW four-striper.
Is it still my grandfather’s F7?
I’m sorry… I just had to do that. I do apologize to the hammer makers of the world.
it has to be my Ho gilbert 0-6-0 switcher that still runs in switching service on my layout. it was a friend of my dad’s locomotive then when his house burn down he gave it to my dad who got it fixed (new wires). then he gave it to me and still run(with original motor and no other parts all original except the new wires and a ton of tlc.)