I got my first American Flyer set in 1954 or 1955 and have been collecting and running trains for the last 50 years. I collect and run the older Flyer it has a feel and look to it that the new S gage does not have.
My Uncle used to take me for hikes along Train Avenue in Cleveland when I was a kid. Got a taste for the 1 foot = 12" trains way back then.
Received a Marx Allstate set with a 1666 locomotive, trestle, and figure eight track around 1960. Migrated to HO in my teens, then was awash with nothing for a few years and then back into HO and then back to O/O27 a couple of years ago. Thanks to a very understanding wife I have have had a train to run (not that I always did) for about all of 31 years of marriage.
Jim
I had trains when I was a kid. I got my first set when I was 4: I still have it and run it. My dad had trains which I wound up getting custody of. I was out of trains from 18 or so, except for a Christmas layout until I was 34. Even during that time I was semi-dormant: I’d go to a hobby shop or read a train magazine once in a while. Then I got back into it in 1987 and I’ve been with a layout ever since.I’ll get into the scenery and stuff as well as the trains.
Great thread– the stories from everyone are wonderful.
My dad bought a Lionel set for me in 1958 as a Christmas gift while he was on a trip. I think my mom had a fit over it because it cost around $38.00! It was the Lionel 1597S starter set but to me it was great.
My mother made me take good care of the set, and the boxes (how did she know) since it was considered an expensive toy in our household. We never had a permanent layout, I just played with it on the floor and then back into the box it would go. I played with it until I was in my early teens then it got packed away for 30 years or more. I moved on to outdoor adventures including mushing dogs, canoe trekking, and mountaineering never even thinking about Lionel trains.
Then after I married and started a family my good old Mom dug that same old Lionel set out and mailed it to me up here in Alaska. She knew my kids would enjoy it so she made sure to include a note on the original box that said “Be sure to take care of this Lionel train set because we paid a lot of money for it back in the day!” Moms are great! I opened the box and saw all those orange and black boxes and instantly I was nine years old again. After a local guy serviced the 2018 steamer for me I put it onthe tracks and I was bitten by the “bug”. That was about nine years ago and I still feel like a little kid everytime I spend time with these darn trains.
Kevin T.
In the early 70s my dad built us an HO figure 8 layout on a pingpong table. I had the Tyco Burlington passenger set and my brother had the Tyco Santa Fe Freight. We played the heck out of that layout - complete with army men, Matchbox cars, model airplanes, etc. Then it went away when the bedroom was needed for my new sister.
Fast forward to my randomly picking up a Model Railroader magazine in the library back in 2000. I was bitten by the bug - read their five years of back issues. Then got an N scale set and eventually a 3 by 5 ft folding table layout. When my dad was sick, I found his Lionels that he never really used when helping clean his house. My mom gave them to me… And I dumped the N and got my own Lionel set - the Ballyhoo circus train - by then we moved to a basement with a house and eyeballing the raised crawlspace, I gradually turned it into a layout space. Then I got a copy of the first Classic Trains magazine – an article by William Middleton about ‘chasing the last interurbans’ turned me into a trolley nut.
I had a Lionel set when I was a kid. That gave way to HO for a few years before I lost interest as a teen.
30+ years later, I bought my kids a Lionel set for Christmas. I’m now addicted!
Jim
When I was about 10, my father and I built a simple HO 4x8 with Tyco trains, atlas track, remote ‘snap’ switches and everything. Just a painted plywood top. Continued on for about 5-6 years after that building plastic kit models, and playing with the trains. UP Steam Loco, Chessie, and Illinois Central, Diesels.
I still have all that stuff. HO fits into a rather small space. It’s very difficult to part with. I have friends that are threatening to build an HO layout, and it would be fun to get those old trains rolling again, on their layout.
When I was about 16, I frequented the flea markets with my father and started down the Lionel path…we went just about every week to the same flea market. Everyone called him ‘the train man’. I don’t recall ever running the Lionels…it was more collecting. We packed up those after he retired.
I’m 41 now; reviving the cars we collected, adding more, and constructed a Christmas layout (we have a very small house, and I am only allowed to put up the trains at Christmas). I really enjoy operating (playing with) the trains with my daughter(s) (second due this month) and friends children.
I think I gave my father the bug again. He is constantly on the lookout for more trains. When I talk to him he usually tells me “so and so has this, what should I offer”.
Kurt