Those of you from the 1950s obviously have some nice memories of Lionel and AF. You are the lucky ones who lived in the “Golden Oldies” era.
I have vague recollections of the late 50s but vivid ones of the 1960s. In 1961, as a mere toddler, I already was railfanning the New Haven and 3rd Ave El; in fact, I was pretty persistent in wanting to stick around the various rail yards and sites and my good parents, who don’t care a lick for trains, were nice enough to oblige.
Hate to say it but my first model trainset I saw was about 1962 in a Manhatten storefront window. It was HO. A couple years later, I earned enough $$$ to buy a used Lionel Scout set.
In my school I was the ONLY one playing with trains, as all the other kids were into Hot Wheels and slot cars.
They told me their cars were faster than my trains but I told them my train could knock their cars off the road. It sort of went like that and once ended up in a fistfight.
It was basically a pretty lonely hobby until the next century when I discovered there were forums with other oddballs like myself and we had lots in common!
David - I am always intrigued by the questions you come up with, very interesting, and good reading.
To respond, in 1957/58 I lived in northern Ill. my Dad was a machinist. I rember his paycheck was around 125 a week. Anyway, he bought a used Lionel set from a coworker, it was used, but I remember it was rather nice. I believe the Engine was a 646, and I remember the operating coal cars, dumping gondola, (green), and a number of others. He was Soooooooo proud of it. We sat it up in an upstairs bedroom that was not heated or finished, just a super large attic area. The train was played with A LOT, my younger brother was very hard on stuff, and before long it was in shambles. The train was subsequently sold or given away. A couple of years later, I found a car, some broken trucks and a lot of track. I had an Erector set, and built a tower with a pulley on it and would lay the track on boxes and have a good 3 or 4 foot grade. I tied a string on to the truck and would let it run down the track and then pull it back up with the pulley. I played with that for months, having go around curves, under makeshift tunnels, all kinds of things. I actually got more play value from that one truck than the whole train.
In 60 parents were divorced, and ALL toys and stuff sold at auction.
Then there was the Chemistry set, I made from stuff I found in the house and garage, thats’ a whole nother story.
Hello Dave…Well if you remember the 3rd ave el to must have heard of the myrtle ave el, I think it was the oldest of all the lines in nyc. That’s the one we used when I lived in Brooklyn and then in Queens. In the early 50’s I got my first set of lionel trains which consisted of a santa f-3 diesel with 3 freight cars.I just found a 50ft roll of 8mm film and I am trying to find a way so that I can put some shots on pictures.It would be nice if lionel or mth made the 1300 series gated and open window cars that were used then on the old Metropolitan-Myrtle ave line. Felix
Well, I was born in the late seventies. The first train memories that I have, was that my dad put a simple loop of HO track on a thin wooden sheet, and ran a HO scale steam engine. I remember it had a baby ruth bar boxcar with a wheel between the trucks that made “steam engine sound”. My dad was born in the mid forties, and had a Lionel set when growing up, that in the mid eighties was retrieved from his parents home. I will always remember the heft of that Lionel 675 steam locomotive. It really impressed me that this was a quality “toy” and I thought a train should have a certain heft to it. And the operating cars- milk car, cattle car, etc. seemed so superior to that HO set. I couldn’t believe the quality and ingeniousness of 30+ year old trains. I remember looking at some of the old catalogs included in the boxes and wishing for a 671 pennsylvania steam turbine (though now I prefer the looks of the 675). None of my friends had trains growing up. Very few hobby shops had any lionel, and for the most part it was Post War items in fair condition. I remember buying a used PW red crane car and grey work caboose in the late eighties at a hobby store that must have specialized in trains, but eventually went out of business. So, I enjoyed that 675 freight set in the mid eighties, but I really like todays environment that has so much high quality product for great prices, and with the internet and O gauge magazines is so much easier to find.
My boyhood years were the fifties. So many good memories, of trains and other things, that I cannot even begin to recount them. I consider myself very lucky to have grown up in a far more simple and gentle era, even though I do also recall the obstacles that confronted our society and the world in general during those times–pretty small stuff, in retrospect, compared to what we face today on a global basis.
Trains were the king of boy toys back then, and real trains were everywhere to be seen (and heard), at least in the area where I grew up, which was served by at least four major railroads and a number of smaller lines.
Great memories that provided the foundation for a love of railroading that truly remained with me through more trying times later in life.
The 60’s and seventies were my youthful years. My father was a machinist too. He died in December 1971, right before Christmas, leaving the family in tough financial straits. Still, my mother found a way to scrape together enough money to buy us a Lionel Allegheny set. My brothers and I played with that set for hours. I eventually moved on to HO and then sold all my trains when I reached driving age. I look back on all those times that I remember so well and wonder where the time went. It seems like only yesterday, yet it was 30 - 40 years ago. Jim
Hello joe Hohmann I too lived in Ridgewood,Queens from 1946 till 1961.We live at 60-23 Menahan St.about 2 blocks from the LIRR crossing Fresh Pond RD. We either got on the myrtle ave el at Metropolitan ave which was the last stop or go to the fresh pond or the forest ave stop to get on the El…Felix
We always had the christmas garden under the tree. I remember it earliest as being AF, but my dad always kept his Lionel Commodore Vanderbilt set(which I still have). Many neighbors , friends and relatives all had their own Christmas Garden, either AF or Lionel.
Dad decided to start a big AF layout in the basement, which never got much scenery, but we had great fun with it.
Then we sold all the AF to an uncle because we were going to go into HO. I can remember going to stores and buying HO buildings to put together. Seems we always bought Faller since they were less expensive. So then, HO was under the tree.
In high school, I got interested in N scale, and sold all the HO to build a 4’x8’ N layout in our attic. I was kitbashing, scratchbuilding, using Kadee couplers(what a nerd I must have been in high school).
College time there was no interest until a friend needed to build a model of the Thomas Viaduct(stone arch bridge southeast of Baltimore). That rekindled my interest.
For some reason, I started into O, and started going to shows, and sales. But now we are beyond the nostalgic period.
I received my first train set in 1953 along with the experience of what it was like to grow up in Chicago during the last days of steam, when colorful passenger trains and huge storefront christmas displays of trains still held sway. Interurbans running on the el were an everyday reality along with the excitement of those well thumbed train catalogs. I just read what I wrote and I feel both pretty old and yet aware that these memories are as vivid as if it all occurred yesterday. I feel lucky to have grown up in those times.
Good thread, David. In the sixties, I was in hopscotching across Central America with my family; my childhood memories are of the early 70s, when my dad built an immense (to me) HO figure 8 layout on a pingpong table he somehow fit in what became my sister’s bedroom. My brothers and I had a Tyco Burlington passenger set and Santa Fe freight set and between them and loads of toy soldiers and Matchbox cars, we really enjoyed that layout. All came down before my sister was born in 1976. My dad had his pre-war trains at his folks house. I never knew about them until I was out of college. Now the 248 - revamped by Madison Hardware - which I vaguely remember visiting - runs proudly on the current layout.
In the late 50’s early 60’s I lived a block from the Cotton Belt track in Dallas, which is now the Dallas North Tollway. The view was blocked by houses, but not the sound. There was a long 8:30 train that ran every evening. That was my curfew. I had until the caboose went by to be on the front porch. If I was within my allowed “radius” of a couple of blocks from home when I first heard the train, I could make it home at a slow trot or an easy bike peddle. If I had wandered outside my “perimeter” and I heard the train, it was time stretch em and haul it home in a hurry. Rounding the corner after the caboose had passed usually resulted in Pop being on the front porch. Life for me was a lot easier when Pop wasn’t on the front porch waiting.[;)] That 8:30 Cotton belt train was a part of my life for years! On a special day Pop would splurge. We’d hop in the '55 BelAir, get an ice cream cone and sit at the crossing and watch it go by.
I did have a lionel at that age, but my thoughts today are more about that Cotton Belt!
My first train came Christmas 1952. An 0-27 set pulled by a #2056 baby hudson. It pulled a NYC gondola, two dome sunco tank car, a hopper car, and caboose. That 2056 is still my favorite engine and pulls a consist of 9500 Milwaukee cars on my layout. In 1960 I boxed up the train. Three years later while going to college it came out and I build an 0-27 layout that lasted a year and I put it to sleep again until Christmas 1971. I have been fooling with it ever since and love it just like I did in 1952. My Dad and I played with it, made stuff for it, and both of my sons have enjoyed it. It is a definite link between three generations. What could be better than a boy and his dad playing with the train in the 50’s?
I was born in 1986, when the golden age of trains (real and toy) had long since passed. I grew up in the very small town of Langenburg, Saskatchewan, which is served by a secondary Canadian Pacific line that sees just a few trains a day. The last time a passenger train used the line was the 60’s. Growing up, I saw plenty of CP Rail action red diesels and lots of covered hoppers for grain or potash. I was fascinated by trains for longer than I can remember. My parents tell me about having to take me for drives as a toddler just to go looking for trains. I’m just old enough to remember cabooses being on trains. It’s a good thing that my town was served by CP and not CN because CN got rid of cabooses before CP did. My parents tell me about driving somewhere and passing a CN train with no caboose. I cried and finally calmed down only after I was assured that the train was going to pick up a caboose which was sitting on a siding behind some trees. I can remember the short time during the very final days of cabooses when you would often see multiple cabooses on trains (the most I remember counting is six), being transported to storage sidings or scrapyards I’m assuming. Then, they were gone forever.
I sometimes wonder if I was born in the wrong era because even as a little kid I was a confirmed steam fan (even before I had ever seen a real steam engine in operation). In the Western Development Museum in Moose Jaw, Sask. there is CP pacific 2634, built by MLW in 1913. When I first visited that museum at age 3 or 4, it was impossible to get me to leave the cab of that engine. My dad ended up taking my mom to a mall and then coming back to the museum with me so I could sit in the engineer’s seat some more.
When I was very young, I had some train toys of different kinds, but that wasn’t enough. One of my favourite pasttimes was making my own trains by lining up things. There are p
My daughter was born on Halloween in the year you were born. She’s a math major, a junior in college, but changing to medical. Never had an interest in trains (so you’re out of luck), but nice to see you are. Most gals your age (such as my daughter’s friends), say my trains are cool when they come over to play pool (and trash the house). So, I think you are in for some treats in the future.
You are NOT alone in being born in the “wrong” era. I believe sincerely that everyone born after about 1953 or '54 (myself included), were in the time zone when model trains were an eccentric part of a child’s hobby.
I hear from my son frequently about how he wishes he was born in that time frame. We have a tendancy to only recall the good times, but those days had their difficulties as well. Life was simpler but the life I remember was also very frugal as well. I think that their was a much larger percentage of the population that was not very happy at all, due to economic issues and social and culture trends of the time.
I don’t remember anyone in our neighborhood that had an operating layout, (We had some track on the floor)
When we had the opportunity of going to a hobby store, and see the trains, all we new that was available is what he had in stock at that time.
Hello All! My youthful years like some of you, were in the late 60’s- early 70’s time period with K-Tel commercials for the Slicer-Dicer( For Fruits,Veggies, & Potatoes), Three TV Networks,& about 2 Local stations.Plus, Captain Kangaroo on TV & a Cleveland Version of him Named Captain Penny who also had Toy Trains on his show & dressed up in a Engineers Hat with Scarf & Overalls for good measure.He had a good show on TV & was a well liked local celebrity also. He also had a segment on his show called “Pooch Parade” where Puppies from the local shelter were on his show in order to get adopted & I’m sure many Dog’s found a home this way. As for Trains, My Fathers 1688 Set spent much of it’s time in the Attic in a Box as it did not run in those days & my Father wanted it left alone as it had been run plenty of times & was not always taken care of properly to my father’s liking. Sometimes he would let one of my Older Brothers get it out of the attic so we could see it & that would generate plenty of excitement as we were hoping that it would run for us & it never did. Othertimes, My Older Brother & I would sneak into the Attic for the 1688 & Transformer & try to get it to run.( This was usually on wednesday nights when my parents would go to Church for the 7:00 PM service.) Sometimes we could get it to run,other times it refused to move a wheel. Which would be disappointing to us & we would have it back in the attic before my parents got home from church. Later on in 1978 a Gent at our Church found out we had a old Lionel( He was a Model Railroader with a H.O. Layout) He told my Father that he could get it to run which he did & he repainted the Engine & Tender Black instead of the Gunmetal which it originally had.& I set up under the Christmas Tree for a few years & ran it every now & then on a Floor Oval in the Bedroom or Patio. The reason it did not run in the First Place was that the Motor Brushes were wore all t
30 years ago (God, has it really been that long), during the nation’s BICENTENNIAL celebration, my mom came and got me out of school, to go see the American Freedom Train. We stood in a huge line while the train was parked in the Martin Marietta lot at Middle River. I remember how you rode a people-conveyor belt, and that the displays were set up as if you were passing through the Smithsonian. Now, in my 40’s, I find myself wandering from time to time through antique stores looking for memorabilia from 1976.
I grew up in the mid to late fifties. Every Christmas we would make several trips to Brandies Department Store in downtown Omaha to see the two large operating layouts on display in the eighth floor toy department. One layout was Lionel and the other American Flyer, complete with all of the newest operating accessories.
They usually ran the low end sets on these displays, but I remember it was quite a thrill to ocassionally see a Santa Fe F-3, a 736 Berkshire, or a 336 Northern heading a brand new outfit. The high point of the day was when the salesman would hand out the brand new Lionel and Flyer catalogs. I’d take mine home and make a wish list of trains that I knew I’d never have. I’d memorized the pages of those catalogs until I’d see the trains in my sleep. The trains of this golden era will always be my favorites as they remain the center of my train collection.
