Whazzup with your birth year?

Classic Toy Trains Forum
1

Who is your favorite person? The person you think about the most?

Why yourself, of course! And your favorite year then, would be your birth year.

You probably don’t remember too much about your birth year because you were too small to remember, but out of curiousity, have you ever researched what took place during your birth year, regarding toy trains and other necessities?

My year was 1957, April to be exact, and Lionel postwar trains were still going strong, but slipping from their 1953 high. It was still the golden oldies year, however, and I believe that JLC was still at the helm. That year, the race into space and the missile race between the US and USSR were big topics.

On Sunday, I located my April 1957 National Geographic magazine and found some pretty neat passenger train ads from : NP, Milwaukee Road, Rock Island, Union Pacific, Canadian Pacific, B&O, and about a half dozen other railroads, but not my favorite, the Santa Fe.

Prices were low, of course, but for some items, the costs were higher than today, namely for video cameras, called something else back then. I had to laugh at an article on Rome, Italy, seeing the women heavily clothed there; much different than today.

What about your birth year?

(“Whazzup” in this title post, btw, is the license plate name that my nextdoor neighbor decided to use for his new banana color Corvette. I wanted to incorporate it into a post. Last year, he smoked and weighed around 275. Now, he’s biking, running marathons, quit smoking, and decided to reward himself).

Dave Vergun

2

Mine was 1960. Ike was in his last year as president and a young fellow named John F. Kennedy was president-elect. Lionel’s best days were behind and they were trying to tie into the space craze. Slot car racing was the new craze for boys. Cars were getting sleeker, but tail fins were still in and BIG! Gas and milk were cheap. Phone calls and Cokes could were still a nickle. Some guy named Castro pulled a little revolution the previous year on some island named Cuba, but hey, he probably won’t last . . . neither will Rock 'n Roll.

3

My birth year is 1963 - Lionel wasn’t apparently doing very well. I have a copy of Life magazine from the week of my birthday - the Big of Pigs invasion (very positive - noble Cuban freedom fighters et al) on the cover. Lots of automobile advertising, airlines, hard liquor, no railways though 8( I swear some of the same fashions on the models are back in style - have to ask my daughter.

4

I’ll take 1961. By the time I got into Lionel most of the good stuff was gone. I remember the orange and white cover on the Lionel Operating manual, and how I wished I had things 464 sawmill, and the 264 forklift lumber loader. I never had a 6464 box car, the closest thing was was my 6428 mail car. Lionel was heading the exact same way as the real railroads and the passenger trains, the beginning of the end.

Air travel was becoming common, and sports leagues were expanding westward. Both the Twins and Vikings played their first games here in '61, at the old met stadium. Now that has become the site of the MALL OF AMERICA. Strange connections!!!

5

Dave,

So far I’m the oldie on this topic. 1948 was when I came into the world, but it’s not my favorite year. I think my favorite is always the one I’m in, because there are always so many new and interesting things around the corner, and I’m happy to see how the Lord has taken me farther than I had come before.

Train-wise, however, 1948 was a year when postwar Lionel offerings were rolling off the line in big numbers. My grandfathers were rolling out the 1:1 prototypes for the N&W in Roanoke. Mr. Via’s train shop down near the N&W yards was the place to go for O-gauge trains. Truman defeated Dewey. My dad was back into the swing of civilian pursuits with Kroger in Salem, Virginia, after spending three years in North Africa and Italy in the Army from '42 to '45.

Sounds like a long time ago!

6

And my year is 1962. So, I suppose that fills in the early 60’s here. November is the month. Lionel had nothing new in their catalog and the sales of electric trains were slipping so much so that my local hardware store (Strickler’s Tru-Value) stopped carrying trains all year round. They still stocked them for Christmas.

7

Boy, 1971 for me, just as Lionel started producing their most detailed and technological advanced trains!!![censored]

I guess I’m the young one so far…

8
  1. The year of the last Beatles concert (on the day of my birth, no less!) I don’t know what was going on with Lionel.
9

1942, just as the prewar era ended. I started with Marx after the war, then got a Lionel 2243 in 1955, still the best running locomotive I have.

10

1988…Lionel had been bought out by Richard Kughn two years earlier, and was begining(slowly, very, very slowly) to raise the level of quality on their products. Williams was still doing brass, and Weaver a recent member of the 3 rail world.

11

I’m another 1960 birth year. As I understand it, Princess Caroline of Monaco shares my birthday.

As we say here in NY, that and $2 will get me on the subway [;)]

Tony

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  1. Althogh I don’t know much about what was going on in trains then, I don’t think it was exactly a high point for Lionel. I guess an important item of the time was the release of the American Freedom Train in HO. All in preparation for the upcoming Bicentennial the following year.
13

My year is 1954: I Love Lucy #1 on TV ; On The Waterfront #1 at the movies.
Under God added to The Pledge of Allegiance
TCA started Yardley Pa.
Second year of 6464 series boxcar.
Southern F-3 made for the first time, Santa Fe still most popular.
J.L. Cowen will retire in 4 yrs.
Patent issued for super-o track.
Last year of the Scout .

14

The worst had pretty much passed for Lionel MPC by 1975. The messy transition was over for a couple of years by then, and they were moving forward with things like the Spirit of 76 set, the Milwaukee, B&O, and Pennsy sets of passenger cars, and more accessories.

The absolute worst was from about 1968 thru 1972.

15

Same year as me nitroboy—june was the month.

Big_Boy(he’s giving me a history lesson[;)][;)]) says something happened in 1971-- amtrak started this year–the end of passenger service on the regular trains

2nd year of lionel being owned by general mills(it was the … worst of times)

16

April,1951

JAN…Sugar Ray Robinson returns from a triumphant European tour.
FEB…“Yankee Clipper” Joe DiMaggio (also a model train buff) signs a $100K contract.
MAR…General Motors reports record $834M profit from 1950.
APR…In Florida a Cuban airliner and a US Navy plane collide…43 dead.
MAY…Willie Mays, age 20, joins the NY Yankees.
JUN…Television broadcasts its first human birth.
JUL…In Madrid, Spain the Church forbids scanty swim suits. The war against the bikini!
AUG…Chase and Manhattan banks begin merger talks creating the largest bank.
SEP…“A Streetcar Named Desire” starring M. Brando debuts. Also the new Lionel catalogs.
OCT…Americans watch Princess Elizabeth in Canada in the first international TV cast.
NOV…Begin Christmas shopping season! New Lionels!
DEC…Joe DiMaggio announces his retirement from baseball. (To play with his trains?)

+The “Police Action” in Korea rages on.

*Harry S Truman is president of the United States.
*First full-color TV broadcast from Empire State Building.
*New House costs $9000.
*New Car costs $1520.
*Average Annual Income $3515.
*Gasoline costs $0.19 per gallon.
*A postage stamp costs $0.03 each.
*Tuition to Harvard University for a year costs $600.00.

*Lionel “O” Gauge train set costs $59.59 for a #2159W Penna five car freight set.
*Lionel “027” Gauge train set costs $23.95 for a #1461S four car freight set.
*Lionel ZW 275 Watts transformer costs $29.50.
*Train cars were made of “Bakelite”, not cheap thin plastic.
*Diesels outnumbered Steamers in the catalog. (Things to come?)
*Magna-Traction is the big thing!
*The “famous” #213 Lift Bridge is cataloged.

*“Coolest Movie of 1951” ‘The Day The Earth Stood Still’ (The Sci-Fi era begins!)

  • John Cougar Mellancamp, Jane Seymore and Kurt Russell are also born this year.
    **Don’t forget Dan Fogel
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Being a big Beatles’ fan, I know that 1964 was their first appearence on Ed Sullivan. Their last concert was in 1966 in San Francisco. [8)]

18

1968 for me. Lionel was all but dead - so were the real passenger trains (and railroads themselves, for that matter). Steam WAS dead. The war was raging…not a very good year IMHO. [|(] Merle Haggard started his climb to the top that year. There’s something good! [:D] Actually, my favorite year would be somewhere 'round about 1927. Hence my username.

19

Silly personal trivia:

I used to work for Chase Manhattan, before it was bought by Chemical Bank & later merged with JP Morgan

Tony

20

I was born in 1986 (August 26 to be exact). The MPC era had just ended and Richard Kughn had just bought Lionel and was beginning to try to improve things. For the real railroads, the Milwaukee Road became part of the Soo Line and NS started its Triple Crown service with roadrailers.

As far as other stuff going on in 1986, I did a bit of research and came up with some things: Voyager 2 explored Uranus. The Challenger didaster ocurred. Desmond Tutu was elected archbishop of South Africa. The Chernobyl didaster ocurred. At the box office the movie with the biggest profits was Top Gun followed in second place by Crocodile Dundee. The number one song on the Top 40 in 1986 was That’s What Friends Are For by Dionne Warwicke follwed by Say You Say Me by Lionel Richie.