Children's model trains

[Joe from PA]

Got a wind-up Marx set from Santa in 1944, age 2, while my dad was overseas with WWII. Then a Lionel freight set for Christmas 1947. In 1953, my best friend showed me his 1947 American Flyer passenger set, and I would have traded sets with him for sure. I loved passenger cars, because I could pretend I was in one going places. But Lionel "streamlined" passenger cars, back then, cost $10. each (about $100. in today's money). I never had a actual layout, and my interests changed to cars, girls, and hunting (guns and archery).
Fast forward to 1986 when I decided to build a train layout under the Christmas tree for my 4 kids. My kids thought, yawn, it was just OK. It has continued each year for me to play with. In 2005, my one year-old grandson became my "train buddy" for the next 9 years. I built us a big Lionel size "O" layout in 2005, and a small American Flyer "S" layout a few years ago, just for me. Yes, only passenger cars run on all 3. My dream came true with many Amtrak overnight trips.

 

[Bob Dylan]

I never had a layout, but when I went into the Navy, my Mom gave my '50s Lionel Train set and Tracks away to a neighbor kid since my Kid Brother wasn't interested in Trains.

 

[jis]

I still collect HO models but mostly only for display.

My first model rail setup was back when I was four years old when my Dad returned from England (to India) with a fully functional Hornby OO set for me. He, being an electrical engineer set it up with appropriate electrical doohickeys to feed the step down transformer from the then 240v DC power supply in Calcutta. It consisted of a Stanier Class engine and two BR carriages and a few goods wagons.

Since then I have had some model rail collection or the other. However, I have no idea what happened to the original set though. That was in a different galaxy in a different time far far away. I do have a few old B&W photos of it stashed away somewhere though.

 

[Dakota 400]

my Mom gave my '50s Lionel Train set and Tracks away to a neighbor kid since my Kid Brother wasn't interested in Trains.

That's too bad she did that. Lionel trains of that era are worth money today. I still have my O Gauge train set, some of the tracks (but they are not in good condition), and a station and block signal. The train set are stored in their original Lionel box which makes them ever more valuable, I have been told.

 

[Dakota 400]

My first train set was a wind-up engine pulling a few cars. A small set for a small boy. After my Grandfather saw how much I enjoyed it, he then began to shop for a Lionel set for me. He would take me shopping with him on a Saturday afternoon. Great memories!

 

[Just-Thinking-51]

Fast forward to 1986 when I decided to build a train layout under the Christmas tree for my 4 kids. My kids thought, yawn, it was just OK. It has continued each year for me to play with. In 2005, my one year-old grandson became my "train buddy" for the next 9 years. I built us a big Lionel size "O" layout in 2005, and a small American Flyer "S" layout a few years ago, just for me. Yes, only passenger cars run on all 3. My dream came true with many Amtrak overnight trips.

That some set up. The only issue I see is that there only one picture with passenger coaches. Otherwise that a neat set up, with some extra appreciation for all those automobiles that are present.

 

[Willbridge]

My brothers and I had a Lionel layout, as did the boys next door. Sometimes we swapped cars for a novelty. We had a wood chip car and a skeleton log flatcar that a friend of my dad built. And, with my dad being a juice fan (as they were called in the 40's and 50's) we had a Lionel Birney. As I described previously, I built catenary for it, but that was just to see if it could be done. More practical was the power block on the far side of the layout with feeder wires that kept trains from slowing down due to resistance in the track segment connections. Phasing the AC power was a little scary at first.

I have East European, West German, and Austrian HO models in the original boxes that I bought in 1970-71 and no place to run them. Many were used in my Army class for Recon soldiers to teach them to report Warsaw Pact trains correctly.

 

[jiml]

I had Tri-ang trains in my youth. They were British-made, originally by Hornby trains then later in North America by Meccano. They were sort-of HO-scale but the track was incompatible with standard HO. One of their best features was a coupling and uncoupling system that actually worked despite the coupler looking nothing like the real thing. I had the set shown and several add-ons:


I traded them in eventually on N-scale when parts dwindled and space became at a premium. Unfortunately our current home lacks space to consider a layout of any significance so my collection remains boxed and stored. The younger generation is more into video games, so there doesn't seem to be much of a resale market.

 

[BlackDiamond]

As a kid I had a used set of Marx trains that ran on O27 track. Later on when my kids were old enough I dug it out and we would set it up under the Christmas tree. I got some additional cars but since they had knuckle couplers and the Marx trains had some wierd proprietary coupler I had to make one of the Marx cars into a transition car with a knuckle on one end. Later when the kids got older we gave the set away to the local Goodwill store.

I have also modeled HO in the past I belonged to a club and had regular HO trains mostly modeling the New Haven. Lately I have gone to trolley modeling based on trolleys in Boston in the 1950s. Fits better with the smaller spaces I have available.

 

[Joe from PA]

"O" (Lionel size) layouts are good for details.

 

[Qapla]

A friend of mine started fixing and selling model trains on eBay several years back - it was just a hobby.

He soon started getting many more cars to fix and it became his business. He has a going concern that employs 3 or 4 people buying, fixing/reconditioning and selling model train cars/engines/tracks.

 

[Maglev]

I had a 4' x 8' HO-scale layout on pulleys so the whole thing could be raised out of the way in our enclosed, high-ceilinged garage. It was great, until I decided I needed ballast under the tracks and after that it never stayed on the rails. Also, one time I was lowering it to show friends from New York City, and a rope slipped dropping all the buildings and trains on the floor.