# Where do your trains take you?



## c.midland (Sep 22, 2015)

It doesn't make much sense.
Sunday's are my time time to unwind. I play with trains to do that. I grew up in the MPC-era, and collect those trains. Love the nostalgia of Lionel postwar, and have a layout depicting the early 1900's Colorado Springs/Cripple Creek region. The Santa Fe is a favorite of mine, so have equipment from all era's in that roadname. 

Three pictures of our family room:
























Why do you play, collect, display, restore, or model trains?
Christmas brought most of us here, but there must be more to it than that. Do you have fond memories of the trains of your childhood? Like a specific region of the country? Electronics interest you? Restoring an old train to preserve history? Building a layout or building a kit? Just like buying trains? 

We're lucky to have a hobby that interests us, has a lot of diverse product available, and many ways to acquire it. 

I would be interested to know what brought you into the hobby, and how it has expanded/changed over the years.


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## Don F (Dec 5, 2015)

The only time I didn't have trains in the house was during my time in the service. My train memories go back to age two or three. There were trains under the tree as far back as I can remember. My brother and I carried on the train tradition in HO, building a new layout in the basement each year, then transporting it upstairs. This took the place of dad's Lionel trains for many years. 
My interest has continued to this day, and for a short time, I even worked in a locomotive re manufacturing facility. I have a shelf layout under a covered patio attached to my workshop, and abut our back yard pond. We still set up trains and ceramic buildings under the tree for Christmas. 
In 2006, shortly after acquiring the first home computer, I discovered a few train forums, one of which was in its infancy. Shortly after its beginning, one member suggested a club car project offering a Weaver DT&I AC2 covered hopper. The forum members were involved in the selection process, and after the second year which offered a Rock Island Line flat car with wood crates with the forum logo. I was asked to join the club car committee for the third project, a Milwaukee Road stock car. Since I live about an hour from Weaver Models, I was the liaison between the committee and Weaver. This is when my close relationship began with all the fine folks at Weaver.
Project number five was a PH Schnieder beer reefer, and club car five was a Reading war emergency composite 2 bay hopper. Weaver had lost its supplier for coal loads due to the passing of the gent from Blue Mountain Coal loads, and it was at this point that I began experimenting with different materials and adhesives to come with a coal load we could use for our hopper. The membership had approved the load I finally settled on, but not before Weaver had found another source for coal loads. I had missed supplying my loads by less then two weeks.
Joe Hayter, owner of Weaver Models had agreed to include my loads in the hoppers our members had ordered. His only request was that I keep the loads flat enough so as not to interfere with the packaging. I had since gone on to develop other loads for the wood side gondola, and the re released wood chip hopper. 
Our forum is now waiting for Lionel to produce the double door boxcar, which we were planning at the time Joe had announced the closing of Weaver models. Now in my sixtieth year, I am still as passionate about trains as I was all those years ago watching the train circle the Christmas Tree with wide eyed amazement!
Don


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## Yellowstone Special (Jun 23, 2015)

I received my first electric train set at age 3, a Marx, on Christmas Day, 1952. My grandfather took me on my first train at age 5, the Union Pacific Yellowstone Express. It was pulled by a light Pacific steamer. Then I received my first Lionel train set at age 6, Christmas 1955, which I still have.









Lionel trains became less prominent in my life during my teens and through about age 36. But with a new home in California and fold out layout in the garage, my interest was resurrected.

A move to Hawaii ended layout operations for about 20 years. Upon retirement and relocation back to the mainland, wifie and I combined her Dept. 56 and other buildings with Lionel trains I had collected in Hawaii into a permanent basement layout accenting the winter season and the Polar Express.









So, although small and simple with now only 2 independent loops, the grandkids seem to like the trains, especially around Christmas time. I enjoy changing out motive power and rolling stock. I'm at the point where an expansion is planned later this year, still working out the details. 









Trains have been with me most of my life and I still like them. I've ridden trains in North America, Hawaii, and Japan. We enjoy tourist train trips in the summers and running the layout during the winter months. So my trains not only take me to my childhood, but reflect on my whole life as well.


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## Lee Willis (Jan 1, 2014)

To my childhood.


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## alaska railroad (Oct 20, 2015)

I have always liked trains since i was a youngster.today Working with trains takes me to a happy place. It's a time I can let loose and it's just me and all my babies. I live alone so I need something that I can do in my home. I enjoy most, just buying them and collecting them. To me there is just something about watching those mind blowing steamers running, and taking in the beauty of the detail, the steam and smoke blowing from there smoke stack ,and the realism of the drive linkage on them. I also like the history of the old locos of the past, like the big boy, the two and three truck shays, and the climax. And don't forget, AMERICA was built from the coming of the railroad. things like I mentioned, is where trains take me. ( there a happy state of mind ).


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## sjm9911 (Dec 20, 2012)

Wow, good question. For me its back to my childhood, but im younger then most but with older parents and siblings. I wasn't really allowed to play with the trains per say. It was a family layout. Mostly for everyone but a 4 yo. I did get to place the fake snow ( or so I thought, knowing now what I do about kids, it was probably rearranged) For me it was to relive tbe past and give my daughter a memory similar to my own. Now, its more about saving the past, a simpler time. There was much more to life way back when. Its almost as if its an escape from the phones , tablets, and technology of today. And the stuff you could do with some basic wiring is as cool now as it was probably cutting edge in tbe 50s


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## Guest (Sep 19, 2016)

I can think of three answers. First, my trains take me back to my childhood in the '50 s and early '60s. I got my first Lionel train set for Christmas 1949 and I was born a week later. Trains were running under the tree every Christmas and dad and I built a layout in the basement when I was 8 or 9. All of my boy cousins had Lionel and my trains take me back to those happy days.

Second, my trains take me to a world where the New York Central and other railroads still exist, a world where it's perpetually summer and there are no big problems. The cares of the real world don't intrude.

Finally, I have always loved trains. Seeing them run, hearing the sounds, the lights, scenery and details are pure joy so I guess they take me to my happy place.


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## balidas (Jun 3, 2011)

Mine takes me to e-bay.


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## Spence (Oct 15, 2015)

Just a relaxing time. When I'm working on the layout everything else is forgotten. Thanks to my Mom who bought me my 1st train (Lionel Scout) around 1956.


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## Joe Hohmann (Nov 5, 2015)

My regular and Christmas layouts transport me back to the 1950s, the decade I spanned 8 to 18 years old.


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## walter (Jan 31, 2014)

Were do my trains take me? They take me back to memories of a time we came to the US after escaping and having a Farm Family sponsor us. I didn't know it was the week of Christmas. We were in a new country, everything was unfamiliar and new. The family brought us Christmas gifts, since we had nothing, clothes and shoes, and for us kids, my sister a doll and me a wind up Marx Train set. I use to set this up on the kitchen table and try to guess were it would stop. Years later Dad bought me a Marx electric Train, which after months as put up, and taken each Christmas to run under the tree. The Train could be found under the tree each year after, under the tree until my parents passed away.
But my best memory of trains, and what comes back time after time and makes running them my most enjoyable, is when I take an old Allstate Train set and set it up on the floor, the smell, the sound brings back, and floods me with memories of a good time, and a loss that is still painful after 55 years. But the train running is also a pleasant time, with the good memories.
It was Christmas 1960, and my brother Dale had wanted his own train set. So Christmas Eve, he opened his wrapped large box, ad behold, an Allstate electric train with accessories. He set the train up on the floor of our shared bedroom, and ran that train daily. Both of our faces to the floor as he became and developed skills in running it. Then February 18th,1961. He collapsed and died with a aneurism at the age of 6. 
The Train stayed for months afterwards still laid out on the floor until I put it up. Then in the 70s, I took it to my home and every year would run the train. I still do to this day, for the memories and returning me to a time never forgotten.


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## BFI66 (Feb 7, 2013)

......to the poor house!

-Pete


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## Yellowstone Special (Jun 23, 2015)

Wow Walter! That is quite the story. Seems like I've read this before, some time back. Maybe in the other forum?

Anyway, thank you for sharing it again. Loved your reflection and the photos. Nice going! 👍


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## Guest (Sep 19, 2016)

*Actually, a very good topic*. I think that our train layouts take us all to a place in our dreams. If we dream it, we can build it.

I was brought up in an area near the water. So our layout takes you from a beautiful water scene to one of our favorite times of the year, Christmas in the City.


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## highvoltage (Apr 6, 2014)

Growing up in Akron we lived in a valley between the AC&Y (Akron, Canton, and Youngstown) and B&O (Baltimore and Ohio) lines. The sounds of trains whistles would fill the days and nights when we left the windows open.

I can't remember when I received my first train, but over the years I was able to build a nice 4 x 8 layout with switches and elevated track. It was a decent layout for an 11 year old. I still have my original train. The engine (a 4-6-4 Hudson with a 2046W tender) needs a little bit of work to get it to run smoother but other than that it's in very good shape.

I've built a 6 x 10 table in our new house and plan to expand to fill that as much as possible. Moving and working outside in the summer have cut into my hobby time, but hopefully this winter I'll make a concerted effort to take my hobby to the next level.


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## seayakbill (Jan 16, 2016)

Spending a hour or so running the trains is always enjoyable and does take me back to a time that was not as stressful.

Bill


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## Lee Willis (Jan 1, 2014)

Earlier, I said my trains take me to my childhood. 
That is a lot of their appeal. I have had toy trains around the house all my life. They were in my folks house before I was. I've shown this photo before, me at age three or so.







So toy trains do take my back to my childhood and that is part of their appeal. 

However, I'll admit I just like them anyway. Its a chicken-or-egg thing: would I like model trains today if I hadn't grown up with them? Who knows? But I do. Nothing is quite as effective at "decompressing" for me as just sitting and watching three or four trains run and run and run . . . I could do it for hours. I do do it for hours!








Also, I will admit that my wife is correct when she observes "the model trains are just an excuse for you to build models of things." I love to build scenery, buildings, roads, models of anything. That is fun . . . 

But again, it is an escape to my childhood in a way. I model the mountain southwest - southern Colorado, northern New Mexico -- where I spent my "formative years."







And my small town, San Bettadaise, is a model of my memories of Trinidad, Colorado, where I spent summers at my grandparents house. Trindidad was once a thriving coal and railroad town - one end of Santa Fe's fabled hump over Raton Pass, and it was a great place in the '50s. At least if you were a kid with loving parents and grandparents!








Of course, I collect model locos just because I like to have them, and my diecast cars, too, and those aren't directly products of my childhood, perhaps. But they are toys, childlike toys, and they bring me happiness, too, just having them. Part of being a kid again. 








So mostly _I just like toy trains._ It is a great hobby and I love it. I love running them, and as many people here know, only conventionally anymore - the one Legacy system I had worked fine, but again - what worked in my childhood is how I prefer to run trains. and the modeling. I started in on that at age four, always working to get better at it, so it a way . . . . 

So it keeps coming back to my childhood. I want to be a kid at heart all my life . . . the trains help me do that.


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## Yellowstone Special (Jun 23, 2015)

Now THAT'S more like it, Lee! A wonderful review and reflection, along with great photos, of where your trains take you.

Very nice, and thank you for that. :appl:


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## Shawn91481 (Mar 20, 2016)

For me there was never a Christmas morning moment or anything like that. I have just always liked trains. I would have gravitated to it no matter what as an extension of this obsession(?).

However, I can tell you why O gauge, and it did have something to do with Christmas. I had so many trains when I was younger HO, to the obviously toy like in varying sizes. None of them lasted. I always broke them... until I got this Lionel Pennsylvania Flyer set. It was just a cheap plastic post war 2-4-0. I'm pretty sure Lionel made a trillion of those cheap little sets. It even had a primtive beebe chuffing system in the tender... Long story short that I still have that train set, and it still runs.


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## santafe158 (Jul 14, 2010)

Mine take me back to my younger years I suppose. I still have memories of getting my first train set from my dad when I was 3 years old. I also have the postwar Lionel set my grandfather and his brothers shared when they were young, which is also very special. I run it every year for him around Christmastime and he loves watching it go around and proudly tells everyone that was his train. He was one of ten kids and they never had much money, so to get that set would have been a huge deal. We hosted his 70th birthday party at the Redford Theatre where I do an annual Christmas layout, which was up at the time of the party. I ran his train on the layout and all his siblings quickly realized what it was and they were just as excited to see it running around.

Obviously I'm way to young to have grown up in the steam era, but it's nice to get a touch of what it was like. It's also plain fun to watch the train run around and play around with the Lionel accessories. I just received my first few Lionel animated cars to be placed in my collection and I was like a little kid watching them run around. Opening a mint in box train car from the era of my childhood was also quite fun and reminded me of the faint memories I have of going to the LHS with my dad to pick out a new car every now and then.

Now working on the real steam locomotives is another story that takes me into a whole different place in history


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## Yellowstone Special (Jun 23, 2015)

I'm loving these stories, fellow members! Please keep them coming . . .


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## Tallaman (Oct 23, 2012)

Running model trains takes me back to the living room in 1965 when I was five years old and dad set up the American Flyer layout for Christmas. They had a particular sound and an aroma that soothes the soul. Add the AF chugging sound and it it magic. I run more O gauge trains now, but still love to set up the AF S gauge trains I have and run them too.


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## arkady (May 15, 2013)

> Second, my trains take me to a world where the New York Central and other railroads still exist...


I have to agree with this one. I was born in 1948, so I clearly remember the last of the great years of American railroading, the early diesels and the final stand of steam. Those who weren't there during the transition era will never have those first-hand memories, but I do, and I like to re-create that period as well as I'm able.

I run scale 3-rail, postwar Lionel and Marx 3/16" (not together, of course), and enjoy the different appeal of all of them. I don't use command control, and have no interest in doing so (yes, I have tried it).

Would I still have been interested in miniature trains if I hadn't gotten my first Lionel set at age three (I still have it)? Probably. There's never been a time since then that I haven't enjoyed railroad models of one kind or another. In my miniature world, the NYC, the PRR, the B&O and all the great railroads of the postwar era are still alive and well, and that's the way I'm going to keep them.


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## rfdeal (Jun 29, 2016)

Ithaka


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## Pebo (Sep 27, 2015)

walter said:


> Were do my trains take me? They take me back to memories of a time we came to the US after escaping and having a Farm Family sponsor us. I didn't know it was the week of Christmas. We were in a new country, everything was unfamiliar and new. The family brought us Christmas gifts, since we had nothing, clothes and shoes, and for us kids, my sister a doll and me a wind up Marx Train set. I use to set this up on the kitchen table and try to guess were it would stop. Years later Dad bought me a Marx electric Train, which after months as put up, and taken each Christmas to run under the tree. The Train could be found under the tree each year after, under the tree until my parents passed away.
> But my best memory of trains, and what comes back time after time and makes running them my most enjoyable, is when I take an old Allstate Train set and set it up on the floor, the smell, the sound brings back, and floods me with memories of a good time, and a loss that is still painful after 55 years. But the train running is also a pleasant time, with the good memories.
> It was Christmas 1960, and my brother Dale had wanted his own train set. So Christmas Eve, he opened his wrapped large box, ad behold, an Allstate electric train with accessories. He set the train up on the floor of our shared bedroom, and ran that train daily. Both of our faces to the floor as he became and developed skills in running it. Then February 18th,1961. He collapsed and died with a aneurism at the age of 6.
> The Train stayed for months afterwards still laid out on the floor until I put it up. Then in the 70s, I took it to my home and every year would run the train. I still do to this day, for the memories and returning me to a time never forgotten.


Walter....what a great way to honor your brother.
Peter


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## Pebo (Sep 27, 2015)

My trains take me way back to here (the trains start just after 2 minutes).....






Peter


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## thedoc (Oct 15, 2015)

I've been around toy trains all my live and have always tried to have some kind of trains under the Xmas tree. Now we are keeping my daughters dog and the dog goes crazy when trains are running and tries to attack them. When I run my trains in the attic with the dog downstairs, I can hear her howling and barking because of the trains running. I keep thinking I should restrain her and just run trains till she gets used to them.


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## thedoc (Oct 15, 2015)

For many years my grandson would ask to watch "Polar Express" every time I kept him, (Usually about 5-6 times a week). So trains sometimes take me to the North Pole on the Polar Express.


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## bob4591 (Jan 21, 2013)

Great Pictures


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## Frankfordjunction (Dec 11, 2012)

Like many others, O gauge takes me back to my childhood and the childhood of my two sons. After high school, I ended up spending four years in the service in the late sixties and early seventies. I lost access to my trains. Returning to six years of college and grad school there was no time. When my sons were young, trains were resurrected for a while but then they got older and my career demanded more and more time and travel. Trains disappeared again. Finally, almost 60 years after my start with a Lionel set in 1952, I got back into O gauge a few years ago. Thankfully, I found resources like this one and realize there are more of me out there. Now, my sons, in their thirties, are once again interested in the hobby. It's just great. Thanks for this thread.


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## Patrick1544 (Apr 27, 2013)

Christmas 1955- present, and Winter .


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