# What do you remember seeing when you recieved your first train ?



## Stoshu (Jun 20, 2015)

_
Any of us who have done shows for the general public always hear from somebody. " I got one of those for Christmas back in 52. It had the red caboose ect. ect. Now it's in the basement someplace" 

My dad had set mine up Christmas eve, When I first saw it, just the front of the engine was sticking out around the curve. I think my heart missed a beat. There were dolls and trucks for my brothers and sisters near it, but who cares. Santa had brought me a train.

There is method to my madness here but I'll let you know why I ask in a week or two.

What do you remember when seeing your first train for the first time ?

Bruce.._


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## Lee Willis (Jan 1, 2014)

Something magical. I didn't know just what it was, but I knew I liked it a lot.


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## DennyM (Jan 3, 2016)

I remember seeing a big box (when your 4 or 5 everything looks big) that said Lionel. 

In it was a 2037 2-6-4 with a 6066 T Tender some track and a 1025 transformer. 

I don't remember which rolling stock I got first.


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## Traindiesel (Sep 8, 2015)

My first trains were around before I was, as my grandfather had them before I was born. I can only recall being excited over them as the trains were always associated with Christmas. The day after Thanksgiving my dad, grandfather and I would start construction on the Christmas layout. Followed by a trip to a local hobby shop to add something new. 

I remember all the sounds, smells and colors of the whole 5X9 layout. The C9 multicolored Christmas bulbs inside the Plasticville buildings, the silver UP Alcos, the General set, the freight cars, the sleek black 2026 locomotive and of course, the #60 trolley. 

That was over 50 years ago now and it seems like yesterday!


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## seayakbill (Jan 16, 2016)

What I remember of my first train on Christmas 1950, a Marx wind-up steamer, was the sparks that would shoot out the smoke stack. Christmas 1951 I graduated to a Lionel 2026 steamer.

Bill


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## Guest (Nov 4, 2016)

I got my first train set, an O27 work train headed by a 2020 loco, for Christmas 1949 and I was born a week later. My dad set up the trains under the tree every Christmas and Santa always brought me something Lionel. Since they were always there I don't remember seeing them for the first time. We lived in an apartment till I was 7. My parents bought a house with a basement and my big memory is Dad and I building an 8x8 layout when I was 8 or 9. It's one of my fondest memories.


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## Spence (Oct 15, 2015)

I believe it was Christmas 1956 or 1957. It was love at first sight. A Lionel Scout set with a Baby Ruth box car which started a life long interest.


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## Guest (Nov 4, 2016)

Excellent lead into this week's Fantastic Fan Foto Thread.

It was Christmas 1947 and there it was, a floor layout under the Christmas Tree featuring a Lionel Berkshire freight set and Plasticville buildings. It was spectacular and for the rest of the Christmas vacation from school, that is all I did was play with that train set. Never will forget this.


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## alaska railroad (Oct 20, 2015)

For me it was a Christmas gift. 1980 or 1981 was the year. I was around 10 or 11 years old. It was the ho scale tyco silver streak glow in the dark set. I remember I used to think I was the engineer of that train. I remember tooting out loud so much, my mom used to say, that's enough now. Lol! I was kinda hard on the old silver streak. I would weigh that thing down with so much weight, the motor gear would strip out alot. I played with that set every day, until it just wouldn't go for me anymore. Today I have around 20 locomotives, and they are all extremely well cared for. " unlike the silver streak of my youth."


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## Mark Boyce (Jul 22, 2015)

I bought my own first train when I was about 12. Dad was not interested in trains and said I had to save money to get one. Once I thought I had enough money, Dad drove me from our home in a rural area north of Pittsburgh to Trainorama which was on Sawmill Run Blvd south of the city; quite a trek before interstate highways. I think Dad had asked someone where to get a train, and that was the recommendation. I remember picking out a Tyco HO Freight set, pulled by an F7. Since the set didn't have a transformer, I got a Lionel DC power supply. I can still remember what it looked like there, though it was almost 50 years ago, and I was never there again.


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## Norton (Nov 5, 2015)

seayakbill said:


> What I remember of my first train on Christmas 1950, a Marx wind-up steamer, was the sparks that would shoot out the smoke stack. Christmas 1951 I graduated to a Lionel 2026 steamer.
> 
> Bill


Same sequence for me but a year earlier. Christmas 1949 was a Marx windup. Christmas 1950 was my 2035 set. Lots of sparks from the metal tinsel that fell on the tracks under the tree.

Pete


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## Bill Webb (Sep 14, 2015)

Nothing. I was one and still crawling around in 1948. But I have been told that my Dad had a good time. Tons of memories and learning useful stuff since then. All of it including the boxes are right here; and it all works.


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## Don F (Dec 5, 2015)

I remember seeing the edge of the platform! As far back as I can remember, probably to age two or three, mom and dad waited for the kids to go to bed,(at that time just my brother and me), to put up the platform, track, trains, decorate the tree and place the gifts at the bottom of the platform, which was about three or four feet off the floor. This is where seeing the edge of the platform comes in! Dad got the tree on Christmas eve after work. He worked at the family dairy, and he and mom were in our choir and after the Christmas preparations were complete, it was just about time for midnight mass. After mass there was no rest for dad, as he had to go across the street to get ice cream cakes ready for the Christmas day. He would finally crawl into bed about three AM, only to be awakened by two rambunctious boys at six or seven AM to open presents. Later years would see six kids, and add some assembly required to the mix, bike, doll houses etc. I had a lot of respect for mom and dad for all they did. 
Trains were always a part of Christmas, and the only time there were no trains under the tree was when I was in the Army and Air Force. When my brother and I got older, we took over the platform and train duties, working on an HO layout in the basement just about year round, and then we would bring it upstairs for Christmas. Dad's Lionel trains were shelved during those years, but made a re-appearance after I got married and my wife and I had our own home. 
The tradition continues until today, as the trains are set up on the floor under the tree in our three season enclosed deck that has become a four season family room after the addition of a gas fireplace several years ago. 
So far, none of our three sons has really taken a real interest in the trains. The best chance would be our youngest son Mark, Twenty three, who has helped me with coal loads and building bridges for the shelf layout attached to the shop, and a seventh grade school history project. He has a lot of die cast cars and trucks, a Transylvania train set, and several Alaska RR rolling stock. 
Don


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## Stoshu (Jun 20, 2015)

_
All great stories guy's. Thanks for the input. Now for the reason.
If you look at the picture below you see a scrawny tree ( from Menards ) and the flat top of the mountain. Well I was going to put a village with a circle of track, nothing to extravagant then , 
I had a thought of doing a post war Christmas morning scene. ( that is where you guys came in ) 

So the tree is going to be decorated with the Lionel Christmas ornaments, a circle of track with a #60 trolley or a 2-4-2 starter set. I have a couple of old postwar Lionel boxes and some Plasticville structures. I'll see what I can get on the 46 X 42 board.

Thanks again for the help and I'll post pictures when it's set up...

Bruce.._


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## Bill Webb (Sep 14, 2015)

Bruce that is going to be a fun project. Thanks for including everyone in the planning. Can't wait to see the result.


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## Shawn91481 (Mar 20, 2016)

Think it was an old HO scale Santa Fe war bonnet freight. I don't think it lasted long. I got a Lionel 2-4-0 "Pennsylvania Flyer" a year or so later and the rest is history. I still have the set some 20-25 years later and still runs, but it isn't nearly as fun as my command control modern trains I have now.

My dad was a bit of a smart a$$ and thought it would be funny to wrap it with a snow shovel handle to the back and stick it under the Christmas tree.


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## Mark Boyce (Jul 22, 2015)

Don't know if my "Postwar" HO set I bought helped; but it was fun to read everyone's experiences and to see why you asked. Very clever!


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## phillyreading (Aug 25, 2015)

The first train set my dad got me had a 235 scout engine and tender with the exploding boxcar and minute man missile car, satellite launching car, the set had a configuration of a figure 8 but up & over with a graduated trestle kit with 027 track. It was in the 1960's.

Lee Fritz


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## MtRR75 (Nov 27, 2013)

My first reaction....

Why are there 3 rails???


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## Stoshu (Jun 20, 2015)

_ Well setup was today, Not a very good picture but thanks to all your suggestions here it is. A first attempt at a 1950's Christmas morning.... and the disappearing mountain worked great... _


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## santafe158 (Jul 14, 2010)

The display looked great yesterday Bruce. Great work.


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## DennyM (Jan 3, 2016)

Looks good Bruce.


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## Guest (Nov 18, 2016)

MtRR75 said:


> My first reaction....
> 
> Why are there 3 rails???


That's funny and shows how we can see things differently. I just took 3 rails for granted and was older when I first saw American Flyer S gauge running on 2 rail track. I though it looked odd with the third rail missing.


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## chipset35 (Sep 4, 2015)

As I removed the brown wrapping paper I saw the Lionel Logo and freaked out.
Age 6 was a wonderful time.


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## Scotie (Sep 27, 2013)

The Lionel set was under the tree. Parents always set up everything after my brother and I went to bed. Got up in the morning and the tree was lit and the train was running. The whistle, the smoke, and the tinsel from the tree falling on the tracks and shorting out the train.
My mother insisted all had to be out of the living room by New Years so up to the bedroom to play. Photo not dated but I believe about 1947-48.


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## FM Trainmaster (Nov 13, 2013)

Dad's old Lionel setup was always there in the basement rec room, as far back as I can remember. I don't have a memory of "the first train", but from a very young age it was always just assumed the FM Trainmaster was mine, the postwar 2-6-4 chuffer was my sister's, and the prewar 027 2-6-0 was my brother's. It was two oval loops with a pair of 022 switches between them on a 4x8 plywood platform, with one or two coupling tracks and a dozen other buildings and accessories, all operated by the big ZW transformer.

My favorite accessory was the tower with the light aluminum vaned red/green beacon that would spin from the heat of the lamp propelling it. I still have that accessory, but the replacement beacons don't seem to work very well, if at all. 


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## chipset35 (Sep 4, 2015)

Scotie, that is an awesome photo!


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## DennyM (Jan 3, 2016)

Scotie,
That photo looks like it could be a magazine ad or a catalog cover.


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## Pebo (Sep 27, 2015)

I am lucky to have this video.....it covers 56-63. In the early part you can barely see a Marx set (Monon AA diesel freight).....by about 2:40, it is 58 and Santa brings my Lionel set....






Peter


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## Stoshu (Jun 20, 2015)

Pebo said:


> I am lucky to have this video.....it covers 56-63. In the early part you can barely see a Marx set (Monon AA diesel freight).....by about 2:40, it is 58 and Santa brings my Lionel set....
> 
> Peter


_ The worst thing about those mornings were the camera lights.
You could use them to land aircraft if you wanted to._


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## empire builder (Apr 12, 2014)

the first thing I saw was only one wire from transformer to the track lockon! Christmas day was on a Saturday and no way to get another wire until the following Monday. so I had to push my 623 diesel switcher by hand.

remember this was back when sundays and thanksgiving and Christmas and new years stores were closed so families could be together!!


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## Dano (Aug 26, 2012)

What I remember is a blood-blister on my finger from pinching it between two pieces of track!


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## Dieseler (Jan 29, 2014)

What i remember what i first saw was my parents smileing down at me as i looked up at them back in the early1960s when i first opened a Marx set under the Christmas tree.


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## chipset35 (Sep 4, 2015)

Pebo said:


> I am lucky to have this video.....it covers 56-63. In the early part you can barely see a Marx set (Monon AA diesel freight).....by about 2:40, it is 58 and Santa brings my Lionel set....
> 
> 
> Peter


Thank you for posting that awesome video.
How difficult is it to transfer those old films to digital?
I still have a box full of old family movie reels.


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## Panther (Oct 5, 2015)

Stoshu said:


> _
> Any of us who have done shows for the general public always hear from somebody. " I got one of those for Christmas back in 52. It had the red caboose ect. ect. Now it's in the basement someplace"
> 
> Bruce.._


This is exactly what I was going to write. Marx With the bright red caboose.

Dan


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## Bob B. (Feb 7, 2013)

*Christmas 1955 - What?*

Cold Michigan morning, got up early all excited. Walked out into dining room... whaaat? Kid from up the street running my new Lionel train! "Where is my mom & dad?" "Your moms having a baby. Take a look at your new train." He hits a button and the engine disconnects from the train and keeps going... WOW!


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## Stoshu (Jun 20, 2015)

Bob B. said:


> Cold Michigan morning, got up early all excited. Walked out into dining room... whaaat? Kid from up the street running my new Lionel train! "Where is my mom & dad?" "Your moms having a baby. Take a look at your new train." He hits a button and the engine disconnects from the train and keeps going... WOW!


 Cute story, Sounds like a time of joy and confusion.....


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## Chiefmcfuz (Dec 30, 2008)

My first set was a Tyco GI Joe set. I saw endless battles and conflicts. What I got was endless battles and derails!


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## arkady (May 15, 2013)

What do I remember when receiving my first train? Well... nothing.

Let me explain: I was three years old at Christmas, 1951. Christmas morning had arrived, and I was gawking at the brightly-lit tree (I wish there were photos of it) and the stuff beneath it. We didn't have a lot of money in those days, so getting presents of any kind was a bit overwhelming in itself. I think I was just beginning to realize that.

My parents kept pointing directly under the tree, urging me to "Look there, look there!" I did, but I couldn't see anything remarkable, just the shadows beneath the tree's branches. And still they kept urging me to look closer, to see what was there. But I couldn't see a thing!

Finally, Mom and Dad had to reach under the tree and actually touch it before I could at last _see_ the Lionel 2026 sitting there on a piece of 027 track.

I've since learned that there's a name for that phenomenon. But at the time, the very concept of a real Lionel train for Christmas was so overwhelming and alien that I couldn't even believe what my eyes were telling me.

That 2026 is on my coffee table right now, catching the light from our own Christmas tree, And after all these years, it still runs just as well as it did that Christmas long ago -- when it was my first and only Invisible Train.


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## BobS (Jun 18, 2015)

Beginnings (repost from 2015)

I was just a kid.
When all this began.
My first tunnel, 
Was a coffee can.

They were bigger those days.
Cut lengthwise in two,
They would rattle and shake,
When the train passed through.

My first train was used,
But to me is was new,
My Dad never said,
And I never knew.

The train was a steamer, 
With a broken E unit switch.
I liked it just the same,
And “fixed” the switch with a match.

The train had no whistle,
It had no bell.
But it smoked with pellets,
And it smoked like he**.

For Christmas that year
Under the tree, 
A whistle house was found.
Happy I was, for now I had sound.

Track on the floor.
The damp basement floor.
No wonder the shocks, 
Went through my socks, 
And into my core.

Bridges and trestles,
All built from scrap stuff.
Whatever I found,
Was always enough.

The trains were quite strong,
They pulled big loads along.
And if by chance they crashed a bit,
I’d set them right, they’d never quit.

My trains carried soldiers,
Many kinds and types,
Off to wars and battles.
Without any gripes.

The trains ran and ran, 
Until the summers, when I got tan.
Outdoors I ventured, 
From morning till night.
All in my life, was just kid right.

Sometime later on, 
I discovered something new.
Girls.

The trains and soldiers were packed away,
To be re-discovered, 
Yet another day.


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