Reminiscing-First Train Set

[Kanawha]

I was just thinking the other day about my very first train set. It was my 6th birthday. I got a Bachmann set with an 0-6-0 switcher, 4 cars, and a caboose. That locomotive ran for about two weeks before it died. sign1 But that was enough to get me hooked. I still have one of the cars that came with the set to this day. The track had incredibly tight radius turns, like 15", and an elevated section with a bridge that required a 4%+ grade. haha The best part was the power pack that went from forward to reverse with the same throttle knob, making stopping quickly an exercise in motor skills. :rofl: Did anyone else have one of these sets? It may have been called the Iron Horse, or something like that, I can't remember.

What was your first train set like, if indeed you started that way? steamtrain

 

[eightyeightfan1]

My very first set was Tyco. I was about twelve or so. It was a four unit set that came with a Plymouth switcher decorated for Santa Fe, a Union Pacific gondola, Swift Refer and caboose.(Man...if I had only ONE peice from that set!).
The loco lasted about two months before sending it back. But by then, the layout went from a little circle, to a big oval, on a peice of scrap plywood, held off the floor with whatever I could find.
I also found AHM rolling stock and locos(Had the Pennsy Shark Nose....wish I still had it), by the time my little Plymouth came back.
You know...if I remember right...I think my father had just as much fun with it as I did...

 

[steamhead]

Hi...Since we're wandering down memory lane.....I guess my first "set" was a tin wind-up train..of European origin 'cause it had "bumpers". It was the loco which had two controls...on/off and forward & reverse, and two passenger wagons. It ran on a circle of track of about 24" in diameter.... I would give my right arm to have it now....
A little later on (3-4 years) I graduated to an AF (S-gauge)...of which I have every piece that came with it, and then some...!!!

 

[60103]

I don't know what my first train set was; I probably had a number of them from a young age.
I have vague recollections of a tin windup Rheingold. Then a Hornby O gauge windup, followed by an electric Hornby O gauge at age 4 or 5. At age 7 my first Lionel set -- described by one book as rather routine and boring.

 

[steamhead]

What do books know...??? :mrgreen:

 

[Ralph]

Mine was a Tyco as well. It had a green F unit lettered for Penn Central, a few assorted road name freight cars, and a Burlington Line caboose.

Ralph

 

[UP SD40-2]

Kanawha, GREAT THREAD IDEA!:thumb:

I was VERY fortunate, my dad was Model RRing before i was born. no "train sets" for me, back in 72-73 dad and i made my first 4'x8' layout that rolled under part of his layout when i wasn't running it.(Lynn Westcotts HO RailRoad that grows) Dad had a Burlington red/gray paint scheme passenger car set with two matching Athearn U boats to pull it, thats what i started out with.

the engine that was the first one actually bought for me was a Tyco 10 wheeler i picked out, i still have it too:thumb: , it currently doesn't run, but its on my list of things to do:winki: . OH, and dad still has that old Athearn passenger set, though the engines motors are now shot.

- Deano

 

[TrainNut]

Back in the late 70's, my grandmother got me hooked on N scale. I did not start out with a set but rather an engine, a caboose and some flex track. There in my wee little hand yee shall see my first Bachman EMD GP40.

AND, it still lives today! ...well, I still have it anyways... whether or not it still runs remains to be seen. All of my other cheapy engines have come and gone but this one holds a sentimental spot as my grandmother passed many years ago.

If these pictures look familiar to you, it's because I took them right out of a similar thread from December of 2005... http://forum.zealot.com/t108847/

 

[Triplex]

Aside from some battery-powered toys when I was young, which I really can't remember, it was Bachmann HO when I was 8 or 9. CN sergeant-stripe F-unit, matching wet-noodle hopper, boxcar, caboose. I was glad I didn't get the version pictured on the box, which had non-CN rolling stock. The engine didn't last; my primary motive power became the IHC C-Liner, also in sergeant stripes, bought to run with it. That also broke down, leaving me with the Athearn Blue Box wet-noodle scheme GP9 I bought to run with it.

 

[Kanawha]

TrainNut thats awesome that you still have pictures and your first loco to this day. My old 0-6-0 disappeared long ago. Great stories guys!

 

[stuart_canada]

my first set was a bachmann CN f unit I still have it. One of those pancake motors on the rear truck, rubber tires, came with 4 cars and a a caboose, cars long gone, just the locomotive left now. someday it will get a rebuild and athearn power plant installed.

wonder how many sets are given now as Christmas gifts? not as many as once now with various game systems and other stuff.

 

[Kanawha]

Yeah, trains aren't popular holiday gifts anymore. Its only a recent thing though. So many of my friends were into trains as kids just 15-20 years ago.

 

[scubadude]

My first set was Lionel (I thought everyone's first set was Lionel :mrgreen when I was 4. I still have that whole set in the box and run it around once in a while. My Mom got me an N scale Bachman set when I was 12 in 1972. They were calling them "postage stamp" trains. Still have that set, too....look familiar TrainNut?? :thumb:

 

[ScratchyAngel]

I'm not sure what counts as first. I remember a blue and yellow HO Tyco Santa Fe set up to do a circle around the Christmas tree when I was maybe 4 or 5, but I didn't get that one as mine, though it was mainly set up for me as the only grand-kid at the time. A few years later I got a Lionel steamer from my other grandfather (I think). Just oval, no switches, and it always bugged me that there were three rails. I think between 10 and 12 I started getting some N scale stuff that was the first I chose for me. I hope they're in an attic somewhere still. No permanent layout, but some Atlas track on plywood on the floor (painted with roads and the like, but not a real layout).

 

[steamhead]

Although not mine...some neighbor kids had a Lionel set...It bugged me to no end that they were happy with a train running on 3 rails..!!!! What were they thinking...!?!?! ? Now I see those 3-railers and wish I had a roomfull of them....Go figure....

 

[Jim Krause]

My first train set was a Marx 0-4-0 with, I believe, four cars. An oval of track and two switches. My older brother bought it for me in December of 1941. He had just returned from his first trip to the Orient as a merchant seaman. The ship made it into Puget Sound by running blacked out, the week after Pearl Harbor.
I think the train set must have been one of the last until WWII was over.

 

[brakie]

Since my dad was a modeler my first train set was a Atlas N Scale set with the RSC2 that I bought in '68...

 

[TrainNut]

My Mom got me an N scale Bachman set when I was 12 in 1972. ....look familiar TrainNut?? :thumb:

Hey, I've seen that engine somewhere before! Yours looks to be in slightly better shape than mine does.

 

[MadHatter]

I also have that same Bachmann N Scale loco, but got it last year!!

My first set was a Birthday Cake, then a battery operated plastic set and another and some wooden ones. But my first real model was a Lima SAR Class 34-200 Diesel, that I got when I was 13.

 

[Mountain Man]

Mine was a Marklin set, from the Marklin store in Munich, and wired for 220. Came with the little freight cars with the brakeman shack on each one, and the short, curved-roof passenger cars in German railroad green. Beautiful little thing; I wish I still had it.