What does your first locomotive look like?

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Gary Pfeil

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This wasn't my first, but is the oldest I still have. The first was a Lionel rubber band drive GP7 or 9 in NP colors. This dating from about 1959, I would guess. This Varney loco was acquired thru a model rr club sponsored by the local PAL when I was 15. It had been built and painted, a few years later I stripped and repainted and decaled it as the first JGL loco, also my first paint job.

Gary
 

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shaygetz

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Gary H Pfeil said:
This wasn't my first, but is the oldest I still have. The first was a Lionel rubber band drive GP7 or 9 in NP colors. This dating from about 1959, I would guess. This Varney loco was acquired thru a model rr club sponsored by the local PAL when I was 15. It had been built and painted, a few years later I stripped and repainted and decaled it as the first JGL loco, also my first paint job.

Gary
Click to expand...


Sweet old timey Varney ten wheeler there, Gary :thumb: One of the guys at the club runs his, remotoered and decoder equipped regularly on the club layout. And congrats on breaking 1000 posts, too.
 
ross31r

ross31r

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lets see my first locomotive was a hornby thomas, which unfortunately didnt last very long as i was only six at the time.


my first proper locomotive is this one - an Atlas GP40 high nose (along with the bachmann FTA that i was given around the same time)

gp40-ft.jpg
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c15/ross31r/NHRR locomotives/gp40-ft.jpg

My newest locomotive (bar the 0n30 consol which im still waiting for!) is this beasty from BLI

3050-1.jpg

3050-3.jpg

3050-2.jpg
 
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ding chavez

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Jan 17, 2006
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my first was a B&O GP9 but i dont have any pictures of it. the detailing job i did on it looked like crap anyway lol. the only things holding me from making a new layout are space and money. :(
 
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HoosierDaddy

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First two pictures, the Marx O scale F?A and F?B that my brother and I shared as kids in the 70's. It's not really and F3 and not an F7, but some mixed up version of an F unit. The last picture, is the first engine I bought for myself when I got into the hobby a little over a year ago. It is a Stewart F7 that's resembles the mixed up Marx, but more prototypical.
smile.gif



 
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steamhead

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Apr 16, 2005
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Hi,

Great to see so many still have that "original" loco that got us all hooked on this hobby!! Mine, an AF 0-8-0 is currently packed in a box. I'll dig it up and get a pic posted - if I can learn how that magic is done...

Gus (LC&P).
 
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UP SD40-2

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my first engine was the "Jupiter" made by Tyco. i got it for Xmas from my dad back in 74, i was 9. we built my first layout right after Xmas. the engine is still at his house in a box.:thumb:
 
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LongIslandTom

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Apr 8, 2006
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Wow, somebody resurrected this nice old thread..

Guess I'm a latecomer. Anyway, I've had toy trains that broke down after a few hours of running and I didn't get much enjoyment out of them.. What really started me seriously in HO model railroading is the first quality Athearn unit I bought in 1988, which is so well-built and easy to maintain that it has remained in good working order for the past 20 years.

That first Athearn I purchased is my pride and joy, which I superdetailed and weathered:

IMG_0359.jpg
 
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MilesWestern

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Fantastic!! :thumb: Love that "L" Window! and what could be a better railroad to buy tons of detail parts for? (I think SP still wanted the taste of specialization after building (and re-building and re-building...) so many locos in thier Sacremento Shops!
 
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TrainNut

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Sep 15, 2004
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I wanted to participate in this thread but it took me a while to dig down to the bottom of the box and find my "first loco". Well guess what? FOUND IT! My grandmother bought it for me for Christmas when I was but 8 years old (late 70's) . It is a Bachman EMD GP 40. It ran strong for the longest time. I don't know if it still does or not. All of my other cheapy engines have come and gone but this one holds a sentimental spot as my grandmother passed many years ago.
 

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shaygetz

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TrainNut said:
I don't know if it still does or not. All of my other cheapy engines have come and gone but this one holds a sentimental spot as my grandmother passed many years ago.
Click to expand...

Sweet, and if you had an N scale layout, it should still serve you well as 70s Bachmanns usually had brass and steel gears. As for testing it, my pocket power pack goes to every swap meet and flea market with me. At 9 volts, it'll pull a spark from even the oldest and dirtiest of lokeys without risking burnout, perfect for test firing old heirlooms.
 

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MilesWestern

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That's a great Idea, because I believe model rr equipment runs on 12Vdc, so that would be about 75% throttle! :cool:

DoctorWayne, CNnutbar, EZdays, are still yet to post! come on guys, Post! I bet it'll be great...if only you'd post!
 
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caliban

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Great thread,

my first loco was the notorious 'Baureihe 89', a 0-6-0 steamer made by Maerklin. I got it christmas 1980, what a great christmas! It was my start into H0 model railroading. My restart into model railroading was a Spectrum Dash 8-40CW, wich I painted with spray cans and lettered with decals from aircraft kits and letraset rub on letters 12 years ago.
The unit in the background is the last loco I've painted, an 'Athlas'. Athearn drive and Atlas Shell. I've messed up the Athearn shell and ordered a spare shell from Atlas, not yet finished. The Spectrum was completely freelanced, the Athlas is inspired by the Ocean Shore Railroad that ran from San Francisco southward on the pacific shore.

Tobias

:wave:Ocean Shore Railroad - Reaches the Beaches!:wave:
 

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Thoroughbreed

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Well my first one was when I was about 8 and was an AHM? Southern RR GP??, long gone:cry: But my newest one since getting back into the hobby, is my SD90MAC, which I finally decided upon a road for, Going to make it an SD80MAC NS:thumb:
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=315630
Already stripped the BNSF John Deere paint from it and repainted in black, awaiting decals. Walthers is backordered on the new thoroughbred scheme, so may resort to the older scheme. Will post pics when I have it completed.
 
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