Model Railroading > Finally Have All the Pieces From My First Train Set

A while back I posted a photo of the first piece I acquired--the caboose. Since then, I have obtained the loco and the other two cars. The Pacemaker boxcar was more difficult to obtain. I had to purchase a train set with a lot of junk in it to get the one car. The train isn't much compared to my standards today, but this was what greeted me with delight under the Christmas tree almost 53 years ago and was my first train set.

As I mentioned on a previous post, I gave my original train set to a younger neighbor kid some years ago.

Fortunately, Marx HO doesn't command as high prices as Lionel or older, larger scale Marx trains. And it was affordable to mom and dad back then, with three other siblings to take care of too. I did take a small detour into N for a very short period but have been modeling in HO most of my life.

Victor A. Baird
http://www.erstwhilepublications.com



Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 11/25/20 20:40 by wabash2800.

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My first train was a Marx passenger set, in the very early 1940s... Pure tinplate but it started a hobby that I still enjoy!
And no, I do not still have it.

Bill Deaver
Tehachapi, CA

I sold my train collection  when I was 23 to buy a Twin turbo Z in 1990's it had trains like theSP TE70-4S "Popsicles" not perfect but they were nice in those days wish I could find them Happy Thanks Giving stay safe

Dave



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/25/20 22:57 by bnsfmodeler.

Victor, That's great. It's good to be able to bring back something that stokes the memories of our childhood and the joy of Christmas morning and the people you shared them with. I remember a toy 707 that I got one year for Christmas that brought about a interest in airplanes that helped bring about a 25 year career in avation. Everytime I walk into an antique shop I can't help but look for that 707 in the TWA dart and globe livery with the flashing engines, but no luck yet. Enjoy your find and all the good things that come with it.
Ralph

That Lehigh Valley coal car had to be like the American Flyer New Haven boxcar, there had to have been ten thousand made. At least it seemed so on the east coast.

One coupler broke on mine. some time in the early '60's. And when I flipped the car over, I discovered the truck had some sort of brass rivet holding it to the body, I never worked up the nerve to try to force it off. Oh, and the coal load was warped, my LHS must have had it in the sun in the shop window for too long.

But the good news was that I had discovered blue box Athearn kits, with screws to hold the trucks, and pockets to hold MKD 5&10's. I never looked back!

Santa Claus delivered my first train set for Christmas 1955 - a Lionel “outfit - as they called them) No. 1527. This set included a 1615 0-4-0 switcher with a 1615T tender, 6462-125 NYC gondola, 6560 Bucyrus work crane and a 6119 DL&W work caboose.

I still have this train and run it around our Christmas tree each year.

Posted from iPhone

I replaced all of my Linel freight train from the tender back with origional pices from the 1949 set. ( gondola, Baby Ruth box, and caboose) I had the loco and it ran fine.   It took abour 5 or 6 years of train shows to find just the tender. It got completd in about 1970.  No interenet.

I found that the best place to find my cars was on Ebay. That might be a place to find the TWA 707 model too, Ralph. Like I said, fortunately, the Marx HO doesn't command high prices. At that age, I too wanted to be an airline pilot but dad said the only way that I could become an airline pilot was to join the Air Force and learn to fly on Uncle Sam's dime and move onto flying airliners. But I already had corrrected vision and he said that was not a possibility. But I later found out that there were other options, but then it was too late after seven years of college and being too old.

Victor A. Baird
http://www.erstwhilepublications.com



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 11/26/20 15:48 by wabash2800.

I have the same engine that I saved from my first HO.   Wish it still ran. :-)

Jim Bertone
Quincy, MA

I received my first electric train for Christmas in 1963, at age 4, Lionel 0-27. It included a Hudson steam engine. I received an A/A FA set to add on. Around age 10 the entire set was sold except for the steam engine which I kept for sentimental reasons. By then I had discovered HO which looked much more realistic.

The Hudson did not survive without losses tho. As a kid I loved taking things apart so the tender whistle is missing and the front pilot wheels.

Since the Lionel trains did not come as a boxed set, it isn't something I could reassemble, not have I ever really wanted to.

Posted from Android

I just got the tree set up (the first time in years). And I put the train under the tree. I hadn't got around to cleaning or oiling the engine but it does run!  I note that the curves are 15 in. radius. As I remembered, the Marx HO track is unusual in that it is hollow like Lionel but two rail. And the ties are much like a fiber rather than plastic. There's nothing like memories from over 50 years ago.

Victor A. Baird
http://www.erstwhilepublications.com

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