Model Railroading > Childhood revisited, with cops and robbers

As far  as I remember, my brother and I always had a Lionel train, with Santa Fe diesels.
He was born in '53, me in '56, in Dallas, Texas.  Knowing my Dad, he wanted the train
for him as much as for his boys.  We never secured the track to a board, just laid it on
the living room floor.  I don't ever recall my sister being involved with any of this.

The trains vanished sometime after high school and neither of us cared much, but now I do care
so I procured the required memories piece by piece until this train was assembled.  I had to
perform surgery on the cop and robber car as the guts were rusted badly, not much to it really.

I don't recall the exact steam engine we had so I secured one from that era with whistle tender.

Not sure what power controller we had, not a ZW  but today the ZW seems just right.

Fast forward to 2026 and here is the re-creation.

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Lionel on raw plywood—gotta love the sound!

BUT, off to the left—what are those passenger cars?

Lighter Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Lionel on raw plywood—gotta love the sound!
>
> BUT, off to the left—what are those passenger
> cars?

Oh, just a silly little doodlebug with trailing coach.

 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/16/26 14:46 by WrongWayMurphy.

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Imagine riding in that Lionel caboose!

Good stuff, I love the searchlight flatcar too!

I had one of those cars with the 2 guys shooting at each other. However it is long gone now. I am sure a real rare item these days!

My two cousins in Indiana lived in an old house with their bedroom one large room that ran the full width and length of the House that was essentially an attic but full height. We set up the Lionel track and ran the trains on the floor. What a blast. But it didn't last  long as their dad worked swing shift and needed to get sleep in the daytime in his bedroom below us. They had a lot of track and accessories. All good things come to an end... That was my only exposure to Lionel, but I like the big, hefty locos and the track switches.

Victor Baird

-My first Lional was a 2-6-4  with - freight cars and a caboose.2 nd was a O gauge berkshire - with 4 freight cars and caboose with a tremendous smoke exhaust in spite of the fact mom wanted me to get the Santa Fe diesels.  Ddid not like them cause of no smoke.