Saloon Model Railroaders

[Marshal Dan Troop 70448]

With my other post on Christmas wishes, I see I wasn't alone on the train sets. Curious of all the Model railroaders, and those that just have trains, do you put one under the tree? Back in the 50s and early 60s it was common practice to get the train set out and run it under the tree. This maybe the last year I put my Lionels under the tree, since my wife is big into setting up villages, and I get to put the train set around it. Each year she has a different theme, and I get to run the train. Each year I would switch trains under the tree, passenger and diesel engines, or freight with steam locos.

I have a huge Marx collection, but only the key wind and tin plates do I collect. Though I do have one of the battery operated locomotives Marx made.

If you got pics of your train under the tree, how about posting it? MT

 

Here's pics of BlueJeans Christmas village for this year.

http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z72/mar...op/SDC11173.jpg

http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z72/mar...op/SDC11172.jpg

[Oklahomabound]

MT, you're a man of many talents! Our grandson, who'll be us at Christmas, loves toy trains! So far, he's been doing the Whittle Short Line wooden toy trains, track, and accessories. He has learned a lot about steam engines as well as diesel engines. He knows the systems and components and their function. He also knows most of the the many and various train Lines and has their engines and cars. He's 5 years old.

 

Soon, when JW is eight, he's going to be shifting his interest to HO scale. The thing that I've noticed is the price of his engines will go up by a factor of 10 or more!!!!!

[Marshal Dan Troop 70448]

MT, you're a man of many talents! Our grandson, who'll be us at Christmas, loves toy trains! So far, he's been doing the Whittle Short Line wooden toy trains, track, and accessories. He has learned a lot about steam engines as well as diesel engines. He knows the systems and components and their function. He also knows most of the the many and various train Lines and has their engines and cars. He's 5 years old.

 

Soon, when JW is eight, he's going to be shifting his interest to HO scale. The thing that I've noticed is the price of his engines will go up by a factor of 10 or more!!!!!

I've got some HO stuff, engine, (diesel) and about 5 cars and other stuff. No track or transformer. (easy to pick-up). When I bought the house here, it was in corner of closet. If you want it for your grandson, just send postage, about 6.00, I'll send it to you. MT

[Four-Eyed Buck,SASS #14795]

Nice looking set up , MT.

 

My current train is G scale and takes up a lot of space. It's a Bachmann wood burner with Jackson Perkins passenger coaches. a 4-4-0 engine, the tender has the sound stuff in it, and it does have smoke. my biggest problem is no Bachmann track available locally. Need some curves, and possibly some more straights to do something better with the space I have/don't have. 4 Cars to run behind it makes it pretty long. We also have a Christmas Trolley car that the wife picked up because she thought it was cute, G scale also.........Buck

[Marshal Dan Troop 70448]

Nice looking set up , MT.

 

My current train is G scale and takes up a lot of space. It's a Bachmann wood burner with Jackson Perkins passenger coaches. a 4-4-0 engine, the tender has the sound stuff in it, and it does have smoke. my biggest problem is no Bachmann track available locally. Need some curves, and possibly some more straights to do something better with the space I have/don't have. 4 Cars to run behind it makes it pretty long. We also have a Christmas Trolley car that the wife picked up because she thought it was cute, G scale also.........Buck

Thanks, but actually its BlueJeans setup. I just run the train around it for Christmas. MT

[Pack Saddle Slim, SASS #73122]

Had a classic Lionel that I received for Christmas of 1953. My dear sweet mother, in all of her innocence, sold it at a garage sale. Somebody got a great deal and one heckuva layout.

 

Currently, we have a G-scale Bachman that makes a very simple circular run around our Christmas tree every year. It belonged to my father-in-law and made its annual appearance every Christmas. When he "got called home," we inherited it and it still does its annual duty.

 

For some reason, it has always added that special "something" around the tree.

Edited November 28, 2010 by Pack Saddle Slim, SASS #73122

[G. I. Tarpicker, SASS #998]

Had Lionel as a kid. As an adult, I got into HOn3 (HO scale 3-foot narrow gauge) but never got a layout built. I've got several boxes full of built and un-built kits, a couple brass locos, various structures, flex-track (narrow gauge, standard and dual gauge, switches, a draw, etc.) that I'll probably never use. Any serious model railroaders who might be interested in purchasing this stuff might send me a private message indicating same. Might could also be interested in a trade for guns or C. F. Martin & Co. acoustic guitars. -- GIT

[Oklahomabound]

I've got some HO stuff, engine, (diesel) and about 5 cars and other stuff. No track or transformer. (easy to pick-up). When I bought the house here, it was in corner of closet. If you want it for your grandson, just send postage, about 6.00, I'll send it to you. MT

 

 

PM sent to you....

[Trigger Mike]

I used to run a HO christmas train under the tree but a new child broke it. I now put O scale MTH on real trax under the tree. I put candy cane scented smoke in the engine. I put hot cocoa scent in the tank car that smokes, has a picture of santa and says cocoa, and various box cars with Christmas decor, one of which plays 12 carols, and a caboose that smokes with wood stove scented smoke in it. When ll 3 scents get going good the mixture fills the house with the smell of a wood fire, mint and hot chocolate. It is great. I run 3 feet by 3 feet of track This year we have a 14 month old and my wife is concerned he will bother it. I do know I just had him down stairs with the layout and he had a blast with the train and trying to touch it and control it. He watched the dials and buttons I pushed and tried them to and hit the emergency stop button and shut it down.

Edited November 28, 2010 by Trigger Mike

[Caliope Cupcake #13981]

we had an HO scale from Germany in the 50s. Dad put the tree in the middle of the track. We didn't see it again for 35 yrs when my kids were young and he gave it to us. My husband then was into trains and built us a new oval track for it so we could set it up here. You could add some oil to the stack on the locomotive and it would smoke. The kids really liked it and it brought back fond memories for me. I still have all of it boxed up. Later he also built a monstrosity of an N-scale layout a project with our son ---15 ft long and 8 ft wide with 4 legs with heavy wheels. He never finished it after we divorced and it's still hanging from the ceiling in the garage from an electric hoist. Anyone interested? I haven't even been able to give it away for years! I'm gonna have to saw it into pieces.

[Capt. Wm.P.Allen, SASS #42363]

Oh, yeah. As a kid the Lionel always came out at Christmas, usually next to the tree since the board had a figure 8 instead of a loop. And I've been model railroading since 1950, one way or another. I've had LGB track around the tree many times but the way our house is set up the only proper place for our big tree is next to a stepdown so there is no place to put the track.

 

My model railroading is now on the computer so it's kind of hard to get it around the tree.

[Bama Red]

MT, I started out in N scale, switched to HO due to my eyes being able to see detail better, and I'm contemplating HOn3, due to my interest in logging and mining short lines.

 

GIT, sending you a PM.

[Tom Foolery U.S.M. #2348]

I still have my 1939 American Flyer 2-6-4 Hudson frieght. I got it used about 1960. I've also got a switching tower and several metal buildings. As a kid, I thought the locomotive and tender needed a paint job. I have since fixed that paint job. The motor was rebuilt and with new track and a new transformer, it runs great. Hope to get it out this year. The grandsons have never seen it

 

 

TF

Edited November 28, 2010 by Tom Foolery U.S.M. #2348

[G. I. Tarpicker, SASS #998]

GIT, sending you a PM.

 

Got your PM, sent one in return. -- GIT

[Marshal Dan Troop 70448]

On the farm I still have a large "N" scale layout, 16 X14, room size. Have 2 towns coutryside, etc. With roundhouse, passenger trains and freight trains. Modeled the late 40s early 50s. Incorporating the Midwest area as scenery and trains. I wired it so 1 person could run it alone or sometimes had sessions in which 3 other railroaders would run sessions. Have everything boxed away except for the table, tracks, scenery. Thinking of selling all, but once out of midwest, don't see to many interested in "N" scale.

As to Model Railroading itself, it is so peacefull, and hours can go by relaxing. Sometimes when the weather was bad outside, possibility of losing crops, or the market was down, seeds were high, coming into the room and running the trains cured all the stress. Even BlueJeans could spend hours watching passenger trains come in and freights cars being put on sidings for industries, etc.

Model Railroading is run like real trains, with schedules, pick-ups, and deliveries.

But the real joy, was every Christmas putting a train set under the tree, it was and still is "special". Bringing back memories of childhood, of wanting a set to be under a tree. Going to Sears, Wards, Ace, etc. and seeing the trains going round and round, and imaging your the engineer. Sometimes Christmas is the one time, when we can go back to our childhood. Seeing presents being opened, hearing cries of joy, and giving thanks, brings back memories of my parents watching us as we hurried to open our presents, though sometimes we never got what we wished for, what we got is still what we wanted.

Christmas, sometimes you wish the spirit and joy would last all year. MT

[Badger Mountain Charlie SASS #43172]

As a lad, I never did own the American Flyer that I always wanted. Dad and Mom just could never find the coins and that was ok with me. But dang, they were neat trains. As an adult I found a Bachmann Union Pacific engine that I bought just to put up on the mantle. Looking at it, I went out and bought an HO gauge train set figuring that I would put it under the tree. My daughter painted some ceramic buildings and now there are so many under the tree that there is no room for the train. I have it in a box downstairs. Each year I say that I will build a layout for it and play with it like a kid again. Never

find the room and when I do, my wife seems to find another piece of furnature to fill it with.

Maybe this Christmas I will get the stuff out and find a place for it.

 

I just love railroad stuff. Especially the old puffers. Those steam engines had so many moving parts

they are like a poetry in motion. Watching a steam engine, campfires, clouds, and stars are all a wonderment to me. Guess I never grew up. Guess I never will.

[Marshal Dan Troop 70448]

I just love railroad stuff. Especially the old puffers. Those steam engines had so many moving parts

they are like a poetry in motion. Watching a steam engine, campfires, clouds, and stars are all a wonderment to me. Guess I never grew up. Guess I never will.

Something about trains and railroading, the sound of a whistle and horn, especially at night laying in bed and hearing those sounds. I used to lay in bed waiting for the Union Pacific steam train that still ran on schedule early 50s, then diesel took over. During the 60s when farmers, including my dad had bumper crops, grain elevators were storing it on the ground covered. The Union Pacific was short on everything, grain cars and locomotives. It was the last big hurrah for steam locos. Many pulled out of storage and refitted and cleaned up. We actually had a BIG BOY, a 4-8-8-4, come and pull about 3 or more miles of grain cars, boxcars, etc. everything possible that grain could be hauled in and pulled out. It was a sight to see. And we were glad to see the grain off the ground and show a profit.

I believe if I could live my life over, I would work for the railroad and work to achieve being an engineer. MT

[G. I. Tarpicker, SASS #998]

Something about trains and railroading, the sound of a whistle and horn, especially at night laying in bed and hearing those sounds. I used to lay in bed waiting for the Union Pacific steam train that still ran on schedule early 50s, then diesel took over. During the 60s when farmers, including my dad had bumper crops, grain elevators were storing it on the ground covered. The Union Pacific was short on everything, grain cars and locomotives. It was the last big hurrah for steam locos. Many pulled out of storage and refitted and cleaned up. We actually had a BIG BOY, a 4-8-8-4, come and pull about 3 or more miles of grain cars, boxcars, etc. everything possible that grain could be hauled in and pulled out. It was a sight to see. And we were glad to see the grain off the ground and show a profit.

I believe if I could live my life over, I would work for the railroad and work to achieve being an engineer. MT

 

Marshal, I well remember seeing long lines of dead steam engines stored in Cheyenne in 1960. Pretty sad. In the mid-1970's I lived in Amarillo, TX and often stopped to look at the Santa Fe's 2-10-4 #5000 on display near the depot. It has since been moved. In 1977 I wrote the following:

 

MADAME QUEEN

© 1977 by Edward B. Stabler

(p) Topplerock Music (BMI),

all rights reserved, used by permission

 

She stands by the depot, this lady in black

And she knows that her life's work is through

She's silent and cold, standin' there in the weather

Rememberin' the ghosts of her youth.

 

She came from back east when first she was new

The biggest engine we had ever seen.

Rollin' down the track, eighty freight cars at her back

This lady they called Madame Queen.

 

In war and peace she did her share to keep our country free

Rolled oil and steel and lumber on its way.

Took the soldiers to the battle, brought the cattle from the plains

A million miles and more she rolled they say.

 

Like any good woman, she had a mind all her own

But she did us all a fine job in her time

'Til the diesels came in and her fate it was decided

And she came to the end of her line.

 

Now, she stands by the depot, this lady in black

And she knows that her life's work is through

She's silent and cold, standin' there in the weather

Rememberin' the ghosts of her youth.

 

And I wish you could have seen Madame Queen.

 

I'll have a new recording of this coming out next year on a CD of railroad songs. The original recording (1990) is long since out of print.

 

GIT

Edited November 28, 2010 by G. I. Tarpicker, SASS #998

[Badger Mountain Charlie SASS #43172]

I remember the MO PAC freight trains coming out of the strip mines over near Percy Illinois. They would yard up about a mile from my Dad's house down under the hill. I could lie in bed at night

and hear them huff and blow steam and hiss as they made up the trains. The coal was hauled

over to the river and put on barges to be taken to the mills up the Ohio. Some of the corn was also taken to the loading dock just below Chester. The dock is still in use.

 

What memories.

[Marshal Dan Troop 70448]

I don't have a layout in Florida, nor have I run one in several years. But seeing each Christmas, a train under the tree, brings back all the memories and stirs the heart. It was trains that helped settle this country and supplied the needs of industries, and people. It allowed friends, neighbors, and family to come together at the end of a journey. It provided the comforts of sleeping, eating and meeting new faces while on a journey, and provided vistas of our great country to be seen only from a train. I'm sure we each thought as we watched a train pass, were did it come from, were is it going, is it carrying gold and silver treasure, etc? Somehow a train provided us a thought that somewere, far away isn't so far on a train.

Last night watching a silly train go round and round a Christmas tree was so relaxing, stirring up all these thoughts and memories. Watching the lights of the engine coming around and the lights of the end car fading away.

If you have a train, go ahead and put it under the tree this year, you won't regret it. MT

[Montana Slick, SASS #64415]

My Brother Leo and I run HO's, mine is still in boxes from the big move, more later.

 

Here's a web on some trains posted a couple of years go by a CAS Pard.

 

Take the on line tour, kinda neat.

 

http://www.trainlandusa.com/menu.html

[Abilene Slim SASS 81783]

Yup, putting up a Lionel "O" gauge set my father got in 1955 for us kids. I've added some stock to it over the years, but the original engine with whistle tender is the highlight. I've a lot of Tyco and Markin HO stuff from the 50's and 60's that I was into as a kid. Alas, it's been in boxes for years as the Lionel is easier to set up under a tree. It's also a bit more resistant to grandkids!