Collecting Electric Trains

[boont]

One of my hobbies is collecting old electric trains. Most of these are either Lionel, American Flyer, or Ives from the 1920's and 1930's.

Recently I have started a web page with lots of photos. Many a young boy and girl were inspired by these old train sets. Charles Lindbergh had one, and I almost got one that belonged to Buster Keaton one time.

If you have any interest, you a welcome to take a look and share your memories of childhood trains.

http://www.facebook.com/PreWarTrains?ref=hl

 

[Gumby]

When I was a boy, I got a second-hand American Flyer S Gauge train set at an auction for 50 cents. It ran in a circle just fine, but I did not have any switches and only the engine, tender, 3 cars and a caboose. I dreamed of having a full layout, with all the miniature trees and buildings and such, but a lack of money and space, as well as moving every year or so, made that impossible. When I worked in NYC, they always had a giant set up in the Citigroup building at Christmas. I enjoyed going over to see it in action.

Thanks for posting your FB page. I enjoyed the pictures.

 

[boont]

The pictures of boyhood trains do bring back memories don't they?

 

[FIREd]

I have a small collection of electric trains (HO-scale), some from my childhood. One day hopefully, when we're done moving around, I'll have a space for a permanent layout.

 

[Walt34]

I did have a somewhat largish Lionel set that my Dad took instead of money for a wiring job. (He was an electrician, worked for the electrical utility, and did small household-type wiring jobs on the side.)

But it was just the train set and a few accessories and we never really had the space or money to do a proper layout with it. It was fun nonetheless. Animal lovers may cringe at this, but I and a couple of neighborhood guys would sometimes capture a large ant, tie it to the tracks with thread, and then run over it with the train. Poor Pauline.
Paulina e o Trem.avi - YouTube

When preparing to move I sold it to a local shop that dealt in them since I hadn't touched it for 20+ years, figuring it would end up in the hands of someone who would actually use it.