How it all began...

[The Stationmaster]

What it is to be different from all the above.  My first railway - at age two when I was rather young to appreciate it - was a roundy layout in the corner of my bedroom on a hardboard baseboard with all the track constructed by my father using Peco Individulay components (I still have one section of it) with a transformer/controller in a wooden box with a paxolin front and built by a chap he knew using mainly war surplus components).  The loco was an HD 'Duchess of Aatholl' - (which i still have albeit repainted into BR maroon) and about 4 wagons,.  An great uncle bought me a couple of coaches in the mid 1950s but until then all I had was fewer than half a dozen wagons and a freight brakevan and a couple of years later the same great uncle bought me my second loco,an HD N2 tank.  The appearance of HD's 'Bristol Castle' brought my third loco and my third coach one Christmas and things expanded a bit more when another Christmas present consisted of various second hand. HD items including an A54 and a couple of Gresley coaches' all in LNER livery.

 

In my teenage years, with a much larger layout gradually developing up in the attic the biggest wrench was changing from 3-rail to 2-rail.  The first 'modern' controllers I bought were secondhand H&M Powermasters which I still use although they are now well over 50 years old!   When your railway grows at that sort of pace you inevitably develop considerable patience in getting what you might want for rolling stock and motive power and compared with my earlier years in the hobby today's wonderland of anything and everything is almost unbelievable unless you are actually seeing the miracles of cheap production and constant novelty.

[Legend]

This one for me:

 

Tri-ang Hornby 'The Freightmaster' Electric Train Set 1967. by ManOfYorkshire, on Flickr

That’s the one for me too . 1965 Freightmaster set from Santa. Obviously Santa had been colluding with my family though because my Gran and Papa bought me two Pullmans and I got a station, Engine Shed and operating TPO in Maroon from others. A great railway system to start with. Later on a Jinty with synchrosmoke followed and the next Christmas Santa followed up with a blue AL1 because he knew I liked the Glasgow electrics (well it was blue and had three windows in the front) . I also remember a Battlespace rocket launcher joining the fleet. Ideal for knocking down a plastic cup type lighthouse I got that year.

 

Happy days . My parents often made fun of my fixation on Railways , but I think it was them that planted the seed! For that I’m eternally grateful. I still have the Brush 2, Jinty and AL1 battered after 50 years of use , but still runners . The battlespace rocket launcher blew up somewhere along the line! And of course I fondly remember who gave me the gifts every time I use them, even though they’ve mostly all now passed on.

Edited June 26, 2018 by Legend

[Torper]

I started at an early age with the ubiquitous Hornby clockwork gauge O clockwork trainset.  I never had a permanant place for that and usually it was set up in the garden.

 

I note with some pride that my layout then was signalled which is more than my current one is!  It also looks as though I'm having to deal with a derailment - plus ca change.

 

I always wanted an electric trainset however and I got one for my 10th birthday - Hornby Dublo 3-rail goods train which I think was an N2 loco with a tank wagon, a van, a truck, and a guards van.  I duly acquired more stock and some points, with additions arriving at birthdays and Christmases, and later I part exchanged it all (which I've always regretted as I'm sure I was ripped off) for some 2-rail stuff.  That was all 00, of course, but after I'd had the obligatory break while I had, or thought I had, much better things to do, resumption later in life brought a change to EM, then to P4 which is fine for the relatively small space I now have available.  My main interest is building locos and rolling stock from kits - I've had several layouts but none have progressed far emough to require any scenery!  That, however, is about to change.....

 

DT

Edited June 26, 2018 by Torper

[Nearholmer]

Photo of a set the same as my first, bought the day I was born, by my father. It came from his pal who ran an HD agency, but whether it was new or second hand I’m not sure. I was too young to appreciate it (!), but learned a lot from it later.

 

The ones I really played with were hand-me-down Hornby clockwork 0 Gauge from the youngest of my uncles, which lasted maybe seven or eight years. There was one precious Basset Lowke loco, which my father wisely removed from our destructive influence pretty swiftly.

 

After that, a lot of old secondhand stuff, three rail, and early Triang, which was variously dismantled, rebuilt, hacked about etc, until I got a paper round and other jobs, and could salt together enough to buy the odd loco.

 

The 00 railway had a rather good board, 6ft x 3ft, which hinged down from the wall over my bed, and we built another layout in one of my brothers’ rooms, which used ‘modern’ HD and TrIang 2-Rail. That layout was more scenic (well, to us it was scenic!), but was always short of locos, because my main interest was in stripping everything down to the last washer, to find out how it worked (I became an engineer), and brother used to hide his precious Dock tank so that I didn’t kill that too.

Edited June 26, 2018 by Nearholmer

[bike2steam]

Stage 1, Hornby O-Gauge tin-plate when I was 4 years old.

Stage 2, Not long released, but then even a s/h Hornby-Dublo 2-rail train-set 2020 with 'Denbigh Castle, at 8 years old( 1959), lasted with me for 2 years, until I became more interested with the full-size stuff 'til the end of steam. Then it was 'birds,(motor)bikes, and booze'

Stage 3, it's 1975 now in my mid 20's, and looking for a safer pastime than married women - so into 'serious' railway modelling.   

Edited June 27, 2018 by bike2steam

[johnb]

Lived in Pinner overlooking the Met line (T stock and Met Bo-bos)and BR from Marylebone, including the South Yorkshireman and the Master Cutler running past behind what I later learnt to be A3s. At probably 5 years old started with Hornby 'O' clockwork tinplate, on through Hornby Dublo 3 rail, then to 2 rail.

 

Never looked back.

 

John

[tomparryharry]

I think I was 8 when I had my first railway. An original Smokey Joe mixed goods set, with a Midland 3F, blood & custard Mk1, and a southern GUV. All of this, and an oval of Super4 track, and off we went. The old chap was a secret railway nut: Never a week went by without another coach or loco showing up. After that, Father decided to go 000, with a lone Star set up. This lived on a 6x4 board at the top of the stairs. I could, and would, play with the trains for hours & hours. Happy days....

 

Ian.

[Rugd1022]

Thinking about how new starters come into the hobby I looked back at where my involvement with the hobby started. There were a few 'hand me down' push-along items from an older brother knocking about in the toybox and I do recall trying to cut out wagon plans from Railway Modeller and trying to stick them together with Gloy to make a wagon; it lacked something.

 

What I really wanted for Christmas, aged about 5, was 'an electric train set'.

 

AL1set.jpg

 

What I got was an oval of track with a siding on a board, a second-hand Jinty and a few wagons. It wasn't what I had in mind but Dad had built it and it lasted a few years with various additions.

 

So how, why, and at what age, did you get sucked in?

 

The image of that 'electric' set takes me right back to where it started for me, it was exactly the kind of thing which greeted me when my Dad lifted me up onto the curved blue brick wall at the bottom of Railway Terrace in Rugby in 1970, so much has changed in the area since then, the brick wall is still there but sadly is now festooned with high palisade fencing. The following year I was given my cousin's hand me down for Christmas, namely some Triang Honby track panels, not quite enough to make even a roundie-roundie, plus a Hornby Dublo N2 tank and a few box vans. These kept me happy for all of five minutes because I was also given another cousin's cast off Ian Allan Locoshed books for 1970 and 71 with images of strangely exotic non-electric locos based in far away places. The following forty seven years have been a bit of a blur..!

[Steamysandy]

I was born in 1948 in a farm cottage close to the ECML where we stayed till I was about 2.My mother had a cousin who's son had a Hornby Dublo Sir Nigel Gresley electric set which I saw when I was about 4.Age8 I got a Hornby clockwork no 101 set but when I was about 11 I was given a Graham Farish King by a friendly teacher at school.We didn't understand how it worked so it was substituted with a Triang Jinty in short order

My two highlights prior to my present packaway Kato N set up were a gifted Exley O gauge Duchess and coaches and a Fleischmann set up which became a proper layout on an 8 by 4 with a Faller village in 1980

Sadly all had to be sold but in 1992 I started again with Athearn 2002 saw a return to Hornby and 2013 to Kato.But the later Hornby and Athearn are all still here!

Edited June 26, 2018 by Steamysandy

[jjb1970]

One of these:

 

http://www.hornbyguide.com/item_details.asp?itemid=366

 

I wish I still had it as for all the models are crude and basic by todays standards I'd like them just for sentimental value. Although I really take issue with a chap who claimed the old Hornby class 37 "looks nothing like a 37", no actually it does look a lot like a class 37 even if it is crude and basic by todays standards.

[ian]

When I were a lad, only knee high to a grasshopper, and people lived in black and white my dad made the serious mistake of buying me a train set. Now being an engineer and having to travel over to West Germany on occasions for work he decided to buy a Märklin set (and quite a few extras) rather than the traditional Hornby.

This system grew very gradually (as it was more expensive and less readily available than the home grown product) and moved from my father's study, to my bedroom, to the spare bedroom and finally the loft. Eventually I was lured by the charms of N gauge - so that I could run British outline models - and the Märklin got packed away.

A little over 25 years ago it came out again as, having had an abortive dabble in OO9, I felt the need for a layout that could operate. By then the old track system was out of production and, since it was still a premium brand, stuff was horribly expensive and still hard to come by. I did get a few bits from a specialist secondhand dealer but the choice was limited and much was beyond my budget. The layout's life was brief, the closure order was served when I got married and moved out of my flat.

Around twelve years ago a few locos came out for a weekend dashing around an oval to try and worm their way into my son's affection. However they couldn't compete with tanks and aircraft so went back in their boxes.

About two years ago I was moving some stuff around and pulled the boxes of Märklin off the shelf. Well, I couldn't resist could I?
 

I have to admit that it took a little bit of cleaning and oil to get that shunter to run, but run it did.

Checking on eBay it all seemed to have got much cheaper. I suppose there is very limited demand and many of those who did have some are trying to unload it. Seeing some of the prices for things that I wanted when I was a child...

A couple of years on and I have acquired the items that I lusted over in childhood catalogues, accumulated some more track and signals and am laying plans to annexe the garage for more useful puposes...

[jonny777]

I must have had this for Christmas 1957 or 1958. 

 

 

 

 

What I actually wanted was this 

 

 

 

 

Greedy..... Moi?

 

 

 

[Torper]

I must have had this for Christmas 1957 or 1958. 

 

 

504-2013118151216_original.jpg

 

That's the one I had!  (Although a year or two earlier)

 

DT

[cypherman]

Hi all,

Well this where it began for me. Another wonderful Christmas present. I got this set when I was 6 and I played it to death. That was 53 years ago. I still have the Deeley 3F, but sadly everything else has gone to that great railway set in the sky.

Edited June 26, 2018 by cypherman

[Martino]

The first I remember was my father’s 0 Gauge he had in a large box stored at my grand mother’s house. He’d had it since the ‘30s. Hand made track on wooden sleepers. A 4-4-0 clockwork tender engine painted dark blue with two Pullman coaches, I assume tinplate but appeared very detailed to me with steps Windows etc, not printed. Also a 0-4-0 green tender engine with a Great (crest) Western on the tender plus a number of metal trucks. This used to be set up in the garden as an oval on the grass. I’d love to discover the make of those items. I presume some were Hornby. That was mid ‘50s. Like a complete idiot I traded that all in at Beatties in Holborn against a Wrenn Castle.

 

I was then given some Hornby three rail track and some unpowered wagons and coaches. My father then built a baseboard for an oval with siding and installed what I think was Wrenn track. Two rail and we had a transformer in a box and aTriang controller. Shortly after a Triang Britannia, with smoke, and a Jinty arrived with Triang Pullmans and a bunch of wagons.

 

This all grew over the years as my father rather fancied a layout himself. He always avoided Triang, which I loved, and instead bought Hornby or made Kitmaster coaches.

 

50+ years later after girls, cars, discos, marriage, children, divorce, house moves, career, remarriage and a move to Northwest Florida I still have some of my 00 collection although regrettably none of the early stuff. No layout though. We do have a splendid garden railway 15mm/ft on 45mm gauge running round the garden giving an impression of British Narrow Gauge.

[CF MRC]

I got this train set (long gone) for my Christmas present, probably 1964 and never stopped since.

 

 

Interesting that it cost £7.38 (rounded up). Prior to that, an O gauge clockwork set.

 

Tim

[Nearholmer]

Martino

 

Blue 4-4-0 pre-WW2?

 

Possibly the Hornby No.2, which was made in blue in its very early days in the mid-1920s, as below. The No.2 passenger train sets had Pullman-style coaches, although not all carried Pullman markings. I can't quickly find a colour picture of a very early set with a plain loco, but the slightly later GWR one should give you the idea. Advert is from MM April 1924; does this lot look familiar?

 

They are very good locos. I've got one each tender and tank, and the tank in particular still has a very strong spring and lots of 'go' at aged 90.

 

The smaller loco was probably a No.1, but the design of that changed significantly at one point, so google and see which version it was.

 

If not these, the blue 4-4-0 must have been a bit exotic, because blue was not a common colour, and the next high volume production blue 4-4-0 was the BL 'Prince Charles' post WW2.

 

Kevin

Edited June 27, 2018 by Nearholmer

[RedGemAlchemist]

4 years old, when my parents made me and my older brother a Hornby train set which used to sit under the bed in my brother's room. 21 years on and I still have the Triang Nellie from that train set, albeit in modified form, as well as the Rovex signal box.

Edited June 27, 2018 by RedGemAlchemist

[t-b-g]

My dad was a big railway enthusiast and my Christening present was a Hornby Dublo R1 set, with 2 green Southern Region non corridor carriages. I still have them and have been hooked ever since.

 

My earliest memory is of room at the end of the corridor, which always had the door shut and I wasn't supposed to go in there. I must have been two or three years old and I remember stretching as tall as I could to reach the door handle, going in and seeing a raised board with two maroon carriages at the edge. I reached up and was fascinated that they moved back and forth when I pushed them. Then they fell to the floor, dad came charging upstairs and I was in trouble!

 

Not long after that, he got me involved and I sat with him and helped him make Airfix wagons and Superquick buildings. Most of the old stuff is still in the loft, including those carriages and the R1.

 

Each Christmas and birthday brought something exciting but unlike modern times, new locos and carriages etc. were not produced at the rate of several every month. A new RTR loco was, perhaps, an annual event. So it made the new arrivals even more special.

 

So I cannot remember a time when model railways were not a big part of my life.

[Poggy1165]

I started at Christmas 1956 when I was not quite 3. I clearly remember my Dad asking whether I wanted Triang, Trix or Hornby-Dublo, and I said (probably because I liked the name) Hornby-Dublo. Anyway, that was what I got, a three-rail set comprising a BR 2-6-4t and three suburban coaches. This rapidly grew into quite an extensive three-rail system. At first it was literally set up on the table-top (at granddad's) but became permanent when we moved to a larger house.

 

Unfortunately my Dad (who was the sort of person who would nowadays be going mad for DCC) decided we should change to 2-rail. Never again (until I changed to 7mm scale) did I have such faultless running. I still regret the Silver King and near-N2 that were never adequately replaced. At one stage we had Wrenn track, which was blue-pencil awful.

[kevinlms]

This one for me. RS30 Breakdown set

 

https://www.vectis.co.uk/triang-rs30-breakdown-train-set-containing-0-6-0-br-black-3f-class-jinty-tank-no_14259

 

I quickly purchased a 2nd Engineering coach. No idea why as they were terrible runners (too light?), probably because that was the item I could afford, with the small range in my local shop, with my birthday money. But those and the crane (with the inevitable broken jib) are the only survivors - probably because they rarely got used.

 

The Jinty got run into the ground, which takes some doing.

Edited June 27, 2018 by kevinlms

[rob D2]

This is how it began for me...

 

 

1978.

[peach james]

So, my first memory is of going to somewhere east of the ferry dock in Toronto, and there being (then) Art Ellis's 60' circle of track, set up in a warehouse for a show that was 1979...  I think the loco was a Jubilee (Martin Evans, 2-6-4)  in 3.5" gauge...it was a tank engine, and had a chute arrangement to fire it.   

 

We had several other railways kicking around- my sister had collected a fair amount of Faller Hit & Play train (which she has still), and then in 1980, I got my first Lego train (7710, push train), which I still have !   It went on from there, to include HO, which I hated because X5F couplers don't do ANYTHING well...they don't couple, they don't uncouple, they don't stay coupled... whereas at least tension lock couplers stay coupled !

 

So, I had a 4x6' layout that was attached to the wall, that lasted until I was 12 or so, then it was replaced with some sectional boards of 2x4' (2 of them when we were in Toronto, growing to 5 when we were in Elliot Lake).  That was my first "real" model railway, with scenery...

 

Long Marton 1 came along after that, with the present pieces being the 3rd version.  Long Marton 2  used some of the same track, but not the same underpinning as 3, as that warped horribly on me, and was only a look see type of benchwork anyway.

 

Oh, and the lego...well, that's grown to 450 000 pieces.  Along with Live Steam...

 

James

[steve1]

I started at an early age with the ubiquitous Hornby clockwork gauge O clockwork trainset.  I never had a permanant place for that and usually it was set up in the garden.

dtrain002.jpg

 

I note with some pride that my layout then was signalled which is more than my current one is!  It also looks as though I'm having to deal with a derailment - plus ca change.

 

I always wanted an electric trainset however and I got one for my 10th birthday - Hornby Dublo 3-rail goods train which I think was an N2 loco with a tank wagon, a van, a truck, and a guards van.  I duly acquired more stock and some points, with additions arriving at birthdays and Christmases, and later I part exchanged it all (which I've always regretted as I'm sure I was ripped off) for some 2-rail stuff.  That was all 00, of course, but after I'd had the obligatory break while I had, or thought I had, much better things to do, resumption later in life brought a change to EM, then to P4 which is fine for the relatively small space I now have available.  My main interest is building locos and rolling stock from kits - I've had several layouts but none have progressed far emough to require any scenery!  That, however, is about to change.....

 

DT

 

Blimey Torpor, that almost exactly mirrors my route in.

 

The 3-rail HD had to go into store when my parents divorced about 3 years after I got it. By which time there was a fold away board with a lot of track and a manual turntable, 3 locos - N2, 2-6-4 tank and, pride of the fleet, Bristol Castle with matching choc & cream coaches, along with a fair few wagons. When it came out a considerable number of years later it was never the same. Sold it all off in the late 1960s (and was probably ripped off).

 

After the usual distractions of beer, women, music, life, work, etc I returned to the hobby in 1982...and here I am, still at it.

 

steve

[Martino]

Martino

Blue 4-4-0 pre-WW2?

Possibly the Hornby No.2, which was made in blue in its very early days in the mid-1920s, as below. The No.2 passenger train sets had Pullman-style coaches, although not all carried Pullman markings. I can't quickly find a colour picture of a very early set with a plain loco, but the slightly later GWR one should give you the idea. Advert is from MM April 1924; does this lot look familiar?

They are very good locos. I've got one each tender and tank, and the tank in particular still has a very strong spring and lots of 'go' at aged 90.

The smaller loco was probably a No.1, but the design of that changed significantly at one point, so google and see which version it was.

If not these, the blue 4-4-0 must have been a bit exotic, because blue was not a common colour, and the next high volume production blue 4-4-0 was the BL 'Prince Charles' post WW2.

Kevin

Those look like the ones. Thank you VERY much. That makes me very happy.