First Train Set - Where did you start?

[kipford]

Like others I started with this set, but really did not get a lot further as Scalextric and eventually building and racing cars at 12"/ft got in the way until my son came along and it all stopped because I had no money to continue.

 

 

He eventually wanted a train set, I needed a new challenge so for his 6th birthday I built Kipford. It was based one of Cyril Freezers plans from 50 layouts for small spaces modified to suit what he wanted. the first photos show my initial sketch and the final set up including tramway.

 

I persuaded Simon Kohler at Hornby to give a set of Thomas locos and we then spent about 8 years running it the SHMRC annual club exhibition and other local shows as a Thomas layout for the kids. The first of layout photos shows my son at its first SHMRC show at Portsmouth girls school. 30 year later we still exhibit layouts although Kipford lives in the North of England.

 

 

 

[brianusa]

On 14/10/2020 at 09:44, Nearholmer said:

’m sure we’ve had this thread before, and that the key message that emerged was that, by and large, you can tell a person’s age by the first train set they had, pretty accurately.

 

O.K.  MO set, green loco and two red wagons, on my bedroom floor!

       Brian.

[PatB]

6 hours ago, kipford said:

Like others I started with this set, but really did not get a lot further as Scalextric and eventually building and racing cars at 12"/ft got in the way until my son came along and it all stopped because I had no money to continue.

 

 

He eventually wanted a train set, I needed a new challenge so for his 6th birthday I built Kipford. It was based one of Cyril Freezers plans from 50 layouts for small spaces modified to suit what he wanted. the first photos show my initial sketch and the final set up including tramway.

 

I persuaded Simon Kohler at Hornby to give a set of Thomas locos and we then spent about 8 years running it the SHMRC annual club exhibition and other local shows as a Thomas layout for the kids. The first of layout photos shows my son at its first SHMRC show at Portsmouth girls school. 30 year later we still exhibit layouts although Kipford lives in the North of England.

 

 

 

I like that a great deal. As a CJF fan it's always nice to see one of his plans built largely as drawn. It's a good illustration that, whilst often derided as toylike, many Freezer plans can be made, if not finescale, at least attractive and railway like, and offer enjoyable and fairly prototypical operation. 

[dick rowland]

Looks like fun, that what it is all about, really.

Is the ABC cinema still showing 'The Music Man'.

When I used this Superquick kit on the Tabuk (Saudi) club layout, I made up posters and signage for 'Zulu'. That justified quite a few static figures outside, queueing to get in! 

Edited October 25, 2020 by dick rowland

[ianmacc]

Like most of my generation I started out with the iconic Hornby intercity 125 in blue grey corporate livery. On a double track 8x4 green painted chipboard. Made by my late grandad  in the early 1980s. Apparently I’d been given loads of tired old triang just before to see if I was serious about wanting trains! Double track on underlay no less! Had it for years. All traced back to experiencing the futuristic deafening and smelly HSTs on family holidays to Cornwall.

[Titan]

Like many, my first set was a Hornby Freightmaster.  It would seem that it was a rarer version only released in 1974 so photographs of the actual set are hard to come by.  This one here is the correct set, but someone has substituted an "Arnold Sands" open in place of the red "S.R." wagon it came with. Seems it was a more budget set since it had one less wagon, but the loco did have the extra pick ups on the trailing bogie which would have been a great help!

 

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/Hornby-freightmaster-train-carriages-477261499

 

As it came without a controller as sets often did then, I also got a H&M  Minipack controller to power it with.

 

Apparently after about 10 mins play I asked "where are the coaches" and then started my first lesson in saving up my pocket money to buy something!  My parents even kept a totalizer chart of progress, and as I saved and got the occasional donation I coloured in the squares in until it was full and I proudly went and bought a Hornby Mk2 Open and a brake coach to go with the set. They put the totalizer in the family album as a memento and my Mum still has it to this day, although the paper has got a bit brown. The collection grew with an RMB given to me from my Granddad, and also some second hand Dublo from my  uncles, including an R1 tank which I called Thomas, and some Dublo wagons. 

 

This was all put on to the traditional 8x4 and expanded into a double track and branch line for Thomas, complete with Superquick village in the middle!

 

 

Edited January 7, 2021 by Titan

[Steamport Southport]

Hornby did sometimes substitute the wagons.

 

ISTR I got a different tank wagon to the one in the catalogue. A red Texaco rather than the yellow Shell.

 

 

 

Jason

[ianmacc]

18 hours ago, Steamport Southport said:

Hornby did sometimes substitute the wagons.

 

ISTR I got a different tank wagon to the one in the catalogue. A red Texaco rather than the yellow Shell.

 

 

 

Jason

Yes and I think that disclaimer was in the catalogue and/or packaging on occasion. 

[Sophia NSE]

This was my first train set and should show you roughly how old I am!

[John M]

My first "proper" trainset was a Triang-Hornby "South African Goods" which I selected as a Christmas present when I was twelve.

 

Oddly enough the set was steam age British Railways with the recently introduced M7, two green open wagons, an "Ice Blue" fish van and a 20T goods brake, the set was battery powered as the budget did not stretch out to a mains controller.

 

I think I was attracted to the set having seen the M7 advertised in Model Railway News and a reasonable number of wagons.

 

The set did not last terribly long I traded the M7 for a Hornby diesel shunter about 12 months later, goodness knows what happened to the wagons and track, at the time I was very good at taking models apart to modify or rebuild into something else, but never quite completing the models.

 

 

Edited January 10, 2021 by John M

[Foden]

Christmas 1993, and a very excited 7 (and a half!) year old me was frantically awaiting a first 'proper' train set from Santa. Having had the 1993 catalogue for most of the year, and practically wore the print off, I had rather cheekily asked, and hoped for the 'Night Mail Express', but this was a little out of mum and dad's reach, so they'd asked Santa to bring me the slightly more affordable 'Midland Belle' set...

 

What made that Christmas so special though, and live so vividly in my memory, was my Grandad, who was the big railway influence in my life got his 'later life' trainset too, my Grandmother having bought him the 'Intercity 225' set...

 

Almost every waking hour was spent that Christmas, with our combined track laid out all over the floor in my Grandparent's house, where we stayed for the festive holiday period, people and cats dancing around dodging trains, but the excitement was surreal, it was one of the happiest times of my life.

Never mind the fact that my Grandad's interest was in steam, and mine in modern image!

[ianmacc]

31 minutes ago, Foden said:

Christmas 1993, and a very excited 7 (and a half!) year old me was frantically awaiting a first 'proper' train set from Santa. Having had the 1993 catalogue for most of the year, and practically wore the print off, I had rather cheekily asked, and hoped for the 'Night Mail Express', but this was a little out of mum and dad's reach, so they'd asked Santa to bring me the slightly more affordable 'Midland Belle' set...

 

What made that Christmas so special though, and live so vividly in my memory, was my Grandad, who was the big railway influence in my life got his 'later life' trainset too, my Grandmother having bought him the 'Intercity 225' set...

 

Almost every waking hour was spent that Christmas, with our combined track laid out all over the floor in my Grandparent's house, where we stayed for the festive holiday period, people and cats dancing around dodging trains, but the excitement was surreal, it was one of the happiest times of my life.

Never mind the fact that my Grandad's interest was in steam, and mine in modern image!

What a lovely story.

[steve W]

Just noticed this thread and now feel ever so old. I got my first set when 'Brio' was still growing in a sustainable forest somewhere.  1957, age 8, Father Chistmas brought me a HD 3rail 'Duchess of Atholl' set, secondhand, but also a collection of extra track and points and strange black tank engine, an N2.  Strange because even at that tender age I was showing an unhealthy interest in the comings and goings on the local GW branch line and those engines didn't look anthing like it!

Now? nothing in standard gauge.

 

 

[ianmacc]

There seems to be a tone of derision towards Brio in this thread.  Straights curves points etc, inter-compatibility between manufacturers. Huge range of trains and indeed other vehicles. Teaches children how to put layouts together and be generally creative. Can be picked up cheaply. Children as young as two or three can play with it. 

[MrWolf]

I first got the idea I might be getting a train set just before Christmas 1978 when dad came home one night with a large board lashed to the roof of his old Vauxhall Victor.

He had conspired with a model railway mad workmate to build me a trainset on a 6 X 4 piece of chipboard that weighed a ton so no warping, using Peco flexitrack and one of the original Tri-ang Lord of the Isles sets. 

I already had a few buildings and a level crossing thanks to Airfix.

I remember adding an Airfix Prairie the following year and a lifelong interest in model trains began.

The originals are long gone, but a couple of years ago I found a Triang Dean single which was so cheap I had to buy it for old times sake.

 

 

 

[Foden]

1 hour ago, ianmacc said:

There seems to be a tone of derision towards Brio in this thread.  Straights curves points etc, inter-compatibility between manufacturers. Huge range of trains and indeed other vehicles. Teaches children how to put layouts together and be generally creative. Can be picked up cheaply. Children as young as two or three can play with it. 

Loved the stuff, even if I never knowingly had any.

 

From what I do remember though, is that it was the devil’s own job getting me out of the Early Learning Centre once I’d clocked the stuff and made myself comfortable!

[MrWolf]

Brio? I remember seeing it a few times, it was classed as an "educational toy" apparently so often seen in pre school centres. I also seem to remember a set was a similar price to a "proper" trainset. I do like the way that it was very simply engineered so that children could assemble it themselves in pretty much any way they liked. Also has what is probably the least complicated auto coupler.

[MichaelE]

I started with an HO Tyco set in 1972 I received for my 10th birthday. That was when I started to get more serious about model railroading as a hobby.

 

My Great Uncle had purchased a Lionel steam locomotive set for me on my 2nd birthday and fixed the small oval of track to a 4x4 piece of plywood. I was of course too young to know anything about model railroading at that age, and it got set up as the base for the Christmas tree for another few years before moving to Germany when I was five. When we returned from Wiesbaden in late 1969 I played with the Lionel for a couple of more years until discovering the Sears Christmas catalog and seeing HO scale railroads in a box.

 

That's what I knew I wanted for my 10th birthday.

 

[Steamport Southport]

22 hours ago, ianmacc said:

There seems to be a tone of derision towards Brio in this thread.  Straights curves points etc, inter-compatibility between manufacturers. Huge range of trains and indeed other vehicles. Teaches children how to put layouts together and be generally creative. Can be picked up cheaply. Children as young as two or three can play with it. 

 

Not really seen as proper trains sets though. 

 

You couldn't put it on your next train set when you moved up to Hornby, Lima, Mainline, Bachmann or whatever you got from Santa.

 

Very few have mentioned clockwork. I reckon most people of my generation had a Hornby clockwork set before they got an electric one. Those you could run on proper track. ISTR the later versions had normal Hornby track instead of the plastic stuff.

 

Not my video. Mine didn't have the cars and level crossing.

 

 

[MattA]

This was my start:

 

 

Shortly followed by some of my dad's old models - a B12, a 'Dock Authority' shunter, a blue/grey HST and a considerable number of wagons. We soon had a nice permanent layout in my bedroom, about 6' x 4', which got the full scenic treatment. I must dig out the old photos...

Edited January 13, 2021 by MattA

[Hesperus]

Mine was a clockwork HST with a short coach and a circle of plastic track, it was really rather rubbish and I don't actually remember it arriving or ever playing with it before my little brother got a clockwork Thomas set.  The Thomas set was quite good and was soon stuck down onto a sheet of hardboard with a few extra bits of track to give an oval with a siding.  The HST ran on the oval too although alone now as its coach had fallen apart.

 

I found another clockwork Thomas at a jumble sale for 10p ,sanded the face off, painted it black and lettered it NCB and was soon addicted to modelling. 

[RJS1977]

First set of any sort was a Matchbox pushalong set with a green diesel not dissimilar to the Triang dock shunter, two red 0-4-0s and a Pannier tank, several red and cream coaches, a couple of wagons (I think) and an oval of track with a level crossing.

 

For my fifth birthday (more details of that birthday to come!) my mother made me a birthday cake replica of a Pannier tank. We still have a photo of the cake and Matchbox loco together. I cried when the cake was cut!

 

The Matchbox set was given away to a nursery when my parents relocated in 1997 but in recent years I have picked up a number of Matchbox items and converted some to run on 009. (I'm quite proud of my 'Matchbox bash' double Fairlie!).

 

On my fifth birthday I woke up to find a row of neatly wrapped presents in my bedroom comprising:

 

A Hornby 101 Holden tank

Three Hornby GWR 4 wheel coaches

Two McVities vans (there may have been some other wagons as well)

A BR standard brake van

 

Whilst on the dining table was a 3' x 4' sheet of chipboard with an oval of Triang grey track and a black Triang controller. I can't remember whether there were any sidings at that stage or whether my father's Nellie and Jinty visited that day but it certainly wasn't long before they did!

 

All these items survive in use (apart from the track), mostly on my father's loft layout (which I now haven't seen in over a year), although the 3 four wheel coaches were run on my own layout as recently as yesterday!

 

A couple of years later I badgered my parents for a "proper" train set (i.e. a boxed one with everything in it) - I think 'inspired' by all the Railway Modeller articles which began with people recounting how they got a train set for Christmas - which they eventually got - Red Holden 'Roger', cattle truck, coke wagon and Bolsover van and oval of steel track. Again all items but the track survive in use.

 

A few years ago at the Wycombe show, I was operating one of John Thorne's 009 layouts next to the tombola stall. The stall holder kept asking me if I wanted to buy tickets. Top prize was a Bachmann junior set with 'Thomas-a-like' Billy, a couple of wago0ns, brake van and oval of track. In the closing minutes of the show,  it still hadn't gone and the tombola was almost empty, so I bought six tickets and won with the second one! Loco still gets occasional use, wagons are currently sat on my desk.

 

Finally, shortly after the first lockdown, an old university acquaintance contacted me to say he'd been clearing out the garage and found a load of model railway bits and would I be interested? To cut a long-short story sideways, I am now the proud owner of a Flying Scotsman train set and a 'Rural Rambler' set, both boxed, along with a lot of other items. I may well keep Scotsman but the rest of that consignment is likely destined for the shop at Wallingford station once we reopen.   

 

 

Edited January 21, 2021 by RJS1977

[BernardTPM]

If that is the 1976 'Rural Rambler' then the coaches are the very first variant (blue with gold trim) of Hornby's now long-lived 4-wheelers, though there was a completely different set with the same name a decade later.

[RJS1977]

No, I'm afraid it's the later set.

[Ben B]

15 hours ago, Hesperus said:

Mine was a clockwork HST with a short coach and a circle of plastic track, it was really rather rubbish and I don't actually remember it arriving or ever playing with it before my little brother got a clockwork Thomas set.  The Thomas set was quite good and was soon stuck down onto a sheet of hardboard with a few extra bits of track to give an oval with a siding.  The HST ran on the oval too although alone now as its coach had fallen apart.

 

I found another clockwork Thomas at a jumble sale for 10p ,sanded the face off, painted it black and lettered it NCB and was soon addicted to modelling. 

 

I don't suppose you've got any pictures of the clockwork High Speed Train have you?  The latest issue of the Train Collectors Society mag mentions it, the last generation of the Welsotoys clockwork loco (the more commonly known BR/LMS-ish tank loco).  I've never seen one of these clockwork HST's. 

 

I started collecting clockwork 00 gauge starter locomotives during the first lockdown, just because they tend to be cheap as chips, really nice, and I don't have the budget for 0 gauge tinplate