I got my first electric train back in '59 for Christmas, a Marx-Allstate O27/0-4-0 Steam Freight Set. Last month, 50+ years later I acquired a '72 Lionel O27 Blue Streak Freights Set. Yesterday, while searching for O27 track, I acquired 3 '50's-Marx O27 Steamer sets, Lionel track, switches, crossovers & accessories sorry no picture of the one compete set in the original box. So it seems I've come full circle with O27 trains. I'll continue to run my Large Scale & N Scale, but with a return to O27 trains I can truly become that 9 year old boy with his first electric train. Dave...
Welcome back. I started out with three rail almost 60 years ago, then did H0 (TruScale, too), then snagged my Lionel back in, oh, 1972-ish, had it all along. Went Large Scale for 20 years, back running the HiRail and the Lionel I have gathered over the years. Another Dave
Arggghhhh! If I were not an Administrator, I would force myself to avoid these topics. The draw of Lionel/Marx/AF from my youth, those strong and wonderful memories, are so hard to keep filed away in the past life storage brain cells. Anyone who had these growing up, especially those pre-1970 eras, had great times. Great days of pure fun. So, how and/or where did you accidently stumble into these goodies?
Ken, I'm with you. Mine were Marx as a kid, but I had them all, many freight cars, a passenger consist, my original 2-4-2 and the prized (plastic) Santa Fe Hudson. Never nailed down any track but had enough to run all over the house, wide curves, the early flexible track. Had a ball. One year when returning home from college and checking the attic for the boxes, they were gone. :crying:
Of course, once you do this, with GarGraves track, ballast, functional signals (to show routing, anyway) you turn your attention to doing something different. Dave Kasiner aluminium passenger cars, and a Lionel L1s Mikado.
So, are you going to lay some track semi-permanently? Fold down board in the garage like we had as kids? At our age, a roll-out-from-under-the-bed isn't going to work too well! Watch the Marx steamers on Lionel switches. Some have the spur gear on the back of the driver all the way to the edge of the flange, and they don't play well with guard rails in switches! You'll have fun. Up until our house fire 28 years ago, it was always Lionel under the tree. Now it's Large Scale, but I just dug out my old General set, spent a couple of days eradicating smoke damage, and I might just do that again. Got 031 track, switches, and a spare KW. Dave
Boxcab, I was searching for O27 track on CraigsList when I came across the Marx trains, track etc... My second big score for trains in 6 months. Previously I scored an LGB 2-4-0 & Tender, A Bachmann Generation 6 Bumble Bee 4-6-0 Annie, A USAT Wood side Reefer, a 53' LGB Flat car & a USAT UP Caboose - all Large Scale. Paid $150.. for all of it.
Scalecraft, SWMBO wants to move to Mo. so any layout other than track on the floor will have to wait until after the move.All my Large Scale Trains are packed up and the layout taken down. The N scale trains are boxed up too. When we get moved(late spring/early summer) I'll start on a bench layout. I have been thinking about a 3 tier layout(for fun), An oval of G scale track on the bottom, a layer of O27 track in the middle & an oval of N track on the top. First I'll want to get the outdoor large scale layout up, then as time permits start building a permanent layout for the O27's. Dvae
I've got a small railroad in the backyard. #1 gauge. All radio/battery. About 1500' of track. And the 2 rail/3 rail in the basement....and the vintage H0 in boxes... Good buy on the stuff for $150. But careful with that 2-4-0. Keep the gears well lubed and don't overload it. Dave
ScaleCraft, I've only around 400 ft of track for outside, but around 20 L.S. Locomotives now, 80+ cars by various manufacturers & Scratch Builds... Should have bought more track back when it was still relatively cheap, since I'm now on a fixed income. The LGB 2-4-0 & the Annie were shelf queens, never been run. I'll probably sell the 2-4-0 LGB or trade it off, it's a nice little locomotive, but I've got all the small locomotives I need. Now if it were a Stainz, I'd add it permanently to my roster. I only have 1 Stainz. I believe there is some obscure E.U. law that requires ownership of multiple Stainz locomotives.... Or at least that's what my European Train Friends imply.....
Speaking of big scores, my friend's dad sold me some of his O gauge for 32 cents a piece (There was also some HO involved). It added up to a total of 20 bucks. Best of all, some expensive O Gauge items were included (including a postwar Lionel 6519 Allis Chalmes car). Strangest thing was, is that he knew very well what it was all worth.
