When an older lady gave me the free set of n locos an cars that come with a mail order purchase she had made. This is the start of something that I had quit on back in about 1957-8. Still got my lionel 027 steamer an cars around here somewhere. Haven't seen the track or transformer though.... In the last coupla weeks I have already spent 6-7 hundred on N stuff an almost nothing to show for it yet....haha
1975... it seems "yesterday"? [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]An 0-8-0 Indiana Harbor Switcher - Rivarossi[/FONT] if I remember well... so long! I see it and I can't resist. Still in a box downstairs with some other "survivors" , no more compatible with present standards (rails, DCC etc). Here some pictures of the stuffs: http://xoomer.virgilio.it/enzo_fortuna/My_old_trains.htm
For me, it was a gift of and ancient PRR E-something, three heavyweights, a Bachmann MDT Plymouth lettered for the PRR, and a few assorted freight cars. One of my father's friends gave them to me when I was about 10 years old after he tried and gave up on the hobby. Guess someone should have warned him while he was planning his layout that even the Plymouth would have trouble on 4-inch radius curves.
I remember my first N Scale car, 1972, it was a Carnation Milk reefer made in a defunct country called Yugoslavia! No Kidding! I was into HO at the time, and just seen my first N Scale items at the hobby store, and just had to have it. I dropped HO a year later and was committed to N for the next 35 years! Oh yeah! That Atlas Tool and Die book Nine N Scale Layouts that you can build was the best!
Still searching for mines I am a newbie and will be purchasing my first n-scale or z-scale. Not so sure yet. I remember getting a train system in 1985 for christmas, but has been long gone. I am about to purchase my trainset but unsure of what i am looking for or what i should stay away from. Someone let me know. Thanks. Choochoo
My family had always known that when I built my 1st layout it was going to be N, not HO. So, just prior to my wife and I travelling across the USofA by Amtrak in 2007, part of which was going to be Chicago -Emeryville on the California Zephyr, my Children bought me the Kato, California Zephyr set, to get me started. Then I had to buy the WP locos etc etc...
First train set Look at Atlas and Kato. Both bullet proof quality. From there its a few steps down. http://www.atlastrainman.com/Trainsets/ntrainsets.htm http://www.katousa.com/N/SS-F7/index.html The Kato set doesnt include track but their line of track is excellent.
My first piece of N scale equipment was an Atlas Santa Fe E8 passenger set. My kid brother got the Atlas freight set with a FM C-Liner. That was Christmas 1968. It's amazing how far we've since those days.
I had the C Liner also. Made great paper weights after a few days when the motor burned out. I picked up a couple a few years back when someone was selling a truck load of them for next to nothing on ebay. I think they salvaged them from the Titanic!
Great stories here. I really enjoyed re-reading this thread. I, too, saw my photo had vanished so I replaced it. There was an upgrade to the TB software that may have deleted them. The reason I mention this is that I was surprised that there were not more photos of first N scale equipment. I presume those old pieces are now gone.
Wow Flash, that's some N scale history right there. Isn't that the first production N scale locomotive? My introduction was an Atlas trainset back I bought with paper route earnings back in 1970. The basic set included a Plymouth MDT diesel, three pieces of rolling stock, and caboose. For a few extra bucks, I managed to make a deal with the store owner and swapped the MDT for a Penn Central GP-40 . I felt like I was on top of the world--it was my own money and I learned something about bargaining at the same time. Pretty cool stuff for a 15 year old.
My parents had the LL Little Joe set (The locomotive is currently running on my Christmas layout.) and an ATLAS Geep-9 before I was born, but my personal first piece of N scale equipment was the Bachmann Limited Edition N&W Class J #611 with some Con-cor heavyweights for Christmas when I was 6. The J died a few years ago, but was happily replaced by a new Spectrum one.
my Dad was vice president of of shipping company in new jersey,he used to ship for aurorua(afx cars) who where importing postage stamp(minitrix)n scale train sets,when the people at auroura found out my father had a son who loved trains they gave him a F-7 penn central freight set to give to me,funny cause at the time my fathers company was using penn central to ship.....
If I remember right back in '72 I had a Trix Pacific and 4 Rapido PRR hvy weight passenger cars. I also had a 0-4-0 with a slope back tender-Rivarossi mfg, Atlas distributor. There were also some various cars. The Pacific ran well, the 0-4-0 was problematic. Kadee N scale couplers were body mounted on all the equipment. I sold this stuff about 15 years ago to help fund my RC flying hobby. I kinda wish I still had that Pacific and the passenger cars now as I get back into N scale with a concentration on passenger ops. Dave
Although not my first piece in N scale I had a cousin who had a Lone Star F7 in UP and a few cars. I was fascinated! Rubber band drive and all. Forty years later I finally got my hands on a couple. The C&O ones bring good money. The motor runs in mine and I found some replacement rubber band drives but havent got the old girl to move yet on her own. Technically its Treble O.
