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Post by thebigcrabcake on Jun 12, 2020 2:22:48 GMT
In the latest update of the Barn Finds: Retracing History thread, we were presented with a few 75 year old Lionel Planning guides. The pages shown below encourage the whole family to be part of the planning. The paragraph that stands out to me reads: That reminded me of two opposite theories of just exactly who was responsible for bringing Lionel trains home from the store. In one version: Lionel Trains were sold in hardware stores because that was practically the only place where Dads regularly shopped and Dads were the primary purchasers of toy trains. In the other version, it was Moms who were most often the purchasers of toy trains. According to the Pamphlet, both parents had good reason to be purchasers of toy trains. Who were the purchasers of your first toy train?   Emile |
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Post by Yellowstone Special on Jun 12, 2020 2:29:54 GMT
I received my first toy train set when I was 3 years old for Christmas from Santa, which would be mom & dad. It was a Marx set with the track attached to a 4 x 6 board. 3 years later at age 6, I received my first Lionel set, also from Santa for Christmas. Then the rest as they say, is history. I was hooked forever. 😉
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Post by Deleted on Jun 12, 2020 2:36:51 GMT
I never remember being told so I gave credit to both.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 12, 2020 4:37:57 GMT
I've got a couple of those Lionel Paperbacks on planning and building. Used the turntable design for years for various folks. Including the #1 gauge one n the shed.
My first train was my Uncles 225E set...he got it Christmas of 1940, so my guess is his folks (my grandparents) bought it.
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Post by Traindiesel! on Jun 12, 2020 8:28:26 GMT
It was my Grandfather, who bought them long before I was born.
I've told this story before, but as it was told to me, one day in the late 1940's my Grandmother gave my Grandfather some money to go out and buy himself a winter coat. So he goes out and on the way he stops by the local bar. After several Schmidt's beers he wanders out of the bar and goes to a hobby shop and buys a Lionel 2026 steam set (I was never told what hobby shop it was). When he brought it home my Grandmother was furious. My Grandfather explained that he wanted something to entertain their nieces and nephews so they wouldn't want to go home so soon when visiting. He set it up on the dining room table, which didn't make my Grandmother any happier. But it worked! My future cousins loved it and one of them ended up getting into the hobby and built his own large layout in his basement.
Several more Lionel sets were purchased over the years and after I was born and old enough to help, my Grandfather and I, along with my Dad, would assemble the layout every Christmas season. After years of seeing how much I loved the trains, my Grandmother was less furious.  When I got my own home Grandfather would come visit and watch me build my own, until he passed away in 1990. I still have all of the sets he and my Dad bought when I was a kid.
Funny thing about my cousin, he tried in vain for years to talk my Grandfather and /or my Dad into selling my Silver UP ALCO AA #2033 FA set with matching passenger cars. He finally found a set of his own in the late 1980's. But I always coveted his Santa Fe F3's with silver passenger cars. And his B&O RDC set, of which he had on an elevated loop to imitate the PTC/SEPTA Market-Frankfort "El" trains.
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Post by Country Joe on Jun 12, 2020 10:36:56 GMT
Excellent topic, Emile.
I voted Mom and Dad. I'm sure both of them agreed to the purchase though it was my dad who was the main instigator. I received my first Lionel train set for Christmas 1949 and was born a week later. I am an only child so the set wasn't purchased for an older sibling. In those days parents didn't know if they were having a boy or a girl so I once asked my dad why he bought me a train set before I was born? What if I had been a girl? He said it didn't matter since he had wanted a Lionel train since he was a boy but his family was too poor to spend money on expensive toys like Lionel. So my first toy train came from mom and dad by way of Santa.
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Post by josef on Jun 12, 2020 10:52:19 GMT
I voted mom and dad even though Santa Claus brought it. I still believe.
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Post by laz57 on Jun 12, 2020 11:06:37 GMT
DAD because he set it up under the tree.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 12, 2020 11:59:23 GMT
1969, I was TWO. My dad sold his coin collection and purchase a super O set. 773 hudson, 736 berkshire, ZW transformer, NYC F3 AA B&M GP9, etc etc. Sold everthing when I was in College. Found memories.
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Post by ptc on Jun 12, 2020 12:11:45 GMT
Mom & Dad with a wonderful Christmas present. Happy memories.
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Post by Spice7 on Jun 12, 2020 12:17:51 GMT
My mom purchased my New Haven EP5 set.
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Post by dennym57 on Jun 12, 2020 14:05:47 GMT
My dad. He bought my first Lionel train set when I was four or five in the early sixties. It had a 2037 steamer which I still have. I woke up on Christmas and there was a Lionel box under the tree.
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Post by g3750 on Jun 12, 2020 17:31:44 GMT
My mother always told me that the first train - a Marx Allstate (Sears) 9-car freight train with track and transformer - was bought for me by my father and her father for Christmas 1958. This was because (according to her) they wanted to play with it. I was four and half.  This is a photo of Dad, me, and the train set, which I still have. It was a pretty expensive toy for the time. The 2-4-2 locomotive (#666) still pulls cars around the Christmas tree. George |
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Post by JKP on Jun 12, 2020 23:12:25 GMT
My parents purchased a tyco train set when I was a kid. I've purchased every O gauge engine and rolling stock except my 1994 Lionel Christmas car my mother in-law purchased for me. She also purchased the lighted flag I have.
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Post by kstrains on Jun 13, 2020 2:05:03 GMT
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When I got my own home Grandfather would come visit and watch me build my own, until he passed away in 1990. I still have all of the sets he and my Dad bought when I was a kid.
