I wonder if there are other members of this forum who remember their very first model loco and still have it?

I still have my first loco, bought with my pocket money, a Lone Star 000 push along Jinty. It is over fifty years old, a bit battered and has survived countless house and country moves. I think it must have influenced my decision to model in N gauge.

my first one was a three rail Hornby dublo 'Duchess of Montrose', back in the 1950s, and no I don't still have her, wish I did.

but after a few years led me into HO SNCF, then HO US, then finally .....


I SAW THE LIGHT 

and moved to N UK, specifically Scottish BR blue, with a touch of lots of RULE 1 

alan

Lima HO Class 33, ca. 1977, yes I still have it.

A Triang Blue Pullman circa 1964. I wonder where it is now?

I don't still have it but a Hornby clockwork tank, just like the one on the left



neighbours of ours with a big garden had miles of track, loads of stock and tender locos! lots of fun 

A Tri-ang EM2 27000 Electra, complete with all the working catenary.
All my 00 stuff vanished during one of our many house moves, as it did my Meccano stuff and my Matchbox models collection :'( :'( :'(

Quote from: class37025 on August 15, 2015, 03:40:32 PM
my first one was a three rail Hornby dublo 'Duchess of Montrose', back in the 1950s, and no I don't still have her, wish I did.

but after a few years led me into HO SNCF, then HO US, then finally .....


I SAW THE LIGHT 

and moved to N UK, specifically Scottish BR blue, with a touch of lots of RULE 1 

alan

Well I never Alan, that' exactly what I had for my first loco. I got it for a Christmas present with 2 or 3 blood and custard Mk 1 coaches and a working travelling post office car. Sadly my parents gave them away when I got married and left them behind.

Don't have mine any more but was a Lone Star Diesel with rubber band drive.

My first train set age 10, in 1973, was a liitle blue OO 0-4-0 called Nellie. Don't know what happened to my layout and stock after i left home, but a few years ago i bought an old second hand Nellie off eBay to display.

A trip to Eames model shop age 13 set me off wanting the tiny N gauge stuff, but didn't have the money then to get into N until many years later.

My first N gauge was a Poole BR Blue Western Gauntlet that i bought mail order in 1994. I still have it, mint in the box it was posted in. It was supposed to be a one off, but ended up sparking my rather more extensive collection, that now includes 30-odd Westerns and a whole lot of other classes too.

Same clockwork Hornby 0 gauge model tank as Minza, except livery was Southern Maunsell olive green, Xmas 1938 or 39, followed the next year by an Electric (20V AC) "Flying Scotsman" in LNER green but incorrect wheels, a 4-4-2 instead of a 4-6-2, the same model also appeared in SR olive as Lord Nelson, GWR Castle (or was it a King) LMS Royal Scot and a French Pacific, and we moan at the size of wheels!

None of them remained in my possession past about age 16.

My first N gauge locos were inherited from my father who passed away in 1974, A Farish pannier with can motor (the type discussed on the forum recently) which I no longer have, it did get hacked into something resembling an SR G6. The other loco was a Fleischmann 7161 4-6-0, that gained a Langley S15 body a few years later, that I still have,  the original motor packed up in 2013 so best part of 40 years I suppose is not bad for a motor.

Quote from: austinbob on August 15, 2015, 04:14:04 PM

Quote from: class37025 on August 15, 2015, 03:40:32 PM
my first one was a three rail Hornby dublo 'Duchess of Montrose', back in the 1950s, and no I don't still have her, wish I did.

but after a few years led me into HO SNCF, then HO US, then finally .....


I SAW THE LIGHT 

and moved to N UK, specifically Scottish BR blue, with a touch of lots of RULE 1 

alan

Well I never Alan, that' exactly what I had for my first loco. I got it for a Christmas present with 2 or 3 blood and custard Mk 1 coaches and a working travelling post office car. Sadly my parents gave them away when I got married and left them behind.

yep, I remember the operating TPO.

all appeared one xmas morning on a flat baseboard on the dining room table, which had to be cleared for xmas dinner 

Quote from: newportnobby on August 15, 2015, 04:13:05 PM
A Tri-ang EM2 27000 Electra, complete with all the working catenary.
All my 00 stuff vanished during one of our many house moves, as it did my Meccano stuff and my Matchbox models collection :'( :'( :'(

ah yes, doesn't matter if its a double decker bus or a mini, comes in the same size box, scaled to fit 

Quote from: railsquid on August 15, 2015, 03:44:21 PM
Lima HO Class 33, ca. 1977, yes I still have it.

And here it is:

having survived 25 years in various boxes being moved between various countries.

Quote from: newportnobby on August 15, 2015, 04:13:05 PM
A Tri-ang EM2 27000 Electra, complete with all the working catenary.
All my 00 stuff vanished during one of our many house moves, as it did my Meccano stuff and my Matchbox models collection :'( :'( :'(

I had exactly the same but mine was a CKD (Completely Knocked Down kit)  Worked a treat!

Sold it to the Isle of Wight Model Railway Society and I expect it is now completely knocked down again!!!

My husband has none of the cars and trains he carefully collected as a child as his late parents gave the whole lot to his younger cousins, a real bunch of bruisers.

They didn't last long and got completely wrecked. He was not amused. Every now and then he will see a model he used to have and say "I used to have one of those"   :'(