Your first train set?

[Cowley]

Not a train set as such, but I loved the Babbacombe cliff railway, and when I was about 9 Dad made me one! Same angle, carriages pulled on wires up/down rails (think he used 12v), magic! Used to play with it on the stairs and the beach was the bottom (sand on a towel...nothing like authenticity!) and the ticket-office at the top (box with a little man in...).

That's just genius Howard. Do you have any photos of it?

 

[Cowley]

Hornby Smokey Joe set. Yet to see anything as fast as that.

Smokey Joe. Faster than a TGV! So fast in fact that the first lap of the railway was just a blur of uncontrollable motion until it invariably derailed or tipped over going around a corner...

 

[CarltonA]

Tri-ang 0-4-0 continental tank and red and cream composite coach with RP3 controller and a circle of track. It was a boxed set not shown on the Tri-ang website dating from the mid sixties.

http://www.tri-ang.co.uk/coaches10in.htm

I've still got the loco and coach somewhere plus Hornby stuff added later.

 

[Howardh]

That's just genius Howard. Do you have any photos of it?

Not that I know of, although I am painstakingly going through dad's old slides and digitising them, and there's a load of stuff from the 50's turning up! (Pity he wasn't interested in trains despite being an engineer!!). Rather like a disused railway line, I think some parts are still intact, I know I still have the rails and both carriages in a box, but the steep aluminium base line they ran on has probably gone. I'll see if I can dig them out and take a photo, and the rest will have to be imagination!

**If I don't and forget this thread, can you PM me and tell me to get on with it...ta!!*

 

[Cowley]

Tri-ang 0-4-0 continental tank and red and cream composite coach with RP3 controller and a circle of track. It was a boxed set not shown on the Tri-ang website dating from the mid sixties.

http://www.tri-ang.co.uk/coaches10in.htm

I've still got the loco and coach somewhere plus Hornby stuff added later.

Those Triang models were pretty darn good for the time. They were proportionally quite accurate, reasonably well priced and ran fairly well (although they benefitted from having a little extra weight added).
The nice thing about the older models was that you could add a bit of extra detail to them by taking them apart and putting little people inside etc, or with old Lima/Hornby locos, hacking them about and adding extra detail like on the bufferbeams for instance or even repainting them entirely, going into your local model shop, purchasing some new decals and renumbering them to your favourite loco.
It's a bit like modern cars now though, you don't open the bonnet even. I could rebuild a Lima pancake motor with my eyes shut but I've never even attempted to take apart one of my more modern Heljan or Bachman offerings. Far too complicated (although technically better in pretty much every way).

 

[Cowley]

Not that I know of, although I am painstakingly going through dad's old slides and digitising them, and there's a load of stuff from the 50's turning up! (Pity he wasn't interested in trains despite being an engineer!!). Rather like a disused railway line, I think some parts are still intact, I know I still have the rails and both carriages in a box, but the steep aluminium base line they ran on has probably gone. I'll see if I can dig them out and take a photo, and the rest will have to be imagination!

**If I don't and forget this thread, can you PM me and tell me to get on with it...ta!!*

I absolutely will

 

[Howardh]

I absolutely will

Progress! I've found one of the two *carriages* in my toy box (hey, I'm only 58 and-a-half) and have taken a couple of pix. However it's taking ages to upload onto here (and tinypix) so I've given up for the night and will have a go tomorrow.
For those that know this sort of thing, the base of the carriage has "HORNBY DUBLO" (made in England) on it if that means anything. It presumably came from a "proper" train set, and the old man removed it and put his own bolts and screws in to hold the running wire.
I'll try to do some pix in the light, maybe a 4k video as I think the base may be of interest. Can you upload video to this site, or will it have to be youtube? Anyhow, goodnight!

EDIT (adds) Meccano ltd

 

[Cowley]

Progress! I've found one of the two *carriages* in my toy box (hey, I'm only 58 and-a-half) and have taken a couple of pix. However it's taking ages to upload onto here (and tinypix) so I've given up for the night and will have a go tomorrow.
For those that know this sort of thing, the base of the carriage has "HORNBY DUBLO" (made in England) on it if that means anything. It presumably came from a "proper" train set, and the old man removed it and put his own bolts and screws in to hold the running wire.
I'll try to do some pix in the light, maybe a 4k video as I think the base may be of interest. Can you upload video to this site, or will it have to be youtube? Anyhow, goodnight!

EDIT (adds) Meccano ltd

I was wondering if Meccano might be involved. Looking forward to seeing it.

 

[birchesgreen]

Hornby Royal Mail train set, blue Class 37, 2 Mk 2 coaches and the mail coach which could capture mail bags one side of the layout and eject them the other side.

 

[Howardh]

Here it is! Sadly without the window sticker , it's just a box that the base was attached to with wire to pull it up the railway with a counter-balanced second carriage via 12v motor. Used to be on a base about 3 - 4m long with the motor hidden underneath, and a switch to control it's speed so you could slow it down approaching the cabin!

http://imgur.com/a/ARWTp

 

[Cowley]

Here it is! Sadly without the window sticker , it's just a box that the base was attached to with wire to pull it up the railway with a counter-balanced second carriage via 12v motor. Used to be on a base about 3 - 4m long with the motor hidden underneath, and a switch to control it's speed so you could slow it down approaching the cabin!

http://imgur.com/a/ARWTp

Brilliant. I can see the old truck base that he used. Well done for actually keeping it all these years too.
I found a couple online that people had built, I think you can actually buy a RTR version now too.

 

[Howardh]

Brilliant. I can see the old truck base that he used. Well done for actually keeping it all these years too.
I found a couple online that people had built, I think you can actually buy a RTR version now too.

The second photo looks similar to the one dad made, but his base was aluminium which made it easier to carry around (ie out of everyone's way!). The carriage looks more realistic, but for me aged, what, around 7 - 8, a sticker with someone waving was more than enough!!

EDIT - first photo - is that old tube stock toy cut into two??

 

[Cowley]

I'm not sure, can't get very good detail on closeup but it could be.

 

[Iskra]

Midnight Freight. It was a class 58 with 8 wagons, not sure if there was a siding with car ramp along with the oval of track

I got given this one has a hand me down from an older cousin.

Hornby Intercity 225 with 91 Loco and 2 carriages (poss could have been 1) and DVT. Track was a simple oval.
Brought as a Christmas present from Toys 'R' Us in Poole (if you take your kids shopping for Christmas they know what they are going to get )

This was my second trainset. I believe mine came with two Mk4 TSO's.

My first was quite random; A Lima Class 26 Motorail Set with car unloading ramp. I have no idea why that one, I only saw a 26 and got 26 haulage for the first time last year on the NYMR!

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=l...=qRHHWOWhLMKBgAaLjK6AAw#imgrc=Cd-9vU4sGQfiSM:

I sold my entire collection a couple of years ago and got £2500 for it which I was impressed with considering some of it was well used.

 

[montyburns56]

Mine was the 1977 Hornby HST set that came with with just one of those short MK3 coaches and had a crappy mains controller that only had three speed settings!

 

[SpacePhoenix]

Mine was the 1977 Hornby HST set that came with with just one of those short MK3 coaches and had a crappy mains controller that only had three speed settings!

Don't know about modern Hornby train sets but years ago the controllers they provided kept tripping their thermal cut-out once you started extending the oval or track and adding to the length of trains

 

[fowler9]

My first was Lima, 55022 with 2 Mk 2's and some variety of car carrying wagon, double deck. Came with a loop of track and a siding with a ramp to load the cars with. Next one after that was a Lima TGV and then a Lima HST in Inter City Livery. Then I went mad buying all kinds of stuff in particular Lima 87's and 37's and Dapol (I think,may have been Mainline and Airfix) Mk 2d's and 56's. Never had the time, money or space to do it properly myself but joined the Liverpool Model Railway Society. Then I discovered footy, death metal, girls and booze. As I've got older I am looking at going back to the LMRS.

 

[Cowley]

My first was Lima, 55022 with 2 Mk 2's and some variety of car carrying wagon, double deck. Came with a loop of track and a siding with a ramp to load the cars with. Next one after that was a Lima TGV and then a Lima HST in Inter City Livery. Then I went mad buying all kinds of stuff in particular Lima 87's and 37's and Dapol (I think,may have been Mainline and Airfix) Mk 2d's and 56's. Never had the time, money or space to do it properly myself but joined the Liverpool Model Railway Society. Then I discovered footy, death metal, girls and booze. As I've got older I am looking at going back to the LMRS.

There may be a way of combining all of them, you just haven't discovered it yet .
Much like me in a lot of ways although I did always have something tucked away for when I did have time. I've still got a couple of locos that I bought in the 80s although they're much modified (bit like the real thing).
I bet the LMRS had some good stuff?

 

[Zamracene749]

First set was christmas 1978, hornby Inter city set http://www.hornbyguide.com/item_details.asp?itemid=366

For some reason, it came with one of these http://www.hornbyguide.com/item_details.asp?itemid=47 rather than the class 37 that was intended, I suspect it was ex display and the 37 had broken or gone missing, perhaps my dad had negotiated a bit of a discount cos i've no idea how on earth he could afford to buy me it back then! The icing on the cake was what it came with...... http://www.hornbyguide.com/item_year_details.asp?itemyearid=34 plus an amazingly tough R252 http://www.hornbyguide.com/item_year_details.asp?itemyearid=71 and this beauty as a surprise xmas afternoon gift http://www.hornbyguide.com/item_details.asp?itemid=41 It had a chuff chuff sound in the tender!

That was a christmas this kid- sorry bloke will never ever forget- mum and dad must have saved up for ages to get me that stuff, and I still have them all now

 

[fowler9]

There may be a way of combining all of them, you just haven't discovered it yet .
Much like me in a lot of ways although I did always have something tucked away for when I did have time. I've still got a couple of locos that I bought in the 80s although they're much modified (bit like the real thing).
I bet the LMRS had some good stuff?

Ha ha. I think it was the ignorance of youth. I like all kinds of stuff, some of my friends are not interested in railways. some find football boring, most find death metal unlistenable to, most have some kind of interest in the opposite or same sex (Thats the men and the women). I can still have a conversation with any of them. ha ha. The LMRS was great, at the time I was a member the club house was in the old stationmasters house at Aigburth Station. There were some amazing people there and I would like to get involved again.

I think what I mean is I have found a way to combine them all. Ha ha. There is no one I am bothered to tell what any of my interests are. If anyone thinks I am boring because I like trains or football etc. I really don't care. To be honest I don't meet many people I don't get on with so it isn't an issue.

 

[Cowley]

First set was christmas 1978, hornby Inter city set http://www.hornbyguide.com/item_details.asp?itemid=366

For some reason, it came with one of these http://www.hornbyguide.com/item_details.asp?itemid=47 rather than the class 37 that was intended, I suspect it was ex display and the 37 had broken or gone missing, perhaps my dad had negotiated a bit of a discount cos i've no idea how on earth he could afford to buy me it back then! The icing on the cake was what it came with...... http://www.hornbyguide.com/item_year_details.asp?itemyearid=34 plus an amazingly tough R252 http://www.hornbyguide.com/item_year_details.asp?itemyearid=71 and this beauty as a surprise xmas afternoon gift http://www.hornbyguide.com/item_details.asp?itemid=41 It had a chuff chuff sound in the tender!

That was a christmas this kid- sorry bloke will never ever forget- mum and dad must have saved up for ages to get me that stuff, and I still have them all now

Excellent. Loved looking at the links. I had the Hornby Hymek at some point, the one I had came with the old solid motor bogie, pretty powerful, it got a bit rough eventually and I took it into the old model shop in Exeter which was owned by Pete Lyndsey then (don't lean that bike on my window!!). He made it run like new.
My first train set was in a box in my parents wardrobe just before Christmas and I discovered it by mistake. I said "is that for me!!!", my mum panicked and said it was my best friends Christmas present and they were storing it so that he didn't find it before Christmas. Man I cried so much, "why does he get one, he doesn't even like trains!?"...

 

[trc666]

When I was 10 I got the Hornby Industrial Freight set for my birthday then a few weeks later I got the Hornby HST set and some extra bits of track to go with it to make a twin track circuit. Still have both of them but the HST no longer works. GNER 225 train pack and a Bachmann NSE 159 followed a couple years after.

 

[Cowley]

When I was 10 I got the Hornby Industrial Freight set for my birthday then a few weeks later I got the Hornby HST set and some extra bits of track to go with it to make a twin track circuit. Still have both of them but the HST no longer works. GNER 225 train pack and a Bachmann NSE 159 followed a couple years after.

I wish I could get my hands on your old HST, I bet I could make it work again. I used to love repairing old Lima and Hornby stuff. That's the thing about those old models, you could take them to bits and rebuild them as they were simple. A bit like old cars in a way, nowadays I wouldn't know where to start with one of the modern Bachman or Heljan locos as they're so much more complicated (although obviously like modern cars too - much more refined).

 

[GusB]

I've still got most of my model railway stuff in boxes under the stairs, HST included. One of my power cars had a bit of the front hacked off, my intention being to add some buffers. Oh, how I wish I'd left it alone now; the HST pack was actually inside some kind of presentation box, and I'm thinking it would probably be worth a small fortune now. ;-/

Most of my stock has been modified at some point, including some awful repaints (well, I thought they looked okay at the time)! I should really dig it out and assess the damage!

 

[SpacePhoenix]

The HST might just want a little oil in the motor then being run in again

 

[cossie4i]

My first electric train set was a Hornby LNER B12 freight set I had for Christmas in 1979. I still have the engine and some of the wagons. The newest thing I have is a 395 which I used to drive before leaving Southeatern for DB Cargo.

 

[JohnR]

My first electric set was R544 - InterCity Action Mail set. It didnt come with a controller, so I also had a H&M Clipper.

http://www.hornbyguide.com/item_details.asp?itemid=380

 

[SpacePhoenix]

My first electric set was R544 - InterCity Action Mail set. It didnt come with a controller, so I also had a H&M Clipper.

http://www.hornbyguide.com/item_details.asp?itemid=380

Colour wise the TPO coach looks more realistic then Hornby's latter offering with the red roof which just doesn't look right, even if they might have actually had red roofs at some point

 

[GatwickDepress]

First model railway I owned was a HO-scale trainset - it had an Eastern European-style diesel locomotive in all over blue, and accompanied by a selection of wagons. My father bought it from a model shop in Devon when I was very young.

 

[317666]

My first electric train set, though, was the Hornby Twin Train Set at Christmas 1995:
http://www.hornbyguide.com/item_details.asp?itemid=1441

I remember a slightly later version of that with the 142 in Northern Spirit livery instead, seeing it in a catalogue as a kid and thinking it looked like great fun!

Mine was a pretty basic 'Industrial Freight' set: http://www.hornbyguide.com/item_details.asp?itemid=1447 Ended up building up a motley fleet of Hornby 0-4-0s and the classic four-wheeled coaches. I do still have a small model railway collection, but my interest these days lies in continental HO models, and the way the exchange rate is at the moment means I can't really afford to expand it for now