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How it started..

In The Begining: I wanted a trainset REALLY badly-and
we had a family friend who(GASP!)worked at Gilbert.So
for Christmas in 1955, I got my first trainset-a 293
pulling a Gulf tanker, MoPac cattle, CNJ hopper, and
caboose. Wish i still had the box-that set SHOULD have
had a Meteor boxcar, right? It came from the Gilbert
factory store, but I do not remember the packaging.(I
picked up a variant of the Keystone defender set
awhile back ,box labeled for "Richie Premium Co." with
3 800 freights, an Atlantic smoker, Gulf tanker, and
missile launcher flat-transformer, decoupler, and
cardboard tressel set.Anyone know anything about THAT
set?) Anyway, was I thrilled. Mom helped to
make(allright, SHE made it)a tunnel out of a V8 can
and papier mache',
and I ran that baby every Christmas-in my Father's
house, the trains were seasonal. In 1961, my Mom's
Godson got married and gave me his Lionel-1950, the
year I waws born-2023 UP(yellow and grey), 2046 4-6-4,
and track, switches, tranny, freight cars, a baby
Madison set, and a pre-war 200 series passenger set
with knuckle trucks-a very neat conversion, maybe
Madison hardware.The trains ran yearly til 69, and
didn't re-emerge til 1986.That's when I decided I'd
get more Flyer,and stop there, cuz L was too pricey.10
years later, I had pretty much all the Flyer i
wanted-a  334 is about all i need now, tho' I'm
waiting for some new Flyonel to catch my eye(last was
the Silver Flash set)(and no, I'm not holding my
breath)>Then I discovered Tinplate 0-and then Standard
gauge.Hoo boy. Today I have around 100 engines, say 60
AF S, the rest Flyer by Coleman-Metzler and Gilbert,
L, MTH, Marx, Ives in 0 and Standard, with plenty of
rolling stock for all. My favorite is Flyer- next fave
is Ives. I am also an avid model builder, WW1 and
Golden Age aircraft being my favorites, but WW2 and a
few of those strange propless things are plentiful, as
well as cars and ships. I have a BA in history, 12
credits toward an MA, am "father" to 5 dogs, 2
rabbits, 2 parrots, and live with the former lil' girl
next door (only knew each other for 40 years, not
ready to commit yet).If I ever finish my layout, it'll
have S and 0 -two loops of each on a 15'x15' table(one
loop 0 and 2 S already installed). Standard is so far
the Christmas tree layout-but that may change as i get
such a kick out of those Giant Toy Trains From
Hell-and so does Jeanne-she hates anything
non-tinplate.Oh yes-conservative, gun owning fisherman
environmentalist Catholic longhair rocknroller is as
close to a description of me you'll come up with.keep
'em rolling, guys-if ya were supposed to keep 'em in
boxes, the wheels wouldn't be round.