(Mildly revised since first published December 25, 2013)
Curbside Classic is about so much more than just cars. We have covered motorcycles, trains, and even a very faithful Christmas tree. There is quite the large tent here.
This vintage Lionel train has been gracing Casa de Shafer since 2006, delighting us and annoying the cat. After a circuitous route, filled with fondness and abandonment, it has found a very caring new home.
My father-in-law, Tim, is the eighth of ten children. As one of the last born children (he is now 79), he has had the distinct displeasure of being the executor of the wills of several siblings. His oldest sister, Marion, and her husband, Herb, bought this Lionel train sometime in the late 1950’s. According to the 1958 Lionel catalog that came with the train, there was quite the grouping of official Lionel dealers in the St. Louis area where they lived.
Upon Herb’s death, Tim exercised his executor privilege and snagged this train for us in lieu of selling it. He found it stuffed into the back of a closet.
Christmas 2006 marked the first Christmas at our house in Hannibal – the house I sold in 2013 after a seeming eternity. On Christmas Day, my in-laws arrived bearing many presents. Spawn is the only grandchild on my side of the family and the oldest on my wife’s, so she is quite the recipient.
One of the boxes Tim brought into the house was unwrapped and closed with duct tape. Later that day, Tim handed it over, warning us to be very careful with it. Inside the box was another box with the Lionel logo on it; each car seen here still has its original box.
This train had escaped rough play as my wife’s Aunt Marion and Uncle Herb never had children. Herb was a train fanatic and had been meticulous with this train set. It was used carefully and sparingly. Before Tim could do anything with the train after acquiring it, he set it off to the side and forgot about it as he was also dealing with the will of another sibling at that time.
In searching for Christmas presents in 2006, he rediscovered the train and realized the amount of time that had elapsed. Not knowing how long it had been dormant prior to his finding it, Tim put the track together and gave it a whirl. The old train took off with very little complaint.
The engine cover appears to indicate it was manufactured in August 1957. It has been getting a little contrary with age, but is at least consistent with its behavior. Starting it is a process; it will either buzz or take off in reverse. It is best to shut it off and try again. The second or fourth try – never the third – will result in forward motion. The first few minutes will usually result in a mild, sweet electrical and faintly oily smell.
I have lubricated all the maintenance parts on the engine. It is probably time to do that again.
There is such an intrinsic yet non-quantifiable appeal in these old model trains. While never a fan of model trains previously, I have fully grasped the desire seen in others to just sit and watch them. There is a certain tranquility in doing so.
Rightly or wrongly, the train only comes out at Christmas time and it has done nothing but orbit our Christmas tree. It just seems fitting and, for us, is as much a part of Christmas as is the tree.
In addition to the appeal of these trains, it does make me uncharacteristically nostalgic for times past and highly curious about what life was like prior to my arrival. Our 1958 Lionel catalog certainly feeds that curiosity. I freely admit a certain degree of bias, but the last time I walked into a train and hobby store, I didn’t feel confidence about some contemporary trains having the durability of this old Lionel train. This train exudes quality unlike anything I have seen in other train sets in a very long time.
It’s also hard to imagine a train set with such a distinct inspectors car. If one is even made currently, it would likely be an F-150 or other pickup based rig, not what appears to be a ’57 DeSoto wagon.
In the seven Christmases we have had it, this old train has brought a high degree of joy to our house. There is simply something about it that smoothes off the rough edges of the closing year while creating optimism for the upcoming year.
My daughter is still of a relatively young age and is the third generation to cherish this train set. I anticipate it will be around for a few more generations.
Happy Holidays.
Always wanted that mean impressive looking American locomotive for the Märklin trainset my brother and I had.
Instead we got the French high speed Capitole train , with two passenger wagons only.
Through the years the price of the Capitole engine from Märklin sky rocketed and my brother sold it, since used passenger wagons were over $ 85,00 each.
Still sometimes like to build stuff in 1/87 scale to keep my sanity I guess and test my patience and skills.
Happy holidays!
Hey, good job on the wrecked cars! (Although it breaks my heart to see a Traction Avant in that condition.)
You have done a really good job with this. It takes a true talent to make a car look authentically wrecked!
Dad used to bring back Lima HO scale stuff from his trips to Italy in the 70s. Recently rediscovered them to find a car carrier with 4 heckflosse MBs, two blue and two orange. Nice Standard tow truck, Rammstein. Was it hard sacrificing the other cars for the junkyard?
I think it’s a Peugeot 403, not a Standard.
I stand corrected. Shoulda figured with the frenchy writing. Even nicer.
Beautiful train and a great story to go with it. Thanks for taking the time to share it with us.
I still have an old inexpensive train in my basement that I got as a kid in the 60s. I need to get it out again. I don’t even remember what kind it is.
My prize was my Aurora H.O. slot car set. I had it out a few years ago and the transformer seems to have cooked itself. I would imagine that an internet could fix it.
Nice! I grew up on Aurora slots too…not only can you replace the power pak easily, the tracks have come a long way too. AFX is still around owned by Tomy.
I had the Aurora slots as well. iirc the system was called “Model Motoring”.
I had the early set, which appeared to run on AC with the motor being a buzzer that worked a ratchet on the rear axle of the cars. I remember having a couple of pre Stingray Vettes, a 61 Ford Galaxy convert, a Ford stake truck and an International Harvester semi.
The later Model Motoring sets switched to a DC motor, and the buzzer cars like I had, disappeared from the stores.
When the Lionel trains were replaced by HO, I pulled the guide pins and brushes from the underside of the Aurora cars and used them for set dressing on the pike.
In the US, AFX is operated by Racemasters, the company of the Russell family that ran Cox Hobbies.
Got my Aurora set in 1966 and by 1968 acquired enough track to put an extensive layout on a 4×8 plywood table. By 1972 the set came down when we moved which left the 4×8 board swung up on the back of the garage wall. Just last month I opened the box, maybe first time in 30 years, to show my eight year old. It has been up and running since that time with me back to tuning the cars and buying some new rubber to replace the 52 year old tires. Not safe to drive on tires that old you know.
Lovely story!
As I’ve mentioned, my train geekitude predates even my interest in cars. I won’t threadjack, I promise. I will share a little tune-up advice with Brother Shafer and Co.
– Don’t worry about the warm “power inverter,” aka “transformer.” It’s perfectly normal. Just make sure the cord isn’t cracked.
– As Lionel Trains are AC, you can’t reverse them by switching polarity. Instead, each one carries a funky little 2-position (forward/reverse) or 3-position (forward/neutral/reverse) mechanism on board. A spritz of Radio Shack contact cleaner will break up the gunk and make that a little more reliable. Use a toothpick to pick out any fuzz.
– The brushes and armature can be cleaned with the same spray cleaner and a clean pencil eraser. You reach them by removing the plastic plate on top of the motor. That’s probably the single best improvement you can make to its performance, which, not surprisingly, seems pretty strong anyway.
Merry Christmas!
I’ll add that on my 1971 version of this set, (yes the dreaded AMF years) you can lockout the reverser to provide either only forward motion or only reverse motion. I usually lock it out since I only put simple single tracks out for my nephew.
I grew up with that set and dad would bring it out every christmas, and I do it now for my nephew.
The only thing I’ve had to do to my Lionel Alco PA loco is replace the 40 year old traction tires and a squirt of oil on the gearing. It still pulls well and when combined with the Polar Express set and the other little set I bought on sale a while back, it will still outpull the Berkshire steamer and the little 2-4-2 steamer, but its not as fun to watch as the steamers as it winds its way around the room.
AMF? I think you mean General Mills… although the General Foods era for Lionel was every bit as bad as the AMF years were for Harley-Davidson LOL!
you’re right! I got them mixed up, I know the set I have isn’t nearly as desirable as the earlier ones especially since it’s been well loved and played with over the years.
It does have a Motorcraft boxcar and has hauled lots and lots of hotwheels to new places on that 3×5 oval.
This is very good information. A few years ago I purchased some lubricants from a model train store but it is currently missing in action. It would be good to do this before summer hibernation.
I’m thinking now is a good time for a good workout of the old girl since I’ve been hesitant to run her for very long.
Go to mptindustries.com and getcha self some MPT Twelve lubricant and penetrant. It’s full of molybdenum, PTFE, and other good stuff. Expensive but it works.
This train set is priceless for so many reasons including the family legacy and what it represents of an era in this country that will be fondly remembered for a long time. I hope you daughter and her daughters and sons and their “spawn” (love that phrase) enjoy and appreciate this heirloom for many, many years.
Lionel, Schwinn, Dinky, Corgi, Marklin.
High quality stuff from a different era. Preserve and enjoy yours.
Some day I must get my Hornby Dublo three-rail working again. The Duchess of Atholl (pictured), Duchess of Montrose, Silver King and BR 2-6-4 tank…
Thanks for the great story and the memories. Reminds me of our annual set up of a train layout on the ping pong table in the basement. Got to set it up after Thanksgiving and it had to be dismantled right after Jan 1st. Always looked forward to that time of the year. I still have my half of the train set, although the steam locomotive has quit functioning and I had to replace the original 1955 vintage transformer with a newer one.
Now, if I could only find one of those 57 Desoto track cars…..
When I was very young, My aunt and uncle with my two cousins had a train layout that I would almost die for! They had the ZW transformer and ran four trains! All in Lionel Super-O, including the Super Chief! They were well-off, and spent a lot of money on those trains, as Lionels have never been cheap. One had to crawl under the table to reach the control panel!
Boy, did I have fun running that – with very close supervision, of course – especially at night when they would turn off the basement lights and lit up the whole layout. It was stunning, and a real wonderland for this kid, who has and never will forget it!
I still have the Lionel train I got when I was 3 years old – dad only let me play with it around xmas time ’til I got older. Then I forgot to unplug the little transformer and it burnt up!
Dad bought me a bigger transformer with two levers on top, one for throttle and one for direction and whistle. Four terminals, two for the track and two for accessories. Still have it and it still works.
Later, I bought a KW transformer, 2nd from the ZW top-of-the-line, and mine can run two trains and all accessories. I still have that too, and it works. That thing cost around $33.00 in 1962 dollars! Later, my parents bought me a couple more modest Lionel sets and eventually dad built me two 4×8 tables. I put them together and ran two trains on them, trying to emulate on a small scale what my cousins used to have on a serious budget! This was when I was 12.
My great uncle gave me a circa-1925 tin-plate American Flyer passenger train that was O gauge, a box-cab diesel and two coaches. Last time I checked, it still worked, too, but the pot metal loco wheels have swelled a bit beyond the gauge and doesn’t stay on the track very well, unless A-F used a slightly different gauge back then.
In 1983 I bought the Lionel “Quicksilver Express” passenger train with two Alco FAs, a coach, a Vista-Dome and a tear-drop observation. Yeah, I have it as well, and it works.
A couple other Lionels round out my collection, put away 9 months before we moved to Ohio. One of these days I may build my layout again, as I kept all the buildings and accessories.
The electric trains are the only thing besides some records and few odds-and-ends I have kept from my youth. Tne only stuff worth saving, as I’m not a pack rat, and Wifey knows I’d toss just about everything and live in a nearly bare cell if I could!
One toy I wish I would have kept, however, was the Topper “Operation X-500” missile base grandma bought me around 1960. That was the large stuff sold only in grocery stores above the shelves in the produce aisles around the holidays! I played with that thing for years and should have put it away, as it was the coolest toy short of Lionel trains a boy could have!
I’m very thankful to mom and dad, who were not well-off at all, for allowing me a few things of great value to enjoy for many years!
First it was the Rotunda, with a side trip to Humphrey Bear cartoons.
Now Lionel trains…I had that same submarine and airplane with folding wings, along with an armload of others, illuminated passenger coachs and the double A units in Santa Fe “warbonnet” livery. Sold it all in the mid 70s.
And all the drama in the local Detroit media about the fate of the Packard plant got me started reading up on Packard’s postwar journey to oblivion.
I’m being overcome by the late 50s!
Growing up with Marklin trains as a kid in Austria, the Lionels were quite the contrast after moving to the US. They were SOO BIG, and built like tanks; not unlike American cars of the old days.
The two rather epitomize the contrasting approach to toy trains, and I love them both. I have such memories of friends with Lionel trains, from modest little 087 sets with just an oval set up on the floor to one affluent friend’s mammoth basement railway, with every Lionel bell and whistle, literally.
My Marklins (including four big die cast metal locomotives) were tossed out by my mother, but my my dear MIL bought me a little Marklin starter set shortly after Stephanie and I were married. How’s that for ironic? I must get the little set out for next Christmas.
Did she get you the Z gauge “Marklin Mini Club” set? I have some Z gauge Marklin trains that I really need to set up.
No; a little HO starter set. 0-4-0 tank engine and a couple of cars. I did buy a few more cars and some more track, as it was just a minimum circle.
I grew up with HO trains, but my son played with Lionel trains, the three rail seems to stay on the track much better. The undercarriage appears to be more durable. When my grandson gets older, I’ll be bringing out the Lionel set again to put under the tree. As far as collecting trains goes, I love the color and simplicity of the Marx tinplate trains.
@83 Le Baron: the “Executive Inspection Car” is apparently available both as the original (1950s) issue and in a Lionel reissue. Alas, it looks a lot chunkier in person than in the longer-lower catalog illustration earlier in the thread:
http://www.ebay.com/sch/sis.html?_kw=Lionel+0068+Executive+Inspection+Car+Box+16807
Great story! I was never much into trains as a kid, but my dad still has his old set up in the attic. I grew up on Aurora and AFX slot cars–the track and a few Thunderjets were inherited from my uncle, some time right after I was born my dad caught a closeout deal on about 8 or so AFX cars which used a similar but upgraded and faster chassis, a little bit bigger bodies and finished off with mag style wheels. Every Christmas we’d set up the old lock and joiner Aurora track and do a teardown on the cars to get them running again. Id forgotten all about them until about 13 years ago, and I had my dad ship me the cars. The old track was pretty much shot, so I just upgraded with a newer Tyco ‘Doomsday Duel’ set that had a sci-fi, Mad Max theme going on. Now I have a huge collection of HO scale slot cars, and do a little buying/selling/trading online with them. I still have most all of the original collection. A few of the old T-jets’ bodies had been hacked up beyond recognition by either my uncle or my pre-teen self. The AFX’s are all intact, and one particular car–a big bad blue #5 ’71 or ’72 Javelin remains my favorite. I will never part with that car, as it brings back so many memories. Between my love of Jeeps and that car (which I originally thought was a Mach 1 Mustang), Ive always had a soft spot for some AMCs.
This isn’t ‘my’ car, but its the listing for the style on the ho slot car directory. Its not a rare car, but its my favorite! http://hoslotcars.com/cgi-bin/page/item/a1764bk/AFX_1764_1970_AMC_Javelin_AMX_Trans_Am_Blue_/_Black_Black_#5_1906
Ok since I was manufactured in New Haven in August 1957, obviously it is the will of the Gods that I receive this beautiful gift…
Great story. I like model trains almost as much as curbside classics.
When I was 8 years old in the very early 90s, I asked for a train for Christmas and was given parts of two sets that my father somehow bought: an O27 gauge K-Line Pennsylvania Railroad freight train with a mid-1950s looking plastic diesel engine, plus several cars from a New York Central Railroad passenger fleet (also K-Line) without its engine.
I thought it was a strange combination, running a freight train with passenger cars, but Dad was too smart for me: the NY Central partial set was part of a bigger plan. That next year, my grandfather moved to a retirement community and his big house was cleaned out of 5 decades of things left in the attic. One day, my father, supervising that cleanup, returned home with an old box. “Open it” he said to me. Inside was HIS Lionel New York Central steam locomotive and coal car (also 027), from the early 1950s, plus his original transformer. Of course I realized then why he hadn’t bought the rest of the NY Central set new! The old engine and coal car were considerably better built than the K-Line product. We immediately bought some new track and got both of the trains going.
In recent years, living in Manhattan, I haven’t had the time or space to set up my trains for the holidays. But they wait in a closet at home, in readiness for that day when I have my own house, and, maybe, my own children to appreciate them as much as I do.
I inherited a Lionel train set from my late uncle, who was born in ’32. As best as I can remember, the set was bought as a Christmas present for him about 1948, but as he was about 16 then, it seems like he would be a little old to be playing with trains.
It’s just a basic set with a small amount of track and a steam locomotive (w/smoke pills you put in the stack to simulate exhaust), a gondola car, a box car, and a red caboose like in the picture in the article. There may have been a tank car, but I don’t remember for sure now. In the 60’s, I got a signal crossing light for the set from the folks for Xmas one year. When the train goes over the rail contacts, the signal lights up.
The rail cars are very light, being basically plastic shells, but the loco is a substantial piece of machinery, very heavy. I haven’t run my train since the 1960s and it’s still boxed up around my house somewhere.
I remember an O-scale train set at my house when I was a small child. Every year it got set up as an oval around the Christmas tree. The thing I remember most is the New Haven electric locomotive with twin pantographs which endlessly fascinated me. Years later my oldest brother got very seriously involved with HO-scale trains. He had an elaborate setup which took up most of his basement.
Great article! Enjoyed reading about the history of this train set.
As a kid, similarly to JP, I had a slot car racing set. It had two cars, a 62 Pontiac, and a 62 Ford. That lasted a long time but it got tossed in one of several moves, and after the transformer cooked.
I still have my table hockey set that I had as a youngster. I would call the play by play of games with my friends onto reel to reel tape, and kept a scoring race and standings of all of our teams. I still have all the players (Leafs and Canadiens), and the spring and rods and rubber handles are still intact.
We have an HO scale train set downstairs from when my boys were small, it has not seen the light of day for years. Maybe today is the day to dust it off and set it up. Perhaps after shovelling some more snow!
Merry Christmas everyone!
When I was a “tiny” kid, I had a train set (I believe that it was a Lionel), that had an older coal-fired looking locomotive, a coal car, and a few other cars…including a traditional caboose. At some point there was an “accident” that occurred when the train’s power was left on all morning.
A few years of looking at the train in a box, I finally dug it out, set it up, and it worked just fine. If I had had access to the kind of hobby shops you can find online and the many train magazines on newsstands I might have added more to the set besides a few buildings and the simple oval track.
I also had one of those H. O. model motoring sets. I all but begged my folks for 3 years for it. My set had 2 1963 cars in it, a Ford Galaxie convertible and a Falcon Sprint hardtop. When it finally came out, I wanted a Mustang for my track, but stores in my area couldn’t keep them in stock. I eventually “settled” for a Thunderbird roadster. Unlike the train, that car set became the start of an extended model town with buildings added at birthdays and following Christmases.
A few years ago I found a similar set in TOYS R US, thinking I might get it for my nephew. The price was truly shocking, but my parents, apparently, felt the same way 55 years ago when looking for a set for me. Back then they cost the equivalent of 100 gallons of gas for a real car.
We had neighbors who set up a Lionel layout every year from right after Thanksgiving until New Years. I remember a bunch of drunk parents arguing about who got to run the train. I was never all that impressed with Lionel type 3 rail trains, to be honest. When I was about 6, we had neighbors move in two houses down. Box after box went in that said, “TRAINS-FRAGILE” on them. A couple of months later, we went over for a pool party, besides almost drowning in the pool that afternoon, I was floored to see the massive 2 rail O scale layout in the basement. It had signals and working crossing gates, etc. The father and son made the signal bridges and gates themselves out of brass. They were scratch building a NYC hudson in the dad’s den out of brass. The whole huge basement, which was almost for sure the reason they bought the house, with just an aisleway, was trackage. They had a yard on one side that had all their locos parked on 4 tracks, each loco had a little section of track that had power going to it. My dream was to build a layout approaching theirs in HO or N scale. I got about halfway to that dream in the early ’70’s, when I had a pretty large N scale layout that was pretty close to being the same layout as the neighbor’s. They moved to California in the later 60’s and switched to HO. The dad is gone now, last year, but the son, who is about 65 now, is pretty well off and has a gigantic layout in a pole barn next to his house. It’s set in the ’60’s LA/San Bernardino UP. I was bored one night and was watching videos of HO trains and was shocked to see the son talking about his layout that was in the video. I hadn’t seen him since about 1968 or so. And of course, I can’t find it now….
My father bought me a Tri-ang Railways train, track & controller (as indvidual items rather than a set) for Christmas 1959. I still have the loco and two of the carriages. The loco has been through quite a bit such as teenage attempts to add extra detail and an unfortunate accident with a soldering iron which melted part of the plastic body (I repaired it with sheet styrene and then painted and lined it) but last time I tested it it still worked. It was partially dismantled in 2013 for a service that I really need to finish!
I grew up with HO gauge model railroad, Matchbox, Dinky and Corgi diecast metal and Aurora slot cars back during the early to mid 1960s . For some reasons, they were my dad’s toys rather than mine. My mother thought it was an odd scene to see me as a child reading his model railroad and train magazines while he (as a full-grown adult) playing with the trains. Should be the other way around.
The model railroad started when I was four or five years old with the usual train around the Christmas tree my mother bought for me. I didn’t show any interest in it but it caught my dad’s interest and enthusiasm. He expanded the layout on a 4×8 platform in the living room. After a few years, as most model railroad layouts keep getting bigger and bigger, he found he needed more room so he commandeered my bedroom and said I could sleep on the living room couch. (It wasn’t too bad; I realized I had the benefits of the TV and air conditioner in the living room and the kitchen refrigerator.)
My bedroom, now the model railroad room, was my dad’s haven and off limits to me ever since I accidently dropped one of his brass locomotives accidently. Our three cats also discovered the room and enjoyed sleeping in the train tunnel, on the tracks and wrecking havoc with the figurines. He tried to get rid of the cats but my mother had a firm rule: “No cats, no trains”. So he made sure to have the door firmly closed, much to the protests of the cats and me.
It has been almost 50 years since we ran the trains; they are now boxed up and stored in the garage. Someday, I hope to unbox, build a layout and resurrect the trains, cars and slot car layout, when I get around to clearing out the house clutter and make room.
Oh well, that’s my New Years’ resolution…..and every Years’ for the past 40 years.
Oh yes……Happy Holidays and Best Wishes for continued good health, success and enjoyment in whatever your goals and endeavors are for the coming New Year.
My parents bought my big sister a Lionel set in 1972, and it still faithfully makes the rounds every Christmas, a bit battered after going through three kids and then a second generation.
Nothing brings a smile to my face than watching my son and my nephew lay on the floor to watch it go round and round.
“It has been getting a little contrary with age, but is at least consistent with its behavior. Starting it is a process; it will either buzz or take off in reverse. It is best to shut it off and try again. The second or fourth try – never the third – will result in forward motion.”
It’s the E unit inside of the loco. It’s an electro-magnetic coil switch and they stick when they get old and dusty. Try some tuner cleaner, that should help considerably.
As for the 8-57 build date, that is the date for that Santa Fe unit’s introduction. Units built beyond that date and into 1958 would still have the 8-57 date.
I really appreciate the Lionel Postwar coverage, many thanks!