I got my first toy train set for Christmas in 1940. It was a 5-foot circle of snap-together track that ran around the Christmas tree. It was not an electric train; it was a wind-up train that made sparks that flew out of the stack. I didn't have another train set until building one about 45 years later, and I'm building a 130-foot layout now, 77 years later. That's it, Hal
My mom and dad both loved electric trains ! We had huge sets of the American Flyer trains, the talking station, and all kinds of different cars. At first , we just had it set up on the living room floor, but it needed a better base, so my dad put all of the tracks on a plywood base. We left it up. All winter, and all three of use enjoyed runnng the different trains, and also just watching when someone else was running it. My folks really liked the American flyer models better than the Lionel, because the Lionel had three rails in the tracks and not two like real train tracks have.
Thanks for the reply, Yvonne! The layout I'm currently building is O-Scale, 2-Rail, as I never cared for the Lionel 3-rail format either. Here's a picture of the layout plan; the total lap length will be about 130 feet. It will have no houses, buildings, trees, grass, rivers, bridges, tunnels, cars, animals, or people. It will represent the barren, desolate Mojave High Desert, which is right outside my Town of Apple Valley. It will have low mountains, boulders, and gravel representing the terrain. Cheers to you and Bobby! Hal
The only train set I remember is a Marx O gauge that I still have, although it doesn't works. I am sure I got it before 1953, but I don't know when, and no one is alive who could tell me.
I still have my husband's train set from when he was young and it still works. I would have been the mid to late 1940s. I have no idea of what brand it is but it is electric. I'll pass it on to the grand kids when I go.