Lionel steam loco
One of the things that influenced my interest in model trains were the Lionel 027 trains that I received in the ’50s. Santa Claus left a train set for me in 1957. Soon after, my cousin Richard gave me his two steam locos (one is shown above), a half-dozen cars and bunch of track and accessories. They survived many years of hard use. Eventually I stopped playing with them but kept them boxed up. In the ’80s I replaced missing bulbs and made minor repairs but the toy trains held no real attraction other than their sentimental value. I had started in HO scale railroading in the early ’70s and wasn’t about to change. Now, I’ve gotten tired of finding room to store them so I put them all up on that famous internet auction site. Despite their chipped paint (and my unfortunate attempts at “improving” some of them with poorly done detail painting when I was about ten or twelve) it looks like every one one will sell. Of course, my starting most of the auctions at 99 cents was a factor, especially when there was only a single bidder. But, I don’t care. I just want to send them all off to people who can enjoy them. About five years ago I set them up in the living room at Christmas time. It was OK but I never had the interest to repeat it. I’d rather spend my hobby time with scale model trains instead of toys so I have no regrets in letting them go.
