My Model Railroad Setup in 1959 - Lionel & Plasticville - 8mm Film

[@Deadbuck73]

I still have a good portion of my Dads Lionel set from the 50’s. I still have the table it was on. It was built by a neighbor. The track is mostly gone as it didn’t do well over the years but the key engines and cars are rolling right along!

[@823850]

In 1962, my fifth grade teacher in a small private school gave gifts to the two students who did the best in math and spelling. I got the spelling prize. She knew that we had an HO train layout, and she bought me two cars: one was a crane car and the other a boxcar. The crane car had a little hook and crank on a thick black thread. Miss Vitatoe, thanks always.

[@curtismarean6963]

Thanks for sharing your old train set with us! It's nice to see how some of these were used and the layouts. Take care!

[@OutRayGeousVideoProductions]

Great video presentation. Nicely done. Thank You for sharing!

[@modelrailpreservation]

This is wonderful to watch. I work at the Wisconsin Auto Museum, managing the 1949 showroom layout replica, and it's always fun to hear people reminisce about the trains they grew up with, but to see old footage, that is always a treat. The 1949 showroom layout pre-dated plasticville, instead having buildings made of paper and wood (And to match the original, replicas made of the same materials are being built, but a nice plasticville village with some classic trains running (Well, classic nowadays in this case) around them, always makes me smile.

[@alanevans5353]

When I was a little kid in the early 2000s my dad let me play with his old Marx O gauge engine, we'd set up a figure 8 or some other pattern, and I'd put my little green army men and some buildings that came with them up around it to be like a base. I didn't have the scale model buildings, but this is super cool to look at. Now I have a few model trains of my own and am in the process of setting up a space for them and making my own model railroad.

[@shirleylackey801]

The good ole days !! 👍

[@arthurgastreich5472]

Total memories we were just about the same age,had mose of the same trains you had, Thanks for the mories

[@pforce9]

I am 78 years old. When I was 10 or so, my parents bought my older brother and I each a Lionel Scout train set for christmas along with some plasticville buildings. We had the barn and silo, the two story house with the pillars, a little bungalow and that paper mache tunnel. I enjoyed seeing the young you running a railroad and seeing some of these buildings again so thank you!

[@seanfandetti3778]

This was Awesome to see 👀Thanks for sharing it 👏

[@rayseefeldt1966]

Rich kid’s setup. Very nice. I dreamed of many of these components

[@donnarolando3961]

AMAZING! Kids today don't know what they missed, shame. Thanks for sharing your precious memories.

[@markh7306]

Have many of the PW items you display and others. Also have later production items, MPC, LTI, etc. Plus other manufacturers MTH, K-Line, etc. Proof model railroading is a life-long hobby. First train, I was 3 (#2034 loco set). Now 73 and am building an intermodal set. Never grow old.

[@shannonbruno2662]

Ray, I'm 77. I had mostly the exact layout except the cattle car. I still have everything in my garage and set up. Hope to video the layout later this year. I made a drive-in movie theatre using a small flat screen complete with newsreels, shorts, trailers and intermisssion coundowns etc

[@johndonlon1611]

I recognize and had many of these same buildings, always dutifully returned to their original boxes at the end of Christmas break. At 71, I realized nobody wanted any of this stuff so I donated all of it to the Illinois Railway Museum. I'd rather it all go there than end up in the hands of some hoarder, only to eventually end up in some landfill. Nice video, thanks for sharing.

[@modelrailpreservation]

I hope they put it to good use. Pity how much real equipment is left outside to deteriorate from the harsh Illinois winters. I know building new barns is expensive, but even some tarps over the equipment would help, and that is dirt cheap. If you ever find yourself in southeast Wisconsin, come see the Wisconsin Auto Museum. I manage the replica 1949 Lionel showroom layout.

[@azslotracer]

Thafor sharing your train layout video with us!

[@henryszubielski8601]

Wonderful video. The stuff dreams are made of! Thanks for sharing.

[@dougied4790]

Wow. Nice layout and wonderful memories. I recently dug out the trains my dad had back in the late 40’s and 50’s. We had a Christmas train garden each year until 1970. Looks like you had the same red Lionel Texas Special 210 (double diesels). With a little work, the Texas Special and dad’s 1948 Lionel Scout Locomotive #1655 (with whistle tender) are up and running again. We had quite a few Plasticville buildings, but they are missing. His old Lionel ZW Transformer still works great, too. Unfortunately, the old photos of our Baltimore train gardens seem to be few. Thanks for sharing your video. We had plenty of derailments, too.

[@GGSRailways]

I enjoyed this so very very much , thank you for sharing this . Do you miss your trains ?

[@tubecatproductions]

Sometimes, yeah.

[@avlisk]

In 1959, when my brother changed from Lionel/Marx to Gilbert American Flyer, he gave me all his O stuff. I promptly traded it for a pair of ice skates. Yes, when I think of it I still kick myself 60 years later for such a silly trade! It would be so cool to have all those trains today.

[@auteurfiddler8706]

There is a club called TTOS (Toy Train Operating Society) with chapters in many major cities. You could find a lot of it there. Most meetings feature table sales and an auction. The prices for many of the items in that 1950's era are very modest.

[@williamsantangelo]

Thank You for sharing your nastalgic memories of you childhood train set you had some excellent footage and trains I had a mix of Marx and Lionel! Happy Holidays to you

[@tubecatproductions]

Thanks for the comment, and Happy Holidays to you, too!

[@charlielehardy9308]

This is terrific. I had a similar Lionel layout in '59 and wish I still did. I'd forgotten all about the mountain tunnel and some of the accessories. Great memories. Thanks for sharing.

[@erniebellinetti7590]

Thanks for sharing this . Great memories. I really liked the way you identifed the various plasticville buildings. I am 77 and at a time when many guys my age are selling off their mode trains I am finally. Building a layout. I only had a few plasticville items S a kid in the 50s but have purchased quick a few over past year.

[@erniebellinetti7590]

Did

[@rayinpau.s.a.6351]

I had to comment , My Uncle had a Lionel train layout that took up the entire livingroom all year round . he would run 5 or 6 trains all at once and would have to talk very loud to be heard . this is the memory I remember watching your video !

[@joevey6348]

Evidence that these really were "educational" toys. You learned about basic electricity (never forget discovering the benefits of parallel wiring), planning, working with tools, sculpting, painting, repairing, etc. Very nice. Well done.

[@trainliker100]

I am a volunteer at a railroad museum with very large HO scale (and HOn3) display layouts. But a couple of years ago we put a small Lionel layout on the main museum floor and it is VERY popular. I suggest to parents that electric toy trains are one of the most inexpensive toys you can buy. They say, "What? It costs maybe $300 or more to get a good starter set." I ask them how many toys they paid maybe $26 for and the child played with it for about 6 minutes and its been in the closet ever since. (The answer is always that they have those.) I suggest that with the toy trains, they will play for hours and hours. And involve others of their toys into their railroad design. And that the magic REALLY comes from the train set and layout and buildings and whatever be a CHILD controlled world and not an adult controlled enterprise. So, the cost per hour of toy enjoyment for an electric train is probably about as low cost as you can get.

[@eugenepiurkowski5439]

Thanks for sharing. My layout was much more simple. Had to save my dimes and nickels to buy things. Still have the Plasticville buildings on the bookcase. Such memories.

[@jackcurran1122]

What is interesting is the derailment that took place during the film, they kept right on filming!!!!

[@yeksun]

I enjoyed the narration and the movie. Looked like a pretty nice setup for a 12 year old. .

[@alrutledge1872]

State of the art back then. Nicely done.

[@erniebellinetti7590]

Accidently hit send.....As I was writing..... Seeing many of the buildings I now have on a real layout was fun to watch and get ideas for my own set up. BTW. just tell anyone that ask about the radar tower it is the radio / TV stations weather radar but they had to locate it on the other part of town due to space availability 😉.FrankB

[@Plasticvillemayor]

Great film! Love the PLASTICVILLE!

[@averagerobloxian9077]

4:13 I bet you can say it was a pretty realistic layout for the time😂

[@appleorangeline]

I really enjoyed this video. You're lucky to have a movie of your trains.

[@donnlowe9129]

Nice train set. You had quite a few pieces.

[@muir8009]

Absolutely fascinating. I found it particularly interesting that you ran it as a railroad: with timetabled departure times ("incoming" & "outgoing") with the two locomotives listed 2037, and 2023, and passenger and freight movements. Intriguing way of relating the time too: 15 to 11 rather than 10:45! Really enjoyed watching this historic insight, thanks so much for putting this up, just wonderful.

[@larryloveless2967]

This brought back great memories for me. I have only a few still photos left of my Dad's layout he built in our basement, and the moving projector film no longer exits. Born in 1953 my Dad started building a 3 level mountain tiered layout in 1958 with plenty of lumber and cement for the mountain effect. All our structures were Plasticville. It all came down in 1971 when I started college and I sold everything that made for a good family vacation trip of our in 1992. We had a Santa Fe passenger trainset from 1960 and a New York Central steam locomtotive from the 1950s for a freight set. I recognize some of those Plasticville structures we had as well. I liked seeing your Texas Chief engine set from those old Lionel catalogs my Dad kept. Thanks for sharing on KZbin.

[@rickwienke4234]

That was a nice layout you had. I have some of the freight cars and accessories that you had. My grandkids love my Lionel trains. I hope yours do also. Thanks for the memories.

[@Buck_Rail]

Great video!

[@garyclarke9035]

Really great video Ray. Love the train set!!!!

[@paulbervid1610]

Very nice

[@MarkWick]

It's wonderful that you have a record of your layout. My first layouts were also in our basement, and probably at about the same time as this movie was recorded. At first I had American Flyer, then HO, including a Lionel HO NYC set. Unfortunately, I don't remember anyone thinking to take pictures or movies of what I had. My son still has the American Flyer trains and track.

[@chicagolandrailroader]

That is a really awesome layout! I have those Lionel lines passenger cars and a lot of the same plasticville buildings!

[@keithgray5525]

great video!

[@jasonbrown4239]

I have most of those building s still they were my dad's had to fix some of them over the yrs they got a lot of use

[@johnfroio4910]

Much appreciated!

[@shedbythetracks]

The year I was born. 🙂

[@JasonBrown-mx2kk]

I got my dad's trains so I got these and still going

[@wahoo7654]

How could you not like this? BIG thumbs up! Beautiful job... BTW, any recommendations on how to get 8mm digitized?

[@tubecatproductions]

Thank you! To digitize 8mm film, I used a Wolverine Reels2Digital Moviemaker. It's a bit pricey at $300, but if you have a lot of films to digitize, it will probably work out cheaper than having a professional service do it for you. Plus, you can always resell the device when you're finished with it.

[@wahoo7654]

@@tubecatproductions Thanks for the advice; based on your results, it looks like a good way to go....

[@jasonbrown4239]

They still make alit of them building s I bought some new ones over the yrs

[@paulharootunian7258]

Did you ever replace any of these trains you had when you were a kid? You seem to miss that and that is 😞. Great video..... thanks for sharing.

[@tubecatproductions]

Thanks! Unfortunately, no, I haven't really had the chance to do so. Lack of time, money, space, etc.

[@leverettrailfan5414]

​@@tubecatproductions They can cost less if you look for ones that need some repairs and TLC. They are relatively simple inside and there are many resources on how to fix them up. It is possible, but takes some time, patience, and dedication to produce results. Your old layout is beautiful, plasticville makes for a very nice town. I have a few of the kits and many street lamps. They look lovely alongside the trains.

[@tubecatproductions]

@@leverettrailfan5414 Thanks!

[@plunkervillerr1529]

Is this the one and only train video ?

[@tubecatproductions]

Yeah, this is the only train related film we had.

[@josephkearney9319]

Do you regret selling the trains?

[@tubecatproductions]

Yeah, kind of. I had to sell them off when I was younger because I needed the money.