1940 Home Movie: Lionel Trains for Christmas!

Grandpa's 1940 home movie of my dad's Lionel train set, "The Santa Claus Special," followed by mid-50's clip of a set belonging to Dad's cousin, Matt.

My dad and his parents lived on the ground floor of 119-14 Seventh Avenue in College Point, NY, while Dad's Aunt Eleanor and Uncle "Matt" (Matthias) lived on the second floor. For Christmas 1940, Uncle Matt, who was a carpenter, built a layout for Dad's new electric train set. It sat on two sawhorses in the living room. Note the classic props, including the famous switchman or watchman popping out of his shelter for each passing train. Also note my father's hand on the controls at the bottom of the frame in several scenes - he was 11 going on 12 at the time.

In the mid-1950's clip, Uncle Matt's teenage son Matthias 3rd operates his set in the basement. Note that many of the props are from the set that belonged to Dad. Although the footage in this sequence is not as sharply focused, there is a much better view of the hand controls - quite a contraption, they were.

Where are these trains now? Some of them wound up in the destructive little hands of wicked little me and my younger brother. After many staged train wrecks and head-on collisions, their battered hulks were discarded. What a shame - they'd be a treasure now.

I'm not an expert on Lionel Trains - so I'm asking all you Lionel fans out there to please help me identify these models. Thanks!!

16mm Kodachrome photography by Gustave Martens.

A YouTube Presentation by Robert W. Martens
youtube.com/robertwmartens

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Lionel
• Electric
• Trains
• Vintage
• Christmas
• 1940s
• 1950s
• College
• Point
• New
• York
• NY
• Antique

[dtoeppen]

The title card is really neat. Who did your film to video transfer?

[robertwmartens]

@dtoeppen The film-to-video transfer was done by DuArt Film & Video in New York City.

[beatron69]

What is the song that is playing titled?

[robertwmartens]

@beatron69 The song title is "Badinage" composed by Victor Herbert (1859-1924).

[LS1Heli]

The first segment is Lionel prewar - made before the war. All train production ceased in 1943 and 1944. It appears we have a gun metal gray 260E pulling 2600 series passenger cars. Also, 2800 series freight cars, some 1600 series 027 freight cars, the large bridge is a Lionel standard gauge, also a Lionel Standard Gauge No.124 Lionel City Station.

If you have any questions, let me know!

John

[robertwmartens]

@LS1Heli What can I say . . . your knowledge is fantastic! Thanks John!

[grizzleybearz282004]

this is a great video that for sure did you have them changed from black and white to color or did your family have the money back then judt to buy a color video cam? most liley a bell & howell my dad gave me one from the late 1970s or from the very eraly 1980s with a fre of super 8mm home movie reels and i had them put on dvd i think i paid too much i paid $150 for that to be done and it wasnt a whole lot of flim 1500 feet tops is that avg what other places change?

[Petemonster62]

Isn't it always when you have visitors to your layout or filming with home video that you have problems with the trains & accessories? Back in 1975 my sister started filming me with the Super 8 movie camera; sure enough I had constant derailments!

[Petemonster62]

RobertWMartens; Me and my friends abused our trains as well. Maybe we were influenced by Gomez Addams? Gomez only smashed top-of-the-line Lionel engines; F3's, Hudsons, FM Trainmasters - no Marx 4-wheel forward-only steamers for him!

[Petemonster62]

TrainBrain1949, you were able to do more service & repair of your trains as a teenaged hobbyist than as an elementary school aged kid. Your model-building skills were also better & your electrical knowledge allowed you to fine-tune the operation of the accessories.

[Misterioso]

@robertwmartens The song is titled "Tuba Flatulence" by Chubby and the Peckers.

[NickNordmann]

He has some very desirable items. My dad got a Union Pacific 2023 Alco passenger set for Christmas in 1951. Grandma always said that would have paid for 3 weeks of groceries for a family of 4 back then.  That set fed my dad's imagination when he was a kid and sparked a hobby that has been a family tradition for 3 Generations. My neices are showing interest and that would be the 4th generation that these trains have influenced. I would say that was money well spent.

[thebomb18wheels]

looks like a Lionel 255 E or 260E. I can make this statement, because the lanterns are absents on the top of the boilers, indicating it is older that 1937.