Locomotives we love: Lionel No. 2025 2-6-2 Prairie type steamer

What toy train locomotive means the most to you?

It just has to be Lionel’s famed 2-6-2 Prairie type locomotive that is still in my collection.

How did you acquire it?

black and white photo of a model steam locomotive — The locomotive brings back a flood of memories. Stan Trzoniec photo

This adventure started in 1947 at the early age of 5 years old, when Dad unpacked the Lionel train set he’d purchased downtown. We lived in Newark, N.J., on the top floor of a “triple decker” on the north side. My father had a good job as a supervisor at Forster Engineering Company, a firm that made large flow tubes and valves for submarines, so we lived in a great neighborhood.

One night was the great unveiling for the train set and its place in the living room to the left of the Christmas tree. Dad picked out Lionel’s No. 1435WS that consisted of their popular No. 2025 2-6-2 “Prairie” type steam engine complete with smoke and whistle — a piece of the past I still have running today!

The set also contained a gondola, Baby Ruth boxcar, and a caboose. For more play value, the No. 3559 Operating Dump car and a set of manual switches completed the package.

Like others in the hobby, this engine was on the point of my first encounter with trains in 1947. Heading up the No. 1435WS set with the gondola, Baby Ruth boxcar and the No. 2457 caboose, my father laid down a sheet of plywood next to the Christmas tree, added an oval of track and that was the start.
I had fun with that basic set. I’d shut off the living room light and run my train by Christmas tree lights alone, watching the headlight of the engine pierce the darkness on the back end of the layout. When no one was looking, I would turn up the throttle and watch the train go full speed around the loop. One time, it rolled onto the bed of cotton around the tree, into the manger, knocking over the plaster figures, which I quickly put back in place.