After I posted on railfanning the Czech Republic (insofar as I could do this from a boat), I suddenly remembered that what started me in HO was a Märklin starter set my parents got me, as best I can calculate, in 1956. Previously my family had set up a Lionel layout on a plywood rectangle (probably smaller than 4 x 6) that had belonged to my uncle at Christmas. However, that year, we moved to a smaller apartment, and there wasn't room for the Lionel, so the Märklin was a replacement.
I still have the loco from this set:
However, it's 3-rail AC, so it won't run on my layout, though it does live in a display case. I erred in my earlier post in saying that I didn't get hooked on European trains until the 1960s -- I was in fact fascinated with the Märklin set. Trying to read the instructions that came with the set was almost certainly what got me started studying German in school a few years later.
Good looking locomotive John! Perhaps a flat car load to your RR shop to get it out of the display cabinet and give it some layout time? With it's great heritage I'm sure it would appreciate hobnobbing with the rest of your fleet!
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