Lionel trains store model trains sets model railroads and train accessories Auction info
Lionel trains store Other Manufacturers For Sale Used Other Manufacturers Cheap Other Manufacturers

Other Manufacturers

No Frills CD Guide to Agriculture & Related Bus. Vol 2

No Frills CD Guide to Agriculture & Related Bus. Vol 2

 $5.99 5h 51m
No Frills CD Modeling Guide to Ghost Towns Volume 1

No Frills CD Modeling Guide to Ghost Towns Volume 1

 $5.99 5h 53m
Coke case C02 Canisters & Pepsi extra 1 24 Accessories

Coke case C02 Canisters & Pepsi extra 1 24 Accessories

 1 $7.95 6h 55m
G-SCALE 1 32 U.S.ARMY M16 HALF-TRACK FOR FLATCAR LOAD

G-SCALE 1 32 U.S.ARMY M16 HALF-TRACK FOR FLATCAR LOAD

 4 $5.50 7h 37m
MODEL POWER ESSO GAS STATION SIGN LIGHTED WITH BASE

MODEL POWER ESSO GAS STATION SIGN LIGHTED WITH BASE

 - $0.99 7h 37m
MICRO ENGINEERING G RAIL JOINERS 26-332 CODE 332 2O PCS

MICRO ENGINEERING G RAIL JOINERS 26-332 CODE 332 2O PCS

 $4.00 7h 38m
New 4 Poses Model Train People Men & Women G Scale 1:30

New 4 Poses Model Train People Men & Women G Scale 1:30

 - $0.99 8h 38m
Baggage Car, track accessory

Baggage Car, track accessory

 1 $5.00 9h 9m
New Bright G Scale Plastic Track Uncouplers (0185sjm)

New Bright G Scale Plastic Track Uncouplers (0185sjm)

 - $0.99 10h 29m
KALAMAZOO TRAINS G 35TH TCA NATIONAL CONVENTION CAR

KALAMAZOO TRAINS G 35TH TCA NATIONAL CONVENTION CAR

$20.00 11h 8m
GRANDEUR NOEL SANTA'S NORTH POLE EXP ENG TENDER REMOTE

GRANDEUR NOEL SANTA'S NORTH POLE EXP ENG TENDER REMOTE

$12.99 14h 3m
A pair of Plastic G scale archbar trucks

A pair of Plastic G scale archbar trucks

5 $15.50 16h 21m
MAGNUS G GAUGE R-C-B WORKSTATION REPAIR CAR

MAGNUS G GAUGE R-C-B WORKSTATION REPAIR CAR

 -
 $295.00
$350.00		 16h 22m
A pair of G scale white metal archbar trucks

A pair of G scale white metal archbar trucks

 6 $11.49 16h 23m
Hartford 1:20.3 scale carter Bros swing motion truck ki

Hartford 1:20.3 scale carter Bros swing motion truck ki

 3 $6.01 16h 25m
G scale urethane tank body

G scale urethane tank body

 3 $9.01 17h 14m
G Scale C16 Phoenix Sound System

G Scale C16 Phoenix Sound System

 18 $91.00 17h 17m
Northeast G scale wooden 4 wheel hopper car

Northeast G scale wooden 4 wheel hopper car

 4 $11.01 17h 20m
MAINLINE BRIDGES G SCALE TUNNEL PORTAL "CONCRETE"

MAINLINE BRIDGES G SCALE TUNNEL PORTAL "CONCRETE"

$28.95 17h 23m
Hartford D&RGW G Scale 5? Passenger car truck kit-1

Hartford D&RGW G Scale 5? Passenger car truck kit-1

 4 $15.50 17h 29m

Lionel news

  • Fascinating facts about the invention of
    Lionel Trains     by Joshua Lionel Cowen in 1901.

    LIONEL TRAINS AT A GLANCE: Joshua Lionel Cowen was an inventive guy and had always been very interested in trains. In 1901, he fitted a small motor under a model of a railroad flatcar, powered by a battery on 30 inches of track and the Lionel electric train was born. The first Lionel train was designed to attract window-shopping New Yorkers using the power of animated display. Since its humble beginning Lionel has sold more than 50 million train sets and today produces more than 300 miles of track each year. Joshua Lionel Cowen was an inventive guy and had always been very interested in trains. When he was seven, he whittled a miniature locomotive from wood. It exploded, however, when he tried to fit it with a tiny steam engine. Joshua had never forgotten his childhood experiment. In 1901, he fitted a small motor under a model of a railroad flatcar, a battery and 30 inches of track and the Lionel electric train was born. Joshua  was born on Henry St. in Manhattan’s Lower East Side on August 25, 1877. He preferred playing ball, bicycling, hiking and tinkering with mechanical toys to formal education, and soon became fascinated with electricity, its transmission and its storage in batteries. Cowen did so well in school that in 1893 he entered the College of the City of New York. But, he could not adjust to the confines of a formal education. In short order he dropped out, returned, again dropped out, enrolled at Columbia University, and dropped out there to become an apprentice to Henner & Anderson, an early dry cell battery manufacturer. Then he took a job at the Acme Lamp Company in New York as a battery lamp assembler. During his spare time he liked experimenting, one of many mechanically inclined young men who liked to tinker with things. These jobs gave Cowen the experience he needed to launch Lionel. In 1899, he patented a device for igniting photographers’ flash powder by using dry cell batteries to heat a wire fuse. Cowen than parlayed this into a defense contract to equip 24,000 Navy mines with detonators. His ignorance of armament manufacture did not stop him. He used mercuric fulminate, a sensitive and powerful explosive (his supplier’s deliveryman told him, "The company said you should always keep a good deal around. It’s better to be dead than maimed"), and delivered the fuses to the Brooklyn Navy Yard on time by horse-drawn wagon at a gallop. In January 1900, he filed his second patent which improved on the his first design but again failed to give details. On September 5, 1900, Cowen and a colleague from Acme, Harry C. Grant, started a business in lower Manhattan called the Lionel Manufacturing Company, but they had nothing to manufacture. One hot day when Cowen was sitting in his office waiting for a cool breeze he got the idea of an electric fan. He quickly assembled and marketed the electric fan, but the weather soon cooled and so did public interest. Soon after, Cowen was walking through lower Manhattan when he stopped at a toy store window where he saw, among the toys, a push train. He then had the vision of it going around a circle of track without needing attention. This was the vision which started a legend.