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Kadee G scale # 1850 Replacement Centerset Coupler

Kadee G scale # 1850 Replacement Centerset Coupler

 $11.50 31m
G SCALE COUPLER LOT FOR CARS

G SCALE COUPLER LOT FOR CARS

- $7.99 34m
G SCALE COUPLER LOT FOR CARS

G SCALE COUPLER LOT FOR CARS

- $7.99 34m
4PC Men Women SUIT WELL SUIT Model Train People Scale G

4PC Men Women SUIT WELL SUIT Model Train People Scale G

 $1.00 36m
NEW USA TRAINS R1859 G GAUGE US ARMY ENGINEERING CAR

NEW USA TRAINS R1859 G GAUGE US ARMY ENGINEERING CAR

 7 $32.99 52m
WOODLAND SCENICS 2528: G SCALE: CLYDE THE CONDUCTOR

WOODLAND SCENICS 2528: G SCALE: CLYDE THE CONDUCTOR

 $9.95 58m
WOODLAND SCENICS 2526: G SCALE: MIKE THE MECHANIC

WOODLAND SCENICS 2526: G SCALE: MIKE THE MECHANIC

 $9.95 59m
Ironside "Breslau" German Box Car Kit. 1 35. New.

Ironside "Breslau" German Box Car Kit. 1 35. New.

 7 $30.07 1h 1m
g scale hand made # 6 switch turnout brass

g scale hand made # 6 switch turnout brass

 $110.00 1h 23m
BRAND NEW DIFFERENT SET OF 2 G SCALE HORSES FARM LOT

BRAND NEW DIFFERENT SET OF 2 G SCALE HORSES FARM LOT

 - $4.99 1h 27m
South West Pueblo G Scale Model Train Rare Building

South West Pueblo G Scale Model Train Rare Building

 - $94.00 1h 31m
Spanish Style w coyard G Scale Model Train Rare Item

Spanish Style w coyard G Scale Model Train Rare Item

- $95.00 1h 31m
BRAND NEW SET OF 2 G SCALE HORSES FARM LOT

BRAND NEW SET OF 2 G SCALE HORSES FARM LOT

 - $4.99 1h 34m
G SCALE ANIMAL DEER BUCK FARM ANIMALS LOT #105

G SCALE ANIMAL DEER BUCK FARM ANIMALS LOT #105

 - $2.99 1h 36m
WALT DISNEY LILLY BELLE ENGINE & CASE HARTLAND G SCALE

WALT DISNEY LILLY BELLE ENGINE & CASE HARTLAND G SCALE

 5 $760.00 1h 40m
KALMBACH HOW TO DESIGN AND BUILD YOUR GARDEN RAILWAY

KALMBACH HOW TO DESIGN AND BUILD YOUR GARDEN RAILWAY

 $20.95 1h 49m
MARKLIN MAXI TRACK - 20 PIECES + power clips

MARKLIN MAXI TRACK - 20 PIECES + power clips

 5 $20.50 2h 1m
Ready to Display Miller & Bud Lite BEER 1 24 scale

Ready to Display Miller & Bud Lite BEER 1 24 scale

1 $0.99 2h 12m
Grade Crossing with Gates, Lights, Bell G Scale

Grade Crossing with Gates, Lights, Bell G Scale

7 $31.00 2h 43m
MTH 70-65002-C Am Freedom Pass Coach 208 EX Box

MTH 70-65002-C Am Freedom Pass Coach 208 EX Box

 7 $72.09 2h 45m

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.