Lionel trains store model trains sets model railroads and train accessories Auction info
Lionel trains store 1901-42 For Sale Used 1901-42 Cheap 1901-42

1901-42

Lionel Prewar O Scale Engine Motor for parts or repair

Lionel Prewar O Scale Engine Motor for parts or repair

 8 $7.01 17m
3 Original Prewar Lionel Passenger Cars 2 #607 & 1 #608

3 Original Prewar Lionel Passenger Cars 2 #607 & 1 #608

 - $99.99 23m
LIONEL PRE-WAR PICK UPS VESTIBULE BASE PLATES PARTS

LIONEL PRE-WAR PICK UPS VESTIBULE BASE PLATES PARTS

- $5.99 26m
for Lionel Brushes springs 2-17 (4pr)225-226-675-2046

for Lionel Brushes springs 2-17 (4pr)225-226-675-2046

 $9.99 32m
for Lionel Brushes springs 2-17 (4pr)225-226-675-2046

for Lionel Brushes springs 2-17 (4pr)225-226-675-2046

 $9.99 43m
Lionel PREWAR POSTWAR All METAL #115 Train STATION

Lionel PREWAR POSTWAR All METAL #115 Train STATION

 1 $250.00 51m
Lionel 812 Dark Green Gondola VG 1926-32 NR

Lionel 812 Dark Green Gondola VG 1926-32 NR

 - $16.00 1h 5m
Lionel Fan Motor ? 1939 ? Kughn Collection

Lionel Fan Motor ? 1939 ? Kughn Collection

 $99.00 1h 14m
Vintage Lionel Lines Caboose #807

Vintage Lionel Lines Caboose #807

 - $4.99 1h 14m
SELF ADHESIVE PLATES- LIONEL #225 "O" STEAMER

SELF ADHESIVE PLATES- LIONEL #225 "O" STEAMER

 $4.00 1h 32m
LIONEL PREWAR O-GAUGE #077 CROSSING GATE #6724

LIONEL PREWAR O-GAUGE #077 CROSSING GATE #6724

 $19.99 1h 39m
LIONEL PREWAR EMPTY BOXES #752E SILV STREAMLINER #6708

LIONEL PREWAR EMPTY BOXES #752E SILV STREAMLINER #6708

 $79.99 1h 39m
2 Lionel Prewar Passenger Cars No. 603 & 604 Orange

2 Lionel Prewar Passenger Cars No. 603 & 604 Orange

 7 $21.50 1h 43m
Lionel 2755 Pre war Tank Car Sunoco Type II Grey ...NR

Lionel 2755 Pre war Tank Car Sunoco Type II Grey ...NR

 7 $25.45 1h 44m
LIONEL PREWAR O-GA #259T BLACK BRASS TRIM TENDER #6381

LIONEL PREWAR O-GA #259T BLACK BRASS TRIM TENDER #6381

 $44.99 1h 45m
LIONEL TRAINS 636W CITY OF DENVER PASSENGER SET

LIONEL TRAINS 636W CITY OF DENVER PASSENGER SET

 - $474.99 1h 46m
2 Lionel Prewar Passenger Cars No. 603 & 604 Orange

2 Lionel Prewar Passenger Cars No. 603 & 604 Orange

 7 $20.50 1h 49m
Lionel Prewar Operating Lumber Car No. 3651 Black Works

Lionel Prewar Operating Lumber Car No. 3651 Black Works

 3 $11.00 1h 54m
Lionel Prewar Box Car No. 2655 Cream and Maroon

Lionel Prewar Box Car No. 2655 Cream and Maroon

 12 $10.55 1h 58m
lionel coal car #2816 good condition

lionel coal car #2816 good condition

 - $40.00 1h 58m

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.