Lionel trains store model trains sets model railroads and train accessories Auction info
Lionel trains store N Scale For Sale Used N Scale Cheap N Scale

N Scale

Bachmann 19" Curve Radius N SCALE 50 PC

Bachmann 19" Curve Radius N SCALE 50 PC

$94.95 18m
Bachmann 10" Straight N SCALE 50 PC

Bachmann 10" Straight N SCALE 50 PC

$94.95 18m
WOODLAND SCENICS LOADING DOCK DETAILS N SCALE FIGURES

WOODLAND SCENICS LOADING DOCK DETAILS N SCALE FIGURES

 $13.79 19m
Greenmax 37-1 FACTORY EQUIPMENTS A 1 150 N Scale

Greenmax 37-1 FACTORY EQUIPMENTS A 1 150 N Scale

 $7.29 20m
N MOTOR BRUSH SET RIVAROSSI ATLAS N SCALE

N MOTOR BRUSH SET RIVAROSSI ATLAS N SCALE

 $3.59 20m
N SANTA FE F3B PASSENGER WARBONNET NIB KATO N Scale

N SANTA FE F3B PASSENGER WARBONNET NIB KATO N Scale

 $71.96 21m
100Pcs Model Tree Train Set Scenery Landscape Scale N Z

100Pcs Model Tree Train Set Scenery Landscape Scale N Z

 - $0.99 21m
Greenmax 36 OVERPASS WAREHOUSE AND SHOP 1 150 N Scale

Greenmax 36 OVERPASS WAREHOUSE AND SHOP 1 150 N Scale

 $14.49 23m
Greenmax 35-3 ROAD SIGN SET 1 150 N Scale

Greenmax 35-3 ROAD SIGN SET 1 150 N Scale

 $7.39 24m
Model Power Standard Amtrak Passenger Cars, N scale

Model Power Standard Amtrak Passenger Cars, N scale

 6 $11.50 27m
M12- Scale Model Train Layout Set Fence 1 Meter HO TT N

M12- Scale Model Train Layout Set Fence 1 Meter HO TT N

 $9.76 30m
N COTTON BELT ACF 70Ton Hoppers NIB MINT KATO N

N COTTON BELT ACF 70Ton Hoppers NIB MINT KATO N

 $26.95 37m
(25) Long ATLAS Locomotive Plastic Storage Boxes - N

(25) Long ATLAS Locomotive Plastic Storage Boxes - N

 $49.95 39m
E-2CJ Grumman U.S. Navy Plane 1 145 N SCALE?

E-2CJ Grumman U.S. Navy Plane 1 145 N SCALE?

 $10.36 40m
KATO 23-220 Rural Station Set 1 150 N Scale

KATO 23-220 Rural Station Set 1 150 N Scale

 $49.49 42m
Greenmax 33 STORE SET 1 150 N Scale

Greenmax 33 STORE SET 1 150 N Scale

 $16.59 43m
N UNION PACIFIC SD60 DCC EQUIPPED #6001 MINT ATLAS N

N UNION PACIFIC SD60 DCC EQUIPPED #6001 MINT ATLAS N

 $89.95 47m
NEW YORK CENTRAL GP9 TT#5946 & #5947 ATLAS N SCALE

NEW YORK CENTRAL GP9 TT#5946 & #5947 ATLAS N SCALE

 $112.45 47m
Greenmax 18-1 TRAIN WASHING MACHINE 1 150 N Scale

Greenmax 18-1 TRAIN WASHING MACHINE 1 150 N Scale

 $7.49 50m
t5018-50pcs Scale Scenery Layout Set Model Trees N Z

t5018-50pcs Scale Scenery Layout Set Model Trees N Z

 - $0.99 50m

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.