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Lionel trains store O Scale For Sale Used O Scale Cheap O Scale

O Scale

2009 On30 Annual Book , New

2009 On30 Annual Book , New

 2 $15.45 16m
Lionel 8141-50 Smoke Unit - NOS

Lionel 8141-50 Smoke Unit - NOS

 $17.95 19m
Lionel 8268-060 Plastic Couplers 2 1 4 (QTY 2)

Lionel 8268-060 Plastic Couplers 2 1 4 (QTY 2)

 - $4.99 19m
Lionel Fastrack Railer New in Package

Lionel Fastrack Railer New in Package

 - $4.99 20m
KRAMER O DIE CAST BASEBALL TEAM SET

KRAMER O DIE CAST BASEBALL TEAM SET

4 $23.00 21m
READING 40' BOX CAR 2-RAIL #109124 NIB O Scale

READING 40' BOX CAR 2-RAIL #109124 NIB O Scale

 $30.07 22m
2343 P , SANTA FE EMPTY BOX WITH INTERIOR PACKING

2343 P , SANTA FE EMPTY BOX WITH INTERIOR PACKING

 - $9.99 26m
LIONEL 2214 MPC BRIDGE

LIONEL 2214 MPC BRIDGE

$8.00 27m
LIONEL 2214 MPC BRIDGE

LIONEL 2214 MPC BRIDGE

$8.00 28m
LIONEL BOX CAR # 1679, BABY RUTH, PRE WAR (METAL) 0-027

LIONEL BOX CAR # 1679, BABY RUTH, PRE WAR (METAL) 0-027

 - $14.95 28m
rare lionel deisel vintage trains with box

rare lionel deisel vintage trains with box

 12 $338.00 28m
2332 PRR GG1, RESTORED WITH BOX

2332 PRR GG1, RESTORED WITH BOX

 1 $224.99 30m
1000, E14 Light Bulb Screw Base Panel Fixture Socket, E14

1000, E14 Light Bulb Screw Base Panel Fixture Socket, E14

 $168.00 33m
50, E14 Light Bulb Screw Base Panel Fixture Socket, E14

50, E14 Light Bulb Screw Base Panel Fixture Socket, E14

 $14.99 34m
TWO LIONEL GRADE CROSSING FAST TRACK 0-027

TWO LIONEL GRADE CROSSING FAST TRACK 0-027

 6 $16.02 35m
17' UTILITY BOAT O Railroad Waterline or Full Hull Kit

17' UTILITY BOAT O Railroad Waterline or Full Hull Kit

$42.95 36m
LIONEL, # 2817 CABOOSE

LIONEL, # 2817 CABOOSE

 - $49.99 37m
450ft FIBER OPTIC MODEL RAILROAD LIGHTING the EZ way!!

450ft FIBER OPTIC MODEL RAILROAD LIGHTING the EZ way!!

 -
 $19.99
$21.99		 39m
LITTLE CREEK MINING CO Model Railroad Structure O On30

LITTLE CREEK MINING CO Model Railroad Structure O On30

 $97.95 39m
LIONEL, SET # 292

LIONEL, SET # 292

 1 $249.99 43m

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.