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

OO Scale

Wrenn Southern 1927 W2245 Green 2-6-4 RARE ( MINT )

Wrenn Southern 1927 W2245 Green 2-6-4 RARE ( MINT )

13 $274.39 1h 40m
Vintage cardboard train station RuLe Leipzig Germany HO

Vintage cardboard train station RuLe Leipzig Germany HO

 $99.00 1h 49m
10 Model Pine Tree Train Set Scenery Landscape OO HO

10 Model Pine Tree Train Set Scenery Landscape OO HO

 - $4.54 2h 33m
100x Building Model Train 1:75 Scale Painted Figures OO

100x Building Model Train 1:75 Scale Painted Figures OO

 - $0.99 2h 37m
Hornby Railways Scale Models R.124 & R.103

Hornby Railways Scale Models R.124 & R.103

 5 $11.40 2h 49m
Hornby Dublo Duchess of Montrose Steam Loco 00g 3 track

Hornby Dublo Duchess of Montrose Steam Loco 00g 3 track

 9 $51.05 2h 51m
Hornby Dublo loco British R way mint with meccano tag

Hornby Dublo loco British R way mint with meccano tag

 15 $51.05 2h 52m
Hornby Dublo steam loco British R way 2690 v good cond

Hornby Dublo steam loco British R way 2690 v good cond

 8 $92.99 2h 52m
TTR model engineers crane with box 00g mint

TTR model engineers crane with box 00g mint

 5 $20.51 2h 53m
TTR model railway refrigerated van with box 00g mint

TTR model railway refrigerated van with box 00g mint

 1 $13.67 2h 53m
Wrenn Ltd City of Glasgow staem loco 00g mint

Wrenn Ltd City of Glasgow staem loco 00g mint

 10 $111.67 2h 53m
R. 2483 LBSCR "Picadilly" A1 A1X Class Tank Loco - NIB

R. 2483 LBSCR "Picadilly" A1 A1X Class Tank Loco - NIB

 -
 $82.00
$91.11		 3h 16m
OO-HO SCALE PEPSI-COLA DIE CAST DOUBLE DECK BUS

OO-HO SCALE PEPSI-COLA DIE CAST DOUBLE DECK BUS

 - $10.94 3h 32m
OO-HO SCALE DAYS GONE 1934 MACK CANVAS BACK TRUCK

OO-HO SCALE DAYS GONE 1934 MACK CANVAS BACK TRUCK

 1 $7.29 3h 32m
100x Building Model Trains 1:75 Scale WHITE Figures OO

100x Building Model Trains 1:75 Scale WHITE Figures OO

 - $0.99 3h 37m
NEW Hornby GOODS TRAIN - Two Box Vans and a Brake Van

NEW Hornby GOODS TRAIN - Two Box Vans and a Brake Van

 11 $27.80 3h 44m
NEW Hornby Point Motor R8014 & Point Housing R8015

NEW Hornby Point Motor R8014 & Point Housing R8015

 3 $0.95 3h 46m
LT15-20pcs Scale Railway Layout Model Lamppost Lamp HO

LT15-20pcs Scale Railway Layout Model Lamppost Lamp HO

 $9.08 4h 27m
Triang R481 Straight Track Super4 Box 12 Lot # 0029

Triang R481 Straight Track Super4 Box 12 Lot # 0029

 2 $18.69 5h 33m
Triang R481 Straight Track Super4 Box 12 Lot # 0028

Triang R481 Straight Track Super4 Box 12 Lot # 0028

 2 $18.69 5h 38m

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.