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

Other

AMERICAN FLYER LOCOMOTIVE AND TENDER

AMERICAN FLYER LOCOMOTIVE AND TENDER

 - $19.99 19m
Woodland Scenics Realistic 7 Trees

Woodland Scenics Realistic 7 Trees

 - $9.95 22m
MARX LOCOMOTIVE AND TENDER FOR PARTS

MARX LOCOMOTIVE AND TENDER FOR PARTS

 - $4.99 22m
RAILROAD - VHS TAPE COLLECTION

RAILROAD - VHS TAPE COLLECTION

 1 $0.99 24m
Plasticville Rural Station #45972 O B

Plasticville Rural Station #45972 O B

 2 $11.49 25m
MARX LOCOMOTIVE OLD

MARX LOCOMOTIVE OLD

 3 $12.50 27m
SOUTH PACIFIC LOCOMOTIVE NIB

SOUTH PACIFIC LOCOMOTIVE NIB

 - $4.99 27m
rare old key wind M&L miniature tin train set mint box

rare old key wind M&L miniature tin train set mint box

 1 $130.00 30m
* Vintage Diecast Model Train Locomotive ETRL

* Vintage Diecast Model Train Locomotive ETRL

 - $2.75 43m
O, S, HO, N, Nickle Silver Overhead Trolley Wire 100ft

O, S, HO, N, Nickle Silver Overhead Trolley Wire 100ft

 2 $10.50 49m
Build a Steam Donkey for your layout CD Free Shipping.

Build a Steam Donkey for your layout CD Free Shipping.

 $8.50 1h 8m
Overland Express Tin train engine

Overland Express Tin train engine

 - $2.99 1h 20m
Vintage Toy Train Steam Engine Gondola Car USA

Vintage Toy Train Steam Engine Gondola Car USA

3 $2.25 1h 53m
30 year Old Solid Maple Train Set

30 year Old Solid Maple Train Set

 - $100.00 1h 56m
Bullfrog Snot Liquid Palstic Instant Loco Traction Tire

Bullfrog Snot Liquid Palstic Instant Loco Traction Tire

 $22.95 1h 57m
MARLINES VINTAGE TRAIN SET-2 ENGINES-PLUS LOTS OF TRACK

MARLINES VINTAGE TRAIN SET-2 ENGINES-PLUS LOTS OF TRACK

 3 $26.00 2h 1m
TOOL-WIRE STRIPPER WITH PRESSURE ADJUSTMENT-CONVENIENT!

TOOL-WIRE STRIPPER WITH PRESSURE ADJUSTMENT-CONVENIENT!

 $11.99 2h 3m
Vintage Toy Train Station MARX Radio Tower Tin Litho

Vintage Toy Train Station MARX Radio Tower Tin Litho

7 $16.02 2h 11m
TOOLS-HOBBY-PRECISION KNIFE SET-13 Pc.-3 HANDLES & CASE

TOOLS-HOBBY-PRECISION KNIFE SET-13 Pc.-3 HANDLES & CASE

 $11.99 2h 11m
TOOL-HOBBY-TUNGSTEN SCRIBING PEN-FOR PLASTIC, WOOD, METAL

TOOL-HOBBY-TUNGSTEN SCRIBING PEN-FOR PLASTIC, WOOD, METAL

 $14.99 2h 14m

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.