Lionel trains store model trains sets model railroads and train accessories Auction info
Lionel trains store Track, Accessories & Scenery For Sale Used Track, Accessories & Scenery Cheap Track, Accessories & Scenery

Track, Accessories & Scenery

100Pcs Model Tree Train Set Scenery Landscape Scale N Z

100Pcs Model Tree Train Set Scenery Landscape Scale N Z

 - $0.99 22m
NEW ~ TRAVELING CRANE COAL STATION ~ Deluxe N Scale Kit

NEW ~ TRAVELING CRANE COAL STATION ~ Deluxe N Scale Kit

 12 $36.80 38m
R10 10pcs Model Railway Lamppost lamp HO N 4cm

R10 10pcs Model Railway Lamppost lamp HO N 4cm

 - $6.99 38m
D3010 100pcs Scale Train Layout Set Model Trees N Z 3cm

D3010 100pcs Scale Train Layout Set Model Trees N Z 3cm

 - $7.99 40m
STEAM DONKEY N Scale Details

STEAM DONKEY N Scale Details

 -
 $9.99
$12.00		 44m
100pcs Train Set N Scale 1 150 Assorted Color Model Car

100pcs Train Set N Scale 1 150 Assorted Color Model Car

 $13.99 51m
1.6 MM White LED's Package of 3

1.6 MM White LED's Package of 3

 $1.50 54m
Model Power 1550 Twin Loco Shed Kit N Scale

Model Power 1550 Twin Loco Shed Kit N Scale

 $35.99 54m
NEW ~ Powered BLOCK SIGNAL ~ N Scale Penny Auction

NEW ~ Powered BLOCK SIGNAL ~ N Scale Penny Auction

 7 $6.55 57m
Retired ~ SIGNAL BRIDGE ~ N Scale Penny Auction

Retired ~ SIGNAL BRIDGE ~ N Scale Penny Auction

 6 $10.50 58m
Retired ~ VIADUCT BRIDGE ~ Arnold Rapido N Scale Kit

Retired ~ VIADUCT BRIDGE ~ Arnold Rapido N Scale Kit

 9 $20.80 1h
NEW ~ 2 STONE BRIDGE ABUTMENTS ~ N Scale Penny Auction

NEW ~ 2 STONE BRIDGE ABUTMENTS ~ N Scale Penny Auction

 2 $2.30 1h 1m
Model Power 1571 Oil Factory Office Kit N Scale

Model Power 1571 Oil Factory Office Kit N Scale

 $20.74 1h 1m
NEW ~ ARCH BRIDGE with PIERS ~ Heljan N Scale Kit

NEW ~ ARCH BRIDGE with PIERS ~ Heljan N Scale Kit

 8 $5.68 1h 2m
5 Unpowered SIGNALS Lot ~ OOP ~ N Scale Penny Auction

5 Unpowered SIGNALS Lot ~ OOP ~ N Scale Penny Auction

 11 $9.75 1h 3m
Model Power 8568 2 Indication Block Signal N Scale

Model Power 8568 2 Indication Block Signal N Scale

 $13.99 1h 5m
NEW ~ TRACK TEMPLATE ~ N Scale Penny Auction

NEW ~ TRACK TEMPLATE ~ N Scale Penny Auction

 7 $5.51 1h 7m
Model Power 8575 2 Light Block Signal w Relay N Scale

Model Power 8575 2 Light Block Signal w Relay N Scale

 $13.99 1h 7m
D7040 20pcs Scale Train Layout Set Model Trees N HO 7cm

D7040 20pcs Scale Train Layout Set Model Trees N HO 7cm

 - $6.99 1h 7m
Model Power 8570 3 Indication Lighted Block Sig N Scale

Model Power 8570 3 Indication Lighted Block Sig N Scale

 $13.99 1h 10m

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.