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K-Line

K-Line by Lionel, Mil.Rd. S-2 #836 Switcher W Horn, LNIB

K-Line by Lionel, Mil.Rd. S-2 #836 Switcher W Horn, LNIB

 $100.00 31m
K-LINE TRAINS 6-22456 ARIZONA QUARTER D C TANK CAR BANK

K-LINE TRAINS 6-22456 ARIZONA QUARTER D C TANK CAR BANK

 $49.99 9h 11m
k-line o gauge o27 smoking battalion car

k-line o gauge o27 smoking battalion car

 3 $34.45 10h 21m
K-LINE SOUTHERN PACIFIC "DAYLIGHT" SET; K-1602; NIB !!!

K-LINE SOUTHERN PACIFIC "DAYLIGHT" SET; K-1602; NIB !!!

 $299.50 10h 27m
K-LINE FDNY FIRE FIGHTER TANK CAR

K-LINE FDNY FIRE FIGHTER TANK CAR

 4 $31.00 10h 28m
K-LINE K766-8011 BLACK HILLS PACKING CO. REEFER

K-LINE K766-8011 BLACK HILLS PACKING CO. REEFER

 - $39.00 11h 51m
K-line O CIRCUS TRANSPORT DOUBLE DECK STOCK CAR #2

K-line O CIRCUS TRANSPORT DOUBLE DECK STOCK CAR #2

 $35.99 12h 9m
O Scale Model Train Railroad Software, Inventory

O Scale Model Train Railroad Software, Inventory

 $24.95 12h 26m
K-Line Freight Car Trim (6 pcs)

K-Line Freight Car Trim (6 pcs)

 - $1.99 12h 48m
K-Line Loves Chicago Classic Boxcar K641-740801

K-Line Loves Chicago Classic Boxcar K641-740801

 - $39.99 13h 33m
K-Line 1995 New York Toy Fair Box Car

K-Line 1995 New York Toy Fair Box Car

 - $14.99 13h 38m
K-Line 1996 New York Toy Fair Car

K-Line 1996 New York Toy Fair Car

 - $14.99 13h 42m
K-Line #90002 Collectors Club Hopper 1992

K-Line #90002 Collectors Club Hopper 1992

 - $11.99 13h 48m
K-line by Lionel N & W 2 Bay Hoppers Set of 4 NIB

K-line by Lionel N & W 2 Bay Hoppers Set of 4 NIB

 - $99.99 14h 3m
K-line Farm Animals with Paint 027-0 Gauge NEW

K-line Farm Animals with Paint 027-0 Gauge NEW

 - $5.99 14h 28m
K-Line #5610 BURLINGTON NORTHERN Gondola

K-Line #5610 BURLINGTON NORTHERN Gondola

 - $9.95 14h 36m
Liquid Bearings, THE BEST K-Line train oil, READ THIS!!

Liquid Bearings, THE BEST K-Line train oil, READ THIS!!

 $5.99 14h 42m
21267 Pennsylvania Boxcab Electric Locomotive w horn

21267 Pennsylvania Boxcab Electric Locomotive w horn

 4 $46.00 14h 44m
1 MARX & 1 K-LINE BEACON TOWERS

1 MARX & 1 K-LINE BEACON TOWERS

 - $13.99 15h 16m
K-LINE VIRGINIAN LIGHTED CABOOSE (NICE)!!!

K-LINE VIRGINIAN LIGHTED CABOOSE (NICE)!!!

 - $5.99 17h 21m

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.