Vintage Ohio

All about Lionel Model Trains

During their nadir, Lionel model trains were legendary internationally for their focus on detail and the standard of manufacture. They continue to are : from Hogwart’s Express for Harry Potter fans to the Polar Express or merely the straightforward Pennsylvania steam freight train, Lionel offers a large range of trains that are true to the originals, real or hypothetical.
In reality, a Lionel electrical train was one of the first two electric toys to be inducted into the national Toy Hall-Of-Fame ( the other was the straightforward Bake Oven ). It was his marketing expertise that gave rise to the phenomenon of model train collecting at the start of the 20th century.
His idea commenced when he devised moving promoting gondolas employing a tiny electric motor he had developed, and when he revealed that folk were more inquisitive about the gondolas than in the products they were lugging around he got the idea of using his electric motor in toy trains. By means of fantastic dept displays at xmas time Cowen gave rise to a public interest in toy trains, and shortly they were among the state’s most well liked toys.

Cowen’s arrival of the two 1/8′ gauge 3 rail track became the standard, and signaled his dominance of the toy train market. A curious innovation of the O-scale track was the O27. The standard O makes a circle 31 inches in diameter when the curved rails are put together, while the O27 was only 27′. The O27 could run OK on O gauge track, but not vice versa, as the 27′ curve was too sharp for standard O scale trains. After Lionel’s golden decade covering 1946 – 56, the company dropped as a rising number of folks switched to the smaller HO scale ( that Lionel ultimately sticked to ) and kids’s interests went from toy trains to toy vehicles. This was only to be expected since the age of the car had arrived, and although vehicles had been in existence for many decades, it was only now that the number of models had expanded to the limit that toy manufacturers considered it worth manufacturing them. Toy cars were less costly to folks than trains that required rolling stock and tracks to go with them. The company was at last sold to a business known as General Mills who ran it from 1969, even though it never hit the heights of earlier years. Then in 1986 it passed on to Lionel collector Richard Kughn, and became known as Lionel Trains. Quality quickly rose again but in 1995 the company was sold to a consortium known as Wellspring Associates LLC. The company now trades using the nom-de-plume Lionel LLC, but will always be known to fans as Lionel Toy Trains.

Real vintage Lionel model trains can be identified from the couplings. Prior to the Second World War, Lionel couplings looked like hooks, while after the war there were two types of coupling : the Scout series couplers and the more modern peg couplers. The Scout series were the entry-level series with G shaped couplings that don’t open. The more complicated couplings have pegs that may be pulled on the bottom to open them.

Post-war also saw the arrival of electrical couplers. This was better than the 1st version as there were no contact shoes to get snagged with switch points.
The Lionel model trains are normally stamped with four numbers, identifying each item. These can be found either underneath or on the side of each vehicle and locomotive.

The company now operates from Ohio, and the new 2009 catalog offers many new items including the New York Transit tube set, and the Dewitt Clinton Heritage Steam Passenger set, and there is also a large number of new rolling stock. Lionel model trains are still live and kicking, and the new catalog proves that it has not lost its gusto for innovation.

Click here for more information on Lionel Model Trains
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About the Author

Avery Kane writes on varies subjects however loves to write on the subject of Lionel Model Trains.

James Gang – Fred

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