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

Brass Imports

SUPER RARE N&W "Jawn Henry" Steam Turbine by Alco KMT

SUPER RARE N&W "Jawn Henry" Steam Turbine by Alco KMT

 - $1,700.00 1h 36m
HO Bowser USRA 4-8-2 Moutnain Used Locomotive Only

HO Bowser USRA 4-8-2 Moutnain Used Locomotive Only

 - $65.00 2h 6m
W&R Enterprises NORTHERN PACIFIC A-3 4-8-4 F P BLACK

W&R Enterprises NORTHERN PACIFIC A-3 4-8-4 F P BLACK

 - $2,124.02 2h 11m
Brass Locomotive Parts

Brass Locomotive Parts

 10 $122.00 2h 13m
W&R Enterprises NORTHERN PACIFIC S-4 4-6-0 V4 LTD ED

W&R Enterprises NORTHERN PACIFIC S-4 4-6-0 V4 LTD ED

 - $2,124.02 2h 18m
HO Brass, GPM Southern Pacific F-5, 2-10-2, #3748, f p, gorgeous, Brand new

HO Brass, GPM Southern Pacific F-5, 2-10-2, #3748, f p, gorgeous, Brand new

 - $1,549.00 3h 15m
HO Scale Brass Alco Models GP40L B & O Custom Painted Used

HO Scale Brass Alco Models GP40L B & O Custom Painted Used

 - $98.00 3h 19m
HO Scale Brass United Scale Models K-4 Pennsylvania 4-6-2 Steam Engine

HO Scale Brass United Scale Models K-4 Pennsylvania 4-6-2 Steam Engine

 - $229.00 3h 21m
HO Scale Brass Alco Models DL-701 Norfolk and Western

HO Scale Brass Alco Models DL-701 Norfolk and Western

 - $99.00 3h 22m
HO Scale Brass Alco Models SD-40 H Norfolk and Western with Dynamic Brakes

HO Scale Brass Alco Models SD-40 H Norfolk and Western with Dynamic Brakes

 - $94.00 3h 23m
Oregon Electric 1907 Niles Wood Interurban Coach Powered Suydam

Oregon Electric 1907 Niles Wood Interurban Coach Powered Suydam

 -
 $159.95
$219.00		 3h 26m
HO Scale Imported Painted Brass Great Northern Empire Builder Pass Car w Int ex!

HO Scale Imported Painted Brass Great Northern Empire Builder Pass Car w Int ex!

 5 $56.00 3h 34m
CAMEL BACK RUNS GOOD HO SCALE

CAMEL BACK RUNS GOOD HO SCALE

 - $65.00 3h 52m
RARE Brass Union Pacific (UP) PA PB factory paint IMMACULATE

RARE Brass Union Pacific (UP) PA PB factory paint IMMACULATE

 - $399.99 3h 59m
Van Hobbies CN Canadian National Modern Caboose

Van Hobbies CN Canadian National Modern Caboose

 1 $125.95 4h 1m
GEM MODELS RDG READING Class B-8a 0-6-0 Camelback Factory Painted

GEM MODELS RDG READING Class B-8a 0-6-0 Camelback Factory Painted

 - $185.95 4h 3m
W&R Enterprises GREAT NORTHERN O-4 2-8-2 GLACIER PARK

W&R Enterprises GREAT NORTHERN O-4 2-8-2 GLACIER PARK

 - $2,124.02 4h 4m
Empire - Midland HOn3 Brass C & S Stock Car

Empire - Midland HOn3 Brass C & S Stock Car

 - $70.00 4h 15m
NEW BRASS HO C&LE Trolley

NEW BRASS HO C&LE Trolley

 7 $38.00 4h 20m
NEW BRASS HO Model Traction Supply Co. Open Bench Trolley

NEW BRASS HO Model Traction Supply Co. Open Bench Trolley

 16 $350.00 4h 28m

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.