Lionel trains store model trains sets model railroads and train accessories Auction info
Lionel trains store K-Line For Sale Used K-Line Cheap K-Line

K-Line

K-Line 6-22679 Ringling Brothers Operating Billboard

K-Line 6-22679 Ringling Brothers Operating Billboard

 - $94.99 46m
K-LINE 1989 CHRISTMAS BOXCAR O O27 GAUGE

K-LINE 1989 CHRISTMAS BOXCAR O O27 GAUGE

 - $44.00 50m
K-LINE 1988 CHRISTMAS FREIGHT CAR O O27 GAUGE

K-LINE 1988 CHRISTMAS FREIGHT CAR O O27 GAUGE

 - $45.00 53m
K-LINE 4636B BOMBARDIER 21" CALTRAIN 4 Passenger Car Commuter Set NIB

K-LINE 4636B BOMBARDIER 21" CALTRAIN 4 Passenger Car Commuter Set NIB

9 $203.27 54m
K-Line O 4-6-4 Hudson Steam Locomotive Boston & Albany K3209-0605W B&A Loco

K-Line O 4-6-4 Hudson Steam Locomotive Boston & Albany K3209-0605W B&A Loco

 - $349.99 55m
K-Line O Ringling Bros Circus Modern Billboard Set #2

K-Line O Ringling Bros Circus Modern Billboard Set #2

 - $8.99 1h 2m
K-Line O Pluto Water Classic Box Car 646302

K-Line O Pluto Water Classic Box Car 646302

 - $19.99 1h 7m
K637-2031 Husky Southern Pacific Tank Car

K637-2031 Husky Southern Pacific Tank Car

 - $25.00 1h 14m
K-Line 2003 Vol 1 catalog

K-Line 2003 Vol 1 catalog

 - $5.00 1h 14m
K-Line O Texas Special Passenger Car Set of 3 4540-3

K-Line O Texas Special Passenger Car Set of 3 4540-3

 - $99.99 1h 26m
K-LINE 4636K BOMBARDIER 21" VRE 4 Passenger Car Commuter Set & F59PH Engine

K-LINE 4636K BOMBARDIER 21" VRE 4 Passenger Car Commuter Set & F59PH Engine

21 $405.00 1h 40m
K-Line O Collectible Trains & Toys 10th Ann Boxcar 5138

K-Line O Collectible Trains & Toys 10th Ann Boxcar 5138

 - $24.99 1h 41m
K-Line O Circus Animal Horse Figures #21611 Set of 4

K-Line O Circus Animal Horse Figures #21611 Set of 4

 - $9.99 1h 44m
K-Line Intermodal 5 car set with containers Brand New -- Lionel -- MTH

K-Line Intermodal 5 car set with containers Brand New -- Lionel -- MTH

 - $175.00 2h 8m
MTH Work Office --- Lionel---K-line

MTH Work Office --- Lionel---K-line

 - $15.00 2h 17m
7-11352 Hershey's® Freight G-Gauge Set 1B

7-11352 Hershey's® Freight G-Gauge Set 1B

 - $84.99 2h 33m
Plasticville Coaling Tower, brand new in original box MTH --- K-line

Plasticville Coaling Tower, brand new in original box MTH --- K-line

 1 $5.00 2h 37m
Plasticville Covered Bridge, brand new in original box MTH --- K-line

Plasticville Covered Bridge, brand new in original box MTH --- K-line

 1 $5.00 2h 41m
Plasticville Roadside Stand, brand new in original box MTH --- K-line

Plasticville Roadside Stand, brand new in original box MTH --- K-line

 - $5.00 2h 43m
K-Line Electric Trains AT & SF Rail Carrier K-6612 Brand New in Box

K-Line Electric Trains AT & SF Rail Carrier K-6612 Brand New in Box

- $16.95 2h 44m

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.