Ho trains store model trains railroads Z Scale N Scale HO Scale OO Scale S Scale O Scale G trains Auction info
Ho Trains Store Lionel For Sale Used Lionel New Lionel

Lionel

Lionel Holiday Central G-Gauge Train Set NIB

Lionel Holiday Central G-Gauge Train Set NIB

6 $37.12 13h 26m
Hallmark Lionel Train set Crown Express G-gauge NIB

Hallmark Lionel Train set Crown Express G-gauge NIB

- $59.95 13h 28m
Hallmark Lionel Train set Crown Express G-gauge NIB

Hallmark Lionel Train set Crown Express G-gauge NIB

$125.00 13h 30m
HALLMARK 2008 LIONEL CROWN EXPRESS TRAIN SET!! 7-11097

HALLMARK 2008 LIONEL CROWN EXPRESS TRAIN SET!! 7-11097

5 $65.99 18h 22m
MPC LIONEL ENGINE 27"THE GENERAL"1 25TH SCALE KIT MIB

MPC LIONEL ENGINE 27"THE GENERAL"1 25TH SCALE KIT MIB

- $95.00 18h 26m
Lionel New Sound System Thomas the tank engine & Friend

Lionel New Sound System Thomas the tank engine & Friend

- $9.99 19h 3m
NIB LIONEL 1958-2008 50th ANNIVERSARY TRAIN SET

NIB LIONEL 1958-2008 50th ANNIVERSARY TRAIN SET

14 $114.49 19h 34m
LIONEL LARGE SCALE CANADIAN PACIFIC BOBBER CABOOSE 1989

LIONEL LARGE SCALE CANADIAN PACIFIC BOBBER CABOOSE 1989

1 $9.99 19h 54m
LIONEL SET #81001 THUNDER MOUNTAIN EXPRESS PASS SET.

LIONEL SET #81001 THUNDER MOUNTAIN EXPRESS PASS SET.

1 $99.95 20h 1m
LIONEL #8-82004  "G" GAUGE WIDE RADIUS CURVE TRACK 12PI

LIONEL #8-82004 "G" GAUGE WIDE RADIUS CURVE TRACK 12PI

- $34.95 20h 9m
Lionel Holiday Tradition Calliope Car (G-Scale)

Lionel Holiday Tradition Calliope Car (G-Scale)

4 $12.55 20h 52m
Lionel New Sound System Thomas the tank engine & Friend

Lionel New Sound System Thomas the tank engine & Friend

- $9.99 21h 3m
VINTAGE LIONEL TRAIN PICTURE engine coal car track

VINTAGE LIONEL TRAIN PICTURE engine coal car track

- $4.99 21h 37m
Hallmark 2008 LIONEL CROWN EXPRESS TRAIN SET 7-11097NEW

Hallmark 2008 LIONEL CROWN EXPRESS TRAIN SET 7-11097NEW

$159.95 23h 9m
Lionel G scale metal rr track - 14 curved sections

Lionel G scale metal rr track - 14 curved sections

- $19.99 1d 2h 3m
Lionel new Mickey mouse and Donald duck parts handcar

Lionel new Mickey mouse and Donald duck parts handcar

- $9.99 1d 8h 35m
Lionel G Gauge Calliope Animated Holiday Car 7-11041

Lionel G Gauge Calliope Animated Holiday Car 7-11041

4 $29.00 1d 9h 40m
Lionel G Gauge 2008 Holiday Boxcar

Lionel G Gauge 2008 Holiday Boxcar

5 $30.02 1d 10h 9m
Lionel Holiday Tradition Express Set #7-11000

Lionel Holiday Tradition Express Set #7-11000

- $199.95 1d 11h 46m
Lionel new G scale truck

Lionel new G scale truck

- $9.99 1d 12h 50m
Lionel G Gauge Santa-Conductor-Enginner 2 Each Mint LTI

Lionel G Gauge Santa-Conductor-Enginner 2 Each Mint LTI

- $9.50 1d 13h 25m
Lionel Polar Express Complete Train Set

Lionel Polar Express Complete Train Set

1 $179.99 1d 14h 15m
Lionel G Gauge New York Central Flyer Train Set

Lionel G Gauge New York Central Flyer Train Set

- $19.99 1d 14h 30m

Train news

  • TRAINS HISTORY

    Prehistory There have been models and toys of trains for as long as there have been real railways. Indeed some early models of locomotives were made first as sales promotional tools for the early railways, even if they later might have become playthings. During the Victorian period toy and model trains and locomotives fell into a number of categories there were the live steam engines, expensive and only for the wealthy, there were pull along trains in all shapes, sizes and materials, penny toys in lead and tin and latterly clockwork engines. The steam and clockwork engines might be intended to run on the floor, or a simple track assembled by the user, but there was no real sense of system about these trains. Most of these toys were made in Germany. Britain and France tended only to make the better class of steam engine. There was an indigenous US industry, with considerable use of cast iron rather than tinplate. The Real Beginning The defining event in toy train history was the launch by Marklin in 1891 of the first complete system of trains. While the first models were derived from earlier products, what Marklin introduced was a series of standard track gauges, ready to use track sections for those gauges, and a range of locomotives, rolling stock and accessories to match. Now you could have an initial train set, but continually add and expand till your miniature railroad empire was complete - which it never was.

     

    This was of course good for the toy manufacturer, indeed this is possibly the first example of the expanding range, with items at various price points Christmas, birthdays, parents and relations and pocket money sized, which is one of the basic features of most successful toys since.

     

    These first Marklin models were made in three gauges called 1, 2 and 3, logically enough. Painted and soldered tinplate was the main material, and clockwork the driving power. And they were crude. But the range was clearly a great success. So Marklin expanded and improved its range, after a few years adding a fourth, small gauge O. The range of accessories was greatly expanded. Other German toy makers introduced competitive products, most importantly Bing then probably Germanys, and hence the worlds, largest toy maker. Despite the odd divergence these makers generally adopted the same standards as to gauge as Marklin, while developing new production techniques, in particular the use of lithographed printed tinplate, allowing much cheaper and more colorful items, at the expense of some robustness.

     

    By the start of the 20th century other methods of propulsion were being applied too, in that live steam and electric powered models had taken to the toy train rails, though clockwork was still the prime mover. More importantly the first ranges of Marklin and Bing and others were growing and improving each year, and as with the rest of the German toy trade, was strongly export oriented, thus spreading toy trains world wide. The main markets were Britain, France and their empires and the US. Britain had no indigenous toy maker to compete with, nor really had France, but there was home based competition in America. Britain however had something else - model railways

     

    Model Railways

    The hobby of model railways can really be said to have been founded in the U.K. at the start of the Edwardian period. There were already active amateur model engineers, building live steam locomotives and with a keen interest in the real railways. One of the embryo suppliers to this group was a young man, W J Bassett Lowke. He saw the potential of using the German toy trains, particularly the track and mechanisms, with bodies rather more accurate as to prototype and selling not as a toy to children but rather to adult enthusiasts. And he used the services of another young man, Henry Greenly, as a designer of these models. Greenly, among other things, established a system of scales using the Marklin  gauges as the starting point. He also founded the first periodical devoted to model railways. And thus from the beginning the hobby of model railways was in part a toy, and in part the effort of amateur and professional model makers coexisting, sometimes comfortably and sometimes not.

    Bassett Lowke tended to use the services of Bing and Carrette for its own models, but of course once the idea of British outline models was established the German makers started to produce models for sale by other importers, for example Marklin for the Gamages store in London.