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Lima NY Central Mechanical Refrigerator Car circa 1970s

Lima NY Central Mechanical Refrigerator Car circa 1970s

- $9.99 25m
Lima Burlington 83116 Gondola circa 1970's

Lima Burlington 83116 Gondola circa 1970's

- $9.99 25m
Lima Electric Wreck for Parts

Lima Electric Wreck for Parts

4 $9.49 1h 2m
Vintage LIMA Models Coca-Cola Boxcar #30 3113 UNUSED

Vintage LIMA Models Coca-Cola Boxcar #30 3113 UNUSED

- $9.99 1h 17m
HO LIMA Diesel Gp Series Engine

HO LIMA Diesel Gp Series Engine

- $9.99 5h 6m
HO Scale Trains-Lima-PRR-Flat Car-TOFC Cntnrs-KD's-RTR

HO Scale Trains-Lima-PRR-Flat Car-TOFC Cntnrs-KD's-RTR

- $5.99 14h 52m
LIMA NYC 50 FT REEFER MECHANICAL REFRIGERATOR TRAIN CAR

LIMA NYC 50 FT REEFER MECHANICAL REFRIGERATOR TRAIN CAR

- $2.99 18h 27m
Lima HO Set of 3 European Railway Coaches NIB

Lima HO Set of 3 European Railway Coaches NIB

3 $32.00 21h 35m
HO BURLINGTON ROUTE Gondola CB&Q 83116 LIMA

HO BURLINGTON ROUTE Gondola CB&Q 83116 LIMA

- $1.95 23h 41m
Lima 2 Passenger Cars Blue

Lima 2 Passenger Cars Blue

2 $2.32 1d 17h 42m
HO SCALE LIMA STEAM LOCOMOTIVE LOCOMOTIVE & TENDER NICE

HO SCALE LIMA STEAM LOCOMOTIVE LOCOMOTIVE & TENDER NICE

1 $19.99 1d 23h 13m
BEST Lima model RR oil,  Liquid Bearings,  PLEASE READ!!!

BEST Lima model RR oil, Liquid Bearings, PLEASE READ!!!

$5.99 2d 1h 7m
Lima Train Model 203014 L

Lima Train Model 203014 L

- $19.99 2d 1h 26m
HO- AMTRAK  Four Car Passenger Set-Model Power

HO- AMTRAK Four Car Passenger Set-Model Power

- $9.99 2d 19h 13m
HO- AMTRAK  Four Car Super Liner Set-ConCor

HO- AMTRAK Four Car Super Liner Set-ConCor

8 $36.08 2d 19h 22m
Lima FSItalia 'ARAL TRASPORTO BENZINA' 43 years old!!!

Lima FSItalia 'ARAL TRASPORTO BENZINA' 43 years old!!!

- $10.00 2d 20h 32m
3 VINTAGE LIMA SAR SAS SOUTH AFRICAN SUBURBAN CARS-NR!

3 VINTAGE LIMA SAR SAS SOUTH AFRICAN SUBURBAN CARS-NR!

6 $81.00 2d 21h 4m
vtg Lima HO Scale Model Train Engine Locomotive Italy

vtg Lima HO Scale Model Train Engine Locomotive Italy

- $4.99 2d 21h 9m
VINTAGE LIMA AUSTRALIAN DIESEL CoCo LOCOMOTIVE-OB-NR!

VINTAGE LIMA AUSTRALIAN DIESEL CoCo LOCOMOTIVE-OB-NR!

1 $49.99 2d 21h 10m
Lima HO 149763 Museum Collection ET30 (4 Car Set) NIB

Lima HO 149763 Museum Collection ET30 (4 Car Set) NIB

-
$260.00
$299.00
3d 1h 24m
dd PIKO HO Straight Track 24 Pieces 118 mm

dd PIKO HO Straight Track 24 Pieces 118 mm

- $0.99 3d 1h 32m
dd PIKO HO Curved Track 28 Pieces R 440 mm

dd PIKO HO Curved Track 28 Pieces R 440 mm

1 $0.99 3d 1h 34m
HO LIMA Italy Italian train wagon car box boxcar parts

HO LIMA Italy Italian train wagon car box boxcar parts

- $0.99 3d 1h 37m

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.