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 1945-69 For Sale Used 1945-69 New 1945-69

1945-69

Lionel Postwar #6417(A) Illuminated Porthole Caboose

Lionel Postwar #6417(A) Illuminated Porthole Caboose

5 $13.76 28m
Lionel #497 coal dumper part?

Lionel #497 coal dumper part?

- $5.00 36m
Lionel Train Sets Book Post War Vintage Model O Gauge

Lionel Train Sets Book Post War Vintage Model O Gauge

$25.49 1h 53m
Postwar Lionel Trains 1945-1969 Book Train Set Vintage

Postwar Lionel Trains 1945-1969 Book Train Set Vintage

$19.49 1h 53m
Lionel 6032 Gondola circa 1952-1954

Lionel 6032 Gondola circa 1952-1954

1 $1.00 4h 40m
2245 Texas Special F3 AB

2245 Texas Special F3 AB

10 $169.57 5h 26m
Black Plastic Blvd. Street Lights #2601

Black Plastic Blvd. Street Lights #2601

- $35.00 5h 59m
Black Plastic Blvd. Street Lights #2601

Black Plastic Blvd. Street Lights #2601

- $35.00 6h
Texaco Helicopter for Lionel "O"&"O-27 Launching Cars

Texaco Helicopter for Lionel "O"&"O-27 Launching Cars

-
$15.00
$18.00
6h 10m
Lionel Train Bulb Assortment  # 1022

Lionel Train Bulb Assortment # 1022

- $27.95 6h 15m
Lionel  "O" GAUGE  PRE-WAR TRACK  VINTAGE BAKELITE BACK

Lionel "O" GAUGE PRE-WAR TRACK VINTAGE BAKELITE BACK

- $9.95 6h 34m
Box only for 1122 O27 switches w inserts

Box only for 1122 O27 switches w inserts

- $5.00 7h 13m
K-LINE PREMIUM O SCALE DIE-CAST PENNSY 4 BAY HOPPERMINT

K-LINE PREMIUM O SCALE DIE-CAST PENNSY 4 BAY HOPPERMINT

- $38.44 7h 15m
K-LINEK-75037 SFRD CLASSIC GRAND CANYON MAP CAR#7 MINT*

K-LINEK-75037 SFRD CLASSIC GRAND CANYON MAP CAR#7 MINT*

- $13.44 7h 19m
Box only for 253 automatic block signal w instructions

Box only for 253 automatic block signal w instructions

1 $5.00 7h 19m
Box only for 494 rotating beacon

Box only for 494 rotating beacon

3 $23.00 7h 24m
Box only for 445 operating switch tower

Box only for 445 operating switch tower

- $5.00 7h 27m
lionel post war model rr box car

lionel post war model rr box car

- $9.99 7h 41m
Lionel 2373-12 6-58 instructions sheet Canadian Pacific

Lionel 2373-12 6-58 instructions sheet Canadian Pacific

$19.99 7h 45m
Lionel 6520-23 QDEX 5-50 instruction sheet searchlight

Lionel 6520-23 QDEX 5-50 instruction sheet searchlight

$14.99 7h 48m
12 Pcs Used Lionel 027 Track  7 16" height

12 Pcs Used Lionel 027 Track 7 16" height

1 $3.95 8h 2m
LIONEL 362 BARREL LOADER + 3562-50 YELLOW  PAINTED CAR

LIONEL 362 BARREL LOADER + 3562-50 YELLOW PAINTED CAR

11 $85.75 8h 15m
LIONEL LEHIGH O 6456 RR TRAIN CAR POST WAR RAILROAD VG

LIONEL LEHIGH O 6456 RR TRAIN CAR POST WAR RAILROAD VG

6 $5.74 8h 22m

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.