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A holiday toy train photo gallery is just the thing to get you in the Christmas spirit. Please enjoy this selection of holiday-themed photos of toy trains from Lionel and American Flyer in O gauge, S gauge, and Standard gauge (with some bonus N and large scale trains). If you have a photo you’d like […]
Dave Baule’s S gauge layout Dimensions: 11 x 25 feet Track and switches: American S Gauge (diameters range from 38 to 76 inches) Motive power: American Models, Gilbert American Flyer, S-Helper Service Rolling stock: American Models, American S Gauge, Downs, Gilbert American Flyer, Lionel American Flyer, S-Helper Service Controls: Gilbert American Flyer Nos. 16B and […]
What do I collect? I collect original prewar trains in Standard and Wide Gauge, i.e. 2 1/8”. Lionel created the gauge in 1906, and called their trains the “Standard of the World.” Soon, Standard gauge caught on as a label, possibly to differentiate from other gauges at the time. When the Ives Toy Co. modified […]
Also in this issue: 90+ must-see destination layouts! A handy location map! And more! […]
Thanks for the list of sources for parts in the Fall 2025 issue of CTT. I have nine prewar and postwar engines awaiting attention; I’ll need parts for some of them, and your list will be invaluable. But some sources don’t do searches for parts, which raises the question: Where do we find part numbers? […]
Come along with CTT and Trains.com staff members, as they visit the Milwaukee Lionel Railroad Club in New Berlin, Wisconsin! In this video, you’ll see views of the enormous 30 x 54-foot O gauge (3-rail) train display in operation – along with equally impressive scenery and structures! Read more about this layout in the December […]
In its heyday as “The Standard Railroad of the World,” the Pennsylvania Railroad had thousands of trackside industries systemwide to service. Each needed regular switching, and many were located in industrial complexes with tight clearances and sharp curves. The PRR developed the 0-6-0 switcher, or as they called it, a “shifter.” The first model B6 […]
Tru-Vue was a stereoscopic viewing system and line of films first marketed in the 1930s. Two simultaneous exposures of the same object or scene were made from slightly different angles. When seen through a special viewer, the paired photos combined to form a three-dimensional image. Although stereoscopic photo cards and viewers had been around since […]
In this Trains.com exclusive, Lionel LLC CEO Howard Hitchcock fields interview questions from Classic Toy Trains Editor Rene Schweitzer at Lionel’s headquarters in Concord, North Carolina. Howard and Rene discuss the brand’s 125th anniversary, new products, NASCAR die-cast products, custom-run products, the future of the American Flyer line, and much more! You don’t want to miss […]
I am a print subscriber to Classic Toy Trains. Have you reported on the discontinuation of the American Flyer model train line by Lionel? I know your magazine isn’t an “investigative reporting” publication but it’s a curious thing that Lionel would discontinue a line of trains that often showed models as “sold out” on their […]
One of the questions we receive quite regularly is where to find parts. Sooner or later, it’s likely you’ll need a part for your locomotive or rolling stock. It could be as simple as replacing traction tires or as complicated as a postwar rehab project. In either case, we’ve got you covered! For each retailer, […]
I began collecting O and 027 gauge trains in middle school. Like many toy train enthusiasts, the trains were eventually packed away for various reasons. Years later, I unpacked my Lionel and Marx collection. It had been a long time since I had seen these trains. I unpacked mostly postwar and modern 2-4-2 outline steam […]
