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Tag: Build a Garden Railroad
A mysterious Lionel display from 1940 thrilled viewers
Talk about inspiring dreams of greatness! Sepia-tone photographs sprinkled about in the opening pages of Lionel’s consumer catalog for 1940 couldn’t have done a better job of persuading kids and their fathers to buy an electric train and build a model railroad. Especially convincing was the picture on page 11, the companion to one on […]
Prewar survivor on Lionel’s 1949 Showroom Layout
Becoming acquainted with Robert Sherman, the talented and kind-hearted artist affiliated with Lionel and Diorama Studios, stands as a highlight of my career at Classic Toy Trains. Though frail when we met in the early 1990s, Bob eagerly shared stories of his contributions to the postwar consumer catalogs as well as his involvement with the […]
Trains, March 2026
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Trains, February 2026
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Why I collect prewar trains in Standard and Wide Gauge
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 […]
Hafner toy trains
Former Editor Neil Besougloff purchased this manuscript in 2002, and wondered why it hadn’t been used. I found the answer while scanning the slides–the photo quality is not great. While the photos are not usable in print, I hope they find some value in this online version. I’ve also learned that author Peter J. Corrigan […]
Custom runs in the toy train hobby
The idea of a custom run product — a manufacturer creating a special item for a retailer not sold in its catalog — is nothing new. Custom toy train products have existed for more than 100 years. “Custom run cars filled a gap in the market,” said Contributing Editor Bob Keller. “Manufacturers generally [produced products […]
Trains, January 2026
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Trains, December 2025
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Lionel’s No. 520 Lionel Lines Boxcab Electric
Lionel’s No. 520 Lionel Lines Boxcab Electric stands out among other postwar O-27 locomotives because there is so much about it that’s different from what you find on other models from that celebrated era of production. The 520 is far from scarce and so is commonly overlooked by avid collectors and operators of postwar trains. […]
Trains, November 2025
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