Christmas tree train set The history of the “putzen” In as early as the 18th century, Protestants immigrating to America were making miniature Nativity scenes in their homes around Christmastime. The Moravians, who at the time settled in the Lehigh Valley (eastern Pennsylvania), are recognized for consistently doing this activity. The term “putzen” is a […]
Lionel’s perfect postwar train set The perfect postwar Lionel train set should have a great locomotive, exciting and attractive pieces of rolling stock, and maybe an operating accessory. There would be plenty of track, too. Which engine and cars would you choose if you were able to assemble a perfect outfit from the post-World War […]
Have you ever considered making rocket component loads for your flatcars? Over the years I’ve seen some interesting flatcar loads on full-size trains, but I wanted to build something I’ve never seen before. I’m interested in watching rocket launches, so I decided to scratchbuild SpaceX rocket component loads. The rocket I built isn’t modeled after […]
Lionel wasn’t alone in making landmark accessories after World War II. Colber and Marx brought out great ones. Above all, the A.C. Gilbert Co. developed outstanding S gauge accessories for its American Flyer line. One of the most significant and collectible was the No. 23780 Gabe the Lamp Lighter. The 23780, arguably the last great […]
Amazing how an idea can take off and conquer a segment of the toy industry in the blink of an eye. In 1950, three manufacturers introduced oil derricks. No big deal except that, even though toy manufactures had been producing miniature oil cars since the very first years of the 20th century, there were no […]
The trend of motorized accessories replicating activities associated with railroading began at the Lionel factory in New Jersey. Let’s spotlight the revolutionary No. 97 coal elevator, which made its debut in 1938. Prototypical – not always accurate The idea of a vertical loader with buckets on a chain that lifted coal from a receiving bin […]
The world of animated O and S gauge toy trains accessories was, for all intents and purposes, a fairly serious one during the postwar era. Operating freight loaders, stations, and other facilities sought to imitate the activities associated with big-time railroading and industrial labor. There wasn’t time for frivolity. Where animals were concerned, however, all […]
Joshua Lionel Cowen had adopted a firm stance on the need to avoid manufacturing “war toys.” Even on the eve of World War II, when Lionel was already producing precision instruments for the armed forces, Cowen refused to bend, unlike his peer and rival, Louis Marx. Everything changed in 1955, probably because the mood of […]
Improving a basic model: 1949-56 Lionel did not immediately fill its postwar line with a true searchlight car – just a work caboose equipped with a floodlight (No. 2420). The presence of a searchlight car in the rival American Flyer catalog, beginning in 1946, makes this omission more glaring. In 1949, Lionel brought out the […]
When you reach a certain age, every birthday deserves to be called a big one .Among other things, my celebration in July got me thinking about the toy trains that happened to be available when I was born in 1951. Specifically, I wondered what my dad might have bought for his infant son if he […]
Despite the lack of play value in tank cars, boys wanted them because they reflected what kids saw in full-sized trains. So prewar manufacturers like Lionel and Ives developed tank cars, but hoped to do more with them. The breakthrough came in 1932, when Lionel worked out a licensing agreement with Sun Oil Co. Tank […]
Prewar predecessors Cranes that can lift miniature cargo, rotate as they hold it, and lower it into a tray or a piece of rolling stock have been toy train staples since the first part of the 20th century. Perhaps the first such accessory made in America – certainly, the most celebrated of the prewar era […]
