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Lionel Trains
Joshua Lionel Cowen, born in New York City, began his toy train enterprise in late 1900. Lionel's domination of the toy train marketplace stemmed from Cowen¯s personality and skills. Most of the major innovations came from companies that were already manufacturing toy trains at the time of Cowen's entry into the world of toy trains. Cowen was a skilled engineer, and possessed excellent marketing abilities. One of the major marketing tools utilized by Lionel was the color catalogs they produced each year.
Cowen came to toy trains almost by accident. At the age of 22, he had perfected a small electric motor, but had not found a practical use for it. The story is that he was standing outside a shop window when he came up with the idea of a powered gondola to carry sale items to attract customers. Cowen rented a shop, and began manufacturing his gondolas in early 1901. People soon became far more interested in the gondolas than the items they carried.
Early Lionel products ran on two-rail track with 2-7/8 inches between the rails . In 1906, Cowen introduced a new three-rail track, 2 1/8" gauge. This new track was known as "standard gauge", and this was the start of Lionel's dominance of the toy train industry. Other manufacturers soon offered this type of track under their own names.
By the end of World War One, the major manufacturers of toy trains were Ives, American Flyer, and Lionel. All three manufactured Standard Gauge as well as O gauge trains.
It was at this time that Cowen's superior marketing abilities made their impact. Cowen is responsible for linking toy trains to the Christmas season. It was Cowen¯s idea to include toy trains as part of creche displays. Later, incredible showroom and department store displays would leave every young boy wanting toy trains for Christmas, and toy trains remain popular Christmas gifts today.
By the 1920s Lionel was the king of the toy train world. It was during this period that Lionel produced some of their most beautiful trains. The locomotives and rolling stock were highly detailed. Ives and Flyer were also producing wonderful trains. This era is referred to as the "Golden Age of Toy Trains". Financial troubles forced the sale of Ives in 1928, and Lionel and American Flyer purchased it. The partnership was short lived, and in 1930 Lionel became the sole owner of Ives. Ives continued as a separate corporation, but was managed by Lionel. The merging of these companies resulted in the production of some very unusual trains under the Ives name. These interesting pieces are some of the most wanted items today.
The company ceased toy production during World War II and manufactured items for national defense. Lionel made nautical items for the Navy.
In 1970, the Lionel name and tooling was purchased by cereal manufacturing firm, General Mills and became part of its Model Products Corporation (MPC). MPC did have some success with Lionel despite a disastrous move of production to Mexico in 1983. Production returned to Michigan in 1985, and the name and tooling was sold to Richard Kughn, a businessman and Lionel collector. Under Mr. Kughn, the company became known as Lionel Trains, Incorporated. Mr. Kughn re-established the original reputation for quality.
In September 1995, Mr. Richard Kughn sold the company to a group of investors called Wellspring Associates L.L.C. of New York. The group consists of Martin S. Davis, former chairman of Paramount Communications, Greg S. Feldman, managing partner, and Neil Young, rock musician and avid model train hobbyist. Young was involved for several years in a joint venture with Mr. Kughn to build remote controls that make it easier for handicapped people to use model trains .
Mr. Kughn remains a minor shareholder of the new company and assumed the title of chairman emeritus. The toy train company is now called Lionel L.L.C.
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