History / Background

A not so brief history...
The hobby of "playing with toy trains", as some put it, has been going on, and taken quite seriously indeed, for a century and a half.

In the early to late 1800's, they were for the most part child's toys. Funky looking wood and cast iron (the plastic of the 19th century) were a static model pulled by a string along the floor. Some were powered by actual steam. Picture a 7 year old child pouring alcohol into the boiler and lighting it (in the house) to actually produce a steam powered locomotive! Frankly, I would have loved to have seen that!

In 1868, the Ives Corporation produced several impressive trains for the time, but they were still just elaborate pull toys. Later Ives trains would use a wind-up clockwork motor, state-of -the-art for the time! At least the toy trains finally ran under their own safe power, on actual rails, even if the wind-up motors didn't run for a very long time. In 1900, they introduced the first "O" gauge clockwork trains that ran on track. The O gauge track, at 1 1/4" rail to rail, is the O scale and gauge standard to this day. Ives was the first to mass-produce trains made of tinplated steel. This, combined with bright shiny paint and lithographed details, produced the distinctive look that we simply call "tinplate trains" to this day. Ives would become a force in the early 20th century.
Near the end of the 19th century, the toy trains finally got rails to run on, but still no efficient propulsion system.

In 1881, a small German toymaker, Earnest Paul Lehmann, was getting his start in business. His flegling company wasn't producing model trains for quite a while though. In another 67 years, his company would have a model train revolution of it's own. I'll get to that in the next page...

By the 1890's the toy trains became more like models in realism, accessories, and operation. They were starting to get less "toy like", and a new market was started.

In 1893, Carlisle & Finch Co. came on the scene. They added an important missing link: electric motor powered locomotives! They didn't look very realistic, but that didn't matter at the time. They rolled down the rails on their own virtually unlimited battery power. Model trains finally started to have a mass market. The market would not be won without a fight. Soon other companies joined in.

Marklin, a German manufacturer, started producing well-detailed model trains with accessories not thought of yet, like full track systems, switches, lights, stations, towers, houses, and other assorted buildings. These "toys" had something they never had before: destinations! Other German manufacturers; Bing, Shoenner, and Issmayer, all produced more elaborate models. They mainly sold large, live-steam-powered locomotives to their home market, and cheap, clockwork versions were imported to the USA. Marklin produced the best trains of the time. Marklin was poised to be the world leader in the model train industry.

Then Joshua Lionel Cowen came along...
He had the vision and the savvy to change everything.

In 1900, Joshua Cowen sold gadgets of all types in New York City. One day, he talked a store owner into placing an odd looking brick with 4 wheels, running around a small oval of track, powered by a battery. That set sold quickly and the orders came in for more. With that, Mr. Cowen became the purveyor of toy trains! Using his middle name, the Lionel Trains Company was born.

Joshua Cowen was a marketing genius. His first trains were not spectacular, and did not run very well, but Lionel's plan was to create a perception his product was superior. For one thing, in the early 1900's, there were about as many different track gauges (widths) as were companies that produced them. The concept was simple: Lionel would market their track gauge (2 7/8"), which no one else was using, so to expand you had to use Lionel's product exclusively. In 1906 he introduced trains that looked more like real trains in another unique track gauge. At 2 1/8" wide, Lionel advertised his new trains as Standard Gauge. Cowen would promote this almost like he was implying everyone else's model trains were inferior. It worked! Lionel trains slowly became the standard of excellence. The high quality of his future lines instilled a confidence in his product that remains to this day.

In 1906, American Flyer introduced O gauge clockwork trains that really didn't challenge anyone, but it is worth noting their arrival. From the 1920's to the 1950's, they would challenge Lionel for market supremacy.

In 1907, the Voltamp Co. introduced 2" gauge trains with surprising detail that had the most significant advance of the era. They ran on household AC current. For the first time, the toy train world had a plug in the wall; electric trains, instead of springs, batteries, and fire-powered steam. The final piece was in place!
In 1922, Horace Boucher, who manufactured model boats at the time, purchased the tooling from Voltamp, and produced some very nice, very underrated standard gauge trains. He widened the gauge to 2 1/8", to be compatible with Lionel and Flyer.

WW I sealed Lionel's success with the boycott of German products. Thanks to the war, the fine German train manufacturers would lose the lion's share of the market, and never get it back.

In 1915, Lionel introduces their O gauge, electric trains. By 1916, Carlyle & Finch went bankrupt. In 1918, American Flyer becomes electric, and the Lionel Corporation was formed, continuing to innovate and dominate the marketplace.

End of chapter 1
Next, I'll go into the rest of the tinplate era. I'll also go into the emergence of the other scales, including the people who brought about changes and improvements that made the hobby what it is today, better or worse!

This site will include illustrated tips, and will follow the construction of my layout. I feel, especially for newcomers, that the history of this grand old hobby is a story that should be told. That's why I chose to start with the history.

More history: coming of age after WWI

Thanks to World War 1, and the combination of the destruction of German toy manufacturing plants, and the United States boycott on German products, sales of these trains almost completely ground to a halt. Taking full advantage of this, Lionel pushed sales hard. The Lionel Corp. became a giant in the toy train industry.
Lionel Corp's Standard Gauge truly became a standard, and spawned stiff competition from the likes of American Flyer and Ives. Most liked the smooth performance of the American Flyer locomotives, and the craftsmanship was very good. Lionel and Ives, however, were in a neck-and-neck competition building possibly the most impressive, work-of-art, innovative (for the time) toy trains yet made.
Ives Trains were so well made, with such passionate attention to quality and detail, that the company went bankrupt in bad times instead of comprimising quality in any way. They have an equally passionate following to this day.

After 1918, the model train industry was back up and running, stronger than before. More manufacturers making more, better built trains. There was one big problem; lack of standardization. Between 1902 and 1919, there was almost as many scales of model trains as were manufacturers!

The U.S. and Europe have never agreed on standards of measurement. Things got even more confusing, not just between inches and millimeters, but scale and gauge as well. By the mid-1920's, scales became more standardized after the creation of the NMRA, or National Model Railroad Association. This now global organization set the standards and practices for model train manufacturers and hobbyists. This made it possible for someone to use any company's product of the same scale on any layout without compromise.

HO scale was actually born in 1914, as OO, or half-O scale, by Henry Greenly of Basset Lowke. Due to the war, regular production didn't commence until 1923. The original OO scale was 1/72 scale, with 16.5mm gauge track. Marklin started regular production of OO scale trains in 1921, with bulky-looking, toy-like models that actually had good operating characteristics.
These first, unbelievably tiny (as thought then), trains didn't sell very well at first, but later would develop a loyal following. Marklin still makes exceptional HO scale trains today, being the only HO scale maunfacturer to use 3-rail, AC powered track.
The NMRA would develop standards in the late 1930's for HO scale in America, which is 1/87 scale trains running on the same 16.5mm track gauge track as OO.

Acceptance of HO came about slowly in America. In the 1930's, 40's, and early 50's, public opinion in the early post-war era was "if it wasn't Lionel O or standard gauge, or even American Flyer S gauge, it wasn't real model railroading". Most manufacturers developed products and accessories for O, S, and Standard gauge trains before the 1950's.
In the 1950's, Athearn, formally based in Los Angeles, now straight outta Compton, CA (sorry, I couldn't resist!), started producing highly-detailed plastic model trains. These were hobby-quality items were sold at reasonably low prices (still are!), and ran reasonably well. In the 1990's, Athearn locomotives got better drive mechanisms. The newest have smooth-as-silk German can motors. You gotta see how smooth these run! Athearn took over and dominated the model train market, and hasn't looked back yet!

By 1975, Atlas raised the bar with their new locomotives. They were imported from Con Cor, and were immediately accepted as fine running examples of plastic HO scale locomotives. In the 1980's, Atlas used Kato drive mechanisms from Japan. For the first time, you could buy a $50.00 plastic locomotive that ran better than the $200.00-plus brass models. They just keep getting better, too!

These trains became incredibly realistic, and were no longer referred to as toys. HO scale brought craftsmen and serious modelers to the hobby who build life-like and prototypical layouts, with realistic operation. To this day, HO scale outsells all the other scales combined.

N scale came about in the mid-1950's, as non-powered static models. By 1959, powered models were introduced by Trix (Minitrix). Arnold produced N scale trains in the early 1960's.
This small scale was started in Europe, and came to America about 1966-67. Due to it's small size(1:160th scale), a lot of layout can be made in a small space with long trains and vast scenery.
Today's N scale equipment runs as good or even better (Atlas, Kato, Micro-Trains) than HO scale.
It's really the scale of choice if you have an apartment or a small home.

In 1972, Z scale was introduced. At 1/220th scale, they ar truly the smallest practical model trains in the world. Still going today, Micro-Trains makes impressive Z scale trains and track. Availability of buildings and bridges has always been weak, though.

G scale on the other hand, is huge! It was first produced in 1968 by the Lehmann Company, an old-line Nuremberg toymaker, Earnest Paul Lehmann Patentwerk, making toys since 1881. After WWII, East Germany seized the company, and Johannes Richter, Lehmann's cousin moved the family to Nurenbourg, West Germany in 1948. Twenty years later, Richter's two sons introduced the family's boldest invention: LGB trains. The trains are called Lehmann Gross Bahn, translating to Big Railroad. They used existing 45mm gauge track, used in 1:32 scale (no. 1 scale), and made 1:22.5 scale narrow gauge trains to fit on it, representing 1 meter(Europe), or 3-foot(USA) gauge.

In the late 1970's, Bachmann, one of the worlds oldest model train manufacturers, produced G scale, narrow-gauge, 1:22.5 trains. The first train sets had something innovative - locomotives powered by on-board batteries and radio control. No wiring hassles, no dead spots to stall your trains, no track maintenence required. I'm still amazed this didn't catch on!

G scale has one problem that most people have noticed. There was no standardization except for the track. LGB and Bachmann trains were 1:22.5 scale, Delton and Kalamazoo trains, produced since the mid 1980's, are 1:24 scale. In the late 80's to early 90's, Aristocraft and USA trains have been sold in 1:29 scale. In the mid 90's, Marklin started producing 1:32 scale model trains. Lionel even got into the game in the late eighties with "Large Scale", which is about 1:34 scale. They all run on 45mm track.
Modelers in this maze of scales usually make the structures and scenery 1:24 scale, or 1/2" to the foot. It makes measurements easy, and for the most part, the proportion to the trains varying scales works well together.

Since the beginning of G scale, they ran in the backyard. It's size and extreme ruggedness makes it ideal for running outdoors. Garden Railroading, as it's called, is very popular. Since the mid-1980's, more indoor G scale layouts have appeared. Their sheer size looks awesome indoors and close-up, and their tight curves and short cars negotiate spare rooms well. For those who like big trains, this is now the way to go, now that O scale is being priced out of the average persons budget. Many G scalers build their own buildings, borrowing alot from 1/24th scale dollhouses! You can build an impressive G scale layout for about half of what a comparable O scale layout would cost, and you'll have model trains twice the size with more detail and smoother running!

Well, thats the story, up to this point!