| In post-Civil War America, trains were the only way to | | | | States. They believed that they were all investing in a |
| travel. The only other method commonly available was | | | | limited business that would remain within the city. They |
| a horse and trap and that was most definitely not the | | | | never dreamed that the company's popularity would |
| way to travel in comfort. Joshua Lionel Cowen was | | | | span as far as it has, let alone the fact that children |
| amazed by the trains and their ability to transport | | | | and adults alike would be clamouring to buy Old Lionel |
| people around the United States. He was fascinated | | | | model trains now! |
| by the technology and mechanisms associated with | | | | Every child from the turn of last century had a train. It |
| the locomotive and could not wait to pass his | | | | was a standard to own one in the early 1900s |
| knowledge onto his children and other children at the | | | | because children actually had very few toys. Those |
| same time. Old Lionel model trains were born as a | | | | they did have were precious. As a result, old Lionel |
| result. | | | | model trains are now widely available in antique stores |
| It has been over a hundred years since Cowen | | | | and old children's toys stores all over the country, but |
| unveiled his vision and began producing toy trains and | | | | they are also very valuable and you can end up |
| model railroad paraphernalia for people to buy. He | | | | spending over the odds for them. The reason that |
| meant them as educational tools as well as a forum | | | | they are so popular is because they were highly |
| for fathers to bond with their sons. He was based in | | | | detailed and proved to be of high quality over the |
| New York at the time and managed to hire a few | | | | years. Not only did old Lionel model trains stand the |
| gifted craftsmen to help to create replicas of the | | | | test of time, but also they can actually tell us a lot |
| locomotives that wound their way all over the United | | | | about the trains and the toys of the era. |