Lionel’s no. 397 coal loader In 1948, Lionel introduced a new coal loader that needed just one track and a dump car to run. Senior Editor Roger Carp explains the history of this coal loader, what was included in the box with your purchase, and how it changed over the years. He explains what makes […]
Lionel Legacy SW8 locomotive Lionel has released an SW8 switcher locomotive in its Legacy line. Classic Toy Trains editor Hal Miller gives you a first look at this engine, which is loaded with extra details like a fan-driven smoke unit, operating couplers, unique number boards, a bell, a single smokestack, two horns, and so much […]
Lionel Legacy SW8 locomotive Lionel has released an SW8 switcher locomotive in its Legacy line. Classic Toy Trains editor Hal Miller gives you a first look at this engine, which is loaded with extra details like a fan-driven smoke unit, operating couplers, unique number boards, a bell, a single smokestack, two horns, and so much […]
Menards has released a new O gauge auto dealership building called Valley Motors. It features lighting, die-cast vehicles, figures, and lots of detail. It would be at home on a layout set in the 1940s to today. The structure harkens back to an era where American cars and trucks were heavy – probably made of […]
The Lionel no. 3429 helicopter car was the company’s answer to get more kids to buy its products in the late 1950s. It was an attempt to get away from a product line the public regarded as old-fashioned. The company’s creative minds decided to make items Lionel could link the trains to popular military and […]
The birth of Classic Toy Trains magazine I was hired as copy editor for both CTT and Model Railroader in February of 1988, just a few months after the premier issue of CTT hit newsstands in the autumn of the previous year. To understand the origins of Classic Toy Trains, we need to turn our attention to […]
This operating layout features scenes visitors to the Amherst Railway Society’s Railroad Hobby Show are familiar with, and some they are not. Did you know the site was once rail served? Now in O scale, it is again! […]
A Lionel 2022 catalog review is the order of the day on Bob’s Train Box Episode 78! Bob and Hal take a look through the most recent Big Book and pick out a few items that have sparked their interest. They also have a first look at a couple of new Menards 14-3/4-inch flatcars. Bob […]
A Lionel 2022 catalog review is the order of the day on Bob’s Train Box Episode 78! Bob and Hal take a look through the most recent Big Book and pick out a few items that have sparked their interest. They also have a first look at a couple of new Menards 14-3/4-inch flatcars. Bob […]
O gauge realism is Herb Lindsay’s legacy. One of the landmark layouts featured in Classic Toy Trains over the years has been the O gauge model railroad designed and built by the late hobbyist and his talented wife and fellow modeler, Dagmar Lindsay. How articles about Herb’s realistic tribute to railroading in central Pennsylvania during […]
Lionel locomotives at Amherst 2022: Check out these locomotives featured by Lionel at the Amherst Railway Society’s Railroad Hobby Show held Jan. 29 and 30. Lionel Norfolk & Western class A 2-6-6-4 steam locomotive Norfolk & Western class A 2-6-6-4 steam locomotive. All-new tooling. Multiple road numbers with different detail configurations to match the changes […]
Here are some more photos of collectible Lionel 6464 postwar boxcars! Lionel 6464 boxcars help Lionel Corp. mark 1953 as a turning point. Yes, a year after blazing a new trail with classic streamlined passenger cars, the engineering and sales teams at Lionel fielded near-scale models of a modern flatcar, a triple-dome tank car, and […]
